12 FEBRUARY 1927, Page 2

The debate was continued on Friday, February 4th, when Count

Westarp made perhaps the most important admission he has yet made. He said that although the Nationalist Ministers were not present at the Cabinet Council when the disarmament settlement had been approved, they would naturally, " now that they were members of the Cabinet," be ready to put the agreement into effect. It is not usually remarkable when a party leader promises to support a coalition which he has helped to form, but it is remarkable in this instance. Not long ago the Nationalists were breathing fire against the Locarno Treaty and the whole foreign policy of Herr Stresemann, but now that four members of the party have forced themselves into the new Government Count Westarp has to use more muffled language than has come from him for two or three years. The rest of the debate was chiefly interesting for the striking revelations about the monarchical intrigues in the past of Herr von Keudall, one of the new Nationalist Ministers. These revelations have undoubtedly shaken the Government, which may not be able to cling to life very long. In that case the struggle between republicanism and militarism plus monarchism may break out in a. new form.

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