The search for a magic for-inula to enable the Disarmament Conference to be resumed with a German delegate participating has been successful. Frani Great Britain and italy recognised Germany's right to equality in whatever scheme emerges from the Conferen: The same four Powers, with Germany, undertake, to' abjure the use of force in the settlement of their differences. All five, with the United States of America, agree to work towards 'a sealing down of armaments. Germany has thus gained the substance of the claim which she made on August 29 in an aide-memoirs handed to the French Governnient and which she subsequently reinforced with a refusal to attend the resumption of the meeting of the Bureau of Disarmament on September 21. This does not imply a complete recognition of all the arguments put forward in the _aide-memoirs: far from it, Germany has shown appropriate readiness to compromise; indeed the extreme nationalist section of German opinion hold that Baron von Neurath has gained nothing, Both in France and in Great, Britain it has been recognised that the failure of the Disarmament Conference in July to take. note of the moral obligation to treat Germany as an equal, while not necessarily trenching upon the delicate ground of numerical equality, was a serious omission. The Resolution then passed laid down a programme which, if! carried into effect, would impose severe limitation on the size and quantity of weapons. It did not refer to the claim which German delegations had constantly made regarding their country's claim to equality of status. Therefore the first sign of German reluct tance to continue the discussion was forthcoming in the refusal of the German representative to endorse the resolution, although, in itself, it was acceptable and, indeed, materially beneficial to Germany.
The German protest was made at an unfortunate moment and in an aggressive vein, It met with a prompt but friendly remonstrance from the Britis Foreign Office which urged that friendly negotiation rather than a peremptory challenge was the better mode of procedure. Public opinion in Great Britain as well as in France was perturbed by the coincident clamour, of extremist elements in Germany. Fears that the recent political changes involved the revival of the Prussian Junker: doctrines were freely expressed. The difficulty of assessing the perplexities of German political currents added to this uncasiness. Above all the German Government, in giving an order for the construction of a third pocket battleship, was taken to betoken an unhappy disregard of the delicacy of the situation. The German Government was considered to have overlooked the sincere desire of Great Britain and France to treat Germany to all intents and pur-Poses on the basis of equality. That desire was not inconsistent with the contention that catetorical revision of the clauses in Part V of the Versailles Treaty could not be immediately con ceded. It was maintained that if the principle of limitation were accepted by all it should not be impassible to meet German wishes by adaptation of that, principle to the situation as created by the. Treaty. There was every sympathy with the view that the pride of a great nation would not tolerate an indefinite retention of a stigma. of inferiority. The German demand to re-arm was therefore deplored in its actual manner of presentation. It was regretted as a serious blow to the move toward disarmament. Yet it was not altogether condemned hi cause of the feeling that there had been an omission—more out of the force of circumstances. than by deliberate policy—on the part of the Disarmament Conference. The British view, and in a great measure, the French view was that the restructive clause of Part V of the Treaty were framed in the interests of peace. It was recognised that they carried with them an implication of ybsequent progressive reduc~ tion of armament by the Allies. It was. felt, however, that removal of those restrictions without something to ensure the security they were designed to obtain was not possible. While it was clear that Germany, no more than any other nation, could not be kept by force in a ate of disarmament, uneasiness was generated by' the flam-boy ance of the pressure which was being brought to bear upon
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.