APPENDIX 145 



conviction that with the settling down after the war 

 there must be immense changes in the method of 

 government. I have run across strata of opinion. 

 "If Russia loses there will be revolution and a repub- 

 lic be set up, " and "If Russia wins there will still be a 

 revolution if the old state of affairs be reinforced. " 

 Appreciating the volatile nature of the Slav, I venture 

 to say there will be no such unfortunate consequence. 

 Firstly, Russia is not going to lose. Secondly, Russia, 

 like the rest of the world, will adapt herself, not franti- 

 cally but gradually to new conditions. The close 

 alliance with France and Britain will count for a 

 great deal. Russians are not braggarts. They know 

 that in innumerable respects they lag far behind 

 other countries. They are their own most severe 

 critics. They feel there is much way to be made up, 

 and running right through the people is a determina- 

 tion to seize their opportunities and advance Russia to 

 the place she ought to occupy amongst the nations of 

 the world. 



The Russian is calm over the war. He is not quite 

 sure what it is all about, but when the young men 

 are told to go and fight they 'go by the million. They 

 are brave; but the German guns are big and powerful. 



Yet the Russians are not a fighting people. They 

 are not arrogant. They are kindly. Amongst the 

 educated classes there would be much more interest 

 in a new opera than in the invention of a gun which 

 will throw a shell forty miles. They love their coun- 

 try, but without chauvinism. They are sure of the 

 destiny of their land and it is different from the 



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