"I hereby declare that, subject to ratification, the French Government gives its adhesion to the optional clause of article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute of the Court, on the condition of reciprocity, for a period of fifteen years, with power of denunciation, should the Protocol of Arbitration, Security and the Reduction of Armaments, signed this day, lapse, and further, subject to the observations made at the First Committee of the Fifth Assembly, according to the terms of which 'one of the parties to the dispute may bring the said dispute before the Council of the League of Nations for the purposes of the pacific settlement laid down in paragraph 3 of article 15 of the Covenant, and during such proceedings neither party may take proceedings against the other in the Court.'"
21. Having briefly summarized the discussion which gave rise to the elaboration of the draft Protocol, and having examined in what way that instrument embodies the ideas expressed in that discussion, it may be of interest to review summarily the progress of the work of the two Committees of the Assembly that were charged with the drafting of the scheme, and to show how the various articles were evolved.
22. It will be seen from the terms of the resolution of the 6th September that the scheme of "arbitration, security and disarmament," though forming one indivisible whole, would require the deliberation of two of the regular Committees of the Assembly. The First Committee, dealing with the legal questions, would have to develop the principle of arbitration, while the Third Committee, dealing with the reduction of armaments, would have to consider the problems of security and disarmament.
23. It was realised that the work would overlap at many points, and the two Committees kept in constant touch throughout, the result of their labours being finally co-ordinated by a joint drafting sub-Committee.
24. During the whole period of discussion the British Delegation kept in close touch with the Dominion and Indian Delegations, who were consulted on all points of difficulty, and who were given every opportunity of expressing their views. This was done, not only by means of private consultation, but also at fourteen formal meetings of the Delegations.
25. In the following sections an attempt is made to trace the evolution of the Protocol through its various stages in the First and Third Committees.
II.—WORK OF THE FIRST COMMITTEE.
26. The first plenary meeting of the First Committee was held on the 2nd September, when Sir Littleton Groom (Australia) was elected Chairman, and M. Limburg (Netherlands) Vice-Chairman. Sir C. Hurst represented the British Empire.
27. On the 9th September the Committee began its deliberations on the Assembly resolution of the 6th September regarding arbitration, security and disarmament. The Assembly, by this resolution, instructed the First Committee:—