21 AUGUST 1920, Page 3

Another comment we wish to make is that it is

satisfactory that Mr. Lansbury in defending his dealings with the Russian Bolsheviks does not resort to the excuse that, being himself an internationalist, he is morally free to use foreign money for any purpose he pleases. He might of course have used that excuse, but by implication he rejects it. He categorically denies the truth of all that the messages between Tchitcherin and Litvinoff imply. He has chosen his ground of defence— which happens to be the right ground in the view of all patriotic men—and he must be acquitted or condemned on the evidence, and not be allowed to ride off on some metaphysical argument.