The Mirrors of Downing Street | Page 8

the sword had only to be flashed in Russia's face for that
vast barbarian to cower once again. Few statesmen in Europe thought
otherwise. Sir Edward Grey, I have good reason to think, did not
consider that Russia would fight. He erred with that great number of
educated Germans who thought the sword had only to be rattled a little
more loudly in the scabbard for Russia to weaken, and for Germany to
gain, without cost, the supreme object of her policy--an increasing
ascendancy in the Balkans. But this time Russia was ready, and this
time Lord Carnock knew Russia would fight. I am not sure that Lord
Carnock was not the only statesman in Europe who possessed this
knowledge--the knowledge on which everything hung.
It is easy for thoughtless people, either in their hatred or love of
Bolshevism, to forget that the old Russia saved France from destruction
and made a greater sacrifice of her noblest life than any other nation in
the great struggle. The first Russian armies, composed of the very
flower of her manhood, fought with a matchless heroism, and, so
fighting, delivered France from an instant defeat.
Lord Carnock may justly be said to have prepared Russia for this
ordeal--for a true friend helps as well as gives good advice. But it
would be a total misjudgment of his character which saw in this great
work a clever stroke of diplomatic skill.
Lord Carnock was inspired by a moral principle. He saw that Russia

was tempting the worst passions of Germany by her weakness. He felt
this weakness to be unworthy of a country whose intellectual
achievements were so great as Russia's. He had no enmity at all against
the Germans. He saw their difficulties, but regretted the spirit in which
they were attempting to deal with those difficulties--a spirit hateful to a
nature so gentle and a mind so honourable.
He had studied for many years the Balkan problem. He knew that as
Austria weakened, Germany would more and more feel the menace of
Russia. He saw, over and over again, the diplomacy of the Germans
thrusting Austria forward to a paramount position in the Balkans, and
with his own eyes he saw the Germans in Bulgaria and Turkey
fastening their hold upon those important countries. If Russia weakened,
Germany would be master of the world. A strong Russia might alarm
Germany and precipitate a conflict, but it was the world's chief fortress
against Prussian domination.
For the sake of Russia he worked for Russia, loving her people and yet
seeing the dangers of the Russian character; hoping that a
self-respecting Russia might save mankind from the horrors of war and,
if war came, the worse horrors of a German world-conquest. This work
of his, which helped so materially to save the world, was done with
clean hands. It was never the work of a war-monger. No foreigner ever
exercised so great an influence in Russia, and this influence had its
power in his moral nature. I had this from M. Sazonoff himself.
Such a man as Lord Carnock could not make any headway in English
political life. It is worth our while to reflect that the intelligence of such
men is lost to us in our home government. They have no taste for the
platform, the very spirit of the political game is repellent to them, and
they recoil from the self-assertion which appears to be necessary to
political advancement in the House of Commons. No doubt the
intelligence of men like Mr. J.H. Thomas or Mr. William Brace,
certainly of Mr. Clynes, is sufficient for the crudest of our home needs,
sufficient for the daily bread of our political life; but who can doubt
that English politics would be lifted into a higher and altogether purer
region if men like Lord Carnock were at the head of things, to provide

for the spirit of man as well as for his stomach?
More and more, I think, gentlemen will stand aloof from politics--I
mean, gentlemen who have received in their blood and in their training
those notions of graciousness, sweetness, and nobleness which flow
from centuries of piety and learning. Only here and there will such a
man accept the odious conditions of our public life, inspired by a sense
of duty, and prepared to endure the intolerable ugliness and dishonesty
of politics for the sake of a cause which moves him with all the force of
a great affection. But on the whole it is probable that the political
fortunes of this great and beautiful country are committed for many
years to hands which are not merely over-rough for so precious a
charge, but not near clean enough for the sacredness of the English
cause.
Only by indirect action, only by a much more