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102 PROBLEMS CONFRONTING RUSSIA
given or would be given by the receiving State to any other
State. The adherence to that policy has been one of the
reasons why German commerce has found it comparatively
easy to supersede English commerce in Russia and nearly
crush it out of existence. It is a false assumption to believe
that the chances of each State afforded the privilege of the
" most-favoured nation treatment" are identical. As a
matter of fact they are not. For instance, the requirements
of British and German trade on the Russian market are
very far from being the same. The difference in the
geographical position of Great Britain and Germany, and other
circumstances, favour German trade in Russia in a special
way. Germany’s close proximity to Russia, her particular
conditions of industrial production, and the fact that among
the population of Russia there are many of German
extraction who preserve their relations with Germany, enable
her to sell her goods to Russia under more favourable
conditions than Great Britain is able to do. The new commercial
treaty to be concluded between Great Britain and Russia
would, therefore, have to take into account the special
practical conditions of British trade in that country, assuring
to Great Britain advantages which would be peculiarly
suited to her trade. That could only be done by customs
tariff agreements, which would benefit the interests of
Great Britain and assure her special advantages, even
though they were automatically extended to Germany by
the " most-favoured nation clause " of the Russo-German
Treaty of 1904. In Great Britain many important symptoms
point to the fact that a radical change of policy in the
direction of new commercial agreements is imminent. The
" most-favoured nation clause " has already been denounced.
The war has taught Great Britain the necessity of a closer
understanding among the Allies not only from a military
but from an economic point of view. The old controversy
between free-traders and protectionists has been decided
by the logic of international events in favour of protection,
not for the sake of protection as an economic system, but
for political requirements. Henceforth the consideration
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