TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—Can you solve a mystery for me, which the more I think of it the more it puzzles me? When we had no Duma in Russia the English Liberal papers were the best friends and advocates of an Entente with Russia.

In good old days, when Mr. Gladstone made his great fight for the Slavs, the advocacy of a cordial friendship with Russia was for many years the distinctive note of the English Liberals, and their leading organs did splendid service to the cause of Anglo-Russian understanding.

Now that we have—wisely or otherwise—established a kind of Parliament called “the Duma”— which was, I always understood, an object greatly cherished by English Liberals— what do we see to-day?

We have set up the Duma, and lo! we seem to have lost the friends whose enthusiasm, in the pro-Duma days, knew no bounds.

If an Anglo-Russian Entente were such a good thing when we had no Duma, why has it become a bad thing to-day, since we have a Duma? Is it a case of post hoc, propter hoc? If so, it gives me an altogether new and unexpected reason for disliking that new-fangled institution.

When I read—as I sometimes do as a penance for my sins—some of the many angry articles published in the old pro-Russian Liberal papers against Russia to-day I am still more mystified.

In concert with England we are attempting the very difficult task of saving Persia from dissolving into a chaos of anarchy and brigandage; we are at once accused of trying to bring about the very evil which we dread.

On Monday next, in the magnificent Jew’s Harp that has recently been erected in Kingsway, as the house of music and harmony, a meeting is summoned to foment discord and to excite hatred against Russia. It is very deplorable, but there is no need for me to add a word to the unanswerable statement of Sir Edward Grey in defence of the common policy of our two Governments.

But a new grievance has arisen, and Russia, of course, is again the culprit. The Manchu Empire is breaking up. The Southern Chinese, with the ardent patronage of the English Liberals and the American people, have declared themselves a Republic. In the North, at Peking, the Manchus are defending the Empire and the dynasty. Close to the Russian frontier live some three million Mongols, who have been, more or less, oppressed for generations by Manchu officials. Seeing that the Southern Chinese have thrown off the Manchu yoke, the Northern Mongolians have driven out the Manchu officials and have declared that they wish in future to govern themselves under their native Princes.

It is most important to Russia that these near neighbours of ours should live in peace and that Mongolia should not be the scene of a bloody war. So, at their urgent request, we have recognized the autonomy of the Mongolian Princes, to the great satisfaction of the Mongolian people, and intimated to the Manchus of Peking that the Mongolians are not to be attacked.

What can be more admirable and more in accordance with the traditional policy of Russia, which has secured the liberation of all the Balkan Slavs? But to the jaundiced eyes of our apostate friends Russia’s conduct in Mongolia is worse than Italy’s attack on Tripoli. Really, some statements are so funny they make one laugh! Italy, in defiance of European treaties, attacks an independent Power without notice, sends an army to seize two provinces belonging to the Ottoman Empire, and wage a ruthless war of extermination against the native inhabitants.

Russia, without violating a single Treaty or firing a single shot, merely recognized the result of a peaceful revolution and protects the native population against their former oppressors.

Therefore, Russia is worse than Italy. Amazing logic. But in topsy-turvy land it is perhaps natural that people should see things a little upside down.

OLGA NOVIKOFF.

4, Brunswick-place, Regent’s Park.