security treaty should be linked to the evacuation of Cologne and a commitment on the part of Britain and France to an early withdrawal of forces from the remainder of the Rhineland. Briand's understanding with Chamberlain was incorporated in a draft treaty of mutual guarantee the terms of which were reviewed by jurists representing Belgium, Britain, France, Gennany and Italy, who met in London early in September. But it was not until 26 September that the Gennan Government accepted the French proposal for a conference at Locamo. Even then, the French and German governments were at odds over two issues relating to the treaty: (i) the French desire to guarantee the arbitration treaties which Germany had proposed to conclude with Czechoslovakia and Poland; and (ii) the question of whether or not Gennany's membership of the League would imply its full participation in sanctions. The French also maintained their opposition to any deal on the withdrawal of forces from the Rhineland before the conclusion of the projected mutual guarantee treaty. Indeed, what is surprising about the Conference is that despite the contlict of interests which separated two of its principal participants, its proceedings were characterised by a general feeling of goodwill and cordiality and an absence of that rancour between the victor and defeated powers that had marred so many previous international gatherings.
The Conference and the Treaties, 5 October -1 December 1925
Few of the delegates to the Conference seem to have been unaffected by what The Times referred to on 8 October as the 'spirit of Locarno'. The setting seemed ideal. 'It is perfectly beautiful', wrote Miles Lampson, a member of the British delegation, 'a nice little town, rather Italian than Swiss in character, nestling under high mountains on the shores of the Lake.' But perhaps more important was the fact that for the first time at an international gathering since the end of the first World War the Gennans were treated as equals by the fonner wartime allies. Unlike the London Conference of August 1924 when, according to Lampson, the British and French delegations had already carefully arranged everything before the Germans were admitted to face the chainnan 'like prisoners at the bar', at Locamo Briand, Stresemann and Hans Luther, ~e Gennan Chancellor, sat opposite one another in the conference room and discussed 'with the utmost discretion and good humour their various difficulties' . Chamberlain, who presided over these relatively informal gatherings~ had not expected such a mood of conviviality. Suspicious of Gennan intentions and critical of the way in which they had seemed 'to whittle 17