Rei'ietc of Reviewi, IjUIOS. 



History of the Month. 



539 



LONDON, Oct., 1906. 



According to Dr. Dillon, the well- 



, *" . informed correspondent of the 



' tfee'er Daily Telegraph at St Petersburg 



there is at last every prospect or 

 the signature of the long-expected Anglo-Russian 

 Agreement. As I have laboured sedulously for this 

 en°d both in Russia and at home for the last thirty 

 years, no one rejoices more at this good news than 

 T. But I rejoice with trembling, and refrain from 

 hallooing before we are out of the wood. Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Dillon the arrangement is to be em- 

 bodied not in one, but in a series of agreements. 

 The first, relating to Thibet, is complete and ready 

 to be signed. It'is based upon the definite repudia- 

 tion of all the high-flying schemes of the Anglo- 

 Indian Jingoes which led to the late expedition to 

 Thibet. Henceforth neither Russia nor Britain is 

 to interfere in the land of the Grand Lama. Dr. 

 Dillon says that the Russians are satisfied that 

 " whatever the English were aiming at before, they 

 are perfectly straight at present." This confidence 

 will last as' long as Sir Edward Grey is Foreign 

 Minister and C.-B. at the head of the Government. 

 It is no small triumph for the Liberal Ministry to 

 have established sucli confidence in a Court which 

 has too often been the victim of the tricks and wiles 

 of their predecessors. 



The Anglo-Russian agreement con- 

 The future ceming Persia was much more 

 Persia. d^'ficult to draw up. Persia can- 



not be trea.-ed like Thibet. Poli- 

 cies of absolute non-intervention and of outright 

 partition are equally impossible. What can be done 

 and what is now being attempted is to delimit the 

 respective spheres of interest, if not of influence, 

 of Russi.i and Britain on the general princijile — 

 the north to Russia, the south to us. When the 

 next Persian loan is floated it is to be arranged for 

 jointly by the two Powers. This may easily drift 

 into an Anglo-Russian condominium over Persia 

 similar to the Anglo-French control over Egypt in 

 the later days of Ismail. Nothing is said by Dr. 

 Dillon as to the thorny question of railway con- 

 struction. As for a jiort on the Persian Gulf, that 

 will probably not be mooted — save by the enemies 

 of Russia. According to Dr. Dillon, an agreement 

 with Russia on the Far Eastern question is also 

 under discussion, and he hints that it will include 

 the opening of the Dardanelles to the Russian fleet. 

 That I take leave to doubt. Russia will never be 

 willing to purchase the freedom of the Dardanelles 

 at the only price at which it can be had — the free 

 admission of other fleets to the Black Sea. No 

 conceivable advantage arising from her ability to 

 send her Black Sea fleet into the Mediterranean 

 could compensate her for the loss of the arrange- 

 ment which practically guarantees the security of 

 her southern frontier. 



While the Governments are thus 

 Another attempting to settle all outstanding 



Anglo-Russian , ^ "^ ^ ,, • ^- u 



Agreement. differences, their respective sub- 

 jects are hobnobbing on a scale 

 without precedent. Three hundred members of the 

 House of Commons and a host of British notables 

 have signed an address of sympathy to the members 

 of the late Duma, which the President and Secre- 

 tary of the Trades Union Congress, Mr. H. W. 

 Massingham, and others are this month to take to 

 St. Petersburg as a token of national sympathy 

 with Russia's first representative Assembly. Their 

 mission is naturally looked at somewhat askance by 

 the Russian Conservatives. Our own Tories would 

 hardly have been disposed to regard with sympathy 

 a deputation, say, from three hundred members of 

 the American Congress and other notable Ameri- 

 cans bringing an address of sympathy with the 

 Irish people just after Mr. Gladstone had sup- 

 pressed the Land League and sent Mr. Parnell to 

 Kilmainham. But there is no harm in the address 

 save for the danger that such demonstrations of 

 svmpathv by foreigners usually tell against those in 

 whose interest they are promoted. As, however, it 

 is understood the members of the late Duma are 

 willing to run this risk, the responsibility rests upon 

 them, not upon their English sympathisers. Pos- 

 sibly after a few more deputations of this kind our 

 Russian friends will not be so morbidly sensitive 

 about the kindliest English criticisms, which last 

 year thev almost resented as an insult. 



Adequately to express the sympa 

 Why Not a thies of our people to the Russians, 

 Third? there ought to be yet another ad- 



dress declaring the heartfelt sym- 

 p.athy and admiration with which all who know 

 anything of the real nature of the struggle going 

 on in Russia feel for those brave men who are 

 desperately endeavouring to keep the social sys- 

 tem from dissolution. From M. Stolypin to 

 the humblest policeman in the streets of War- 

 saw, there has been displayed in all ranks 

 a dogged bravery and a magnificent self-abne- 

 gation which cannot be ignored even by those 

 whose sympathies are entirely with their oppo- 

 nents. Whatever changes may be required in 

 Russia — and both the Tsar and M. Stolypin admit 

 the need for far vaster reforms than the most ad- 

 vanced Radical statesman has ever ventured to carry 

 out in Ireland — it is absolutelv necessary to pre- 

 vent the whole nation becoming a |)rey to mur- 

 derous anarchv operating bv arson and assass'na- 

 tion. Until the new Duma meets, M. Stohqiin and 

 his agents must see to it that the Government is car- 

 ried on, even although they may be murdered at 

 their posts. While our 300 members of Parliament 

 sympathise with the Liberals who have undisguised 

 relations with the Terrorists, there are others who 

 do not sign addresses who have not less sympathy 



