Remember the famous page where the Greek historian describes the solemn and blessed moment when, after long months of expectation and suffering, the Ten Thousand Companions of Xenophon finally perceived the sea, the supreme object of their desires. Θάλασσα! Thalassa! the cry which two thousand years ago burst from the breast of the Greeks, has also been the sacred cry of the Russians! Thalassa! This cry sums up their whole history. For Russian history in modern times is nothing but an endless "Expedition of the Ten Thousand," a long effort to reach the "open Sea." Thalassa! expresses both the past and the future of the people; all the realities which they covet and all the ideal things which they dream of.
IV
For the aspirations of religion combine to strengthen and to sanctify the blind desires of political instinct; for the "Drang nach Osten" will not only bring material wealth, the contact with civilization; it also means the realization of the religious destiny of Russia. The protectorate over Turkey and Asia Minor
