PEACE TREATY ALL-INCLUSIVE

With its 80,000 words, presented in less than six months from the armistice the peace treaty is the longest and will probably be concluded in the shortest time of any comparable treaty in modern times. Treaties with which comparison is suggested are those of Westphalia, signed in 1648 after seven years deliberation, those of Utrecht signed in 1713, eighteen months after the preliminaries, and that of Vienna signed June 9, 1815, fourteen months after the first capitulation of Napoleon but while the opposing forces were gathering for the final struggle at Waterloo.

Of the above, the present treaty is the first to include, extra-European powers. It is also the first general treaty in which English is an official language, a position it shares with French, which was the sole official version of the treaty of Vienna, while the treaties of Westphalia and Utrecht were in Latin.

Remodels International Structure.

There has never been a treaty more radical in its remodelling of international society. The Peace of Westphalia gave the coup de grace to the idea of a united Europe in the Holy Roman Empire and inaugurated an age of sovereign territorial states. The Peace of Utrecht inaugurated an age of commercial and colonial rivalry by express recognition of the principle of the balance of power. The Treaty of Vienna sought to establish a concert of Europe, but with recognition of dynastic interests, it ignored the rising tide of nationalism and democracy. It remained for the present treaty to recognize cultural and economic considerations and self-determination in redefining boundaries; to substitute co-operation for rivalry by placing important ports and undeveloped regions under international government or trusteeship; by co-ordinating the international administration of world utilities, and by providing for international consideration of labor and social problems; and to cement the structure and provide the future development by the political organization of the world through the covenants and institutions of the League of Nations.

Adequate Military Provisions.

From the military standpoint, comparison with the treaty of Frankfort ending the war of 1870 is suggested. The wrongs committed by Germany at that time are righted. Germany admits defeat and submits to the loss of all her colonies, one-fifth of her territory in Europe and conditions designed to render her militarily helpless in the future. She also admits responsibility for the war and liability to make full reparation. The legal rights of inhabitants in occupied regions and the provisions of international law relating to the apportionment of public debt and the revival of pre-war treaties are recognized. Execution of the treaty is guaranteed by the League of Nations, supplemented by military conditions.

Details Left to Tribunals.

Long as the treaty is, it deals with numerous questions only in outline. It could never have been completed in so short a time had not detailed determination of many matters been left to technical commissions and tribunals established to give impartial decisions after hearing and investigation.

Doubtless many will not be satisfied with particular clauses of the document; viewing it as a whole, however, with its ratification, a long step will be made toward establishing "the reign of law, based on the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind."