Authors: Frank Moorhouse
Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory.
Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage that the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience or religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms traffic, and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishmennt of fortifications or military and naval bases and of military training of the natives for other than police purposes and the defence of territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of other Members of the League.
There are territories, such as South-West Africa and certain of the South Pacific Islands, which, owing to the sparseness of their population, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilisation, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the Mandatory, and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory, subject to the safeguards above mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population.
In every case of mandate, the Mandatory shall render to the Coun
cil an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge.
The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory shall, if not previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, be explicitly defined in each case by the Council.
A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates.
(The collapse of the Central Powers and Russia, together with the strain throughout the War, led in 1919 to something like a European debacle. Sections of old empires and kingdoms had shot off and floated pilotless. Were all these to be regarded as booty for the victors, to be the objects of a scramble now and a constant cause for wrangle through the ages? To a thoughtful student of the centuries-old growth of the British Empire, to a Briton or a man from the Dominions, of strong imperial views, it would seem but a concrete recognition of a commonplace of our imperial doctrine, in that it took from us the theory that our power was but a trust administered in the interest of those we have been called to rule.)
ARTICLE XXIII
Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international conventions existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the Members of the League
(
a
) will endeavour to secure and maintain fair and humane conditions of labour for men, women, and children, both in their own countries and in all countries to which their commercial and industrial relations extend, and for that purpose will establish and maintain the necessary international organisations;
(
b
) will undertake to secure just treatment of the native inhabitants of territories under their control;
(
c
) will entrust the League with the general supervision over the execution of agreements with regard to the traffic in women and children, and the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs;
(
d
) will entrust the League with the general supervision of the trade in arms and ammunitions with the countries in which the control of this traffic is necessary in the common interests;
(
e
) will make provision to secure and maintain freedom of communications and of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of all Members of the League. In this connection, the special necessities of the regions devastated during the War of 1914â18 shall be borne in mind;
(
f
) will endeavour to take steps in matters of international concern for the prevention and control of disease.
ARTICLE XXIV
There shall be placed under the direction of the League all international bureaux already established by general treaties if the parties to such treaties consent. All such international bureaux and all commissions for the regulation of matters of international interest hereafter constituted shall be placed under the direction of the League.
In all matters of international interest which are regulated by general conventions but which are not placed under the control of international bureaux or commissions, the Secretariat of the League shall, subject to the consent of the Council and if desired by the parties, collect and distribute all relevant information and shall render any other assistance which may be necessary or desirable.
The Council may include as part of the expenses of the Secretariat the expenses of any bureau or commission which is placed under the direction of the League.
ARTICLE XXV
The Members of the League agree to encourage and promote the establishment and cooperation of duly authorised voluntary national Red Cross organisations having as purposes the improvement of health, the prevention of disease, and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world.
ARTICLE XXVI
Amendments to this Covenant will take effect when ratified by the Members of the League whose Representatives compose the Council and by a majority of the Members of the League whose Representatives compose the Assembly.
No such amendment shall bind any Member of the League which signifies its dissent therefrom, but in that case it shall cease to be a Member of the League.
(There is a chance that the mass of men may rally to a constructive Internationalism which preserves and not destroys the tradition of the nation State. It is wise neither to talk, nor to pitch our hopes, too high. The new diplomacy is bounded with the same limits as the old. The men who will serve the new diplomacy are certainly not wiser than the men who served the old; they certainly have less experience of international affairs. Capitalist greed and mob ignorance have at times informed the foreign policy of states ever since man gave way to his gregarious instinct. The old Chancelleries were, in the last resort, the servants of the state, alike in monarchies and in republics. The Geneva delegates will find themselves the same. They will only have rather better instruments to work with. To sum up in a sentence, the nations have pledged themselves not to go to war without waiting for reason to have its chance.)
ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, British Empire (Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa), China, Cuba, Czecho-Slovakia, Ecuador, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hedjaz, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Serb-Croat-Slovene State, Siam, United States of America (signatory of the Treaty of Peace but never formally seated in the League), Uruguay.
STATES INVITED TO ACCEDE TO THE COVENANT
Argentine Republic, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Persia, Salvador, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela.
A
TTOLICO
*
, P
ROFESSOR
B
ERNARDO
, Italian, Political section.
A
VENOL
*
, J
OSEPH
, French, Deputy Secretary-General (1920â32), Secretary-General (1932â40).
B
AGE
*
, F
REDA
(1883â1970), lecturer in biology at University of Queensland and then Principal of Women's College, Australian delegate to League of Nations Assembly 1926 and 1938.
B
AILEY
, C
AROLINE
, South African, clerk in Précis-writing, and would-be author.
B
ARTOU
, Swiss, Under Secretary-General.
B
AUER
*
, G
EORGE
, American, executive officer of the League of Nations. Non-Partisan Association which campaigned to get the US into the League.
B
ENES
*
, D
R
E
DUARD
, President of Czechoslovakia at the time of the Munich agreement and highly respected delegate of the League.
B
ERRY
, E
DITH
C
AMPBELL
, Australian, member of Secretariat.
B
OCHUT
*
, night watchman of the Palais Wilson.
B
RIAND
, A
RISTIDE
, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of France, great supporter of the League of Nations, received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1926. Died in 1932.
B
UTLER
*
, S
IR
G
EOFFREY
KBE, MA Fellow, Librarian and Lecturer in International Law and Diplomacy of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
B
UXTON
*
, A
NTHONY
, English, personal assistant to Sir Eric Drummond.
C
ECIL
*
, L
ORD
R
OBERT
, member of House of Commons, sometime member of cabinet, dedicated British proponent of the idea of a League of Nations, frequent member of British delegation, helped draft the Covenant.
C
HAIES
*
, R
ACHEL
, Rumanian, journalist for RADOR press agency.
C
LÃRAMBAULT
*
, G. G., French psychiatrist famous for his lectures on drapery and clothing at the Ãcole des Beaux-Arts, and for his collection of 40,000 photographs of draped costumes.
C
OLBAN
*
, E
RIC
, Norwegian, Minorities section.
C
OLUM
*
, M
ARY
, American journalist and friend of James Joyce.
C
OMERT
*
, P
IERRE
, French, Director of Information section.
C
OOPER
, C
LAUDE
, South African, Edith's immediate superior.
C
ROWDY
*
, D
AME
R
ACHEL
(1884â1964), English, Head of Social Questions section from 1919 to 1930 (this section changed its name a few times over the years). Dame Rachel was one of the first professional social workers and had a distinguished record during the First World War behind the front lines as Commandant of the Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD) for which she was made a Dame of the British Empire. She was never officially made Director of the section but she was the only woman who headed a section during the League, although for a time Florence Wilson was in charge of the library and Nancy Williams was in charge of personnel.
C
URZON
*
, G
EORGE
N
ATHANIEL
(1859â1925), Foreign Minister of UK, and Viceroy of India. He represented the UK at the first meeting of the League Council.
C
USHENDEN
*
, L
ORD
, British member of Cabinet, led 1928 delegation to the League.
D
ICKINSON
*
, A
NNIE
, English, ran a workshop-school in Yugoslavia for war orphans.
D
ICKINSON
*
, S
IR
W
ILLOUGHBY
, British campaigner for League of Nations.
D
IXON
*
, G
ERTRUDE
, Irish, editor of the
Official Journal
of the League.
D
OLE
, R
OBERT
, English, journalist for the London
Telegraph
.
D
RUMMOND
*
, S
IR
E
RIC
, English, Secretary-General (1919â22) was born in 1876, a member of a prominent Catholic family, educated at Eton, entered the Foreign Office. Was successively private secretary to Asquith as Prime Minister, and to Lord Grey and Balfour as Foreign Secretaries. He accompanied Balfour on his American visit in 1917 and
was Lord Grey's secretary at the 1920 Peace Conference. After retiring from the League he became British ambassador to Italy.
D
UFOUR
-F
ERONCE
*
, F. A., German, Director of the International Cooperation section.
D
UPONT
, Swiss, Chef de Securité at the Hôtel Richemond and later at the Hôtel Metropole.
F
IGGIS
*
, M
ISS
P., MBE, Irish, assistant to Dame Rachel Crowdy.
F
OLLETT
, B
ERNARD
, Swiss, owner-manager of the Molly Club, Geneva.
F
ORSTALL
*
, J
AMES
J
ACKSON
, investor, friend of the League.
G
ALTON
*
, F
RANCIS
, British founder of science of genetics who together with Florence Nightingale created the eugenicist movement.
H
OWARD
*
, M
ISS
J. âT
IGER
', English, private secretary to Sir Eric Drummond.
H
UNEEUS
, Deputy President in the Azerbaijani government-in-exile.
H
USTON
*
, H. R., American, Internal Services.
I
NGERSOLL
*
, C
OLONEL
R
OBERT
G
REEN
(1833â99), lawyer, Attorney-General Illinois, friend of Mark Twain and Walt Whitman, campaigner against religion and for liberal causes.
J
ACKLIN
*
, S., South African, Financial section.
J
EANNE
, French, Intellectual Cooperation section.
J
EROME
, American, horn player with Eddie South's Alabamians.
J
OSHI
, A
RUN
, Indian, doctor in Health section.
J
ULES
, Russian, Internal Administration, messenger.
K
ELEN
*
, E
MERY
, Hungarian, caricaturist world famous in the 1920s and 1930s for his cartoons of the League.
K
ENNEDY
, M
R
, American, associate of Captain Strongbow.
L
ANGER
, S
OPHIE
, English, International Labour Organisation.
L
ATHAM
*
, J
OHN
, Australian (1877â1964) one-time deputy Prime Minister, Minister for External Affairs, Federal Attorney-General, several times delegate to the League of Nations Assembly, became Chief Justice of the High Court in 1935. First President of League of Nations Union in Australia.
L
IVERRIGHT
, H
OWARD
, Austrian, Translating section.
L
LOYD
*
, F. I., English, Building Services.
M
ALLET
*
, S
IR
B
ERNARD
, former Registrar-General for England and Wales, active in the Eugenics Society.
M
ANTOUX
*
, P
AUL
, French, Political section.
M
ASARYK
*
, T
HOMAS
, Czech, diplomat, one of the founders of Czechoslovakia.
M
C
D
OWELL
, G
EORGE
, Australian, businessman.
M
C
G
EACHY
*
, M
ARY
, Canadian, Information section. Became the first woman appointed to the British diplomatic service. Served with UNRRA following World War II. Executive of the International Council of Women.
M
C
K
INNON
W
OOD
*
, H., English, Legal section.
M
ERRIDALE
*
, C
HRISTINA
, American, member of the Expatriates Club of Geneva.
M
ILLER
*
, D
AVID
H
UNTER
, American, adviser to the US delegation, co-author of the discussion draft of the Covenant used at the 1920 Peace Conference.
M
ONNET
*
, J
EAN
, French Under Secretary in charge of Internal Administration until the appointment of Marquis Paulucci.
N
ANSEN
*
, D
R
F
RIDTJOF
, Norwegian, famous Arctic explorer, first Commissioner of Refugees, created the Nansen passport for stateless people.
N
ICOLSON
*
, H
AROLD
, British diplomat and writer, attended Paris Peace Conference, participated in early days of the League.
P
AULUCCI
*
, M
ARQUIS
D
I
C
ALBOLI
B
ARONE
, Italian, Under Secretary-General, first appointment from Mussolini's regime.
P
EARSON
*
, K
ARL
(1857â1936), mathematician, first Galton Professor of National Eugenics (1911) at the University of London and at University College. In his book
The Grammar of Science
, he attempted to apply scientific training to social questions. Considered âthe father of statistics'.
R
APPARD
*
, W
ILLIAM
, Swiss, Director Mandates section (1920â25) delegate, diplomat.
R
ICHIE
*
, A
LISON
, South African, typist, author of
The Peacemakers
, Hogarth Press (1928).
R
OSTING
, Italian, Internal Services.
S
AINTSBURY
*
, G
EORGE
(1845â1933), in his day a very well-known newspaper book reviewer, held Chair of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, known as the âking of critics'.
S
ANGER
*
, M
ARGARET
(1883â1966), American birth-control reformer, teacher, nurse, argued for women's right to control the size of their families. Opened first birth control clinic in US.
S
ATOW
*
, S
IR
E
RIC
, British barrister and diplomat, author of
A Guide to Diplomatic Practice
(1917).
S
HEARER
*
, W
ILLIAM
B., American, arms lobbyist, Geneva.
S
OUTH
*
, E
DDIE
(1904â62), American, jazz musician, toured Europe with the Alabamians in the 1920s, child prodigy on violin, educated Illinois College of Music.
S
TRESEMANN
*
, G
USTAV
, German Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Chancellor, who negotiated the entry of Germany into the League of Nations. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926 with Briand. He died in 1930.
S
TRONGBOW
, A
THENA
, wife of Captain Strongbow.
S
TRONGBOW
, C
APTAIN
, American, adventurer, internationalist.
S
WANWICK
*
, H
ELENA
M
ARIA
, English, several times UK delegate to Assembly, editor of Foreign Affairs, activist in the Union for Democratic Control.
S
WEETSER
*
, A
RTHUR
, American, Information section, informally responsible for League relations with the United States.
T
RAVERS
, F
LORENCE
, Canadian, bookkeeper Finance.
T
REITSCHKE
*
, H
ENRICK VON
, German historian, advocated power politics.