Reuter's correspondent, telegraphing from Riga on Monday, announced M. Krassin's
resignation of his position as Soviet Commissary for Foreign Trade. This is presumably a consequence of the refusal of the. Moscow Government to ratify the commercial agreement which M. Krassin had recently concluded with Mr. Urquhart. In similar circumstances it always used to be understood that no course but resignation was open to the Minister concerned, though of late years this etiquette has shown signs of weakening even in older Governments than that of Moscow. A correspondent of the Morning Post quotes an interesting speech recently made by AI Lenin to representatives of the Russian Press, in which he admitted that Europe was not yet ripe for the social revolution—" therefore we must for the time being abandon all our European plans and establish friendly relations with the Western countries." He added that the Urquhart-Krassin agreement was " a splendid bridge for the establishment of normal relations " with this country, but that the refusal to admit Russia to the Near East Conference had " made any economic collaboration with Great Britain impossible."
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