Lord Curzon is to be heartily congratulated on the outcome
of his negotiations with the Soviet Government. He has substantially obtained all the concessions which he demanded. A settlement is now certain. The Soviet reply to the recent British Note was published in the papers of Wednesday and Lord Curzon's last Note in the papers of Thursday. The Soviet reply makes it obvious that the Bolsheviks want peace. The whole reply is governed by the desire to retain the trade agreement : " The Soviet would regard the rupture of trade relations not only as an economic loss but as a political disaster.", The Bolsheviks will therefore not interfere with British trawlers fishing outside the three-mile limit off the Russian coast, and they now acknowledge that further disputes connected with territorial waters can be settled by an exchange of Notes and without a special Convention. They withdraw the offensive Notes sent in answer to our protests against the persecution of the Russian clergy. They promise the compensation demanded in the cases of Mr. Davison and Mrs. Stan Harding. They have removed their agent at Kabul, and the agent at Teheran is allowed to remain only under pledges of good conduct. They also give an " expanded undertaking to refrain from all hostile action or propaganda against Great Britain. This undertaking is reciprocal, but there is no difficulty in that, as Englishmen certainly do not want either to fight the Bolsheviks or to carry on propaganda in Russia.
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