The Lithuanians are, however, the most ambitious, if not the most fortunate, of these States.

In Lithuania everything is done to magnify Lithuania. Even the trains, it seemed to me, had been slowed down to make you think the country more extensive. You can go on travelling all day and the best part of a night jogging on slowly from Kovno to Griva en route for lost Vilna-such was my lot.

XI

THE BALTIC STATES AND RUSSIA

As the members of the Little Entente are banded together by the mutual common interest of defending the territories gained at the expense of Austria, so the Baltic League may be said to have been drawn together by a similar interest in the defence of territory gained at the expense of Russia. Czecho-Slovakia and Serbia are formidable watchdogs in the South; Finland and Latvia might be as formidable in the North.

Each of the four Baltic States recognises one common great potential enemy, namely, Russia, and they live in the shadow of a great national hostility. For very few Russians, either White or Red, regard their independence and nationhood with any sympathy. The new States came into being not through Russian liberality but through Russian misfortunes. They arose as a result of the exhausting sacrifice of the Russian people in

the War. Germany, with the aid of Communists, defeated and destroyed the Russian State. England and France were powerless to prevent it. But when victory came on the 11th of November 1918, Russia was so tied up by her Communistic leaders that she had not much profit by it. Germany's plan for Russia as an exclusive field for German commercial enterprise did not entirely hold. German-ruled autonomous States did not come into being on the Baltic; White Russia and Ukraina failed to crystallise properly. But nevertheless something of the German program was realised. Germany lost the War, but Russia suffered more. The empire of Germany's eastern rival became badly dismantled. Germany was not entirely pleased with the rise of nationalistic republics on her eastern borders, but she would rather have these Lett-ruled, Finn-ruled, Estiruled States, than the old Russia.

Russia herself under the blood-letting rule of Lenin was not at first greatly concerned. More bloodshed and less trade, was her motto; more suffering and less prosperity, less of Russia and more of us. Since Lenin's day, however, a number of less bloodthirsty Bolsheviks have raised their heads, each thinking a little more about trade and prosperity and Russia than the last.

And with this change of direction there has been a growing understanding of the significance of the lost territories.

As the rehabilitation of Russia progresses, so must the danger in which these new States stand. It is a curious paradox in modern civilisation that the continued barbarism of one great country should be directly contributable to social and economic progress in another. Yet nevertheless it is so. Russia's weakness is the strength of the Border States. Moreover, the European sympathy and support which these States enjoy depend largely on the condition of Russia. The worse the politics of Russia, the more help the Baltic States may reckon upon; but the more Russia improves, the less help and sympathy for the recognised obstructions between Russia and the West.

One may put it briefly in this way. Were Russia completely restored, the Baltic States would have to fight their way unaided and would continue to exist only by virtue of their own intrinsic merit and their banded strength of arms. And unless the League of Nations becomes a much greater power of guarantee than it is now, it would be useless to look toward it to save the unlooked-for national offspring of the Great War.

The League is even capable of turning its back upon the principle of self-determination; there being obviously too many tribes and small nations in the world for the granting to all of unfettered, unfederated nationhood. If the Baltic States can be proved to belong to the economic unity of Russia, they may be told plainly when the time comes that they have to enter it, and many things are more improbable than a coming United States of Russia, as free and as united as the United States of America, and including Finland, Latvia, Esthonia, and Lithuania, possessing one army, a united diplomatic representation in foreign Courts, no internecine tariff wars, no inter-State passport visa-ing, and having, in addition to their own tongues, one common language, Russian.

If this longer view prevailed in Baltic minds, there would be less energy devoted to the teaching of the various national languages, and care would be taken not to lose what knowledge of Russian remained in these countries. The Russian language would then be a compulsory subject in all secondary schools. The common knowledge of Russian in all these countries would make for peace, for more trade and general prosperity, and for a richer culture.

The stress on the tribal language makes for