Turning to his main subject, the Russian Treaty, Mr. MacDonald
said that the name of the King was not in the Treaty because it was in aedordance with precedent that it should not be there. The Government had been accused of surrendering to Bolshevism, but there had been no surrender :— " Only when we-agree that the private claims have been settled properly and fairly ; only when we agree that- the nationalized properties have been. fairly dealt with ; only when the British Government have accepted the settlement of those claims, will the next step be embarked upon. . . . They say that when all that is settled we are going to give them a loan. We are going to do nothing
of the sort, and they know it. All we are going to do Is to guarantee a loan, which is a little bit different: The loan is to be for construc- tion, and for construction only. We are asking of the' House of Commons no blank cheque. . . . We shall lay it down in black and white, and get the signatures of the Russian representatives to it, that this loan shall be limited to an amount the House of Commons settles ; that it can only be spent in_ ways the House of Commons will accept ; and that it must be guaranteed by securities the House of. COmmons will regard as good securities."
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