enough for him, and returned to Oxford._

_To the Editor of The Times:_

SIR: I hope you may see your way to publish the following somewhat
lengthy statement on one of the burning questions of the day.

In this time of crisis, when the clash of ideas seems as fierce as the
struggle of the hosts, it is the duty of those who possess authentic
information on one or the other point in dispute to speak out firmly and
clearly. I should like to contribute some observations on German and
Russian conceptions in matters of culture. I base my claim to be heard
on the fact that I have had the privilege of being closely connected
with Russian, German, and English life. As a Russian Liberal, who had to
give up an honorable position at home for the sake of his opinions, I
can hardly be suspected of subserviency to the Russian bureaucracy.

I am struck by the insistence with which the Germans represent their
cause in this worldwide struggle as the cause of civilization as opposed
to Muscovite barbarism; and I am not sure that some of my English
friends do not feel reluctant to side with the subjects of the Czar
against the countrymen of Harnack and Eucken. One would like to know,
however, since when did the Germans take up this attitude? They were not
so squeamish during the "war of emancipation," which gave birth to
modern Germany. At that time the people of Eastern Prussia were
anxiously waiting for the appearance of Cossacks as heralds of the
Russian hosts who were to emancipate them from the yoke of Napoleon. Did
the Prussians and Austrians reflect on the humiliation of an alliance
with the Muscovites, and on the superiority of the code civil when the
Russian Guard at Kulm stood like a rock against the desperate onslaughts
of Vandamme? Perhaps by this time the inhabitants of Berlin have
obliterated the bas-relief in the Alley of Victories, representing
Prince William of Prussia, the future victor of Sedan, seeking safety
within the square of the Kaluga regiment! Russian blood has flowed in
numberless battles in the cause of the Germans and Austrians. The
present Armageddon might perhaps have been avoided if Emperor Nicholas
I. had left the Hapsburg monarchy to its own resources in 1849, and had
not unwisely crushed the independence of Hungary. Within our memory, the
benevolent neutrality of Russia guarded Germany in 1870 from an attack
in the rear by its opponents of Sadowa. Are all such facts to be
explained away on the ground