Growls, Grins

When the Russian bear growls at Great Britain nowadays, the British lion, instead of growling back, usually answers with a broad, friendly grin.

When the Red Army marched into Poland in late September many purists in international conduct thought that, since Britain had guaranteed Polish territorial integrity, in all logic Great Britain should immediately declare war against the U. S. S. R. Instead, pragmatic British statesmen quickly explained that the British Government's Polish guarantee applied only to German aggression and not to a Russian invasion. Winston Churchill even argued that what Comrade Stalin had done "was clearly necessary for the safety of Russia." And Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain indirectly approved of the First Lord's argument by conceding, in the House of Commons, that "there is nothing in this interpretation which is at variance with the view of the Government." All this had caused plenty of dismay in Rumania, which is also guaranteed by Britain and France, but which is now more menaced by the Bolsheviks than by the Nazis.

Curzon Line. By last week the British had delved into post-World War I history and had discovered even better reasons for excusing Russian occupation of part of Poland. In late 1919, when the new Republic of Poland was set up in business, map-makers of the British Foreign Office drew a north-south line halfway across Eastern Europe to represent what they considered should be the "legitimate frontier" between newly reborn Poland and Russia. This line started from the easternmost boundary of East Prussia and went directly south through Brest-Litovsk and some miles west of Lwow. Excluded from Poland, according to this mapmaking, were the White Russians and the Ukrainians who were later to form such large minorities of a greatly expanded Poland.

The line was named after brilliant old Lord Curzon, onetime famed Viceroy of India, in 1919 serving his first year as Britain's Foreign Secretary. He recommended it to the Versailles Peace Conference. In the turmoil into which Eastern Europe was soon to be plunged, however, the Curzon line raveled. Poland invaded the Ukraine and occupied Kiev. After defeating their other foes the Bolsheviks finally counterattacked, pushed the Poles back almost to Warsaw. Polish emissaries at London screamed for help, but Prime Minister David Lloyd George, never before or since too fond of the Poles, reminded them that they were the original aggressors and turned a deaf ear. Finally the French agreed to help, the Russians were routed, and in the Treaty of Riga ending the conflict, Poland extended her frontiers some 150 miles east of the Curzon line at Russia's expense.

Extenuating Circumstances. Harking back to Lord Curzon, British Foreign Secretary Viscount Halifax, in a House of Lords debate, practically made an official declaration that Russia is welcome to that part of Poland now under the hammer-&-sickle.

"The last thing I would want to do would be to defend the action of the Soviet Government at the particular time at which they took it," said Lord Halifax, "but it is right to remember two things:

"They would never have taken that action if the German Government had not started it and set an example for it when they invaded Poland without any declaration of war.

"Secondly, it is worth recalling that the action of the Soviet Government has been to advance the Russian boundary substantially to that recommended ... by Lord Curzon."

Breach? Conservative, die-hard Lord Mottistone disagreed with the Foreign

Secretary, said that Britain had committed a "dreadful breach of faith" when she did not oppose Russian aggression. But Lord Listowel, Labor Party whip in the House of Lords, argued:

"We had no obligation of honor to resist Russian expansion in Eastern Europe."

To this Lord Halifax agreed, but he was quick to add that this did not mean that the British Government would be similarly indulgent over a Russian advance into Finland or Scandinavia.

Meanwhile Britain continued rather awkwardly courting the Soviet Union. While the Moscow newsorgan Izvestia continued to thunder against British imperialism, British journals only purred. There was less emphasis on the "Bolsheviks" and more on the "Russians" in London newspapers, and "Dictator Stalin" appeared less frequently, in favor of "Mr. Stalin."

At the very moment last week when Soviet Vice Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Potemkin was telling British Ambassador Sir William Seeds in Moscow that Britain was "destroying international trade" by her blockade of Germany, in London the Soviet Ambassador, Ivan M. Maisky, and the British President of the Board of Trade, Oliver Stanley, were talking over ways & means to increase British-Russian bartering.

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