The Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on Thursday,
May 25th, made his statement on the results of the Genoa Conference. Delegates of thirty-five nations had met in perfect harmony to discuss the restoration of normal conditions in Europe. He expressed the belief that the Commissions which had reported on the currency and exchange problem, on the restrictions imposed on trade by tariffs and regulations, and on difficulties of transport had done some good. Nevertheless, the War atmosphere remained and the Bolsheviks had a million and a-half of men under arms. Mr. Lloyd George said that we could either fight tho Bolsheviks, which no one wished to do, or we could leave them severely alone, or we could try to deal with them on the model of what he regarded as Pitt's policy. He expressed the belief that if we ignored Russia her government would pass either to " more extreme Communists " or to military dictators who would be a danger to the world. The German- Bolshevik Treaty—in itself a " great error in judgment," though It did not include " the silly forgeries of military Conventions which take no one in "—illustrated the danger, since we could not prevent Germany from re-arming Russia,.
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