Of course it may be said, as Mr. Asquith has
said, that the proper course was for Mr. MacDonald to have satisfied himself of the authenticity of the Russian letter before he wrote a reply at all. On the other hand, it is arguable that Mr. MacDonald was justified in preparing a reply in order that it might be all ready to be sent directly the authenticity of the Zinovieff letter was established. There is not very much in this point one way or the other. It is clear, however, that the Foreign Office—and quite naturally so—took the Prime Minister to mean that they were to despatch the Note if they considered the authen- ticity of the Zinovieff letter proved. Not only did they act literally on their instructions, but they saved Mr. MacDonald from the mortification of seeing a vitally important document published first in the Daily Mail. Yet in his speech at Cardiff Mr. MacDonald threw doubts upon the genuineness of the letter, talked about a new Guy Fawkes Plot, a mare's nest, and so on ; hinted that there were scandalous and dishonest plots against his Government in clubs and newspaper offices ; and implied that the Foreign Office officials had sent the Note to M. Rakovsky before they had his final authority to do so.
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