LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
RUSSIA AND CONSTANTINOPLE.
[To THE EDITOR 0/ TES "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Your article on "Russia and Constantinople" in the issue of November 14th strikes a note which will be gratify- ing to all who know Russia with any intimacy. For several decades our policy in relation to that country has been con- sistently wrong. Whether in the matter of the Dardanelles or at Port Arthur, its motive has been to thwart, largely because we did not understand, and partly because we feared. In connexion with Constantinople we shall have an oppor- tunity for generous action which may well become the basis of a future complete understanding. I am not so certain that" the Slays care little or nothing about Constantinople, which has never been a Slav city." What they do care about is their religion, and as " the first Christian city," to quote Dean Stanley, and originally the metropolitan city of the Eastern or Greek Church, Constantinople has for generations held a peculiar place in the hearts of many Slays. Indeed, on some old Russian maps it is called " Tzargrad." With the increas- ing difficulty of governing Russia from so awkwardly situated a city as Petrograd, " Tzargrad" has at least possibilities.—I
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