Читать книгу The Geneva Protocol - David Hunter Miller - Страница 7

The Covenant of the League of Nations[1] lays down the principle that national armaments should be reduced to the lowest point consistent with national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations.

Thus, in the Covenant, the problem of disarmament[2] and the problem of security are viewed as correlative problems. Their study has gone on in the League of Nations since its organization. During this same period there has been widespread and increasing public interest in the matter.

The theory of the Treaties of Peace was that the disarmament of Germany and her allies was preliminary to a general reduction of armaments the world over.[3] Except as the result of the Washington Conference, and by that to only a very limited extent, there has been almost no reduction or limitation of armaments by international agreement since the war.[4] Such lessening of armaments as has taken place has been by voluntary national action.

The study of these questions during the last few years has brought about a much clearer understanding of them, both in the minds of statesmen and generally; and the various proposals that have been made have been the subject of detailed and elaborate criticism from all sides.

The latest of these proposals is the paper which is called The Protocol of Geneva.[5] The Protocol of Geneva is, however, much more than a proposal. It has the active support of a considerable number of Governments.[6] It was unanimously recommended for acceptance by the Fifth Assembly of the League of Nations. It deserves the serious attention of all thoughtful minds.

The object of the Protocol of Geneva cannot be better stated than in the words of its authors:[7]

"to facilitate the reduction and limitation of armaments provided for in Article 8 of the Covenant of the League of Nations by guaranteeing the security of States through the development of methods for the pacific settlement of all international disputes and the effective condemnation of aggressive war."

While this Protocol is, and doubtless always will be, called "The Protocol of Geneva," its official name is "Protocol for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes."[8]

[1] Article 8. The text of the Covenant is Annex A, p. 117.

[2] Those who criticize the use of the word "disarmament" as meaning a reduction or limitation of armaments, should consult the dictionaries. The Standard Dictionary gives the following definition:

"The act of disarming; especially, the reduction of a military or naval establishment to a peace footing."

The Century Dictionary gives this:

"The act of disarming; the reduction of military and naval forces from a war to a peace footing; as 'a general disarmament is much to be desired.'"

The Century Dictionary also gives the following quotation as an instance from Lowe's Life of Bismarck:

"He (Napoleon) in a fit of irresolution broached in Berlin the question of mutual disarmament."

[3] See, for example, the preamble to the Military, Naval and Air Clauses of the Treaty of Versailles: "In order to render possible the initiation of a general limitation of the armaments of all nations, Germany undertakes strictly to observe the military, naval and air clauses which follow."

[4] The Treaty of Lausanne (A. J. I. L., Vol. XVIII, Supp., pp. 58, 64) with its provisions for demilitarized zones, etc., and the Convention for the Limitation of Armaments in Central America of February 7, 1923 (A. J. I. L., Vol. XVII, Supp. 1923, pp. 114, et seq.), are to be noted in this regard.

[5] For the text in French and English, see Annex B, p. 132.

[6] Sixteen States have signed the Protocol and it has been ratified by Czechoslovakia.

[7] See Report to the Fifth Assembly, Annex C, p. 156, at p. 164. This Report of MM. Benes and Politis is a notable document, worthy of the ability and learning of the two Rapporteurs.

[8] It is herein generally called "the Protocol."