The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 3017. RUSSIA

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9620, 28 March 1917, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 3017. RUSSIA

TJic importance of Russia to the Entente. Alliance cannot of course ho overrated. We can realise it best by supposing the collapse of Russia and tracing the cdnsequences. Thoro ia, happily, now no fear of such, collapse, because the Russian people have realised, apparently, that to keep their strength hearing in the direction ol the national desire, they must keep the national head clear and steady. That the national head is pretty steady is proved by the treatment of tlie fallen dynasty, and ‘the convicted bureaucracy, that is, the leaders of. the Tchinovniks. The House of Romanoff has been sot aside as completely in Russia as the House of Bourbon has been in France, with the difference that the French dynasty had life tor three-quarters of a century before tho Due d’Aumole retired from tho army, whereas in a few weeks the Grand Duke Nicholas, with a far greater record than the Due d’Aunlale’s in tho field, and of not less distinguished patriotism in tho Cabinet, has been retired from his great position in a few weeks. At the same time the traitors of the Tchin are not massacred, but they are to be tried openly by legal process. They arc meeting justice, not revenge. Moreover, tho Provisional Government, in the multiplicity of its enormous labours, is placing tho conduct of the war before everything. The difficulties are immense. They are external as well as internal. From outside there is the German propaganda, which, being powerfully organised, sticks at nothing. Inside are the madhends who think more of the golden dreams of the Socialist philosophers than of the war, not realising j that peace with Germany bo not only present dishonour but eventual disaa-

ter. with reaction once more in tho saddle, armed with German strength and frightfulno.ss. The trouble with the former is that it works underground; the difficulty of the latter i. aggravated by the fact that the madheads, having assisted materially in the revolution, have io a certain extent to bo recognised. Their case for a separate pcaec is at tile same time streigthoncd by the open declaration of the German Socialist Party organ that Germany ought uot io light sgainst the now united doihocratic forcer, of Europe. It is a. specious argument which Kaiserism is sure to use with completely mendacious hypocrisy. The task will lie difficult. Hut the position of Kaiserism is growing daily more desperate.

In this emergency of conflicting views the Russian army has taken a most remarkable stop. The men in the trendies who have upheld patriotism, pure, undefiled, and heroic, and are still upholding it,- who have gono through a fiery ordeal such as no army in history has ever had to face, and come out unconqucred —these men havo passed resolutions addressed to their countrymen of the civil side, urging them to conquer the external enomv as effectively as they have conquered the internal foe, "ho is supported by the external enemy’s unholy propaganda, and a tremendous display of military force. To prove their position, these fighting men of Russia point out the really great disaster which an inconclusive peace with Germany would bring on the Russian patriotic cause. The army which in Russia has always supported the ruling power, has, in fact, declared completely for the Provisional Government, giving as its reason that the stability of the revolution depends on the complete defeat of Germany. Tho Russian soldiery, who have seen the internal conflict, and fought heroically in tho external, have no illusions about the two. They know' that tho external and the internal enemies of Russia arc handed together for her destruction. They will tolerate nothing that docs not break down both together, one set as completely as the other. Their formal expression of determination is clearly an attempt to compel the nation to decide to prosecute the war on the combined lines of safety and honour. Whether it will have compelling effect, who shall say In this most bewildering of all constitutional changes recorded in tho history of mankind? ; At least, however, one can say that the step taken by the Russian soldiery in presence of the enemy, holding the enemy from overwhelming Russia with the invasion ho is planning and is most anxious to carry into effect, for the restoration of the bad status quo, is the most encouraging thing that has come from Russia since tho abdication of the Czar. It is a powerful menace to reaction, and a friendly hint, equally powerful, to tho madheads. The armed strength- of ■ the nation is definitely behind tho Provisional Govern, in out of Russia. Moreover, the great Powers, in alliance with the Russian nation, have definitely recognised tho new Government. Democratic Europe has welcomed Russia into tho ranks of Democracy. It is tho most remarkable act of statesmanship since tho Holy Alliance which Mettornich engineered a century ago, and Britain refused to support. Tho first result of that refusal was tho Monroe Doctrine of America. The next was less direct —tho liberation of Italy and tho success of Republican Eranco —but was far-reach-ing. The third is the admission of Russia, tho chief supporter of Motternich’s infamous Holy Alliance, for tho strengthening of autocracy, into the Democracy of Europe. Britain, which struck tho first blow at the Holy Alliance a hundred years ago, joins its once principal victims in recognising the democracy of its main supporter. The external and the internal support of tho righteous cause arc really greater —now that tho Russian army has spoken—than the external and internal hostility.