These official announcements were followed on Tuesday by a presentation
of a joint Note from the British and French Governments to the German Government on the Allied Control of German Armaments. The Note is couched in language different from that of any previous communications to Germany, and is rather an appeal than a threat. It asks the German Government to co-operate willingly with the Allies in giving the Control Commission full facilities for examining German armaments, and therefore for appeasing the Allies' anxieties. " We would appeal," say the Allied Prime Ministers, " to your Excellency not to lose this chance of eliminating a source of trouble to our respective Governments." The Allies express themselves anxious to end the period of control as quickly as possible and to hand the business over to the League of Nations. Evidently this is a vigorous effort to clear away the disarmament side-issue which is endangering the whole possibility of settlement. The Note seems to us both well timed and well- worded, and unless the German Nationalists are even madder than they seem, it should succeed in its object.
