2 DECEMBER 1922, Page 33

In the House. of Commons on Wednesday Mr. Bonar Law

had to defend this policy of boycott, and in our opinion he did so satisfactorily in spite of Labour cries of dissent. Surely the Labour Members do not think that if a Labour Government came into power it might excusably kill its Unionist predecessors—for Labour persistently charges " Tories " with crimes as black as those for which the Greek ex-Ministers have been executed. But though we think that Mr. Bonar Law has interpreted feeling here quite rightly, we arc not among those who believe that a policy of boycott can be usefully maintained for very long. We tried it with Serbia when the King and Queen Draga were murdered', and convenience required us to abandon it before it had literally succeeded. In the same way a policy of diplomatic non-communication with Russia proved to be unworkable.