500.C114/44
The Minister in the Netherlands (Phillips) to the Secretary of
State
The
Hague, August 11,
1920.
[Received August 27.]
No. 237
Sir: Referring to my despatch No. 208, of July
26, 1920,13 transmitting
the final French text of the Agreement for the creation of a [Page 15] Permanent Court of International
Justice, I have the honor to enclose herewith one copy of the official
English text which I have only just received.14
As the Department is aware, the project was presented to the Council of
the League of Nations meeting at San Sebastian on July 30th.
Confidentially, I am informed that considerable discussion arose in the
Council as to certain articles of the project, especially Art. 34
dealing with the jurisdiction of the Court. The Council instructed M.
Léon Bourgeois to prepare, while keeping in touch with the other members
of the Council, a preliminary report on the draft prepared by the
Advisory Committee of Jurists; which report is to serve as a basis for
the final opinion of the Council. The Council also decided to send to
the Governments concerned the draft itself, with a covering letter—a
copy of which is enclosed herewith. It is to be noted that in this
letter to the various Governments the Council does not express any
opinion on the merits of the scheme “until they have had a full
opportunity of considering it.” At the same time they make certain
observations in the letter which will be of interest to the
Department.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure]
The Council of the League of
Nations to the Governments of the
States Members of the League
The Council of the League has the honour to communicate to the
Government the scheme presented by the International Committee of
eminent Jurists who were invited to submit plans for the
establishment of a Permanent Court of International Justice, and who
have recently concluded their deliberations at The Hague.
The Council do not propose to express any opinion on the merits of
the scheme until they have had a full opportunity of considering it.
But they permit themselves to accompany the documents with the
following observations.
The scheme has been arrived at after prolonged discussion by a most
competent tribunal. Its members represented widely different
national points of view. They all signed the report. Its fate has,
therefore, been very different from that of the plans for a Court of
Arbitral Justice, which were discussed without result in 1907.
Doubtless the agreement was not arrived at without difficulty.
Variety of opinions, even among the most competent experts, is
inevitable on a subject so perplexing and complicated. Some mutual
[Page 16] concessions are,
therefore, necessary if the failure of thirteen years ago is not to
be repeated. The Council would regard an irreconcilable difference
of opinion on the merits of the scheme as an international
misfortune of the gravest kind. It would mean that the League was
publicly compelled to admit its incapacity to carry out one of the
most important of the tasks which it was invited to perform. The
failure would be great, and probably irreparable; for if agreement
proves impossible under circumstances apparently so favourable, it
is hard to see how and when the task of securing it will be
successfully resumed. It is in the spirit indicated by these
observations that the Council on their part propose to examine the
project submitted to them by the Committee of Jurists; and they
trust that in the same spirit the Members of the League will deal
with this all important subject when the Council bring the
recommendations before the Assembly.
