I am informed by the League organisation here that but few documents have
been published by the Secretariat owing to the fact that the terms of
the Mandates have not yet been definitely established, and for this
reason the Mandates System cannot yet be said to have a working
existence.
I am endeavoring to obtain further information in this regard from the
Foreign Office, which I shall not fail to transmit to the Department
immediately upon receipt.
[Enclosure]
The President of the Council of the League of
Nations (Quiñones
de León) to the Prime Ministers of France, Great Britain, Italy,
and Japan
San
Sebastian, 5 August,
1920.
Your Excellency: It is laid down in Article
22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations that the colonies and
territories, which in consequence of the war have ceased to be under
the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them, and
which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves
in the strenuous conditions of the modern world, shall be
administered by Mandatory Powers acting in the name of the League
and accepting as a sacred trust of civilisation the responsibility
of ensuring the wellbeing and the development of such peoples.
Furthermore, by Article 119 of the Treaty of Versailles, all rights
formerly possessed by Germany over territories outside Europe have
been transferred to the principal Allied and Associated Powers. And
it is understood that a similar provision will probably form part of
the Treaty of Peace with Turkey, with regard to those territories
which may cease to form part of the Turkish Europe [Empire].
The Council of the League of Nations concludes from these Articles
that it is for the principal Allied Powers to determine in each case
the appointment either of one of their own number, or of some other
Power, to carry on the government of the territories referred to
above, as Mandatories on behalf of the League of Nations.
Your Excellency will agree that the Treaty of Versailles, having now
been in force since the 10th January 1920, it is much to be desired
that the application of the Mandatory system provided for by Article
22 of the Covenant, should not be further delayed.
The Council has decided to request the principal Allied Powers to
inform it officially at the earliest possible date as to what Powers
have been appointed by them to act as Mandatories under the terms of
Article 22 and what are the boundaries of the territories to which
the Mandates in question refer.
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Furthermore, the Council requests the principal Allied Powers to
communicate to it at the same time the terms and conditions which
they propose that the Council should adopt in respect of such
Mandates, in accordance with the principles laid down in Article 22,
paragraphs 5 and 6.
The Council ventures to call the attention of the Governments of the
principal Allied Powers to the necessity for a prompt answer to
these questions. There can be no doubt but that the Assembly of the
League, which will meet on the 15th November, will be keenly anxious
to know what steps have been taken for the carrying out of Article
22.
The Council hopes that the principal Allied Powers will be good
enough to communicate to it officially, as soon as they are in a
position to do so, information of a similar kind with respect to
territories which have ceased, in point of fact, to form part of the
Turkish Empire—viz., what Powers they have appointed to be
Mandatories, what are the boundaries of the territories referred to
by the Mandates in question, and, finally what degree of authority,
administration or control they suggest that the Council should
confer upon the Mandatory Powers, under the terms of Article 22,
paragraphs 4 and 8.
The Report by the Belgian Representative, of which copies are
enclosed herewith,12
was unanimously adopted by the Council, and expresses the Council’s
understanding as to how it should carry out the mission entrusted to
it by the Covenant.
I have [etc.]
