The general verdict on the German Note must be that
it provides a basis on which negot iations can be continued. It is by no means satisfactory. Germany still maintains that she was entitled to tear up the Treaty of Locum, and that no one outside Germany is entitled to sit in judgement on her action. Her proposed network of bilateral treaties of non-aggression, with a new inter- national Court of arbitration to reinforce them, is not an advance on but a retrogression from the collective system of the League of Nations. On the other hand, the sever- ance of the Covenant of the League from the rest of the Treaty of Versailles is quite practicable, provided it does not involve the implication that the covensuit is the only part of the original treaty that can be held binding on Germany. Meanwhile the Staff talks between Britain and France are to go on in spite of Germany's objection to them. That is as it should be. The talks are not likely to be of great practical value, but we have given our word to France in the matter, and nothing could be worse than to gratify the natural desire of Germany to separate the two countries. She cannot in one clause (11) declare herself no longer bound by the Locarno Pact, and in another (18) talk of "the five Locarno Powers" and the obligation of reciprocity.
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