22 APRIL 1922, Page 2

The publication of the treaty caused much unfavourable comment both

at Genoa and Paris. The German delegates professed their astonishment and declared that Mr. Lloyd George had known all about these negotiations with Chicherin. The Prime Minister caused a point-blank denial to be given to this assertion. The Germans also declared that they had reason to fear the conclusion of an agreement between the Allies and the Bolsheviks from which Germany might be excluded, and that they therefore made a treaty on their own account. The French Government., with some hesitation, decided not to withdraw from Genoa because of the treaty lest the Bolsheviks should be able to claim that they had separated the Allies.