The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-18

amendment. our right to intervene diplo-
mstical1y TO protect the lives and prop
erty OF our nationals in other countries,
and our right to intervene and adopt
means and methods necessary to pro-
tect the people of our own borders from
the encroaohment OF robber bands from
adjacent unsettled countries shall re-
! main within the sole determination OF
our will and purpose or shall be sub
jected to the determination OF league
body.
81 must also request the attention Of
! the Senate to another provision Of the
newly vamped covenant Much deserved
criticism was urged against the hrst
draft of the covenant on the ground that
| II we adopted the plan therein proposed
we took from the Monroe Doctrine It's
life. thus leaving us no longer able to
control the destinies OF America. with
the consequent loss, perhaps forever, OF
/, for a century been ours
Seemingly to meet this objection
as we must assume II we are to give the
| negotiators credit for honesty-there has
been Incorporated in tho new covenant
provision reading as follows: Nothing In
! this covenant shall be deemed to affect
the validity Of International engagements.
gional understandings like the Monroe
Doctrine. for securing the maintenance
| OF peace Now for our purposes this
provision must, as matter Of grammati-
cal construction, be read as follows:
! Nothing in this covenant shall be
deemed to affect the validity of interna-
| tion engagements such as re-
sionai understandings, like the Monroe
Doctrine, for securing the maintenance
of peace
II am bound in all soberness to say
that the author of this language either
| had profound ignorance of what the
Monroe Doctrine Is or is determined to
| make out of 1t something It is not and
ought not to be. In either event the re-
suit Of the league provision Is the same
i II completely wipes out the doctrine as 1t
has been accepted and enforced for
hundred years. as my further observa-
| tions will show. In the first place, the
, doctrine Is not an international engage
| ment,' nor Is IT an understanding, re-
sional or otherwise-all of which are OF
necessity reached by international agree
ment. formal or informal, by and be-
| tween two or more nations There Is
nothing in the circumstances attending
the framing and proclamation of the
doctrine. nothing in the various discus
| sions and pronouncements concerning 1t.
which even remotely resembles the maxi
ing OF an international agreement It is
| no more such an agreement than Is the
procurement OF Washington against
entangling foreign alliances, or our ma
ton old practice OF neutrality, or our
labor protecting Chinese exclusion. or
our protective tariff. or our regulation of
| immigration.
Loss of Power Seen.
| "Tha Nonrna DoctrIpa ia and ~ IL is
| to perform the service It has heretofore
| rendered. must continue TO be merely
| olicy as are all those others have named.
| Its precise character, the extent, method
and time OF its application, the means Of
| compelling its observance. all are mat
ters Of our high and uncontrolled will
and sovereign prerogative. We, the
United States, cannot answer to any one
else in respect of II. We use II when,
as and to the extent We needH. There
can be no Limitation upon 1t except our
| requirements. our will and our force of
arms. Whatever security we may need
| within Its purview It must give IL we
| ask It.
But II We embody this provision in
the league the Monroe Doctrine will
cease to be a policy and It will become
in truth a formal agreement. Thereaf-
ter others besides ourselves will have a
voice as to IT; not We alone, but the
league must determine the meaning and
scope of this regional understanding"
must pass upon the occasion and extent
Of its use and the means of its enforce
ment, just as the league will pass upon
any other circumstances whatever af-
fecting International relations which
threaten TO disrupt either the peace or
the good understanding between nations
upon which peace depends.
| The covenant adopted we stand
shorn OF this powerful means OF de-
fence not only for ourselves but for our
sister republics of the whole hemisphere.
That 1 may not be thought to be taking
a pretudlced view OF this matter l shall
take the time OF the Senate again to
call its attention TO the official COM
mentary OF the British mission at Paris
upon this provision.
| This commentary states:
| Article XXL. makes il clear that
the covenant Is not intended to abrogate
or weaken any other agreements so long
as they are consistent with its own
terms, into which the members of the
League may have entered or may enter
hereafter for the further assurance of
peace. Such agreements would include
special treaties for compulsory arbitra-
ton and military coventons that are
genuinely defensive. The Monroe Doc
trine and similar understandings are
put in the same category. They have
shown themselves in history 10 be not
instruments OF national ambitions but
guarantees of peace.
1.-THE origin OF the Monroe Doctrine
is well known. II was proclaimed In
1923 to prevent America becoming a
theatre for the intrigues OF European
absolut.sm. At first principle of
American foreign policy. it has become
an international understanding, and It
is not illegitimate for the people of the
United States to ask that the covenant
should recognize this fact In It's es-
sence ii is consistent with the spirit of
the covenant. and indeed the principles
OF the league, as expressed in Article X.
represent the extension OF the whole
world OF the principles OF the doctrine
while. should any dispute as to the
meaning OF the latter ever arise between
America and European Powers, the
league Is there TO settle it
| Ola System Prevails.
! But the British Mission is not alone
in understanding that this will be the eff
feet of the league upon the Monroe Doc
trine Other British writer's and authori-
ties declare the article destroys the Mon
roe Doctrine by sedefning II. thus maxi
ing the covenant recognize the doctrIne
merely for what II is not. International
engagements and international under
standings are terms or Euronaap dtD1oo,