bluntly answered by M. Clemenceau; but they could not be altogether ignored. The smaller Allies were by degrees allowed a larger representation on some of the commissions and com- mittees; and in this way a use was found for the abilities and experience of some highly distinguished statesmen, such as M. Venizelos.
Organization and Procedure. The original rules of procedure, drafted by M. Berthelot, do not throw much light on the methods of transacting business which were actually employed, and in some points they were quickly modified. 1 The conduct of affairs, until March 25, was in the hands of the Council of Ten, a body composed of two plenipotentiaries for each of the five Powers; it was simply the Supreme War Council adapted to new purposes. The plenipotentiaries were allowed to bring their expert advisers with them, and made free use of this permis- sion; but the Council from the first availed itself of the power, accorded under rule 13, to refer technical questions to com- mittees of experts. The proceedings of the Ten were secret; rule 8 provided for the publication of official communiques, but these were usually so worded as to convey the minimum of information. Owing to the large numbers present at each session, the secrecy of the proceedings was seldom respected; and, while the unofficial reports published in the French press were severely censored, the correspondents of English and (more particularly) American papers were often successful in acquiring and transmitting important information. On Jan. 17 the Ten promised, in answering a protest from the correspond- ents, that the plenary sessions should be open to them, except in special cases. But these sessions were infrequent and, when they were open to the press, only transacted formal business. Those of May 6 and May 31, at which important differences of opinion became manifest, were held behind closed doors. The secrecy of the deliberations grew more complete after March 25, when the Council of Ten was superseded by the Council of Four (Mr. Wilson, M. Clemenceau, Mr. Lloyd George, Sig. Orlando). Thenceforward experts were merely summoned to answer questions; for over three weeks the only official con- tinuously present was the interpreter (M. Mantoux) ; but in April Sir Maurice Hankey was admitted as secretary. The Four delegated certain questions to a council of five foreign ministers (Mr. Lansing, M. Pichon, Mr. Balfour, Baron Sonnino, Baron Makino), but this body did not become prominent until the end of June wh -n the Four dispersed and left all current business to be transacted by the Five.
Each of the principal Powers, except France, provided its plenipotentiaries with a large staff of officials and other experts. These " delegations " served as panels from which was drawn the personnel of the innumerable commissions and committees appointed from time to time by the plenary sessions or by the Supreme Council. 2 Most of the earlier commissions were large and imposing bodies; each of the principal Powers con- tributed two or three representatives to each commission, while the other Powers were allowed to send, between them, five or ten. This was the constitution of the commissions on Reparations, on the Responsibility for the War, on the League of Nations, on International Labour Legislation, on Ports, Waterways and Railways, all of which were sanctioned by the second plenary conference (Jan 25). In Feb. and March five territorial commissions were constituted. On these only the principal Powers were represented. The subjects referred to them were the territorial claims of: (i) the Czechoslovaks, (2) the Poles, (3) Rumania and the Yugoslavs, (4) Greece and Albania,
'English was recognized at the Conference as of full equality with French as the official language, so that all the proceedings were bilingual. The British Dominions were recognized not only as an integral part of the British Empire delegation (being, for instance, part of the panel from which British representations on the Supreme Council were chosen), but also as states on an equality with other small independent states. Thus Gen. Botha and Gen. Smuts sometimes sat in the Supreme Council in one capacity and some- times in the other.
2 " Supreme Council " was the generic name applied to whatever body the Ten, the Four or the Five happened to be in control of the proceedings.
(5) Belgium and Denmark. On Jan. 27 the Supreme Council appointed a large economic commission to draft the articles of the German treaty which related to such subjects as commercial relations, shipping, industrial property, pre-war contracts, and the liquidation of enemy debts. On Feb. 12 a naval and military committee, under Marshal Foch, was created to draft the terms relating to disarmament and the surrender of naval and military material. The Council of Four, like the Council of Ten, con- stantly employed expert committees, but showed a preference for comparatively small bodies which could be trusted to work with expedition.
For business not immediately connected with the making of treaties the Supreme Council made considerable use of the Armistice Commission at Spa, of the military staff of the old Supreme War Council at Versailles, and of the Supreme Econom- ic Council at Paris. The last named of these bodies was in- stituted, at the instance of Mr. Wilson (Feb. 8) to advise the Conference on any economic measures of a temporary character which might be necessary to ensure: (a) that the devastated areas were duly supplied with the raw materials and other commodities required for purposes of reconstruction; (b) that the economic life of other countries which had suffered from the war was promptly revived; (c) that the pressing wants of neutral and ex-enemy countries were satisfied without detriment to the Allied and Associated Powers. The Supreme Economic Council absorbed many of the functions of those inter-Allied councils which, during the later stages of the war, had been charged with special problems of food supply and relief work, finance, shipping and blockade. It also formed special sub-sec- tions to advise on the reorganizing of inland communications by rail and water, and on the control of the raw materials required for reconstruction. Lord Robert Cecil, representing Great Britain, usually presided at meetings of the Supreme Economic Council. Mr. Hoover, who was one of the American representatives, made himself responsible for the Food and Relief section, which had to deal with the most urgent of all the duties referred to the Council. From Feb. 17 to the end of June the activity of the Supreme Council was unremitting. It was expected to see to the revictualling of Germany under the terms of the Armistice Convention. It organized relief work among the starving populations of eastern Europe. It reor- ganized the derelict transport systems of Austria-Hungary and Poland. Its German duties involved negotiations with a German finance commission, and the arranging of the Brussels agree- ment (March 14) under which Germany was supplied with foodstuffs up to the end of Aug. 1919. It was by successive recommendations of this council that the commercial blockade of Germany was partially relaxed in Feb., March and April; the most striking of these recommendations was that subjects of Allied countries should be free to trade with Germany, subject to any restrictions which their respective Govern- ments might desire to maintain (April 24). In April the Council undertook to supervise the economic life of the left bank of the Rhine, during the period of occupation. After the German treaty had been signed the Supreme Economic Council was still utilized by the European Allies as an agent for the pur- chasing of foodstuffs in America and supplying Austria with coal. The last meeting was at Rome in Nov. 1919.
The Council of Ten, Jan. i8-March 25 1919. The first section of the German treaty to be drafted in something like its final form was the Covenant of the League of Nations, which Mr. Wilson consistently regarded as " in a sense the most essential part of the peace settlement." By the end of Jan. the American and British delegates had agreed upon a draft. This was carefully discussed in the first fortnight of Feb. by the League of Nations Commission, on which were represented not only the five Great Powers, but also Belgium, Brazil, China, Portugal, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The most prominent personages who served on the commis- sion, after Mr. Wilson who was its president, were Col. House (U.S.A.), Lord Robert Cecil and Gen. Smuts (British Empire), M. Bourgeois (France), Sig. Orlando (Italy) and M. Venizelos
