all the difference in the world in Russia. He would have
gained touch with all sorts and conditions of men while out there, and
would have got to the back of their minds by methods all his own. The
very fact that Russians have so much of the oriental strain in them
would have helped him in this. But it was not to be.

Of what followed after the Revolution much might be said; but, in so
far as the blunders committed by our Government are concerned, it has
to be admitted that the situation was no easy one to grapple with.
When you have been such an ass as to ride your horse into a bog, there
is a good deal of excuse for your botching getting the beast out
again, as that is in the nature of things a difficult job. The
mischief was done when the Revolution was allowed to occur. After that
it became a case of groping with a bewildering, kaleidoscopic,
intangible state of affairs. Mr. Henderson's performances have excited
much ridicule, but against his absurd belief in M. Kerensky must be
set his prompt recognition of his own unfitness for the position of
representative of the British Government on the banks of the Neva. M.
Kerensky, no doubt, may have meant well by the Allies after his own
fashion; but as he can claim so great a share in the work of
destroying the discipline of the Russian army, he proved the kind of
friend who in practice is more pernicious than are open and
undisguised enemies. One of the most singular features, indeed, in the
epoch-making events of 1917 in Eastern Europe was the fact that a
windbag of this sort should ever have gained power, and that, having
gained power, he should have retained it for the space of several
months. Only in Russia could such a thing have happened. It must be
added that the perplexities to which the Entente Governments were a
prey in connection with the Russian problem subsequent to March 1917
were aggravated from the outset--and yet more so after Lenin's gaining
the mastery--by the very divergent views which prevailed amongst them
in connection with most of the awkward questions that arose.

This was illustrated by the strange happenings concerning Siberia and
Vladivostok of the early part of 1918. Gathered together at the
extreme eastern doorway into Russia were enormous accumulations of war
material and of vital commodities of all kinds--most of them, it may
be observed incidentally, being goods which had been procured in the
United States by British credits on behalf o