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INTRODUCTION
xv
as a lucrative field for capitalistic enterprise, as the holder
of untold mineral, forest, and agricultural wealth, as a great
employer of engineering and similar skilled labour, and as
a customer for foreign commodities.
Pessimistic forecasts on Russia are founded upon the
witness of a country apparently desperately bent upon
suicide—economic, moral, and political. But when thought
is brought to bear upon the nature of the driving forces
which are now at work in Russia, it will be seen that there
is no room for despondency regarding her future, a fair and
unprejudiced estimate of the significance of the crisis
through which Russia is passing will dispel the present lack
of confidence and re-establish a mutual assurance between
the two countries. It is of the utmost importance to
distinguish, between rule and exception, the normal state of
affairs and abnormal temporary conditions. A man’s
general health cannot be judged at a time when he happens
to have contracted German measles, depriving him of his
usual efficiency, capacity, and power, reducing him to
collapse and helplessness. At present Russia is stricken
down by a fever of revolt, an orgy of unrestrained
self-will, the conscious negation of law and order. Anarchy,
overruling patriotism, piety, and civilisation, is dancing the
dance of death, hurling itself against the natural and
immutable requirements of life, and is veering ever nearer
to the abyss of self-annihilation. But the Phoenix of a
regenerated Russia must rise up out of the ashes of this
awful catastrophe. The present situation affords ample
food for meditation upon past errors, and the best means
to be adopted for reconstruction in the future.
Now, therefore, is England’s opportunity for making
herself thoroughly acquainted with the complex situation
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