The League for Small and Subject Nationalities was an self-determinist organisation formed during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, with the following aims:

...to establish a permanent congress of the small, subject and oppressed nationalities of the world; to assert the right of each nationality to direct representation at the peace conference following this war, as well as at every international conference held thereafter for the discussion of questions affecting its interests; to present the case of these nationalities to the world; to emphasize the importance of restoring to these nationalities the right of self-government as an indispensable condition for world peace..."

The League's President was Frederic C. Howe

Frederic C. Howe

Frederic Clemson Howe was a member of the Ohio Senate, Commissioner of Immigration of the Port of New York, and published author. He was also president of the League for Small and Subject Nationalities....

, who was also United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Commissioner of Immigration.
At a controversial meeting held in October 1917, the League was accused of pro-German bias when the issue of Alsace-Lorraine

Alsace-Lorraine

The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...

 was due to be discussed. The Irish delegation was represented by Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington

Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington

Johanna Mary Sheehy-Skeffington, was a suffragette and Irish nationalist. Along with her husband and Margaret Cousins and James Cousins she founded the Irish Women's Franchise League in 1908 with the aim of obtaining women's voting rights...

 of Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

, who was also accused of sympathies for Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.