“It may be retorted that the fate of a campaign is decided by military power and not by the greater or lesser sympathy of neutral countries for the policy of a given state. The German Government does not think so; for otherwise it would not spend countless millions for pan-German propaganda in all the countries of the world, even the most remote. But we, on the other hand, not only fail to oppose anything to this propaganda, but by the course of our domestic policies we place in the hands of this propaganda powerful arguments for arousing against us public opinion of such countries as the United States, the only great neutral power, and of Sweden, our neighbor. =“It is inconceivable that the framers of our policy should fail to realize that the propaganda directed against us, conducted under official auspices and equipped with the amplest resources, will scarcely cause our own interests and the interests of our Allies one-tenth of the harm which is caused to these interests by our attitude towards the Jewish population of Russia and our systematic violation of the legal conscience of the Finnish population—an attitude which smacks of the dark times of medievalism.= “The question now is, why did not the Government find it possible to put an end to this problem decisively and forever, as it has finally, and, alas, with such delay, settled the question of the autonomy of Poland? This may be explained only by the fact that the Government hesitated to break with the traditional policy so dear to the militant nationalism. “Accordingly the Duma and the Council are in duty bound to come to the aid of the Government in this regard and take upon themselves the initiative of introducing a bill for the abolition of all laws restricting the rights of the Jews and for the abrogation of the law of July 17 (30) concerning Finland. The passage of these measures would undoubtedly lighten the heavy task now confronting the Government in the sphere of international relations and it would be met by our valiant allies with the liveliest satisfaction. =“We must remember that this great European war is not only a struggle of interests, but is also a struggle of ideas and principles. In the battle against German militarism, Russia has placed herself on the side of right and freedom, and for the triumph of the idea for which we are now fighting, it is necessary that in Russia, too, there should be no longer any people without rights or any people oppressed.”= FOOTNOTES [1] “Legal Sufferings of the Jews in Russia”; edited by Lucien Wolf. London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1912. [2] Petrograd and Moscow.—Ed. [3] Petrograd “Retch,” Aug. 8 (21), 1915. [4] Petrograd “Retch,” Aug. 14 (27), 1915.