We feel proud because you have recognized the great individual worth of the Russian literature, and we are moved by your ardent expressions of sympathy and friendship. You scarcely know what Lord Byron was to us at the dawn of our literature, how our greatest poets, Poushkin and Lermontov, were swayed by him. You scarcely know to what an extent the Shakespearean Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, has become a part of our literature, how near to us is Hamlet's tragedy. We, too, pronounce the names of Copperfield and Snodgrass with a little difficulty, but the name of Dickens is as familiar to us and as near to our hearts as the names of some of our own writers. We trust, and we even permit ourselves to hope, that our friendship will not end on the fields of battle, but that our mutual understanding will continue to grow, as it lives on together with those sincere and heartfelt words, with which you have addressed us. We trust that it will be transformed into a spiritual unity between us, a unity based on the universal achievements of the spirit of humanity. We trust even further. We trust that evil will finally become extinguished in the hearts of men, that mutual ill-feeling will be bitter and poignant no longer, and that, when ears of corn will be again fluttering upon the fields, mutilated by trenches and ramparts, and drenched in human blood, when wild flowers will begin to grow over the countless unknown graves, time will come, when the nations that are separated by such a tremendous gulf today, will come together again upon the one great road of humanity and will turn back once more to the great, universal words, that are common to all men. We trust, and we hope. Greetings to you. (Signed) L. ANDREEV, K. ARSENIEV, I. BUNIN, U. BUNIN, I. BELOUSOV, M. GORKY, V. VERESAEV, A. GRUSINSKY, N. DAVYDOV, S. ELPATIEVSKY, I. IGNATOV, S. MELGUNOV, A. SERAFIMOVICH, N. TELESHOV, I. SHMELEV, N. MOROZOV, COUNT A.N. TOLSTOY, N. RUSANOV, F. KRIUKOV, A. GORNFELD, A. PIESHECHONOV, N. KAREYEV, F. BATUSHKOV, L. PANTELEYEV, N. KOTLIAREVSKY, V. MIAKOTIN, V. VODOVOSOV, P. SAKULIN, OLNEM-TSEKHOVSKAYA, A. KONI, W. KRANIKHFELD, B. LAZAREVSKY, P. POTAPENKO, TH. SOLOGUB, T. SCHEPKINA-KUPERNIK, W. BOGUCHARSKY, K. BARANTSEVICH, S. VENGEROV, P. MILIUKOV, A. PRUGAVIN, M. KOVALEVSKY, A. POSNIKOV, E. LETKOVA-SULTANOVA, D. OVSIANNIKO-KULIKOVSKY, A. REMEZOV, D. MEREZHKOVSKY, Z. HIPPICS, F. ZELINSKY, N. TCHAIKOVSKY, A. BLOK, E. TCHIRIKOV, A. PETRISCHEV, I. BIELOKONSKY, PRINCE A. SUMBATOV, W. FRITCHE, A. VESELOVSKY, W. NEMEROVICH-DANCHENKO, PRINCE E. TROUBETSKOY, I. SHPAZHINSKY, TH. KOKOSHKIN, COUNT E.L. TOLSTOY, N. TEMKOCSKY, M. ARTISIBASHEV, U. BALTRUSHAITIS, U. AICHENWALD, PRINCE D. SHAKHOVSKY, W. BRUSOV. [Illustration] Evviva L'Italia By William Archer Mr. Archer's article praising the Italian decision and purpose appeared originally in The London Daily News.