Up to the beginning of August, though the clouds were black and the peace front negotiations dragged interminably, the situation re-Samed but not immediately dans Gus; Instead, however, of there before. Yap at Danzig the position thet jing any sign ofa relaxation of ten. ai tually become more and more strained. From the end of March till the end of August all personal contact between Warsaw and Berlin was suspended, The zeuilitarization of the Free City, alleged by the Germans to be purely defensive, but no less adaptable for offensive purposes, had proceeded space, and other mea-Sures had been taken indicative of a German intention to effect a sudden Coup there. The Poles for their part, in view of the great increase in arms smuggling, had been obliged to strengthen their customs inspectors by a number of frontier guards. They had also taken certain economic
judice the trade of the Free City. of a nature to pre-What was, however, even more tions which were being made by the Germans for the twenty-fifth celebra: tion of the battle of Tannenberg on August 27, and a German warship Was scheduled to visit Danzig at the same time and ostensibly for the same purpose. Early in July I drew your Lordships attention to the menace involved by these equivocal preparations, which corresponded so closely to Hitler's usual: pique of preparing for all eventualities, under Cover of a plausible excuse.
The first mutterings of the storm were heard on August 4. At four ports on the Danzig-East Prussian frontier, the Polish Customs in-Spectors were informed that they would not be permitted henceforward io carry out their duties. Alarmed at the gradual sapping of Polish rights and interests in the Free City, the Polish Commissioner General there was at once instructed to deliver a note to the Danzig Senate, warning the latter that the Polish Government would react in the strongest manner if the work of the inspectors was interfered with. The Senate subsequently denied that it had issued any instructions to the effect alleged but the German Government replied to what it described as the Polish ultimatum by a verbal
Secretary io the Polish Chargi Note, which was handed by the Ssu d'Affaires at Berlin on August 9: The Polish. Government was therein warned that any further demand address sed to the Free City in the nature of an ultimatum or containing threats of reprisals, would at once lead to an aggravation of Polish-German relations, the responsibility for which would fall on the Polish Government, The latter retorted on the following apy by a similar verbal Note, denying the judicial right of Germany to intervene in the affairs between Poland and the Free City, and warning in its turn the German Government that "any future intervention by the latter io the detriment of Polish rights and interests at Danzig would be considered as an act of aggression"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.