A Spectator's Notebook M EMBERS of the Cabinet met a little
blankly on Tuesday, for, instead of considering, as they hoped to do, the German reply to the French aide- memoire, they could do little more than speculate on the reasons for Germany's prolonged silence. That silence embraces not only the French memorandum but the suggestions and interrogations the British Ambas- sador at Berlin, Sir Eric Phipps, has put forward rather less formally, and also the very important question of Germany's private debts. Opinions regarding the German attitude are rather gloomy, particularly since the French aide-memoire is understood to contain a passage recalling an official German statement to the effect that the moderation of Germany's rearmament claim is due only to financial considerations. The aide-memoire is still a secret document, but I understand there is some talk of publishing it as evidence of France's own moderation and good faith. It has not been realized, for example, that the French have offered to reduce not only their aircraft but their heavy artillery by half—though both offers need defining. The Cabinet, I judge, is increasingly conscious of the need for having a British policy ready against a breakdown of the Franco-German talks. * *
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