Trust Russia 167 



before the War the German newspapers had dubbed him 

 " the uncrowned King of Russia," a title which shouhl 

 command our conlidence as well. 



" The lesson we had learned," Mr. Lowther went on to 

 say, " was that Prussianism was not to be met by 

 proclamations, nor militarism counted by manifestoes. 

 The Russians had been seized with a passing frenzy. 

 The storm cloud is dark over that great country. The 

 thunders were rolling and re-echoing from north to south 

 and from east to west. Lightning was flashing, and 

 everything looked black. Destruction and havoc were 

 being wrought in many quarters. Notwithstanding all 

 this, I for one believed that that cloud had a silver lining, 

 and that, though the time might be long, yet it would 

 come when the clouds would roll away." 



The guest of the evening, of course, spoke guardedly, 

 but those who know a little of Russia and its disease 

 learned much if only by having their views confirmed 

 by so eminent an authority. " Perhaps some day," Sir 

 George Buchanan told us, " I may be able to tell you 

 what I know and what I have seen in Petrograd. It was 

 such a sad tale that it almost breaks my heart to think of 

 it. I told the Czar that the Army and the people were 

 one, that he had come to the parting of the ways and had 

 to make a choice between two paths, one of which would 

 lead to victory and the other to revolution and disease. 

 The Czar chose the path of reaction and the revolution 

 followed, and was fraught at the time with serious con- 

 sequences to the cause of the Allies. It was always risky 

 for a great country to make a plunge from extreme 

 autocracy to extreme democracy.' . . There was 



not a word of truth, I am convinced, in the report that the 

 Czar had ever contemplated concluding a separate peace 

 with the Central Powers. The Emperor of Russia, no 

 doubt, had much to answer for, but he was no traitor, 

 and never would have betrayed the cause of the Allies. 

 He was always the true and loyal friend of this country. 



''The Bolsheviks were Internationalists first and 

 Russians after, and in order to form a brotherhood for the 



' And one can well ask, i//i bono when done so recklessly without 

 ihovight or consideration. What else could Russia expect than her 

 present fate? Lei us hope that she will soon recover herself and, with the 

 help of her Allies, be able to e.xpel her autocratic and r< actionary tncniies. 

 Is it an exngyeration to say, when looking backwards that the most 

 exacting autocrats have sprung from out of the midst of the most ardent 

 democracy ? 



