LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE PROBLEM OF PEACE.
[To TOR EDITOR Of TES "SPECTATOR:1 SIEYOUr very interesting explanation of Russian action and French inaction under the heading of "The Neutrality Difficulties" in the Spectator of May 20th nevertheless omits consideration of the possibility that even the War party in Russia might be glad of a way out of present difficulties, and might be inclined to seek it in a repeti- tion of past history. Your readers may possibly remember Julian Klaczko's remarkable articles in the Revue des Dews Mondes (June 15th, 1875, et seq.), wherein he pointed out that Russia was saved from complete ruin by the diplomatic action of Austria after the fall of Sevastopol. Previous to that event the Austrian mediators had rejected the clause involving the neutralisation of the Black Sea upon which Lord John Russell and M. Drouyn de Lhuys had insisted. The financial and social condition of Russia was very much worse than the rest of Europe supposed, and the Austrian Government was well aware that a surrender sans phrase would involve for Russia a worse catastrophe than England or France could then imagine. Sevastopol fell, and the Austrian Government had no longer any reason to support Prince Gortchakoff in his refusal of the Black Sea clause. Austria reformulated the conditions of peace, and sent them to St. Petersburg practically in the form of an ultimatum. A chorus of execration, led by Prince Gortcha- koff, followed this action on the part of Austria, Austria whose hold over Hungary had so recently been restored by the gratuitous assistance of Russian troops. Under cover of that indignation, the Russian Government at once escaped from an untenable situation, and to some extent restored oligarchical authority over the angry peoples of the Empire. Prince Gortchakoff went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the avowed avenger of Russia upon Austria, and Bismarck's Memoirs show how his contemporary strove to fulfil that promise. And to this day, as the present writer can testify, the epithet verolomnie, "the treacherous," is still applied to Austria by many old men in Russia who remember 1856. It is true that in this present war Sevastopol is not yet fallen, and the final crisis in Russian affairs is not yet at hand, but the complete defeat of the Russian fleets in the Far East may fairly be expected to re-create the situation. And who shall play the part of Austria P I think, Sir, there can be no question that Russian students of history have provisionally assigned that role to France : nor is it improbable that as after 1856, so after 1905 a chorus of execration against a European ally might enable the Russian Government to retire gracefully from a position made impossible by the destruction of the fleet, and temporarily to recover the allegiance of the peoples of the Empire by adopting for the nonce a Germanophil and anti-French policy. It is the possibility that she might be jockeyed into the position of Austria after 1856 that France has now to avoid.—I am, Sir, &c.,
CHARLES TOWER.
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