Meanwhile the committee appointed by the Allied Govern. ments to
consider means of helping Russia has met with an insolent rebuff from the Bolshevik despots. The committee naturally felt that, before proposing an Allied loan to Russia, it ought to have some trustworthy information in regard to the famine. It therefore asked the Bolsheviks to allow a small commission of experts to visit South-Eastern Russia and report on the situation. To this very reasonable request Chicherin, the Bolshevik Foreign Minister, replied on September 7th in a long Note full of vulgar abuse of the Allies in general and of M. Noulens, the French delegate, in particular. Chicherin, who seems to be hardly sane, accused the Allies of fomenting anti- Bolshevik plots in Russia and of inciting Poland and Rumania to attack her. He described the proposed commission of inquiry as " a monstrous expression of derision at the expense of the hungry." One would think that he cannot be very anxious to obtain an Allied loan when he uses such language.
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