The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-16
BOURGEOIS GIVES FRANCES VIEWS ON
 LEAGUE OF NATIONS
By Associated Press

By Associated Press
 Paris, February 15.-In present.
 ing the views of France regarding
 the covenant of the league of na-
 tions at yesterdays pienary session
 of the peace conference, Leon Bour-
 geois, French representative on the
 commission which framed the
 covenant, spoks as follows;
 T rise to express the deep satisfac- ton of all, and of France more than any other country, because she is among the countries who have most suffered, to see the unity of our wills and our hearts in passionate ad- hesion to the principles of the league of nations. That act of faith we shall do in spirit of cordiality and good will that has been that of the commit tee. Under the eminent chairmanship of President Wilson the committee has worked with all their hearts to attain this great object.
 Lord Robert Cecil has said we now present to the conference and to the world the result of our work, but we do not present it as something that is
 
 est effort, to be discussed and to be ex- an.ined, not only by the conference but the public opinion of the world
 We are unanimous in our opinion that this scheme must be presented to the world, and it resulted from our de- Alterations.
 'We must preserve the character of unanimityf which it's note has given it. We still retain our rights when further discussions take place to state more definitely our views on some de- tails. Signor Orlando has said how difficult it seemed at the beginning to coneiliate two apparently contradic- tory principles-that or the sovereignty of nations, and that of the limitations that nations must accept in order to secure the reign of right and justice.
 That conciliation has taken place without effort and we have demon strated movement, as Signor Orlando said, by walking.
 TO PREVENT WAR
 ''We rise to prevent a renewal of a war like that which we have just seen; we rise at the appeal of all those who have fallen to spare their offspring the renewal of such an ordeal. We are per suaded that no war in the future can be limited to a small area. The interde- pendence of the different parts and diff
 
 such that no conflict can be limited. 1t is that the whole world may keep itself fl pm danger that we today have ordained that right and justice must be the basis of settlement in all the confer x encey. In the view of just people there are ao small and no great states. All are and all will be equal before the prin- ciple of international justice, and in the tribunal that will give the decisions the judges will sit not as the representa- lives of one particular nation but as the representatives of international right.
 This is principle to which we are particularly attached. All the states in eonsenting to submit to international justice take at the same time definite pledge to guarantee to each other the integrity of their territories as estab- lshed by the settlement of the present peace treaty, and also to guarantee their political independence against future agt gression. This is the object of our scheme. hope the means which are sug- gested by it will allow us to attain our object
 BOUND TO TRUCE
 eve have established certain number of judicial principles and, international organizations binding the states together. binding them to common development would be impossible. The organizations, the creation of which is provided for in the last articles of the covenant, are sim liar to some which have existed already but which were scattered through vari- ous parts of the world and which had never been brought together to form part of the common body of humanity. The foundation now is laid and we are cer- tain that the organizations will be multi piled and will help humanity more and 7 pfc to attain it's common aims.
 { five have been unanimous in pro-, ip1e ar w felt the force of these principles so much that we have no doubt that a , strong light will penetrate even into the darkest parts that the light ra- diating from these principles will lind it's way into lands that seem to be the least open to 1t.
 But it is not enough to proclaim such great principles. We must or ganize a system of guarantee and a system of action. both Judicial and practical. The plan laid down is clear and simple one. There is a coun- cil where all the states are represent cd equally, each having only one vote, and there is an executive committee which is constituted on a different principle. But even in this case. where it has been found necessary for pur- poses of action to give five votes 10 the larger powers, the principle or equality has been secured by giving as much as four votes, to the smaller states Respect for the decision given by that body will be assured by defi- nite rules and violation of which shall be considered as an act of war against all the contracting states. If one state--it may be the smallest and most remote of all the states-is attacked without Justification. then the whole of the league of nations is being at tackled and will resist.
 MUST GO FURTHER "But we must go further. In order to secure the execution of interna tional sentences there must be,sa limitation of armaments. This has been the wish of the-world for a great many years. What was formerly so difficult has to- day become possible Our victory has made it possible. because it has enabled us to disarm the barbaric force that was in the way of such improvement. SThat the limitation. must be such that no state can be capable Of pre- vailing against the will of the league of nations but at the same time each state should be strong enough to con tribute, to the force that will enable the league of nations to impose its will There has been unanimity upon all these points
 "There are one or two points upon which I wish particularly to insist, because they are connected with dan gers that may be of special moment to some of us. dangers that may arise not equal for all.
 There are special dangers for coun-