At a banquet given recently by Soviet Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov, Sir Esmond Ovey, British Ambassador, was startled by his fork.
It exactly resembled all the other forks at table, was of solid silver, engraved with an ornate crest supported between a lion and a unicorn rampant. It bore the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Sir Esmond Ovey made no protest, went on quietly forking some excellent caviar. Beyond a doubt all the knives, forks and spoons on the table had been seized during the Russian Revolution from the then British Embassy—i.e. stolen. Never did the grand old motto of the British Royal Arms turn up more appropriately, "Shamed be he who thinks evil of it!"
Lady Ovey is French. The Ambassador's first wife was the daughter of a U. S. Rear Admiral. Young for a diplomat (51), Sir Esmond's first post as Minister was in Mexico (1925-29). When Prime Minister MacDonald recognized the Soviet Government two years ago, he first picked a more prominent Briton as Ambassador, then switched to Sir Esmond at the last minute.
A God-fearing Church of Englander, Sir Esmond reported to Scot MacDonald (TIME, May 5, 1930), "there is no religious persecution in Russia . . . but . . . priests are . . . deprived of all civil rights. . . . Christianity has already disappeared among the youth of Russia and is being supplanted by Communism."
Nearly all British papers continue to get their Soviet news from Riga, Latvia, where rumors are cooked hot. Against this Sir Esmond has more than once vigorously protested, urging straight journalism, but in vain.