That this could
happen will remain one of the anomalies of history. It is not our fault;
we firmly believed in the desirability of the great nations working
together, we peaceably came to terms with France and England in sundry
difficult African questions. There was no cause for war between Western
Europe and us, no reason why Western Europe should feel itself
constrained to further the power of the Czar.
The Czar, as an individual, is most certainly not the instigator of the
unspeakable horrors that are now inundating Europe. But he bears before
God and posterity the responsibility of having allowed himself to be
terrorized by an unscrupulous military clique.
Ever since the weight of the crown has pressed upon him, he has been the
tool of others. He did not desire the brutalities in Finland, he did not
approve of the iniquities of the Jewish pogroms, but his hand was too
weak to stop the fury of the reactionary party. Why would he not permit
Austria to pacify her southern frontier? It was inconceivable that
Austria should calmly see her heir apparent murdered. How could she? All
the nationalities under her rule realized the impossibility of tamely
allowing Servia's only too evident and successful intrigues to be
carried on under her very eyes.
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