Oct, THE anxieties of the war, fought at our doors, and the very veal, though scarcely alluded to, danger, that the defeated troops. might attempt to rush the Settlement, crowded out of mind f the time being all thought of the coming election at home. ing back now on the of the closing days of the high we can seo that but for the elaborate preparations taken for defence and the visible presence of a well armed, if attenuates force, resolute to maintain the inviolability of our homes, the sullen remnant of Lu Yung-hsiang's troops, who were camped at the North Station, might have been easily lured by the greatness of the prize to attempt a grand coup. That we escaped such a catastrophe is due to the promptitude with which measures for defence were taken and the
maintained. vigilance which they were The opposite of these conditions obtained at home. At first, we are told, large space was given in the newspapers to reports from the East but before long the hurly-burly of the preparations for the contest, which is soon to be fought, crowded out news of fighting in distant China. This lection promises to be one of! the most interesting and keenly contested that has ever been fought in Great Britain. So far, the focus of controversy seems to be the unratified treaty which the Labour Government, just before the dissolution of "parliament, concluded with Bolshevik Russia. many points, but stress chiefly on the proviso that Britain is to guarantee a loan of an unspecified amount to Russia while Russia, on her part, undertakes ne reciprocal responsibility, either for the payment of debts contracted in the past, or to give security to meet her prospective obligations in the future. Labour orators will find it hard to justify stich action on the part of the government at a time when unemployment is so prevalent and money available for investment so
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.