ALLIANCE CEMENTED BY TRADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2729, 25 March 1916, Page 9

ALLIANCE CEMENTED BY TRADE

BRITAIN AND RUSSIA. ' J For the sixth year in succession Sir George Buchanan, tho British Ambassador, mis evening addressed tho members of tho British'colony at the New linglisli Club in l'etrograd (wrote ."Tho Tunes" correspondent oil January 18). Acknowledging that 1915 was in,\mauy rcspccts a year i of disappointments and mistakes for our diplomacy, with tho extension of tho war to tho Balkans and the tragic i'ato of Serbia, the speaker nevertheless insisted that we had advanced a step towards our goal and that tho Now Year opens full or promise for the future. "The Allies have been riding a waiting race, but have more staying power than Germany, and ere long will forgo ahead." As an examplo of the continued efforts of Gennaii agents to sow distrust of Great Britain ui tho minds of the Rus-. sian people, the speaker referred to tho widely-circulated report to the effect that ho had threatened the Russian Government with a secret Anglo-Japan-ese, treaty, whereby Japan was to make things very unpleasant for Russia in Manchuria and Siberia should ah© attempt to conclude a separate peaoe with Germany. He need hardly 6ay that no 61 troity existed, and the whole story was a malicious falsehood. It was impossible to doubt Russia's determination to fight this war to a victorious finish. When the Emperor pledged his word, knat word would not bo broken. touching on our future commercial relations with Russia, Sir George Buchanan urged the necessity of at once preparing to capture the place hitherto held by German trade. If we are to oust tlie Austro-German- our merchants and manufacturers must radically change their methods, st-udy local requirements and-tastes, and abandon tho old-fash-icned idea that what an Englishman ulces ought' to be good enough for the foreigner. They must also be prepared to accord greater credit facilities. He was not for i one ' moment suggesting that Great Britain should exploit Russia commercially as Germany had done in the past, but that Anglo-Russian trade lelations should be co-ordinated on lines advantageous to both countries. It was not merely on account of our trade interests that he laid stress on the importance of capturing the Russian' market from the Germans, but because be wished to consolidate and perpetuate the Anglo-Russian Alliance/ For it was not. by diplomatic acts but by mutual toolings of sympathy, friendship, and confidence, and community of interests, that true and lasting alliances were made. Russia and Great Britain were gradually being drawn nearer and nearer to each other. Germany's wanton declaration of war on' Russia and violation of Belgian neutrality had acceleFated the process, and it was with .blood and iron that the Alliance had been cemented.

"Wo are both engaged iu a life and u? i. S . he added; "we are boJi fighting for our very existence as tree and independent nations, and for the great principles of ri S ht and justice; ! and the dangers which we have faced together and the sacrifice we have both made have.laid the foundations of an enduring alliance. But the crowjiinoedifice is still to be constructed, and if it is to weather tho storms of the tuture it must be built of solid stone and on common interests. In - this material ace close commercial relations are one of the governing- factors of international policy, and it is in the interest of both of Russia and Great Britain to erect a barrier against tho peaceful" penetration of Germany, and . against the encroachments of her trade. 1 - - . "I have faith in the future, faith in the victory of the Allies, and faith in Anglo-Russian friendship. The war has taught us to love Russia, to admire, her heroism, and appreciate the generous sacrifices she has made in the cause of the Allies. I trust and believe that she' reciprocates these feelings, and I look forward to a permanent alliance of tho two great- Entires as the surest guarI anteo of tho world's ppace."