t officials of the Ministry, who had followed the
outgoing minister into retirement. And no minister ever needed help
more sorely than M. Bark. For the sudden cessation of all
international exchange and the consequent immobilization of Russia's
financial reserve, made it temporarily impossible for her to satisfy
demands which could easily have been met under circumstances less
disconcerting. Here her British ally came to the rescue. In the first
place, the British Government gave its guarantee to the Bank of
England for the acceptances which this bank had discounted. These were
of two kinds: all acceptances whatever discounted before hostilities
had broken out, and all commercial acceptances discounted since the
declaration of war. The measure which brought this welcome assistance
was general in its form, but it included Russian bills accepted in
London. And this discount by the Bank of England will continue until
one year after the close of the campaign. In plain English, that
means that the greater part of Russia's cash payments in London will
be put off until then.

In Russia's dealings with France a like trouble made itself felt, but
the same remedy was not applied. The Government there did not offer a
State guarantee for acceptances by the Banque de France. The reasons
for this difference of method are immaterial. The main point is that
some other expedient had to be devised whereby Russia could discharge
her short-term debts to her French creditors. In the Tsardom money was
available for the purpose, but it was in roubles, which would first
have to be exchanged into francs, and, as there was no rate of
exchange, this operation could be effected, if at all, only at a
considerable and unnecessary loss.

After several weeks' negotiations, and a thorough study of the
question, an agreement was struck up between the Imperial Russian Bank
and the Banque de France, by which the latter institution placed at
the disposal of the former the requisite sum in francs which was
specially earmarked for the payment of Russia's private debts in
Paris.

The fall in the rouble was partly caused by the diminution of Russian
exports, in consequence of the closing of the Baltic, the
Mediterranean, and the land routes _via_ Germany and Austria. The
whole harvest of 1914 lay garnered up in the Tsar's dominions, where
prices fell to a low level, while the rouble lost one-fourth of its
value. Russia's interest on her foreign debt was th