GERMAN DEMANDS

Evening Star, Issue 22881, 12 February 1938, Page 12

GERMAN DEMANDS

DM TREATY REVISION SANCTIONS AND WAR GUILT PRINCIPAL POINTS The main points in Germany’s demands to Britain are both more subtle and more complicated than they appear at first reading. It may be of value, therefore, to recapitulate them in detail, says a writer in the ‘ Manchester Guardian.’ Germany’s return to the League of Nations, for instance, is made dependent on certain conditions. First, the League Covenant must be separated from the Peace Treaty, In the original text the Covenant of the League of Nations formed the first chapter of the Peace Treaty itself, and its 26 Articles are the first 26 articles of the treaty. 'The so-called “ war guilt ” clause must also be cancelled. This was Article 231 of the Peace Treaty, and was put at the head of the Reparations Chapter as a legal justification. It runs as follows: — The Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing .all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence' of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies. It is worth while noting that the so-called “ colonial life ” is not in the text of the treaty, but occurred in the “ Reply of the Allied and Associated Powers of the Observations of the German Delegation on the Conditions of Peace.” As it has no legal or juridical force, this passage presumably cannot be cancelled. AMENDING THE COVENANT. Germany also demands the redrafting of the Covenant and the amendment of > the clauses relating to “ sanctions.” This would be a task of extreme difficulty. Article 26 of the Covenant states: Amendments to this Covenant will take effect when ratified by the members of the League whose representatives compose the Council and by a majority of the members of the League whose representatives compose the Assembly. No such amendment shall bind any member of the League which signifies its dissent therefrom, but in that case it shall cease to be a member of the League. Many authorities hold that at present no important amendment could be agreed upon, though several minor amendments have already come into force. “ Sanctions ” are not mentioned in the Covenant, but the so-called sanctions clause is Article 16, in which alone concerted measures against an aggressor are provided for. It is the most important article in the Covenant. Germany also asks for the revision of the “ minorities treaties.” Germany herself is bound by none of the eight minorities treaties, which were signed by Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Austria, (Rumania, Hungary, and Greece. But all the treaties which protect national minorities in these countries are guaranteed by the League of Nations, and the task of supervision belongs to the League Council. Germany presumably objects both to the principle of protecting minorities and to the practice of the League Council interfering in the in ternal affairs of national States. MEMOIRE 3 AND BENES. Britain is asked to consent to a reorganisation of the Czechoslovakian State on the model of the Swiss Federal system, the “ Sudetenland ” (the part of Czechoslovakia inhabited mainly by Germans), to acquire a status analo-

gous to that of a Swiss canton. This is a skilful reference to what is generally known as “ Memoire 3.” This was a memoire presented to the Allies at the Peace Conference by Dr Benes, now President of Czechoslovakia. Its first sentence was as follows: The intentions of the Czechoslovak Government are to create a State organisation accepting as the basis of national rights the principle applied in the Constitution of the Swiss Republic —that is to say, to make Czechoslovakia a sort of Switzerland, taking into account, naturally, the special conditions in Bohemia. It ended with the words “ This will be an exceedingly liberal system, very like thajb of Switzerland.” The Allies ignored this advice, and the Constitution finally sanctioned by the Treaty of St. Germain was a Czechoslovak national State in which the Germans, Hungarians, and Poles are recognised as minorities. CUTTING OFF AUSTRIA. Finally Britain is asked to refrain from giving the Austrian Government any diplomatic, political, or military assistance. At present Britain is not bound to Austria by any treaty or agreement, but this freedom of action has not recently meant lack of interest. In the first place, the “ Anschluss or union of Germany and Austria—is forbidden by Article 80 of the Peace Treaty:— Germany acknowledges and will strictly respect the independence of Austria within the frontiers which may be fixed in a treaty between that State and the principal allied and associated Powers; she agrees that this independence shall be inalienable, except with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations. If Germany returned to the League and was given her former 'seat on the Council she would presumably have a say in this matter. But in the last few years the French and British Governments have frequently stated their interest in Austria’s independence. It may be worth while to quote some of the British Government’s declarations on this point. On January 19, 1933, Mr Eden said in the House of Commons:— The Government is watching with interest and sympathy the efforts which tho Austrian Chancellor is making not only to establish the finances of Austria on a sound basis, but also to maintain the authority and independence of that State. AN OBJECT OF POLICY. On August 7, 1933, the British and French Ambassadors in Berlin called at the German Foreign Ministry to make “ representations ” on the subject of German propaganda in Austria. The Notes were never published. On February 9, 1934, the British Government handed an “ aide-memoire ” to the Austrian Minister in, London. The text was announced to the House of Commons by Sir John Simon on February 13: —

The integrity and independence of Austria are an object of British policy, and, while His Majesty’s Government has no intention of interfering in the affairs _ of another country, it fully recognises the right of Austria to demand that there should be no interference with her internal affairs from any other quarter. Four days later, on February 17, 1934, Britain, France, and Italy signed a joint declaration in which they declared that “ the conversations which have taken place between the three Governments on this subject have shown that they take a common view as to the necessity of maintaining Austria’s independence and integrity in accord with the relevant treaties.” When Chancellor Dollfuss was murdered Sir John Simon made a statement in the House of Commons on July 26, 1934, in which he said that “ the atth tude of this country towards the independence and integrity of Austria,” as stated in this declaration, “ remains unchanged by these tragic events.” And to prove it the British Government signed a second joint declaration with Fx-ance and Italy on September 27, 1934, in which the three Powers recognised that “ the declaration, of February 17, 1934, with regard to the necessity of maintaining the independence and integrity of Austria in conformity with extant treaties, retains its full effect and will continue to inspire their coinmon policy.” How long ?