matters to me thus : “ The Allied Governments
have no moral relationships with the
Russian Government. We are only negotiating
on a material basis.” What exactly he
intended to convey is not for me to determine ;
it is obvious, though, if words mean
anything, that Britain was willing to trade but
not willing to make peace.
Litvinoff and his colleagues long for peace, but they desire a just peace as between equals. If the Allies persist in thinking of Lenin, Litvinoff and others as scoundrels and thieves, then no peace is possible. Litvinoff may have broken diplomatic conventions while in London : that is the worst that can be charged against him ; but so also have a score and more of Allied representatives in Russia. It is time a halt was called to these grotesque personalities and Europe started with a clean slate. I saw enough of the workings of diplomacy in Copenhagen to realise that if the British workers understood the dirty game of make-believe which men, quite honourable in other walks of life, play as diplomats, they would rise up and sweep the whole Foreign Office away, with all its traditional hypocrisy and humbug.
Will it be believed that in Copenhagen, after James O’Grady’s return, no one was left who had any power either to speak or write to Litvinoff on behalf of the British Govern-
