The interests of Russia will in no way suffer from the separation of Latvia; neither economically, for Latvia will certainly be a better intermediary between the West and the East than Russia was or would be; nor strategically, for Latvia will be a much more conscientious sentinel on the Baltic Sea than Russia was or would be. It is impossible for Russia to claim to re-enter her former boundaries on the necessity of European balance of power, for, as a factor of equilibrium, Russia has been found wanting, and one can foresee her future complete submission to the economic and political influence of Germany, as well as to her civilisation. On the other hand, the interests of a lasting peace demand the creation of a series of independent national States for the peoples inhabiting the shores of the Baltic Sea; and, between them, a defensive alliance for which there are sufficient grounds in the shape of common economic, political and intellectual interests. Such an alliance would play at the same time the rôle of the necessary line of demarcation between Russia and Germany. Moreover, it is the only natural solution of the problem of the _Dominium maris Baltici_, which has been an apple of discord for centuries and has often been the disturber of the world’s peace. [Illustration: THE TEMPLE PRESS LETCHWORTH ENGLAND] Footnotes: [1] One of the published works of the Russian Political Conference (from the pen of Mandelstam), specially devoted to the question of Poland, has received a well-merited refutation in the brilliant pamphlet of M. H. Grappin (_Memorandum on the Application of the Nationalities Principle to the Russian Question_). M. Gaston Gaillard, in his book _The Pan-Russian Movement and the Borderland Peoples_, Paris, 1919, gives a remarkable summary, with full documentary evidence, of the aspirations of the borderland peoples of Russia. [2] P. J. Sahlit, _Devastation of Latvia by the Russian Armies_, Petrograd, 1917 (in Russian). [3] As fear has big eyes, even among fearless people like M. Savinkoff, it is believed, for instance, that this latter gentleman has found in the Bolshevik lines two divisions of Lettish Rifles, _i.e._, 60,000 men (_Pages Modernes_, No. 1, page 7). If we take into account that many Letts have fought from the beginning in the ranks of the Czeko-Slovaks, in the army of Denikin and in that of the North, and remembering that the Lettish regiments have suffered great losses during the war, one can only ask with amazement where this great number of Lettish youths comes from. No more than 3,500 Letts can be counted among the Bolsheviki, all the rest are a vision inspired by fear. [4] Details on this point will be found in the pamphlet of Count Jean Tarnovsky, _La Menace Allemande et le Péril Russe_, Imprimerie Moderne, 17, rue Duler, Biarritz, 1919. End of Project Gutenberg's Latvia & Russia, by Arveds Karlis Kristaps Bergs