e, which is by no means as strong a hypothesis, that Russia is
overwhelmingly victorious against Austria and the Eastern German Army;
then, of course, you have the situation in which that one of the Allies
which is triumphant will assert its leadership in the terms of peace
that will be reached, and would have the hegemony, as we call it, of all
Europe.

Russia's Position.

So that the defeat of the Allies in the west and their overwhelming
success in the east would compel the acceptance, in any peace that might
be made, of such terms as Russia chose to dictate. She would have to be
satisfied, otherwise there would only be one outcome of it; that is, of
course, if Great Britain and France could not accept those terms, there
would be a rupture, and stranger things have been seen than Germany,
France, and Great Britain fighting against Russia.

Stranger things than that have been seen; such changes in the alliances
between States have occurred at intervals from the seventeenth century
onward in Europe, a phase of the subject that is too lengthy to discuss
here, but which every student of history knows all about. And it is
thinkable that they might occur again.

Suppose, on the other hand, that the Germans should imitate Frederick
the Great, which is not so preposterous as appears on the face of it,
because of comparatively easy means of transportation, and should be
able to make successive victorious dashes, first in the east and then in
the west, backward and forward; leadership would be hers, and France
would be a minor power for years to come.

Probably peace might come more quickly if neither side should be
absolutely victorious than otherwise. But for the moment I think that
the agreement among the Allies is a very portentous thing, as far as the
duration of the war is concerned.

"Do you think that any secret agreement may exist; that France even now
may have made an agreement with Germany?" Mr. Sloane was asked.

I cannot think so. I think it very evident there is no such secret
agreement. If one existed it would be much more likely to be between
Russia and Germany. You remember the development of Prussia, which is,
of course, the commanding State in the German Empire, occurred by its
careful conservation of the policy which was laid down in the political
will of Frederick the Great, that of keeping friends with Russia.

The fact of the matter is, Prussia was saved in the Napoleonic wars by
the act of Ge