Neither Great Britain nor Germany, however, will want the occupation
to continue a day after the evacuation of the Ruhr has been completed. France alone desires a continuance. We can only guess at her reasons. We might have said that to refuse Germany a " clean bill of health " in the matter of disarmament was only a means of disqualifying her for membership of the League were it not that lately French statesmen have been expressing a desire for Germany to join the League. Whatever the French reasons may be they seem to us to be charged with danger, and we earnestly hope that Mr. Austen Cham- berlain will keep his mind fixed upon the importance of getting out of Germany as rapidly as possible. There is no longer any reason to fear that the election of Marshal von Hindenburg as President forbodes any kind of malicious mischief-making. When the new President took the oath to the Constitution he went out of his way to remark that the form of words he repeated was not accepted by him merely in an official sense, but involved his personal honour and allegiance. We must add that no formal answer of any kind has yet been sent to the German proposal for a Pact of security. The British Government, as we know, announced originally that the proposal was a desirable basis of negotiations.
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