I' III si I\iissl(i 173 



of the land was assij:^ned to the peasants. Moreover, all 

 kinds of feudal rights were maintained, and in parts now 

 under German occupation they survive to the present day, 

 for they were not abolished by Ukase until 19 16." If 

 this was the state of affairs when Kussia Avas supposed to 

 rule herself, how much worse would have l)een the 

 state of this peasantry under its German Barons and the 

 Overlord at IJerlin, and this, I would claim, is what they 

 foresaw was coming when they revolted. Like a dog long 

 tied up who is suddenly unleashed, what wonder that it picks 

 up and shakes everything that it comes into contact with 

 before coming to heel, and how can the Russian peasants 

 come to heel when there is no master to call on them to do 

 so ? " The average Est or Lett is, by nature and training, 

 a revolutionary and, at the present time they supply the 

 liolsheviks with the most intelligent, best trained and best 

 disciplined regiments. But more than anything else in 

 politics the Letts and Ests are anti-Germans, for reasons 

 both social and national." Surely with such information 

 before us we need not despair for Kussia ; we need not 

 fear (if we handle her properly and with understanding), 

 that these people who make such excellent soldiers, who 

 have been so oppressed by the Germans, and who, there- 

 fore, detest them so cordially, will wish to go back under 

 the German yoke — and a still heavier yoke — than that from 

 which they have just tasted the joys of freedom. I for 

 one do not think so ; the dog, now changed into a horse, 

 is out loose on the steppes, with Germany hard pressing 

 her with a lasso ; let us, therefore, hunt down the hunter 

 and drive him off instead of leaving the horse to its fate 

 simply because it did not immediately take its place in the 

 traces and help drag the cause of the Allies in triumph 

 through the streets of Berlin. 



It cannot be denied that the opportunities which lie 

 Khead of us to develop much welfare, happiness and 

 wealth throughout Russia both for the Slavs as well as 

 for ourselves, are very great ; what a pity therefore, that 

 we have hitherto been so slow to realize this and make 

 the most of such chances. What a still more serious 

 mistake it will be if we continue to allow these opportu- 

 nities to pass us unheeded and thus leave them to be 

 utilized by others in a way that will not truly benefit 

 Russia and will only prove a menace to ourselves. 



