WHO having communicated their full powers found in good and due form have AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

From the coming into force of the present Treaty the state of war will terminate. From that moment and subject to the provisions of this Treaty official relations with Germany, and with any of the German States, will be resumed by the Allied and Associated Powers.

Note to Preamble

This paragraph is to be read with the final clauses, which determine when the treaty came into force. After representatives of the American Commission To Negotiate Peace had ceased to be required in enemy countries and a trend toward peace relations began, the United States appointed "commissioners" at Vienna as of May 15, 1919; at Budapest, December 4, 1919; and at Berlin, November 4, 1919, though arrival was delayed until January 17, 1920 so as "not to unnecessarily irritate" the British and French. These commissioners were instructed not to undertake the customary diplomatic relations; for the instructions see Foreign Relations, 1919, 11, 244, 410.

The United States did not resume diplomatic relations with Austria, Germany, and Hungary until the entry into force of its treaties restoring friendly relations in 1921.

Bolivia severed diplomatic relations with Germany on April 13, 1917, and its ratification of the treaty of peace was included in the deposit of January 10, 1920, the procès-verbal of which brought the treaty into force. On July 20, 1921 (10 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 301) Bolivia and Germany executed a protocol for the resumption of diplomatic relations. Such a special provision was not deemed necessary by the other states which ratified the treaty but had only severed diplomatic relations, namely, Uruguay, whose severance of relations with Germany extended from October 7, 1917 to November 8, 1920, and Peru, from October 8, 1917 to November 9, 1920. Ecuador severed relations on December 9, 1917 but did not ratify the treaty and resumed diplomatic relations with Germany only on July 28, 1923.

PART I

THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE
OF NATIONS

[The vertical rule indicates treaty text.]

Notes to Part I, Articles 1 to 26

On May 9, 1919, two days after receiving the draft treaty, the German delegation transmitted to M. Clemenceau, the president of the peace conference, a scheme for a League of Nations set forth in 66 articles (Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, v, 563, vi, 765). The Allied and Associated Powers replied on May 22 that "the proposals of the Covenant are much more practical than those of the German Government", and they declined discussion until the League had been definitely constituted (ibid., v, 767).

The German delegation returned to the issue in its counterproposals of May 29 by offering to negotiate on the basis of the Covenant on condition that Germany was admitted to the League as a power with equal rights immediately on "signature" of the treaty (ibid., vi, 818). It also offered certain suggestions regarding economic matters which would "safeguard the complete equality of rights and reciprocity for all nations". If admitted to the League, Germany was prepared to agree to the conditions laid down in part V of the treaty regarding its military, naval, and air forces and especially to the abolition of universal military service, provided this signified "the initiation of a general limitation of the armaments of all nations". During the period of transition, Germany would need more than 100,000 men (Art. 160) for the maintenance of order, but it was prepared to dismantle its fortresses in the west and establish a neutral zone. "The highest and most precious object of the peace is to provide an assurance that this war has been the last of all wars . . . Germany is ready to do all that lies in its power to contribute to the attainment of this end."

In their reply of June 16, the Allies (the phrase is used for convenience, instead of the somewhat cumbersome "Allied and Associated Powers") stated that it had never been their intention that "Germany or any other power should be indefinitely excluded from the League of Nations" and that they would support the application for membership of "any State whose government shall have given clear proofs of its stability as well as of its intention to observe its

Notes to Part I, Articles 1 to 26-Continued

international obligations-particularly those obligations which arise out of the Treaty of Peace" (ibid., p. 940). In the case of Germany, "a definite test" would be necessary, the length of which would "largely depend upon the acts of the German Government". Finally, the Allies recognized that "the acceptance by Germany of the terms laid down for her own disarmament will facilitate and hasten the accomplishment of a general reduction of armaments; and they intend to open negotiations immediately with a view to the eventual adoption of a scheme of such general reduction”.

The Covenant of the League of Nations, which is also part I of the treaties of peace with Austria, Bulgaria, and Hungary, was an instrument independent of the treaty of peace with Germany after January 10, 1920, the date on which the treaty itself and the Covenant both entered into force. The incorporation of the Covenant in the treaties of peace insured that it should come into force as a part of them, but by the nature of the instrument, and particularly the stipulations of article 1 and of the Annex, all parties to the treaties of peace were not automatic members of the League of Nations and membership in the League of Nations was not identical with the signatories of the treaties. The parties of the first part to the treaty of peace with Germany were all included in the list of states eligible for original membership in the League of Nations, but Germany was not. Those which did not ratify the treaty might acquire conventional relationship with the Covenant by becoming members. Germany by its ratification of the treaty of peace was obligated by the terms of the Covenant toward all other parties to the treaty, non-reciprocally, whether or not they were members of the League of Nations.

In view of the independent life of the League of Nations under the Covenant, which is a voluminous study in itself, action and experience under it are not included here.

The treaty restoring friendly relations between the United States and Germany, signed at Berlin, August 25, 1921 and in force on November 11, 1921 with retroactive effect to July 2, 1921, stipulates in article II (2) "that the United States shall not be bound by the provisions of Part I of that Treaty [treaty of peace] nor by any provisions of that Treaty which relate to the Covenant of the League of Nations, nor shall the United States be bound by any action taken by the League of Nations or by the Council or by the Assembly thereof, unless the United States shall expressly give its

Notes to Part I, Articles 1 to 26-Continued

consent to such action". The Senate of the United States in its resolution of October 18, 1921 giving advice and consent to the ratification of the treaty restoring friendly relations stipulated "that the United States shall not be represented or participate in any body, agency or commission, nor shall any person represent the United States as a member of any body, agency or commission in which the United States is authorized to participate by this Treaty, unless and until an Act of Congress of the United States shall provide for such representation or participation".

Part I of the treaty of peace was not printed as an annex of the treaty restoring friendly relations with Germany by the Department of State in Treaty Series 658, nor in 42 Stat. 1939. The entire treaty of peace with Germany, as well as the treaties with Austria and Hungary, was printed as a separate appendix in the volume compiled under resolution of the Senate of August 19, 1921 (S. Doc. 348, 67th Cong., 4th sess., serial 8167, Treaties, Conventions, etc., 1910-23, III, 3329).

On April 18, 1946 the 21st session of the Assembly of the League of Nations adopted the following Resolution for the Dissolution of the League of Nations:

"The Assembly of the League of Nations,

"Considering that the Charter of the United Nations has created, for purposes of the same nature as those for which the League of Nations was established, an international organisation known as the United Nations to which all States may be admitted as Members on the conditions prescribed by the Charter and to which the great majority of the Members of the League already belong;

"Desiring to promote, so far as lies in its power, the continuation, development and success of international co-operation in the new form adopted by the United Nations;

"Considering that, since the new organisation has now commenced to exercise its functions, the League of Nations may be dissolved; and

"Considering that, under Article 3, paragraph 3, of the Covenant, the Assembly may deal at its meetings with any matter within the sphere of action of the League:

"Adopts the following resolution:

"Dissolution of the League of Nations

“1. (1) With effect from the day following the close of the present session of the Assembly, the League of Nations shall cease to exist except for the sole purpose of the liquidation of its affairs as provided in the present resolution.

"(2) The liquidation shall be effected as rapidly as possible and the date of its completion shall be notified to all the Members by the Board of Liquidation provided for in paragraph 2."

THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,

In order to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security

by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war,

by the prescription of open, just and honourable 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 organised peoples with one another,

Agree to this Covenant of the League of Nations.

Note to I, Preamble

The text of an amendment to the Covenant was determined by a resolution adopted by the Assembly. It was then embodied in a protocol which was transmitted to member states for ratification.

The protocol opened by the Assembly for signature by members of the League on September 30, 1938, when ratified, would revise the Preamble to read as follows:

"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 understanding 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,

"This Covenant has been adopted for the establishment of the League of Nations.”

ARTICLE 1.

[The paragraphs of the Covenant are numbered in accordance with a resolution of the Assembly adopted on September 27, 1926.]

1. The original Members of the League of Nations shall be those of the Signatories which are named in the Annex to this Covenant