Lecture delivered by Dr. Pedro Itriago Chacín on July 30, 1920, in the School of Political Science of the University of Caracas, marking the end of the course of study carried on by the students of the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Caracas, Venezuela.
Lecture delivered by Dr. Pedro Itriago Chacín on July 30, 1920, in the School of Political Science of the University of Caracas, marking the end of the course of study carried on by the students of the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Caracas, Venezuela.
Professor Sherwell:Students of the University of Georgetown:
We are pleased that you have had the opportunity to experience the affection of the Venezuelan Government and people for your illustrious country, a country admirable in every respect and especially because of the fact that when our nationalities began their lives, she was the stronghold of American rights.
Through a magnificent destiny, which you are loftily fulfilling, you proclaim yourselves the champions of a democracy whose models will be, on the American continent, amid glory common to us all, Washington and Bolívar; the one representing the equanimity of the great Saxon race, and the other embodying the dreams of progress, at times impatient, but always magnanimous, of that Latin soul which vibrates in our veins and inspires our conduct.
These two souls come into symbolical contact to-day,—and God grant that it be forever so!—in this intellectual communion of youthful students at the foot of our Ávila, students who may one day be the citizens of that future country announced by Rodó, which may then call itself by a single, glorious name—simply and grandly,—America, a country created not through political combinations or sordid calculations, nor through imperialistic and warlike expansions, but through community of interests and community of ideas; a country created through confraternity, supported by justice, and made everlasting through right.
Gentlemen:
The noblest edifice that has reared its ideal shield over the world is Law.
No institution created by mortal beings (by its grandeur, law has been thought divine, and indeed,jusandfaswere identical in their origin) answers more fully the higher aspirations of the human soul.
Man, who has lived in a hole in a rock, or on his native plains, under the roof of heaven, can build for his residence dwellings more or less sumptuous; for him a ray of a torrid sun is an abundance; when he loves or dreams he is satisfied with a moonbeam and is able to boast that he has destroyed darkness; man, who carries within himself the essential substance of all beings, the substance which, by its manifestations, is the synthesis of the world, and through which great silent men can live happily by themselves, may traverse distances with the wings of the condor and, at will, join his fellow-beings for pleasure or for labor; he inhabits palaces with Agrippa, partakes of banquets with Lucullus, and is carried with Cleopatra, in the bark of pleasure, the nuptial, dream-hued ship. * * * But is that all, the final purpose of his destiny? Is such perchance, the essential? Does that answer the cravings of his own soul and the conscience of humanity?
No; that is not the test of value, not even of progress. For in the face of such philosophy a thousand queries will ever rise to his lips. Is he free or not? Does he enjoy equality and, on his part, does he not tyrannize? Does he hold among his fellow-beings a place, great or humble, but a place, none the less, from which he can work out his own destiny and that of a group such as his family, his city, or his country? May he think, live, produce, build up a fortune and a home for himself, thus ennobling with a serene dignity his existence and finally perpetuating himself, through his ideas, his children, and his achievements? In order that we may always freely answer "yes," man has forged Law. And I repeat it, he has truly forged law because that process, though begun with man himself and continuing through all the ages to be his glory in history and for eternity, this science which he has produced is like those lofty structures which have exhausted the effort of one generation after another, their formidable architecture forever providing unfinished work for generations to come.
In that great total, one of the most modern and perhaps one of the noblest parts is International Law, whose subjects are not merely individuals, but the groups we call states.
When, in the midst of the dismay produced in our souls by the European war, I began, in 1917, my lectures on the History of International Law, I made an optimistic profession of faith, a profession of absolute faith in the efficacy of those principles of justice which must regulate the relations of peoples.
Permit me to repeat what I said on that occasion:
International Law is truly a triumph of reason. Applying to this subject a well-known saying spoken, however, with reference to broader fields, it is "human reason itself in so far as applied to the government of nations." For although some of its rules are obeyed crudely and instinctively as manifestations of social requirements in primitive groups, force, which is the negation of Right, has prevailed over those rules to such an extent that only through the supreme influence of religious ideas, which are all powerful in the infancy of social organizations, have they been applied to some extent in safeguarding rights such as the respect due to ambassadors, the inviolability of sacred truces and the burial of soldiers fallen on battlefields.
It was through an effort of reason, ever progressing and steadily receiving more enlightenment, that, with the passing of centuries, those standards which now impose unavoidable obligations on modern states have been established. The evolution has been harmonious in its changes, and reflects the different stages of civilization through which mankind has advanced.
Reason has striven to replace the reign of violence, the negation of thought, by effecting the progressive development of human society through the force of justice; and, hence it is that every day more perfect relations have been established among civilized countries through respect for the equality of all and through the acknowledgment of mutual individuality, which is in effect a consequence of the respect we demand for ourselves. In short, this advance rests on the realization of the dignity of man, a realization which, in this case, leads men logically to admit the sovereignty of the people and the sovereign independence of the state, which implies that each is free to organize as it seems fit in order to fulfil its destiny without foreign interference.
It is only too true that the present catastrophe which shook the world has given rise to the thought, the sad thought, that the work of centuries has failed; and truly the spectacle appals us with its magnitude. The leaders of humankind, who led the forward movement towards spiritual freedom, who had fostered congresses and conferences designed to draw men closer to one another and thus to settle their differences, who had established at The Hague a supreme Tribunal of Nations, have seen themselves compelled to adopt the very expedient which seemed forever repudiated because of universal condemnation.
England, prudent England, the model on which all free nations chose to shape their institutions and their lives; vigorous Germany, as learned as she is strong, whose power is established through the maintenance of that discipline and virile rule of life admired by Tacitus who proposed it to the decadent Romans as reproach since it could not serve as a model; Italy, our teacher in arts as well as in the science we profess, favored as she was with the subtle, deep and harmonious genius which made forever famous the schools of Proculus and Sabinus; France, admired and admirable France, alma mater of so many happy innovations and of so many generations of high thinkers, especially of that generation of a century ago, deemed heroic as Carlyle understood heroism, and which aroused by Bolívar translated idealism into action and immortalized the most transcendental moment in the history of these Americas;—Russia,—I shall refrain from mentioning Russia because a dark cloud has obscured for the great majority the spiritual strength of that people, weighed down with future problems but permeated with a sentimental and deep mysticism which some discovered when they grew to admire Tolstoy and Dostoievsky whom Enrico Ferri has compared to Dante,—all these nations and those they strongly influence, all these peoples who occupy so prominent a place in history, we see fanaticized by the fire of war, sowing death mercilessly, spreading ruin from one hemisphere to another and planting pessimism, if not despair, in one conscience after another. This, too, just when it seemed impossible that any of them, at the present stage of development, should need toengage in contest other than those through which life could be more secure and comfortable, physical welfare greater, and nations brought nearer the tranquil reign of the spirit.
But we must never lose sight of the fact that all this is but a crisis, one of those great convulsive crises of the moral organism, from which the concept of right and the necessity of employing the only formulas truly protective of equity and justice shall emerge more vigorous than ever.
After this great war, the desire for a lasting peace will be more intense, and the means to make that peace certain will be applied with greater energy.
These hopes, cherished by many of us during the struggle, we have seen synthesized in the Wilsonian concept and incorporated with the precision of a code in the Covenant of the League of Nations. Since the appearance of Christianity, only the Thirty-Years war terminating in its Congress of Westphalia, and the French Revolution, with its declaration of the rights of man (which Grégoire intended to supplement with a declaration of the rights of states), will leave on international law as deep a mark as the World War with its Covenant of the League of Nations.
A flight of eagles, but happily not of imperial eagles, crosses all borders; a magnanimous feeling of solidarity struggles to conquer sterile distrust, and the members of the human family begin to recognize each other. It seems as if we were approaching the realization of the generous idea of Cicero and Seneca; man is nowhere a foreigner; his true country is the universe. The dream of aMagna Civitas, the ideal city of humankind, is taking shape.
Wilson's plan tends to that end. We have seen that it is not new, but it is great. Among others, Sully and Henry IV, the Abbé Saint-Pierre and Rousseau, cherished this idea, which Voltaire, the skeptic, considered chimerical. Kant, the philosopher, used to say: "What we desire is a General Congress of Nations, the convening and duration of which would depend entirely upon the sovereign will of the several members of the league."
The lineage of statesmen, of dreamers, and of philosophers is a single and privileged moral descent. Prudent forethought, creative imagination and profound grasp of the supreme lawswhich regulate nature and man are crystallized in the souls of liberators. Bolívar also strove to establish an Assembly of Nations at the Isthmus of Panama. And it is worthy of notice that these nations in Bolívar's plan, as well as in the Covenant of the League of Nations, would be forced to obey the principles of International Law. The Congress, in his first project, was intended to be established somewhat rigidly, and, in that, too, Bolívar anticipated the ennobling of an idea, fostered by modern writers like Blunstchli, Dudley Field, Fiore, Pessoa (now President of Brazil), and which has been the subject of numerous international conferences.
What deep sadness must our great liberator have felt when in figurative language he compared his ineffective plan for a congress with the insane Greek of old who thought that standing on a rock, he could steer the ships passing on the sea!
The immediate genesis of the Covenant of the League of Nations is found in the famous Fourteen Points of President Wilson.
Some of them follow:
In the first, President Wilson proposes international agreements of peace entered into frankly and openly, and the obligation of proscribing secret international agreements of any kind in the future.In the second, he proposes the freedom of the seas in time of peace as well as in time of war, exclusive both of territorial waters and of seas which may be closed by international action with the purpose of carrying out international agreements.In the third, he proposes the suppression, as far as possible, of economic barriers, and the establishment of equal commercial conditions for the states which would accept the peace and join to maintain it.In the fourth, he proposes the reduction of armaments to the minimum limit compatible with the internal safety of each country.Lastly, in the fourteenth, he proposes the creation of a General Society of Nations to guarantee the territorial integrity and the political independence of the small as well as of the large states.
In the first, President Wilson proposes international agreements of peace entered into frankly and openly, and the obligation of proscribing secret international agreements of any kind in the future.
In the second, he proposes the freedom of the seas in time of peace as well as in time of war, exclusive both of territorial waters and of seas which may be closed by international action with the purpose of carrying out international agreements.
In the third, he proposes the suppression, as far as possible, of economic barriers, and the establishment of equal commercial conditions for the states which would accept the peace and join to maintain it.
In the fourth, he proposes the reduction of armaments to the minimum limit compatible with the internal safety of each country.
Lastly, in the fourteenth, he proposes the creation of a General Society of Nations to guarantee the territorial integrity and the political independence of the small as well as of the large states.
Certainly, this helmet of Mambrinus suffered numerous bruises, as happens to all generous dreams when they come into contact with selfishness or with the consuming breath of thepassions of the moment; let us have faith, however, in that saintly philosopher who teaches, on the contrary, that the perfect being is he who passes from understanding to reality, and let us hope that it will evolve toward superior forms.
Let us hope that such a helmet will not prove to be the shaving dish of a barber.
The purposes of the League are condensed in its admirable preamble:
"The High Contracting Parties,In order to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just and honorable relations between nations, by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among Governments, and by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one another," and so on.
"The High Contracting Parties,
In order to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just and honorable relations between nations, by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among Governments, and by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one another," and so on.
In order to realize these purposes, it is necessary to establish means which will enable nations to settle their differences without having recourse to war. It is necessary to reduce present armaments and to eliminate for the future this burden which weighs upon modern peoples as the hateful war tributes of antiquity, and which is nothing less than a resurrected form of slavery. In order to obtain this, the Council of the League is charged with the work of formulating a program for the reduction of armaments, based upon the inquiries and decisions made by the respective governments, and with the purpose of keeping under control the manufacture of ammunition.
Regarding the first point, a set of measures already established by international law is ordered, and strongly sanctioned by provisions of the Covenant.
The states between which disputes or conflicts may arise will have recourse to the Council or to the Assembly, or will submit their cases to arbitration. They are forbidden to resort to war until three months have elapsed after the decision of the Council or the Assembly or of the third state to which they may have recurred; all this with the purpose that the counsels of prudence, the strength of just decisions, and that the calming and tranquilizing action of time itself may have their effects on the irritated feelings of men.
In order to obtain its principal object, the Covenant also provides for the creation of a permanent Court of Arbitration, an institution which, with the economic sanctions established in the same Covenant, will be the most effective instrument of its civilizing action, for we know well that peace will never exist among men while justice is denied.
The project for the establishment of a permanent code of international character met at The Hague, and has always met, one formidable obstacle: How can all the states be represented in a body which must necessarily be small?
It is noted that the omission of some of them is considered as a flagrant violence of juridical equality and derogatory to the sovereignty of those states.
In the second meeting of the Council, held in London, this topic was carefully studied, and after a brilliant report by Bourgeois, it was agreed to submit the matter to a committee of prominent internationalists in order that they might devise means to obviate such difficulties as impeded the realization of the purpose. Among those international figures two South Americans were included: Clovis Bevilacqua and Dr. Drago, the name of the latter now being associated with sad memories, a man for whom Venezuela retains grateful and respectful affection.
Another project of the League is the organization of labor. Do you know any human beings more worthy of the consideration of the mighty and the pity of the world than the child, the woman and the workman who spends his strength in fruitful labor?
After having presented the more remote antecedents and the genesis of the Covenant of the League, as well as the ends it aims at and the means it follows to realize them, it only remains to say something of the working of the new organism of the international law created by the Covenant. In this I shall follow the Covenant itself:
MEMBERS OF THE LEAGUEThe members of the League are of two classes, the original members and those later incorporated.The original members are:1. The Allied and Associated Powers signatory of the Treaty of Peace.2. States invited, which may have acceded without reservations to the Covenant.Thirteen states, among them Venezuela, were invited, and all acceded. The incorporated members are:Any fully self-governing State, Dominion or Colony which may be admitted.Any member of the League may, after two years' notice of its intention so to do, withdraw from the League, provided that all its international obligations shall have been fulfilled at the time of its withdrawal.The Assembly is empowered to receive new members of the Society by a vote of two-thirds of its members.Any member guilty of non-fulfillment of the obligations established by the Covenant may be expelled from the League by the unanimous vote of all the members of the Society represented in the Council.ORGANS AND FUNCTIONSThe organs of the Association are:A. The Assembly;B. The Council.They will be assisted by a permanent Secretary.The Assembly will be composed of not more than three representatives for each member of the League, who will have the right to one vote only.The Assembly may deal at its meetings with any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world.The Council shall consist, at present, of representatives of the principal Allied and Associated Powers, together with representatives of four other members of the League, as follows: one representative of the United States, one of the British Empire, one of France, one of Italy and one of Japan; and four other members who, until new appointments are made by the Assembly, will be representatives of Belgium, Brazil, Spain and Greece.Since the Covenant of the League has not been approved by the Senate of the United States, that Power has not had the stated representation, and the meetings of the Council have taken place with the other eight members.The Assembly and the Council shall decide (as a rule) by the unanimous vote of all the members represented at the meeting.All matters of procedure (appointment of investigation committees, etc.) will be decided by a majority vote.The Secretary-General shall be appointed by the Council with the approval of the Assembly.The representatives of the Association shall enjoy diplomatic immunity. Their meetings, buildings, etc., shall be inviolable.The Council may select the seat of the League. For the present, the Covenant establishes that seat in the city of Geneva.A Military and Naval Commission shall be established to advise on military,naval, and aerial questions generally, and especially on the execution of the provisions of Articles 1 and 8, that is, regarding the Members of the League and the reduction of armaments.The Council is empowered to1. Prepare the plans for the reduction of armaments, in view of the investigations and decisions made by the several governments.2. Take steps with regard to the private manufacture of ammunition and war materials.The members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the League. The Council shall advise upon the means to assure guaranties for territorial integrity and independence. Any war or threat of war against any member of the League is a matter of concern to the whole League.SPHERE OF ACTION OF THE LEAGUEThe League, through its contractual character, establishes unavoidable obligations for the states which enter it. Accordingly, the remaining states shall be foreign to it, since it is well known that the conventions impose obligations only on the parties signing them or adhering to them.But the nature of this international organism itself prevents its being entirely so. The League, considering the ends at which it aims, could not limit its actions to the states forming it, even though those states may be, as they are, almost all the countries of the world. It is obvious that the League, on reducing its armaments, could not see, without concern, another state extraneous to it increasing its own armament.We have already seen that the Assembly has to take cognizance not only of all that is comprised in its field of action, but of all which may affect the peace of the world, and this gives it an unlimited sphere of action.In the event of a dispute between a member of the League and a state which is not a member of the League, the state not a member of the League shall be invited (among other measures to preserve peace) to accept the obligations of membership in the League for the purpose of such dispute.In general, regarding states not members of the League, the League shall endeavor to bring it about that they accept in their disputes the same juridical procedure as the members of the League, that is to say: mediation, arbitration, commissions of investigation, etc.; and the League may even apply the sanctions which the member states may incur for non-fulfillment of the Covenant, and which range from measures of economic isolation to acts of warfare.
MEMBERS OF THE LEAGUE
The members of the League are of two classes, the original members and those later incorporated.
The original members are:
1. The Allied and Associated Powers signatory of the Treaty of Peace.2. States invited, which may have acceded without reservations to the Covenant.
1. The Allied and Associated Powers signatory of the Treaty of Peace.
2. States invited, which may have acceded without reservations to the Covenant.
Thirteen states, among them Venezuela, were invited, and all acceded. The incorporated members are:
Any fully self-governing State, Dominion or Colony which may be admitted.
Any fully self-governing State, Dominion or Colony which may be admitted.
Any member of the League may, after two years' notice of its intention so to do, withdraw from the League, provided that all its international obligations shall have been fulfilled at the time of its withdrawal.
The Assembly is empowered to receive new members of the Society by a vote of two-thirds of its members.
Any member guilty of non-fulfillment of the obligations established by the Covenant may be expelled from the League by the unanimous vote of all the members of the Society represented in the Council.
The organs of the Association are:
They will be assisted by a permanent Secretary.
The Assembly will be composed of not more than three representatives for each member of the League, who will have the right to one vote only.
The Assembly may deal at its meetings with any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world.
The Council shall consist, at present, of representatives of the principal Allied and Associated Powers, together with representatives of four other members of the League, as follows: one representative of the United States, one of the British Empire, one of France, one of Italy and one of Japan; and four other members who, until new appointments are made by the Assembly, will be representatives of Belgium, Brazil, Spain and Greece.
Since the Covenant of the League has not been approved by the Senate of the United States, that Power has not had the stated representation, and the meetings of the Council have taken place with the other eight members.
The Assembly and the Council shall decide (as a rule) by the unanimous vote of all the members represented at the meeting.
All matters of procedure (appointment of investigation committees, etc.) will be decided by a majority vote.
The Secretary-General shall be appointed by the Council with the approval of the Assembly.
The representatives of the Association shall enjoy diplomatic immunity. Their meetings, buildings, etc., shall be inviolable.
The Council may select the seat of the League. For the present, the Covenant establishes that seat in the city of Geneva.
A Military and Naval Commission shall be established to advise on military,naval, and aerial questions generally, and especially on the execution of the provisions of Articles 1 and 8, that is, regarding the Members of the League and the reduction of armaments.
The Council is empowered to
1. Prepare the plans for the reduction of armaments, in view of the investigations and decisions made by the several governments.
2. Take steps with regard to the private manufacture of ammunition and war materials.
The members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the League. The Council shall advise upon the means to assure guaranties for territorial integrity and independence. Any war or threat of war against any member of the League is a matter of concern to the whole League.
The League, through its contractual character, establishes unavoidable obligations for the states which enter it. Accordingly, the remaining states shall be foreign to it, since it is well known that the conventions impose obligations only on the parties signing them or adhering to them.
But the nature of this international organism itself prevents its being entirely so. The League, considering the ends at which it aims, could not limit its actions to the states forming it, even though those states may be, as they are, almost all the countries of the world. It is obvious that the League, on reducing its armaments, could not see, without concern, another state extraneous to it increasing its own armament.
We have already seen that the Assembly has to take cognizance not only of all that is comprised in its field of action, but of all which may affect the peace of the world, and this gives it an unlimited sphere of action.
In the event of a dispute between a member of the League and a state which is not a member of the League, the state not a member of the League shall be invited (among other measures to preserve peace) to accept the obligations of membership in the League for the purpose of such dispute.
In general, regarding states not members of the League, the League shall endeavor to bring it about that they accept in their disputes the same juridical procedure as the members of the League, that is to say: mediation, arbitration, commissions of investigation, etc.; and the League may even apply the sanctions which the member states may incur for non-fulfillment of the Covenant, and which range from measures of economic isolation to acts of warfare.
A formalistic and narrow criterion alleges that international law is not law at all, since the three elements which make law tangible for all persons,—the legislator, the judge, and the executive, are lacking in it.
The Covenant of the League of Nations undertakes to presentall those personages. It offers all to us simultaneously, the legislatorpar excellence, the judge and the executor of all great decisions, in one and the same organ, namely the vigilant public opinion of humankind.
Here, in brief summary, as prepared for a lesson, is the Covenant of the League. If it fails to-day, it will reappear. That idea is immortal, and it will come back purified and more beautiful. The fact, now unquestionable, of economic solidarity must bring about political solidarity. Nations will no longer be able to attack and dismember each other without injuring themselves.
Solidarity and cooperation; diplomacy frank and open, and at the service of the peoples, not, as heretofore, a false art of courtiers and lackeys; permanent freedom for navigation and commerce; economic liberty; general disarmament; equality among states, the great as well as the small, these are the ideas expressed, with the conviction and the prestige of an apostle, by President Wilson and which the universal conscience of mankind, although it had known them before, has now taken up as a new gospel.
The thinkers of the French Revolution could well be proud of having proclaimed the right of man. To President Wilson will belong the glory of proclaiming the rights of peoples, because the League of Nations does not mean the denial of patriotism, the denial of country, but the glorification of this sublime concept, as the idea of country does not exclude the mother idea of family and home, which was and ever remains its necessary foundation. These are the links of a mystic chain, not of oppression but of salvation, of unity and harmony. Build honorable homes and you will have a great country; ennoble your country through virtue and you work for the world.
I thank you all, especially Dr. Sherwell, for having been so good as to honor with your presence this simple ceremony.