THE RUSSIAN TREATY.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Srn,—You ask why we should not trade with Bolsheviks if we do so with cannibals. Possibly those who trade with cannibals have the beneficent intention of ending cannibalism by dispelling their ignorance with example and precept. In the case of the Bolsheviks there is no ignorance. They know that their practices are repugnant to all civilized people, just as well as pirates know that theirs are, and they openly pro- claim their intention of forcing their system on all the world if they. can. Cannibals do not do this. A merchant who financed a pirate crew and bought and sold their plunder would injure his reputation and moral character. He would also do this if he traded with cannibals in a way which would assist the practice of cannibalism. If he sold them rifles and cooking pots, knowing that these would be used for the pur- pose, he would certainly be encouraging cannibalism and assisting to maintain it.
There is no pretence by the Bolsheviks that they intend to use a loan, or the proceeds of trading with us, for any other purpose than to maintain a system which we condemn, not merely as mistaken and foolish, but as wicked, and we cannot knowingly assist them to do this without injuring our own character and self-respect. How can we buy stolen goods and provide the means of enslaving people without feeling that we are hypocrites ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
C. G. BENNETT.
66 Mark Lane, London, E.C.
[Cooking pots are sold freely to cannibals without its being possible to say for what purposes they will be used ; but there is a well-founded expectation that as the connexion between ...annibals and the outer world becomes closer the pots will be used less and less for cooking human flesh.—ED. Spectator.)
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