The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian related in the
issue of Friday, August 8th, how the negotiations for the Russian Treaty—wittily described as "ati agreement 'to agree if' and' when' the parties can agree "—was saved from formal and acknowledged disaster by the action of a few back-bench Labour Members. After the all-night sitting on the night of Monday, August 4th, the Russians were asked whether the single point which was then at issue prevented them from signing the Treaty, and they replied that it did. Accordingly the Foreign Office announced that the negotiations had broken down. The point at issue was, of course, the compensation of British subjects whose property had been confiscated by the Soviet Govern- ment. The Labour back-benchers who were intimate with the Russian delegates took the view that an accom- modation was possible, and they visited them to talk the matter over. As a result the Russian delegates again saw Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Ponsonby. The accommodation was achieved. Whereas the Russians had originally held out for the ridiculous right to pick and choose among the British subjects to be compen- sated, they now agreed to a formula which gave the British Government the power to control the distribution of compensation,
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