The chief of the more remote consequences of Germany's action
is the altered relations between Germany and Russia. Though the German official Press may argue that nothing has been changed, and that the stories about the pressure exercised by Germany are apocryphal, and though the autocratic party in Russia, which has always shown inclinations to lean, in fact if not in name, upon Germany as an autocratic State, may be inclined to overlook the humiliation received at the hands of Germany, it is evident that Russia as a whole feels very deeply what has happened, and will not easily forget what the Russian newspapers—those that cannot be accused of any revolutionary sympathies quite as much as those of radical tendencies—regard as a national humiliation. In effect, and looking at the matter from the widest point of view, Germany has said to Russia: "It is not you, but we—that is, Germany and Austria-Hungary in conjunction—who are going to say the last, word on the question of the South Slays. If you claim any special rights or privileges for dealing with that question, remember that you can only do so by challenging the Alliance between the two Imperial Governments of Central Europe."
