CHAPTER VII
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
FINIS AUSTRIAE
(Washington. April 29—Nov. 20, 1918)
ONCE on a British boat I felt I was again in Europe and in America, not merely by force of international law but because all the surroundings were European or American. I am a good sailor, and the fine, calm weather restored me. Part of the restful effect of a sea voyage comes from watching the waves, the currents, the weather, the colour of the water, and the skies. I noted that on April 24 we crossed the so-called date line, 181 degrees East Longtitude. I thought of Jules Verne’s “Round the World in Eighty Days” and how his hero unexpectedly gained twenty-four hours by going from West to East.
Among the passengers was Mr. Wright of the American Embassy at Petrograd with whom I discussed once more the Russian situation; and in the ship’s library I found a number of English novels. I read, too, with interest the centenary work on Charlotte Brontë by Miss May Sinclair, an authoress with whom I am well acquainted. But much of my time was spent in reviewing the international situation as it had developed since I left England. Russia, I reflected, was out of the war and bound down by a forced peace. Kerensky’s offensive in 1917 had come too late. Ludendorff and the Germans had feared it might come sooner and be dangerous. Since defeat and revolution had cost the Tsar his throne, failure in the war might be expected likewise to sweep away the Emperors William and Charles and their systems. Europe would thus be freed from absolutism, democracy would win and the freedom of small nations would be more fully assured. On the other hand it was a drawback that Russia could fight no longer and that her internal development was uncertain, perhaps actually endangered.
After occupying Poland, the Germans had gone forward and had occupied the Border States. In September and October 1917 they had taken Riga and the islands of Oesel, Dagö and Moon. Then they had entered Finland on April 2,
