I A Step Forward in Germany It is always desirable that
the legal impediments to normal relations between Britain and Germany should be reduced pan passu with the improvements in the general understanding between the two countries. That being so, there was everything to be said for the announcement on Monday that the state of war between them was at an end. It is a small step, the effect of which is to remove certain legal disabilities from Germans in their relations with this country, but it leaves the road clear to the relaxation of the larger powers still possessed by the Occupy- ing authorities in connection with the maintenance of order and the administration of the country. Of those powers all that need be said is that they too can be reduced step by step with the demonstrable movement-of the German people towards responsi- bility and goodwill in their attitude to the Western Powers. The biggest barrier, which is the difficulty of getting a sufficient Understanding with the Soviet Union 'to permit the conclusion of a peace treaty will still remain. It is even possible—such are the peculiarities of the Russian desire for peace—that the growth of sympathy and understanding between the countries of Western Europe will be regarded as a factor making that barrier higher. But that is a risk that cannot be avoided. As to the risks which are inherent in the movement of Western Germany towards sovereignty, they can still be kept within bounds by a continuance of the fundamental determination of the Western Powers to have no more of German militarism. Ultimately it can be killed altogether by the continued growth of that determination in the hearts of Germans, where it already has struck some respectable roots.
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