22 MAY 1920, Page 2

Mr. Bonar Law told the House on Monday that the

Govern- ment had given no help in money to Poland. But when the Bolsheviks were threatening to attack the Poles last October the Government offered Poland some surplus military stores if she would bear the cost of transport. As we know, the Bolsheviks have since then repeatedly attacked the Poles and have been repulsed with loss. The recent Polish offensive towards Kieff was a counter-move which caught the Bolsheviks in the act of preparing for a new attack. The suggestion, put about by the Jewish and German enemies of the Poles, and accepted even by Mr. Asquith in a speech on Tuesday, that the Poles have suddenly fallen upon the peaceful and innocent Bolsheviks is grotesque. The Bolshevik offensive in the north, to the east of Dvinsk and Vilna, which began on Sunday, must have been in preparation for weeks past and was doubtless intended to coincide with the Bolshevik offensive in Volhynia which the Poles skilfully anticipated. The Poles naturally want to secure themselves against an extremely bad neighbour. They will make a mistake only if they go beyond this business of protecting themselves, and if they assume that any British Minister, like Mr. Churchill, who hankers after new adventures, can count on public support.