A piquant intermezzo has been provided by the seizure of
Mme. Borodin, who is now in the keeping of Chang Tso-lin. She was on board a ship, probably on her way to Russia, when she was discovered by the Northerners. The Soviet Government, quite unembarrassed by its past, has suddenly become the champion of diplomatic propriety, and has demanded the surrender of Mme. Borodin. This demand is made to the Peking Govern- ment, which, according to all the recent declarations of the Soviet, does not exist. Little inconsistencies of this kind do not, of course, dismay Moscow. There is the possibility that the Soviet may be led on by further inter- vention on behalf of Mme. Borodin reluctantly to reveal its true relations with the Cantonese. That would be something gained in elucidation. Englishmen, with the ' Trent ' affair in their history, if not in their memory, know that arrests on board ship have a romantic power of causing excitement. " Neutral " Russia might find herself a much involved Russia, committed by the beaux yeux of Mme. Borodin to what would anyhow be called official co-operation with the South in the Chinese civil war.
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