Russia represents eastern mentality,
which implies an unadmissible spirit of aggression and of conquest. It
seems to be a law of nature on the old Continent that eastern nations
should wish to expand to the west as long as they are powerful. Not to
mention the great migration of nations which gave birth to mediaeval
organizations, you may follow this law in the history of the Tartars, of
the Turks, and of Russia herself. The spirit of aggressiveness vanishes
only when decay sets in, which is still far from being the case of
Russia, or when a nation is gradually converted to Occidental mentality,
which, I hope, will some day be her happy lot. But till then, and that
may mean a century or two, any sort of union including Russia would mean
a herd of sheep including a wolf.
2. What I hope then, for the present, as the most desirable result of
the war, is a thorough understanding between the nations of the Western
European Continent, construction of a powerful political block,
corresponding to the area of western mentality, in close connection with
America; such a block would discourage aggression from the east; it
would urge Russia on the path of reform and home improvement. England
would be welcome to join it, on condition of renouncing those
pretensions to monopolizing the seas which are as constant a menace to
peace as Russian aggressiveness is.
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