The question has been . asked whether the Russian Trade
Delegation is justified in its claim of diplomatic immunity. The Trade Agreement of 1921 provides that members of the Delegation shall enjoy "immunity from arrest and search." The Government answer is that the clause in which these words occur clearly applies to persons and not to property. As for Arcos, Ltd., it is an ordinary trading company registered in Great Britain and cannot plead immunity. The Home Secretary will make a statement on the whole subject shortly after we have gone to press and we must therefore refrain from any detailed comment at present. A raid of this sort is likely to do more harm than good, and certainly to look foolish, if it is not well justified. We write in the expectation that Sir William Joynson-Hicks will be able to produce ample justification: In the meantime Moscow is petering forth a lava of invective against British "brutality," and the Labour Party is displaying a more tender sympathy for the damaged Russian offices than it could possibly be induced to display ill the case of any other country where tyranny does not invoke the name of the proletariat.
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