Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/448

 was allowed the right to send and receive couriers, and to use the code, but notwithstanding this, the altitude of the English Government towards him is, in many respects, not in conformity with the dignity of the Russian Republic. After he had rented a house for the embassy of the Russian diplomats, the owner, without any cause, declared the contract void, and the court has evidently sustained the illegal action of the owner, the court embellishing its decision with comments which were offensive to the Soviet government. Our couriers were admitted but were subject to a careful investigation. When Kamienev and Zalkind arrived in England, all their diplomatic documents were taken away from them, and only returned when they left England. They were compelled to leave England at the first opportunity and the police who accompanied them treated them shamefully. A few people who were working in the bureau of our diplomatic staff were expelled from England, and were not even allowed to confer with Litvinof.

The English government maintains friendly relations with the old Czaristic embassy and consulate, as well as with the so-called Russian Governments and the English government consults them on all subjects which concern military service, Russian prisoners of war, Russian steamers in English harbors, and other general interests of Russia. Consul McLean in Glasgow and Simonof in Australia, appointed by Russia, were not recognized. The situation was most difficult right after the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk treaty. The yellow press insulted McLean viciously.

The position of Russian citizens in England is, in general, very difficult; the pogrom agitation seems to continue in the newspapers. The return of Russian citizens is made very difficult for them. The old military agreement concluded by Kerensky, which gave the English government the right to draft Russian citizens in the English army, is still made use of. In the beginning of 1918, we declared to the government of Great Britain that we do not recognize this Kerensky agreement. Comrade Litvinof demanded the liberation of those citizens who were drafted into the English army upon the basis of this agreement, but received the answer that foreigners could not live in England without performing work in the interest of the nation and that those Russian citizens would be drafted in the workers' division for the production of munitions for the army.

Soon after this many were transported into Egypt to be drafted in the Jewish legion in Palestine. The drafting of Russian citizens in the English army was temporarily discontinued, but afterwards renewed, with the difference that those who were called in the service were not put in the army in the field but in the above-mentioned workers' division.

When, on April 5, a detachment of Japanese troops landed in Vladivostok, fifty English regiments also landed. A large section of the English press, particularly those controlled by the Northcliffe syndicate and the war industries, for a long time insisted upon further intervention by Japan in Siberia. Not only was this opposed by progressive elements in the labor movement, but also by a large numer [sic] of liberals and even some of the far-sighted among the conservatives. The position of the government in regard to this question was not officially determined. The further course of the relations between Russia and England will be decided by England's attitude toward intervention.