uscles, and blow the obstacle to smithereens. Our revolution
of 1789 was one of these outbursts of heroic energy, dragging mankind
out of the rut wherein it had become wedged, and compelling a fresh
start. But as soon as the effort has been made and the chariot set in
motion, mankind has been only too ready to stick fast in the mire again.
Long ago, the French revolution brought all that it could bring to
Europe. A time comes when ideas which were once fertilising, ideas which
were once the forces of renewed life, are no longer anything more than
idols of the past, forces tending to drag us backwards, additional
obstacles. Such has been the lesson of the world war, in which the
jacobins of the west have often proved the worst enemies of liberty.

For new times, new paths and new aspirations! Russian brothers, your
revolution has come to awaken this Europe of ours, drowsing over the
arrogant memories of whilom revolutions. March onward! We will follow
in your footsteps. The nations take it in turn to lead humanity. It is
for you, whose youthful vitality has been hoarded during centuries of
enforced inactivity, to pick up the axe where we have let it fall. In
the virgin forest of social injustice and social untruth, the forest in
which mankind has lost its way, make for us clearings and sunlit glades.

Our revolution was the work of the great bourgeois, of the men whose
race is now extinct. They had their rude vices and their rude virtues.
Contemporary civilisation has inherited their vices alone, their
fanaticism and their greed. It is our hope that your revolution will be
the uprising of a great people, hale, brotherly, humane, avoiding the
excesses into which we fell.

Above all, remain united! Learn from our example. Remember how the
French Convention, like Saturn, devoured its own children. Be more
tolerant than we proved. Your whole strength will barely suffice for the
defence of the sacred cause you represent; for its defence against the
fierce and crafty enemies who at this hour perchance are arching their
backs and purring like cats, but who are lurking in the jungle, awaiting
the moment when you will stumble if you should be alone.

Last of all remember, Russian brothers, that you are fighting our
battles as well as your own. Our fathers of 1792 wished to bring freedom
to the whole world. They failed; and it may be that they did not choose
the best way. But they had lofty ambitions. May these ambitions be your