April 22d

The British want to make some changes even at this late hour in the Covenant when everyone has agreed to sign it with his John Hancock in its present form. They want to have the words “Members of the League” inserted instead of “States, Members,” etc.

Lord Robert Cecil writes that the change would merely correct a failure on the part of the drafting committee to express what was obviously the sense and purpose of the Commission.

“If all members (of the Committee) agree, it would not be necessary to hold another meeting of the Commission,” he suggests.

But Miller maintains it is not quite so simple as that. Of course the purpose of the proposal is to make the representatives of the British Dominions eligible to membership on the Council. Miller holds that this change is not merely a matter of drafting and that consequently it must be submitted to the whole Commission. The President shares Miller’s view, but he does not want to oppose the British, who have been so helpful to him throughout the more recent proceedings. The matter has hung fire for several days and now it is brought to head by a written inquiry from Sir Robert Borden (Canada). After mulling over the incident for several days, on May 6 Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau signed a memorandum which reads:

“Representatives of the self-governing Dominions may be named as members of the Council.”

Probably the President did not foresee the developments that would follow upon this incident. The rearrangement gave the British Empire six votes in contrast to our one. Perhaps the President was under the impression that in future controversies the Dominions might vote with America rather than with the Mother Country. It was doubtless fresh in his memory that a few days before, in a formal meeting of the Council of Ten, Hughes (Australia) had stated (although it was omitted from the record) that the next time Britain went to war “Australia would go in or stay out—as she thought best.”

Of course the six votes meant nothing, even if they could be controlled by Downing Street (by no means a certainty); for, with but unimportant exceptions, unanimity on all decisions was required in the Assembly and in the Council also. However, in the Covenant as presented to and approved by the Conference April 28th, the change desired by Cecil was inserted.¹