"You have no idea of the great power which England represents by her fleet. No other nation is a match for us."
He may have been right, but the tone amused me, and I said in reply:
"So much the better. It is a new argument in favour of my beloved scheme—the Anglo-Russian Alliance. Our army stands to us in the same relation as your fleet to you, and in case of need might supply your military deficiency. On the other hand, your fleet might perhaps work in union with ours. But even putting aside an offensive or defensive alliance of this kind, there is one fact which is clear—left to themselves, England and Russia, having such different weapons, cannot fight each other."
If I had ventured this as a prophecy instead of an ideal how I should have been laughed at; yet it has been realised, and the British Navy and the Russian Army have been united at last. No matchmaker ever had more trouble in bringing together a self-conscious youth and coy maiden than those who have fought so long and so hard to bring England and Russia together.
Again, there was always that tendency on the part of England to interfere in the internal affairs of Russia. To this I have referred elsewhere. If we had started in Russia a society called "The Friends of Irish Freedom," with the names of Russian Cabinet Ministers upon the title-page, what an uproar there would have been. I have, time after time, striven to emphasise the evil done in the past to the growth of a proper understanding between the two countries by such societies as "The Friends of Russian Freedom."
Anyone who is cold to Russia may be said at this moment to be rather a pro-German. Also any Russian who is cold to England is also rather pro-German. Such people no doubt do exist. Every good cause has its enemies, and the cause of our friendship has had enemies all along.
But our friendship is founded on a genuine mutual admiration of Russians and English for one another. And when one says admiration, does not one mean in reality love? We like one another. We do not really distrust one another. Knowledge is this case always breeds affection. Against that fact all hostility from German and pro-German intriguers must fail.
The Anglo-Russian alliance is first of all one of hearts. My heart is with England. I feel that I now have two countries, Russia and my foster-country England. The hearts of many English are with Russia. There are now many friendships.
It is also an alliance of minds. You read our literature with profit, we yours. You are interested in our arts and institutions, we in yours. It is also an alliance of economic interests, of pockets, may I say? We both stand to help one another in commerce. After the war this will increase with the passage of each year.
It is also an alliance of arms. We are both in the field against the common enemy, and the ideals for which we are fighting are one and the same, the motives similar.