Many people blame Russia for what is going on in the Balkans. They may, perhaps, be more right than one would imagine, but probably not quite in the way they suppose! In political, as in private life, there are moments when one must be guided only by the criterion of one's own duty and conscience, whether one pleases the world or not, whether even one is openly blamed or not. Russia, unfortunately, has not always observed this principle. It seems to me that in politics nothing is so dangerous as to be more carried away by cosmopolitanism than by patriotism, and to forget one's own feelings and duties in one's desire to please some other Power. Cosmopolitanism kills patriotism. I have spent many winters in England, and have known many Englishmen, but I have never met a true Briton who would boast of being a cosmopolitan and not a patriot. Happy England! They tell me that there are prisons and lunatic {265} asylums in this country. Naturally--even in this happy land there are madmen and criminals--but they are considered and treated as such. In the present situation all the harm has been brought about by our past diplomacy, anxious, as it has always been, ever since the Turkish war of '76, to please the European Concert. At this moment, of course, we fervently adhere to the policy of the Allies--and for this, indeed, one can only say "Thank God!" The aims and objects of the allied nations are identical, and we have one common end in view: victory over our enemy at any cost. This fact is not based on any vague, cosmopolitan craving to win the approval of some wretched concert, but is founded on the most ardent and determined sense of patriotism. Now let us consider what is just now the real position of Bulgaria, and how this position has been brought about. 'Yes, the incredible has happened, the liberated slave has turned against the hand that gave him freedom, the but recently enchained captive fights side by side with his oppressors, and uses his armed forces against his brothers. We turn away in horror, and cry "Treachery!" The cry is taken up and repeated, its echo resounds everywhere, and it seems at first sight as though nothing could be said in defence or justification of an act so inexcusable. Our indignation, indeed, is just; but before we condemn an entire nation, let us look round for a moment and consider whether we cannot point the finger of our scorn and contempt at an object more deserving of such feelings than an ignorant {266} people victimised by falsehoods and intrigues, and drawn against its will into an adventure of which it is already tiring. In the first place, European diplomacy, guided by Lord Beaconsfield, opposed Russia's imminent triumphant entry into Constantinople. In connection with this fact, I am tempted to recall the following incident. Several years after the end of the war, ex-President Grant called on me in Paris, and put to me the following question: