In a word, it is a perfect mistake to consider
modern France as the "sweet land of liberty" which America is. A German
citizen, with less show of political rights, enjoys more personal
freedom than is granted to a French one, if he happens to differ from
the ruling mentality.
So stand things in the western area of conflict. But how about the east?
You are kind enough to admit in your letter that "from this (the
aforementioned) standpoint of course the appearance of Russia among the
allies is an anomaly and must be explained on other grounds." Anomaly is
a rather tame word to characterize the meaning of this appearance of
Russia. I should hardly designate it by this term.
She does not "appear among the allies." She is the leading power among
them; it is her war, as Mr. Tsvolski, the Russian Ambassador to Paris,
very properly remarked: "C'est ma guerre." She planned it, she gave
Austria-Hungary no chance to live on peaceful terms with her neighbors,
she forced it upon us, she drew France into it by offering her a bait
which that poor country could not resist, she created the situation
which England considered as her best opportunity for crushing Germany. I
must repeat it over and over again: it is in its origin a Russian war,
with a clearly outlined Russian program of conquest.
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