Sir,—Great Britain has often been admired, and justly so, for her devotion to two principles; the supremacy of the law and the inviolability of private property.

Unfortunately, these same principles, so dear to the heart of every Englishman, are at this very moment trodden under foot in poor Russia. To add insult to injury, they have not only seen fit to rob Russians of all their belongings, but it is even suggested that all foreign obligations should be repudiated, which naturally include Russia’s debts to England. As a means of carrying out their nefarious project, they are actively destroying all documents and title deeds. Just think of the logical result of such measures. And on what grounds are the large landowners to be thus stripped bare? What is their crime? Their crime, in the eyes of the Bolsheviks, is that they have generally tried to help the peasants in building schools, hospitals, churches, and railways; that their motives were patriotic, their traditions historical and religious. Unfortunately. there is a wide gulf between the upper and the lower classes in Russia, far more so than in England; and this is a fact that must never be forgotten by those who talk about equality. Why is that? Because it is a heritage of the 300 years of Tartar rule, which stopped almost all civilisation in Russia, but was the means of Western Europe being saved from another dark age.

How is it that the Great Powers fail to see the necessity of supporting the civilised elements in Russia which are being exterminated by Kerensky, Lenin, and Trotsky? How is this mad preference to be explained? Almost daily there arrive in this country Russian nobles in a condition which is really appalling—physically wrecks, dressed like beggars, financially ruined. But what right have Russians to deprive the English paupers of the help which naturally could cover such causes as the housing of the poor and the support of hospitals in this country, etc.! I should very much like to know what is the wisdom of depriving the Russian nobility of all their possessions and the means of helping those who deserve support at home? Of course, the object of alien thieves, murderers, and forgers of bank note; concealing themselves under assumed Russian names, is to bring complete rum on Russia. But what can be the object of those who are neither thieves nor murderers nor money forgers to support such aims? Some people now avoid appealing to Christian morality. But having been brought up in these principles, I have always recognised their categorical power, am doing so, and will do so as long as I live.—Yours, etc.,

OLGA NOVIKOFF.

4, Brunswick Place, London. N.W.1.