Albert Thomas, a man who has given abundant proof of his practical
experience and actual talents, formerly the French Minister of
Munitions, depicts the League of Nations:
Let us suppose [he wrote on the twenty-fifth of December,
1917], as the mathematicians say, that the problem is
solved. Let us suppose that the society of nations, made up
of all the nations, had been created by common accord about
the year 1910 or 1912. What would it have accomplished?
After the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the
Hague Tribunal, or perhaps the Washington Tribunal, would
have made inquiry into the conditions of the murder. It
would have taken certain steps. And if Austria, still
dissatisfied, had invaded Serbia for the sake of revenge or
to give scope to her ambitious designs, if Germany had
joined with her in this, then all the other allied nations,
in the performance of their duty, would have entered into a
war against the central powers in order to force them to
respect the liberties and the integrity of little Serbia.
For there can be no rule without sanction therefore. No
international law is possible if there does not exist at the
service of this law the "organized force that is superior to
that of any nation or to that of any alliance of nations" of
which President Wilson speaks.
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