19 MARCH 1921, Page 2

Lenin and Trotsky are in fine being dealt with as

a de facto and not as a de jure Government. A covering letter draws attention to the wicked mischief-making of the Bolsheviks in India and elsewhere. It is not necessary for our general satis- faction with the agreement to pretend that the Bolsheviki are anything but scoundrels. We daresay that whatever form of words were used it would not mean very much to them. We repeat that the important thing is to get trade going, though we know that it will take a very long time to build it up in such a derelict country as Russia now is. For the rest, we believe that contact with the outer world will hasten the downfall of the maddest Government that the fanaticism of man ever conceived.