farms of the Polish peasants, during the great retreat of 1915. The order had to be obeyed, but the Russian peasant came with pails of water, and said: “Brother, our orders are to set fire to your farm, but here is water to put it out.” The kindness of the Russian peasant is proverbial, and when the time comes for peace, we may look to the Government of the Russian people to restore “Peace on earth, good will towards men.” We can speak with new confidence of Russia now that she is no longer “driven by a coachman clothed in German livery, but, by a man bearded and mittened.”
The cross-roads are passed, but there are many obstacles ahead, and we must not shut our eyes to them. Russia now has need of her most experienced statesmen, of men who will see clearly the interests of their country, and will not attempt to stay the inevitable. “Whither, then, are you speeding, Russia of mine?” cried Gogol in 1841. “Whither? Answer me! But no answer comes—only the weird sound of your collar-bells. Rent into a thousand shreds, the air roars past you, for you are overtaking the whole world, and shall one day force all nations, all Empires to stand aside, to give you way!” Rurik.
Russia: From Theocracy to Democracy
The astounding development of the Russian crisis affords a unique example of the fact that a country’s foreign affairs are controlled by its home affairs; and this is the exact opposite of the German theory. For Russia the war has meant, not conquest, but the establishment of a democracy. During the war she has been driven from Galicia, she has lost Poland and other European territories, while her Asiatic conquests have been comparatively insignificant; it is not till the present moment that the Russian people have laid the real foundations for a war they have been waging for nearly three years! The present moment is unique also in this: that such a revolution as was realised in Western countries only by great and bloody struggles has been effected in Russia almost without bloodshed, in a way almost reminiscent of the separation of Norway from Sweden. And while France and Britain punished their sovereigns with death, the Tsar and the Tsaritsa, under much more aggravating
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