One of the most important treaties ever laid before the Senate of the
United States will be that which the 15 nations recently signed at Paris,
and to which 44 other nations have declared their intention to adhere,
renouncing war as a national policy and agreeing to resort only to peaceful
means for the adjustment of international differences. It is the most
solemn declaration against war, the most positive adherence to peace, that
it is possible for sovereign nations to make. It does not supersede our
inalienable sovereign right and duty of national defense or undertake to
commit us before the event to any mode of action which the Congress might
decide to be wise if ever the treaty should be broken. But it is a new
standard in the world around which can rally the informed and enlightened
opinion of nations to prevent their governments from being forced into
hostile action by the temporary outbreak of international animosities. The
observance of this covenant, so simple and so straightforward, promises more
for the peace of the world than any other agreement ever negotiated among
the nations.