Conference of Paris

Still more vexatious to the Peace Conference, perhaps, was the situation that developed in Hungary after the establishment of a Bolshevist regime under Bela Kun and the conflict between Hungary and Rumania. (See HUNGARY, History.) Other matters to distract the Supreme Council of the Peace Conference from its major task of peace-making were the sharp controversies between Czechoslovakia and Poland over Teschen and between Austria and Yugoslavia over Klagenfurt. The situation in Russia caused much discussion during the first days. Decision was reached on Jan. 22 that all the Russian factions should be summoned into consultation on the island of Prinkipo, in order to determine who was to be responsible for Russian in terests at the Peace Conference. But nothing came of the effort. Neither the old Tsarist order, the revolutionary Government of Kerensky, nor the Bolshevist regime of Lenin were represented at the Peace Conference. Nor were the new Baltic States-Fin land, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania-which were breaking away from the old Russian Empire.

Official Language.

Two preliminary questions of procedure for a time disturbed the plenipotentiaries at Paris. What was to be the official language of the conference ? Should its pro ceedings be made public ? It was decided that French and English texts, of equal authority, should be presented in the treaty with Germany, which included the Covenant. Italian texts, along with English and French, were presented in the Austrian, Hungarian and Bulgarian treaties; and in all these the French version was declared to prevail in case of divergence. The languages of the enemy states were denied admission to the texts of the treaties. With regard to publicity for the actions of the conference, the decision was reached to withhold details of discussions as much as possible until definite understandings had been secured.

Special Commissions.

Among the special agents established to assist in making a peace were commissions on :—(1) Respon sibility for War and Guarantees, with Lansing of the United States as president, and sub-committees on criminal acts, respon sibility for war, responsibility for violation of laws and customs of war ; (2) Reparation for Damage, with Klotz of France presid ing and sub-committees on estimation of damages, financial capac ity of the enemy, and means of payment and reparation; (3) International Labour Legislation, with S. Gompers (U.S.A.) pre siding (see INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION) ; (4) Inter national Control of Ports, Waterways and Railways, with Crespi of Italy as president and sub-committees on transit and control of routes of communication; (5) Financial Questions, with Montagu of Great Britain presiding, and sub-committees on financial prob lems preliminary to peace, on monetary questions, enemy debts and so on; (6) Economic Questions, with Clementel of France as president and sub-committees on permanent commercial relations, tariffs and customs, navigation, industrial property and others; (7) Aeronautics, with Colonel Dhe of France as president; (8) Inter-Allied Naval and Military Affairs, under the presidency of Marshal Foch, which with other associated committees con structed the military and naval and air terms for presentation to the enemy; and (9) The Central Commission on Territorial Questions, over which Tardieu of France presided, to co-ordinate the work of the committees and commissions examining the complex problems of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Rumania, Yugo slavia, Greece, Albania, Belgium, Denmark, the Saar valley and Alsace-Lorraine.

In all of these agencies of the Peace Conference the five Allied and Associated Powers kept for themselves either the entire mem bership or at least a majority over the smaller Powers.

First and most important of all was the commission on the League of Nations, chosen on Jan. 25 at the second plenary session of the conference upon the recommendation of the Supreme Council. The membership of this commission was drawn from the political leaders of 14 nations. Among them were Lord Robert Cecil and Gen. Smuts of the British Empire, Bourgeois of France, Orlando of Italy, Hymans of Belgium, Venizelos of Greece, Ves nich of Serbia, Wilson and House of the United States. The commission met on Feb. 3, and after daily sessions in the Hotel Crillon (held at hours that did not conflict with the meetings of the Council of Ten) presented to the plenary session of the conference on Feb. 14 the first draft of the Covenant. The usual procedure at the conference, of translating into French when English was used and into English when French was spoken, lengthened the sittings twofold and, while necessary, consumed much time. On the other hand, at the meetings of the commission to form the Covenant for the League of Nations, interpreters, sitting by those who did not speak both languages, kept them informed in an undertone of the progress of the discussion. It was agreed by the commission to use as a basis for discussion the American plan for the Covenant prepared by Wilson and House, which had, by consent, been put into legal phraseology by Sir Cecil Hurst and David Hunter Miller, legal advisers re spectively of the British and American delegations. There were difficult problems to solve. The question of political equality and that of having a league with an army at its command to enforce its decisions, advocated by the Japanese and French respectively, caused acrimonious debates.