Fearing the international troops, empress Dowager escaped the city in disguise as a peasant, returning to the Forbidden City a year later. The authoritative command the Ch’ing dynasty held was gone forever. (Langellier, 204, 206)
Negotiations took more than a year to complete because the foreign delegates quarreled about what their demands against China would be in full context. The United States obligated itself to preserve the existing Chinese government and to keep “Western indemnity” (Henderson, 104) as low as possible in this treaty. By September 7, 1901, the 11 nations with interests in China signed the treaty with China’s representative, Li Huang-Chang. (Preston, 182-186)
The important terms of their treaty which is popularly known as the “Boxer Protocol” were as follows.
1) The Chinese would execute 10 high Boxer officials for treason and punish 100 others related to Boxer operations.
2) China would pay the foreigners an indemnity equal to $333 million.
3) Foreign nations would occupy 13 ports including Tientsin in order to guarantee open communication with Peking.
4) China would levy a 5 % effective tariff on foreign imports.
5) Chinese forts at Taku and between Peking and the sea would be “razed.”
6) Edicts to prevent the renewal of Boxer propaganda would be published.
The United States received $25 million of this Chinese indemnity but did not join the other powers at the ports. (Preston, 199-213)
The United States responded with military action and diplomatic solutions to the Boxer situation. Not wanting to abandon the “open door” policy Secretary of State John Hay had recently announced, he sent a second Open Door Note on July 3, 1900. Hay refused to acknowledge the imperial government’s connivance in the rebellion, and called for a continued international respect for Chinese rights. He asked for “territorial integrity” (Henderson, 132) which urged other nations to avoid using the Boxer Rebellion as an excuse for the partition of China. (Peterson, 220-223, 225)
Nearly of the premises in Washington s Farewell Address were disregarded in this case of U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. administration rejected all ideals of isolationism, instead entangling itself with Chinese and European affairs for the sake of our economy. Washington stated, Our detached situation enables us to take a different course… the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance. The only offense committed by the Chinese against the U.S. people was the Boxers onslaught against our foreign diplomats, and while this is an egregious action I believe that the United States only necessary action would be to subdue the rebellion long enough to retrieve our diplomats safely. This was an annoyance, not an offensive act against the American people. I am unable to discern what ethical reason by measure of contemporary values we used to appoint ourselves mediators of the situation.
The only similarity to Washington s Farewell Address in this circumstance of U.S. international relations is the way in which she mediated the situation. Although the U.S. was a segment in the international force that fought China to weaken her to defeat, it was United States Secretary of State John Hay that urged the other nations to respect China s integrity with regard to their territory, and carve out equal spheres of influence instead of fighting each other for who had the larger fraction of the whole. Washington expressed, Observe good faith and justice toward all nations, and by aiding the other nations in this dispute with China into an environment where there was no preferred nation over another prevented any international antipathy from arising.
The United States complex and long involvement in the League of Nations is centered around the man who conceived the idea of the League and offered it to the world and to the U.S. Senate. Woodrow Wilson, the president of the United States during World War I, developed its charter and argued its merits and possible advantages to the world and U.S. alike for the last few years of his presidency, and life. Despite all of his efforts in the United States, the Senate still refused to ratify it.
In England a League of Nations Society was founded in May 1915, and the idea of a League was supported publicly in the U.S. In the United States numerous branches of the League to Enforce Peace sprang up around the country, with Woodrow Wilson being an avid supporter of them. On May 27, 1916 this group, supported by ex-President William H. Taft, heard speeches by President Wilson and the Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Lodge was wary of forming entangling alliances, about which Washington had warned America in his farewell speech, but this he felt should not prevent the U.S. from joining with other civilized nations to stop wars before they start and encourage peace. In fact the Senator stated strongly, “We must find some way in which the united forces of the nations could be put behind the cause of peace and law.” (Du Collogue, 43) In his speech Wilson also declared, “The nations of the world must in some way band themselves together to see that that right prevails against any sort of selfish aggression.” (Du Collogue, 44) He believed that civilization can not be firmly established until nations are governed by the same code of conduct that we demand of individuals. He outlined three fundamental principles: first, that every people has the right to choose their sovereignty; second, that small nations as well as large ones ought to have the guarantee of territorial integrity; and third, that the world and the rights of its people and nations ought to be protected from disturbing aggression. He proposed that the United States initiate a movement for peace calling for a “universal association of the nations” to maintain security of the above principles with the help of world opinion. (Du Collogue, 46-48, 71, 93-99) (Scott, 67-72)
Wilson expressed his hope that peace could be negotiated soon, and he was convinced that after the war an international association of power must prevent any further wars. He offered the United States Government with its tradition of upholding liberty to serve by using its authority and power to guarantee peace and justice throughout the world by means of the (his) League Of Nations. The President wanted to indicate the conditions upon which the United States could enter into this process. Firstly, the war must be ended, and by a treaty of peace that would be internationally approved and guaranteed by an international treaty, which must include the countries of the New World. He believed that this organized force of mankind protecting the peace must be greater than any nation or combination of nations. Wilson did not believe that the war should end in a new balance of power but rather in a just and organized common peace, for he believed no one can guarantee the stability of a balance of power. He proclaimed that it must be a peace without victory so that the victor will not impose intolerable sacrifices which result in resentment and escalating hostilities in the future. Stating that equality of nations is the right attitude for a lasting peace, Wilson also believed that a just settlement regarding territory and national allegiance was necessary, “governments derive all their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that no right anywhere exists to hand peoples about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were property. That henceforth inviolable security of life, of worship, and of industrial and social development should be guaranteed to all peoples.” (Du Collogue, 118)Peace can only be stable with justice and freedom; otherwise the spirit rebels. Wilson asserted the importance of freedom of the seas and also the need to limit navies and armies. Wilson felt that he was speaking “for liberals and friends of humanity in every nation . . . for the silent mass of mankind.” He suggested that the American principles of the Monroe Doctrine (from 1823) should be extended throughout the world so that “every people should be left free to determine its own polity, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid.” These principles of self determination, freedom, and protection from aggression “are the principles of mankind and must prevail.” (Du Collogue, 126) (Knock, 88-96, 115-125) (Scott, 33,78-80, 100-109)
Wilson thought that peace could only be maintained by a partnership of democratic nations and that autocratic governments could not be trusted. Therefore Americans must fight for the liberation of the world’s people, including the German peoples. “The world must be made safe for democracy.” The League Of Nations was the brainchild of this idea. (Du Collogue, 133)
By the end of summer 1918 the Central Powers were breaking up, and on September 27th of that year Wilson appealed to the peoples of those countries by suggesting more specific peace proposals. Once more he emphasized that right must be made superior to might. The idea of a League of Nations was beginning to take a more definite shape. Each government must be willing to pay the price necessary to achieve impartial justice, by sacrificing some of its individual rights to the League of Nations.
Wilson outlined five particulars:
1) Impartial justice means no discrimination or favoritism between peoples;
2) No special interest of a single nation should infringe upon the common interest of all;
3) “There can be no leagues or alliances or special covenants and understandings within the general and common family of the League of Nations;”
4) There can be no selfish economic combinations or boycotts except as “may be vested in the League of Nations itself as a means of discipline and control;” and
5)”All international agreements and treaties of every kind must be made known in their entirety to the rest of the world.”
(Knock, 140-143, 146-149, 151-152, 155-159, 160-162)
President Wilson read the Armistice Agreement to Congress and promised food and relief to a suffering Europe. He pointed out the disorder in Russia and the chaos that resulted from attempting conquest by the force of arms, and he asserted, “The nations that have learned the discipline of freedom and that have settled with self-possession to its ordered practice are now about to make conquest of the world by the sheer power of example of friendly helpfulness.” (Du Collogue, 150) Wilson exclaimed in his several League Of Nations-related speeches that America must hold the light for the peoples who were just then coming into their freedom. It was this clause of the League Of Nations that gave way to entangling alliances that would eventually lead to the U.S. not entering the League through its defeat in Congress. (Scott, 72, 111-113, 115)
The next day he addressed the Peace Conference in Paris, where he discussed the league and its main principles. “Settlements may be temporary, but the action of the nations in the interest of peace and justice must be permanent. We can set up permanent processes. We may not be able to set up permanent decisions.” (Knock, 229) The idea for a League as an essential part of the Treaty of Versailles was adopted unanimously, and a subcommittee for the drafting of a League of Nations Covenant was selected with President Wilson as chairman. (Du Collogue, 157, 162, 163-170)
General Jan Christiaan Smuts, the leader from South Africa who had confronted Gandhi, published a pamphlet, The League of Nations: A Practical Suggestion, calling for a strong and active League which would not only prevent wars but also be a living, but also be a working organ of peaceful civilization. He wrote in his pamphlets that the League Of Nations must have general control of international affairs involving commerce, communications, and social, industrial, and labor relations. His extended beliefs on what he believed the duties of the League Of Nations should be summarized why Congress would eventually not approve of it. This was to be because of the mass amounts of individual rights that the U.S. would have to sacrifice. (Scott, 50)
An extremely proud President Wilson presented the League of Nations draft to the Peace Conference. The League was to consist of a body of delegates, an executive council, and a permanent secretariat. Any issue of international relationship would have free discussion, for “that is the moral force of the public opinion of the world.” (Knock, 230-233) However, if moral force was not sufficient, armed force was to be available only as a last resort. The League was designed to be simple and flexible, yet a definite guarantee of peace, at least in words. Securing peace was not the only purpose of the League, it could also be used for cooperation in any international matter, such as debating/negotiating labor conditions. The day after the draft was accepted by the plenary session, the President departed for the United States. (Du Collogue, 173-177)
In Washington, Wilson met with Congressional representatives to discuss the League. By the time he returned to France in March American public opinion was insisting on four alterations.
1) The Monroe Doctrine must be explicitly protected.
2) There must be a way nations could withdraw from the League.
3) Domestic disputes must be exempt from League interference, including tariffs and immigration quotas.
4) A nation must have the right to refuse a mandate for a territory.
Despite these revisions to the League Of Nations charter, there were strong isolationist sentiments against the Treaty in the Senate. Many senators favored it, but ratification of a treaty required two-thirds of the Senate. A third group led by Senator Lodge demanded reservations, particularly to Article 10 of the League which read:
The Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members of the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled. (Du Collogue, 188)
(Scott, 200-204), (Knock 234-255, 257-261)
For Wilson this was the key article that made the League Of Nations essential, it was the Monroe Doctrine applied to the world and protected by all. To the Senate this was the key article that made the League Of Nations a cause of entangling alliances, something which they desperately did not want. The President explained to the senators that this was a moral obligation but not necessarily a legal obligation. Senator Warren Harding asked what good it would do if it was only a moral obligation which a nation could ignore since it was not legally bound. Wilson pointed out that because it was not legally binding, the nation would have the right to exercise its moral judgment in each case. Lloyd George explained that the covenant did not necessarily imply “military action in support of the imperiled nation” (Du Collogue, 193) but mainly economic pressure and sanctions against the aggressing nation. Former President Taft agreed that the chance of getting involved in a war was small because of the universal boycott which in most cases would be effective; only a world conspiracy would require the “union of overwhelming forces of the members of the League,” and in that case “the earliest we get into the war the better.” Taft, a Republican, believed the United States could not be forced into a war against its will, and to think so was “a narrow and reactionary viewpoint.” (Scott, 199-203, 205-221)
Nevertheless, despite these arguments which sought to diminish the belief that the U.S. could be forced into a war that it did not want to fight, opposition in the Senate was growing for just that same reason. Wilson argued that the League of Nations was founded according to the American principles of self-government, open discussion and arbitration instead of war, rejection of secret treaties, high standards of labor, the Red Cross, international regulation of drugs and alcohol, and prohibition of arms sales. He warned against violent revolutions such as had occurred in Russia rather than revolution by vote. The United States could be isolated no more, for “we have become a determining factor in the history of mankind” and in the development of civilization. He declared, “The peace of the world cannot be established without America. (Du Collogue, 197-204)
Despite Wilson s efforts, the League became a dead issue in American politics, and even Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt, who both had been early League supporters, could not get the United States involved during their Presidencies due to mass opposition in the Senate. The idea of such entangling alliances was one which the Senate could not bare to deal with. Henry Cabot Lodge proposed a number of revisions to the covenant, figuring that the resulting debate in the Senate would lead to a delay of an actual vote to ratify on the Treaty Of Versailles, of which the League Of Nations was a crucial part. Wilson became ill from his constant touring and speech-making throughout the U.S. to gain support for the League Of Nations, and from his sickbed he made an appeal to all true friends of the treaty (Du Collogue, 234)to reject the Lodge reservations. However, when the Senate defeated these reservations in November of 1919 there was not enough support left to ratify the treaty and the league without reservations. (Du Collogue, 230-243, 246-249, 251-255) (Knock, 298-303)