,
and due respect must be accorded to the Uniate Catholic Church of the four
million Ruthenes of Galicia. In this respect the Concordat signed a few
weeks before the outbreak of war between Serbia and the Vatican should form
a very valuable precedent for the whole future relations of the Catholic
and Orthodox Churches, relations which are likely to assume increasing
importance in the not too far distant future. And here it is worth while to
emphasise, for the benefit of those who still regard Russia with misgiving
or dislike, the indisputable fact that it is just the most democratic and
enlightened of the smaller Slavonic States, and the most intellectual and
enlightened politicians and thinkers in those States, who have always
looked with the greatest confidence and enthusiasm to Russia, and who
to-day are most unanimous in welcoming her as the herald of a new era of
humanity and progress.

Sec.17. _General Aims._--It would lead us much too far afield to consider
the possible effects of the war upon colonial development and upon the
political and commercial development of the Far East. Here again, the
central fact to remember is that we may, indeed, that we must, defeat
Germany or perish in the attempt, but that a nation of 65 million
inhabitants cannot be effaced or permanently reduced to impotence. After
the war the two nations will have to live peaceably side by side once more,
and repair so far as possible the wreckage to which this gigantic struggle
has reduced their political, social, and commercial intercourse. Any peace
settlement will be good only so far as it avoids placing obstacles in the
path of so difficult an achievement. It will be the first duty of our
statesmen to watch over the alliance between Russia and the Western Powers,
sealed as it is by the fiery ordeal of war, and to neutralise the occult
influences which are even now working to undermine it, to the advantage of
interests which are anything but British. But it will also be their duty to
create a situation which, while safeguarding the Empire's vital interests,
shall not render improved relations with the central European Powers
impossible from the very outset. It is one thing to abandon our allies
and friends, it is quite another thing to perpetuate a feud which, though
converted by circumstances into a struggle between two unanimous nations,
was in the first instance the work of mischievous if powerful minorities.

The final settlement wil