Page:The League of Nations and the coming rule of law.djvu/10

 keep them in view. They deal very little with internal regulation; they are a first draft of the memorandum rather than of the articles, if one may borrow the language of company law.

First in place and importance comes acknowledgement—meaning formal and recorded acknowledgement—of the principle of settling disputes by peaceable means as binding on all civilized nations. As to the means, Lord Parker takes a rather peculiar line; he would postpone the question of a standing judicial court as involving excessive difficulties in settling the representation of different nations, constituting the tribunal so as to exclude any risk of partiality, and the like, neither does he propose to compel reference to the existing tribunal of The Hague. Apparently Lord Parker would have the League say to its members: 'It may be a long time before we can agree on the frame of a permanent court of justice among nations. For the present you may refer disputes to The Hague, or to any agreed arbitrator you please, or you may provide a standing machinery by special treaties between any two or more of you; but in one way or another you must all bind yourselves to seek a peaceable settlement, and seek it in good faith. That is the fundamental condition of membership.'

I do not see why Lord Parker's way should not be a very good way, and I think it would work out to the general adoption of not more than one or two