the members of the League will faithfully carry out their
engagements? Will the new League stand the strain of such conflicts as
shake the very existence of States and Nations? Will the League really
stand the test of History?

History teaches that many a State has entered into engagements with the
intention of faithfully carrying them out, but, when a grave conflict
arose, matters assumed a different aspect, with the consequence that the
engagements remained unfulfilled. Will it be different in the future?
Can the Powers which enter into the League of Nations trust to the
security which it promises? Can they be prepared to disarm, although
there is no guarantee that, when grave conflicts of vital interests
arise, all the members of the League will faithfully stand by their
engagements?

These are questions which it is difficult to answer because no one can
look into the future. We can only say that, if really constitutional and
democratic government all the world over makes international politics
honest and reliable and excludes secret treaties, all the chances are
that the members of the League will see that their true interests and
their lasting welfare are intimately connected with the necessity of
fulfilling the obligations to which they have submitted by their
entrance into the League. The upheaval created by the present World War,
the many millions of lives sacrificed, and the enormous economic losses
suffered during these years of war, not only by the belligerents but
also by all neutrals, will be remembered for many generations to come.
It would therefore seem to be certain that, while the memory of these
losses in lives and wealth lasts, all the members of the League will
faithfully carry out the obligations connected with the membership of
the League into which they enter for the purpose of avoiding such a
disaster as, like a bolt from the blue, fell upon mankind by the
outbreak of the present war. On the other hand, I will not deny that no
one can guarantee the future; that conflicts may arise which will shake
the foundations of the League of Nations; that the League may fall to
pieces; and that a disaster like the present may again visit mankind.
Our generation can only do its best for the future, and it must be left
to succeeding generations to perpetuate the work initiated by us.

INDEX

Administration of Justice by International Courts, difficulties of, 62;
maintenance of tradition of, 6