extremely jealous of their SOVEREIGNTY, which is the supreme power
claimed by every nation to form its own government and to manage
its own affairs without interference by other nations. It is this
that has prevented the development of anything like a real
international government that could control the conduct of
national governments, or that could require a nation to submit its
grievances to any judge other than itself. This has perhaps been
the chief weakness of the world community.

A LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Many people have long believed that the self-governing nations of
the world must sooner or later unite, in the interest of world
peace, in some kind of federation or league, with a central
organization to which all would agree to submit their differences.
The war made it seem even more necessary. Accordingly, the Peace
Conference at Versailles at the close of the war included in the
treaty of peace a Covenant (or constitution) for a League of
Nations. The treaty, including the Covenant, has been ratified
(March, 1920) by four of the five great nations associated against
Germany (France, England, Italy, and Japan; the United States
being the exception), besides several other nations. While the
President of the United States strongly advocated the treaty with
the Covenant, the Senate did not approve of its ratification.
Those in our country who opposed the Covenant did so for a variety
of reasons, but chief among them were: first, the fear that the
Covenant would cause us to depart from the principles laid down by
Washington and Monroe; and, second, the fear that the powers
conferred upon the international government would deprive our
national government of some of its sovereign powers. The friends