38 A REVISION OF THE TREATY chap.

even though it still included demands impossible offulfilment. For good or ill Germany had signed theTreaty . The new scheme added nothing to theTreaty 's burdens, and, although a reasonable per-manent settlement was left where it was before,—inthe future,—in some respects it abated them. Itsratification, in May 1921, was in conformity with theTreaty, and merely carried into effect what Germany had had reason to anticipate for two years past. Itdid not call on her to do immediately—that is tosay, in the course of the next six months—anythingincapable of performance. It wiped out the im-possible liability under which she lay of paying forth-with a balance of £600,000,000 (gold) due under theTreaty on May 1. And, above all, it obviated theoccupation of the Euhr and preserved the peace ofEurope .

There were those in Germany who held that itmust be wrong that Germany should under threatsprofess insincerely what she could not perform. Butthe submissive acceptance by Germany of a lawfulnotice under a Treaty she had already signed com-mitted her to no such profession, and involved norecantation of her recent communication through thePresident of the United States as to what wouldeventually prove in her sincere belief to be the limitsof practicable performance.

In the existence of such sentiments, however,Germany 's chief difficulty lay. It has not been