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102 PROBLEMS CONFRONTING RUSSIA
that " the obligations of Russia continue to be binding
upon the new State or group of States, by which Russia
is or will be represented." This claim is, of course, in full
consonance with international law and cannot be contested,
but the question as to how these obligations are to be
enforced is a more difficult one. Moral and peaceful
persuasion will scarcely be of avail, not even by pointing to
the fact that Russia’s own interests are at stake in the
ultimate issue. The further prolongation of anarchy, sapping
the life-blood of the nation and impeding its recovery for
generations to come even more disastrously than did the
Tartar invasion, cannot deter the purpose of those who
have deliberately created chaos and the utter disintegration
of the civilised structure of State and Society. But it is
certain that the longer the instruction of the growing
generation, the development of industrial production, and
the organisation of a regular course of human life are delayed,
the deeper the Russian nation sinks into the mire of moral,
economic, and political impotence. As anarchy grips closer
with more deadly fingers, the last remaining shreds of order
will be worn away !
The Russian people require, above all a strong lead
and a truly religious influence : both have been denied
them by the Revolution, and on that account alone the
Revolution may be pronounced a hopeless fiasco. Russia’s
future does not lie in revolution, but in the restoration of
order and authority, and as neither a Cromwell nor a
Napoleon have been produced by the Revolution, the only
way out of the impasse was to find another issue to secure
these ends.
The loyal and well-intentioned elements in Russia had no
alternative but to accept assistance from abroad. The
Russian people, unfortunately, are not able at present to
create for themselves a stable government. Their historic
past amply shows that they are too easily misled, too often
disunited among themselves and lacking in initiative. These
characteristics are aggravated by the ruin of the agricultural
and industrial capacity of the country, the utter disorganisa-
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