THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



63 



Objectors who rely on the Constitution 

 seem to assume that the League plans 

 contemplate a permanent international 

 police force, constantly under command 

 of a Marshal Foch, who may order the 

 international army to enforce a judgment 

 or a compromise without the prelimina- 

 ries of declarations of war by the League 

 members. This is wholly gratuitous and 

 no plan justifies it. When force has to 

 be used, war will be begun and carried 

 on jointly, in the usual way. 



MAKING THE MONROE DOCTRINE 

 INTERNATIONAL 



The third objection is that it will im- 

 peril the Monroe Doctrine for us to enter 

 into such a League. The whole purpose 

 of the League is to suppress war and 

 prevent the oppression by war of the 

 smaller nations. The Monroe Doctrine 

 is to prevent the unjust making of war 

 against, and the overthrow of, the in- 

 dependent nations in the Western Hemi- 

 sphere by European or other foreign 

 powers. 



The League of Nations merely extends 

 the principle of the Monroe Doctrine to 

 the entire world. Instead of imperiling 

 it, it would strengthen the Monroe Doc- 

 trine, because in case of its violation the 

 obligations of the League would require 

 all the great powers to unite in the main- 

 tenance of the Monroe Doctrine. 



A violation of the Monroe Doctrine as 

 against the United States would in every 

 class of cases but one be a direct viola- 

 tion of the legal rights of one of the na- 

 tions of the Western Hemisphere. It 

 would be a case for the League > court, 

 brought by the assailed nation against its 

 aggressor. The judgment would be one 

 which the United States would have the 

 function to enforce, acting exactly as it 

 would in enforcing the Monroe Doctrine 

 independently. 



AN OBJECTION THAT HAS FRIGHTENED 

 MANY PEOPLE 



There is, perhaps, one class of cases 

 whcih would not be reached in this way, 

 and that is where a nation of the Western 

 Hemisphere would sell out its territory 

 or a part of it to a European or Asiatic 

 government. 



If this is a real danger, which may be 

 doubted, we can be sure that the great 

 powers would be quite willing to insert 

 in the treaty that the United States should 

 be given a right to object to such a sale. 

 Indeed, Colonel Roosevelt expressed the 

 view that the League of Nations would 

 be willing to adopt our Monroe Doctrine 

 as part of the principles of the League, 

 and I concur in this view. The state- 

 ments of Lord Robert Cecil, a spokesman 

 for the British Government on this sub- 

 ject, justify it. 



Again, the formidable plea is made 

 that by entering a League of Nations, 

 such as has been suggested, we are part- 

 ing with the sovereignty of the United 

 States as a nation. This has frightened 

 many people; but the objection is like so 

 many other objections. It is a mere con- 

 fusion of definition, and when analyzed 

 it ceases to be serious. 



What is sovereignty ? It is the right 

 of the people associated in government 

 to do what they please as a government. 

 It is the freedom of action of govern- 

 ments. It is the liberty of governments 

 in a community of nations. It is quite 

 analogous to the liberty of the individual. 



INTERNATIONAL LAW IS THE RULE LIMIT- 

 ING NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY 



What is the desirable liberty of the 

 individual? We describe it as liberty of 

 the individual regulated by law. W.hat 

 does that mean? It means complete 

 freedom of action of the individual lim- 

 ited by such legal restrictions as will 

 enable every other man in the same com- 

 munity to enjoy equal liberty. That is 

 what one branch of the law is for. It is 

 to regulate the rights and duties of the in- 

 dividuals, the one toward the other. It is 

 the impairment of the sovereignty of one 

 individual for the benefit of all the others, 

 so that all may enjoy equal sovereignty. 



So it is of governments, and nations. 

 and peoples. They are members of the 

 family of nations. International law is 

 the rule by which their sovereignty is 

 limited, so that, they may live together in 

 peace in the world. 



We do not propose to limit the free- 

 dom of action of a nation in the League 

 to Enforce Peace by anything more than 



