18 DECEMBER 1926, Page 4

German Disarmament and the League

THE League of Nations is nowadays taken so much for granted that it seems to occur to nobody to point out that but for the 'League the agreement of last week at Geneva could not possibly have been made.

Even with the League in obvious and triumphant existence the transaction provides an almost incredible contrast with what would have happened before the War. At the end of the discussions about German disarmament the agreement was put into writing last Sunday and was handed to Sir Austen Chamberlain: The document was not signed and was not even initialled. The old formalities of signing and delivering, the sealing wax and the coloured ribbon, were all dispensed with. The Powers consented to a new and happy form of confidence trick. Sir Austen Chamberlain walked off with the agreement in his pocket and nobody in this country seems to fear that there will be any dangerous consequences.

How can such things happen ? There is only one answer. The League has become such an efficient agent for publicity and for searching the consciences of nations that it is safe to rely upon informal under- standings of which the League has taken cognizance and of which the League will itself be the ultimate supervisor and judge. A year ago we noted how the League was referred to ass matter of course in the dispute between Greece and Bulgaria. In former days a dispUte about the right allegiance of frontier popula- tions would have caused 'several great Powers instantly to stand to arms. But a year ago there was for the first time hardly any anxiety. It was said in effect : " Here is a dispute which can obviously be settled by inquiry and the arbitration of impartial judges. It would be most inconvenient to let the fighting spread. Clearly this is a matter for the League." Accordingly the whole matter was referred to the League ; the League summed up against Greece, and Greece without a murmur paid the bill. Now once again the League has fulfilled its natural function, though this time on a much larger stage, and to our minds the most encouraging fact about the whole business is that nobody has thought it necessary to explain why the remarkable success was possible. The League is indeed now part of the accepted order of international life.

Nevertheless, there was doubt in Geneva all last Saturday. M. Briand, though convinced that Great Britain was right in wanting to end the Inter-Allied Military Control in Germany, was evidently afraid of outrunning his authority. Again and again he referred doubtful. points to Paris by telegraph and telephone. He had in his mind, of course, a formidable picture of M. Poincare, the apostle of " Security " and of the plenary verbal inspiration of the Treaty of Versailles, frowning his disapproval. Twice on that eventful day the French Cabinet met. M. Briand, however, though attached to the other end of the wire, fought like a very game fish, and in the end he got off the hook. lie gained sanction- for the very. important changes that in future there shalt be investigation of German arma- ments by the League (acting, if it does act, in response to definite accusations) instead' of control by the Inter- Allied Commission. • ' ' ' • The Inter-Allied Commission is to be withdrawn on January 81st, 1927, and the new regime under the League will at once become operative. It is true that two questions could not be settled and have been held over, but two is a small number compared with the hundred -and more explicit charges of bad faith_ brought against Germany at Geneva last June. The two out- standing questions are with regard to the Konigsberg fortifications and the export of war material. _.

These two problems will be dealt with by the Ambassadors' Conference, as hitherto, in the hope of reaching a settlement by January 81st, but if they are not settled by that date the withdrawal of the Inter- Allied Conunission will not be delayed. The two questions will become part of the responsibility of the League. The Konigsberg fortifications cover a con- siderable area and are really a series of earthworks which have continually been extended and kept up to date by German soldiers. It may be said that these works in the east of Germany do not matter_Very much, as if they are " directed " against any country in particular, they are directed only against Poland. Besides, earthworks are a means of defence, not of aggression. All the same, if the innocence of these things can be established there seems to be all the less reason for Germany to set any store on them. What really matters is that the works, innocent or guileful, valuable or useless, shall not be allowed to stand in the way of general pacification and disarmament. Germany's duty in this respect is as . clear as that of any other nation ; indeed, it is even clearer, because her reception into the League was at once a challenge and an appeal to her good intentions..

As for the export of war materials it has been said in Germany that Great Britain wants to put an embargo on this trade merely out of commercial jealousy. That is surely not a very penetrating criticism to come from the country which has to thank Great Britain for championing the cause of her entry into the League. We imagine, however, that it comes from newspapers rather than from informed politicians. If armament factories were allowed to rise freely in Germany to supply foreign demands, Germany would be able to adapt these sources of supply entirely to her own uses.

She must not do less than is expected of her, and the least that is expected is that she shall serve the cause of general disarmament and let her own disarmathent be but the first step in a general movement. Everybody knows that the Government has been in a very difficult position in relation to the militarists, who have disguised military preparations in various ways and have had continually to be placated for the sake of domestic peace. These two questions of Konigsberg and the export of war material are, however, matters in which Germany stands to gain much more from the esteem of other nations than from the 'purchased complaisance of her militarists. _ The , document which was written out at Geneva last Sunday means, in sum, that Germany has been given the credit for having disarmed herself, although several points had to be stretched in order to make this assumption. it was in our view a mere act of common sense Ito - _assume German honesty, directly she was accepted as an- equal in the League. To call her an equal and to treat her as an unequal is an absurd con- tradiction. In order to launch this common-sense policy,- however, the spirit-.Of. Loearno .was preferred ,to the letter of the Treaty. of Versailles. It is "_up to," Germany to show that M. Poincard has _ been wrong in holding out and that M. Briand has been right in giving way. . _