only be the work of the Russians themselves. The work cannot be done by other peoples from outside. Loans, trade and other outward agencies of European civilization may help her. They will not redeem her, for only she can save herself. France and other nations have gone through revolutions and crises. They had to help, and helped, themselves. We can do little for the Russians. What we could do we did during the war, and are still doing it. It was because I understood how profound was the crisis in Russian political life and culture that I adopted my policy of non-intervention. I believe that Russia will come to her senses, consolidate herself and play once more a great political part, greater than under Tsardom. We and the other Slavs need her, nay, the whole world needs her. Russophil we remain, but in future we shall be more thoughtfully, more practically, Russophil, following in the steps of Havlíček who was the first political man among us to grasp the real distinction between Tsarism and the Russian nation.
Now and again a voice from Poland is heard to proclaim that the Polish nation will be the leader of the Slav peoples since, next to Russia, it is the greatest among them, and possesses the needful groundwork of Western civilization. We must wait and see whether Poland can play this part. I myself doubt if she is sufficiently qualified for it. Others again, in sundry Russian and Southern Slav quarters as well as among ourselves, have, since the war, often extolled Prague as the capital of the Slav world. If they mean Prague as a centre of Slav culture, I may agree with them. Geographically, Prague is easily accessible to those of the Slavs who look westwards. In culture, we possess the right foundations and might take the lead, especially as we have gone ahead of the other Slavs, thanks, chiefly, to our Reformation. The fact that we alone among the Slav peoples feel sympathy with all of them, without regard to the ecclesiastical and other differences which divide them so sharply from each other, entitles us, in a sense, to act as leaders. But a postulate of such leadership is that we should consolidate ourselves spiritually and mentally and should rightly adjust our bearing towards the non-Slav nations.
Our policy must above all be Czech, truly Czech, that is to say, truly a world-policy and therefore also Slav. In the conduct of foreign affairs we have a tradition, young though it be. Its bases and principles were worked out during the war in the light of experience gained in dealing with most of the States of the world. The political success that attended it
