of a League of Nations" elaborated there has been formed under the stress of an unfinished war, in the face of an unrepentant foe, in the midst of conflicting national interests, and under intimidation by the presence of a wholly new enemy tending to destroy all responsible government. It is the work not of jurists building on solid foundations already laid, but of politicians holding a brief for particular interests or a personal theory. These conditions have prevented the dispassionate consideration of the fundamental problem of permanent international organization on the basis of International Law, for which no provision is made. The "League of Nations," although contemplating the preservation of peace by the creation of a defensive alliance and an imperial syndicate for the regulation of the world under the control of a small group of Great Powers, is nowhere pledged to the maintenance of International Law or to the recognition of the inherent rights of States. It provides for war, and lays down conditions on which it will be resorted to; but it does not provide for justice through the perfection and enforcement of law based upon agreement. What was needed to give effect to the work of the Hague Conferences was its further extension and a provision for applying and enforcing its results. The proposed League of Nations wholly disregards historic continuity, makes no reference to past achievements or provision for completing them, and simply takes us back to the conception of the preponderance of power. That which especially justifies these reflections is that the League of Nations, as it has been framed, does not correspond to our American traditions and ideals. On the contrary, it is in some respects an abandonment of them. How far this is true the reader may judge for himself. The aim of the writer has been, without prejudice, but with perfect freedom, to discuss the problems which the "League" raises as well as those which it attempts to solve. And this, it is believed, can be done the more freely because the idea of a “League," although with some evident misapprehensions, has been received in Europe as an American idea. The author is indebted to "The North American Review" for permission to use some of the papers which first appeared in that periodical. The fourth and fifth chapters are in substance two lectures delivered before the George Washington University. DAVID JAYNE HILL. I THE ENTENTE OF FREE NATIONS In every period of warfare since modern nations came into existence, there have been serious reflections upon the cost and the horrors of war which have culminated in schemes for preventing it altogether. Some of these have been merely abstract theories regarding the manner in which international conflicts could be obviated or rendered impossible; while others have been of a more pragmatic character, aiming to create in the realm of actuality a situation which would safeguard the interests of peace and possibly of justice. The Thirty Years' War, which was ended by the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, suggested to Emeric Crucé his "Nouveau Cynée," written during its progress in 1623, in which the Republic of Venice was proposed as a place where a permanent corps |