Hevieie oT Revieirs, S'Ji',lu<j. 



Leading Articles. 



385 



root of a tree, and the explanation of the symbol is 

 that, as the mouse does not gnaw the trunk of the 

 tree, neither will Lubeck be destroyed by plague 

 ur pestilence. 



Thus the mouse stands in intimate relationship 

 with death, and it would not be surprising that, as 

 i;i the Lubeck picture, mice should be associated 

 with the death of the children at Hameln, since they 

 are the symbol of pestilence. Probably the Hameln 

 children died of some p>estilential disease, since they 

 are not buried in the city in the churchyard, but in 

 one common grave on the Kuppenberg, outside the 

 city. Those who died of plague were frequently 

 buried outside the city, and we know that in the 

 years 1 282-1 284. Central and Northern Europe was 

 visited by frightful epidemics. 



OUGHT FRANCE TO LEND RUSSIA 

 MONEY ? 



Nor UiNTiL Russia is Free. 



Some twelve months ago there was published in 

 La Revue an article on the Franco-Russian Alliance 

 from the financial point of view. In a second article 

 on the subject, contributed to La Revue of February 

 ist, the same '' Friend of the Alliance " expresses his 

 satisfaction that his arguments were instrumental in 

 preventing the authorisation of the loan last year, 

 though in principle the loan was already decided on. 

 His contention was that it was France's positive 

 duty not to give Russia any more money till peace 

 had been concluded and the Russian Constitution 

 had been seriously established. 



CREDITOR AND DEBTOR. 



The first condition having been won, the writer in 

 the present article considers the question again with 

 reference to Russian liberties. He prefaces his re- 

 marks bv the observation that a creditor can hardly 

 help meddling in some measure in the private affairs 

 of a debtor, adding that the inconveniences of this 

 disagreeable duty are much more aggravated when 

 creditor and debtor are States. France, being the 

 creditor of Russia to the extent of twelve thousand 

 million francs, not unreasonably considers that she 

 has the right to investigate the manner in which 

 her ally will safeguard French interests, and at the 

 same time perserve her own prosperity and good 

 name ; and the right to question the solvency of 

 Russia conceded a year ago is infinitely more em- 

 phasised to-day, when the conditions of public and 

 economic life — that is to say. the Russian govern- 

 mental institutions with which France has entered 

 into engagements — are now discredited and en- 

 feebled. 



Can France, the writer asks, take measures which 

 shall be serviceable to both contracting parties with- 

 out getting mixed up with Russia's internal struggle ? 

 From a mora! point of view the question answers 



Itself : France ought not to interfere in the internal 

 affairs of Russia. On the other hand, it is, morally, 

 equally impossible for France to furnish an\ more 

 funds to any Russian organisation until thf revolu- 

 tion has brought about decisive results. 



MORAL ASSETS. 



What reigns in Russian finance is rather goodwill 

 than scrupulous honesty. According to the lenders, 

 the sums which France has lent to Russia should 

 have been utilised to develop the economic condi- 

 tion of the country and to consolidate the financial 

 condition of the State, and so give France a powerful 

 and rich ally, instead of which they have been ap- 

 plied to the construction of purely strategical rail- 

 ways and other unproductive schemes. Another 

 thing is certain. Since Russia took to borrowing 

 from France, a sum of at least four thousand mil- 

 lion francs has been spent simply to balance the 

 budget. The Russian Debt, in fact, is only guar- 

 anteed by moral assets, and all the money which 

 France has so eagerly furnished to procure a strong 

 ally to counterbalance Germany's designs for Euro- 

 pean leadership has entirely missed its aim. 



ITIE MOST VtJLNERABLE POINT. 



All that remains to France is the interest on the 

 debt payable in gold. But it is in the maintenance 

 of the gold standard and the value of the rouble 

 that we touch the mosi; vulnerable point of Russian 

 finance, and it has been proved that the gold reserve 

 has no stability. For all that Russia buys from 

 other countries is paid for in gold, as all that she 

 sends abroad is paid for in gold — with the result 

 that during the last ten years she has received 473 

 millions of francs in gold annually with which to 

 pay for her imports, the interest on the State debts 

 and foreign capital, diplomatic and other expenditure 

 abroad, etc., amounting in all to 985 millions of 

 francs. To meet her expenditure Russia ought, 

 therefore, to borrow no less a sum than 512 millions 

 iif francs annually. 



WHY FRANCE MOST SaX)P. 



France, concludes the writer, ought not to give 

 Russia another centime, and for the following rea- 

 sons : — 



Each new loan would hasten the bankruptcy of 

 Russia, and France would lose both her money and 

 her interest ; it would be used in expenditure neces- 

 .sarily unproductive : it would injure the interests of 

 humanity in general by maintaining the present yoke 

 of oppression : it would be treachery to France ; and 

 it would be a pure game of chance. 



A free democratic Russia would be essentially 

 Francophil, for France hates the semi-autocracy of 

 Germanv. To accomplish her tivo great reforms of 

 agrarian reorganisation and universal education 

 Russia will have need of gigantic loans, and with a 

 Federal Government which will make her one of the 

 wealthiest of States, France will deem it a. great 

 honour to preside over this development. 



