Bolshevik troops, acting under orders, attacked the British Embassy at
Petrograd on Saturday, sacked the building, and brutally murdered our Naval Attaché, Captain Francis Cromie, who made a brave attempt to defend his charge. By the universal consent of mankind, including even the Germans, the sanctity of Embassies is recognized as inviolable, and the murder of a diploma- tist is regarded as the greatest of all infamies. But nothing is sacred to a Bolshevik. Our Government have demanded instant reparation for this abominable outrage and the punishment of all concerned in it. We have warned the Bolshevik rulers that if we do not receive satisfaction, and if other British subjects are attacked, we shall hold them individually responsible, and shall cause them to be treated as outlaws by all civilized nations so that " no place of refuge shall be left to them." As the Bolsheviks have arrested all British and French residents of military age, as well as some British officials, M. Litvinoff, the Bolshevik agent in London, and his staff have been placed under preventive arrest. It is surely idle to pretend any longer that the Bolshevik leaders are not our bitter enemies. They admit it, indeed, for their own version of their new treaty with their German paymasters binds them to fight ag tinst the Allied troops in Northern Russia.
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