And so, if in questions of national defence you
think it is necessary to hold session in secret, also in our foreign
policy we are sometimes forced to observe the same secrecy….
“German diplomacy attempts to influence public opinion…. Therefore
the declarations of directors of great democratic organisations who
talk loudly of a revolutionary Congress, and the impossibility of
another winter campaign, are dangerous…. All these declarations cost
human lives….
“I wish to speak merely of governmental logic, without touching the
questions of the honour and dignity of the State. From the point of
view of logic, the foreign policy of Russia ought to be based on a
real comprehension of the _interests_ of Russia…. These interests
mean that it is impossible that our country remain alone, and that
the present alignment of forces with us, (the Allies), is
satisfactory…. All humanity longs for peace, but in Russia no one
will permit a humiliating peace which would violate the State
interests of our fatherland!”
The orator pointed out that such a peace would for long years, if not
for centuries, retard the triumph of democratic principles in the
world, and would inevitably cause new wars.
“All remember the days of May, when the fraternisation on our Front
threatened to end the war by a simple cessation of military
operations, and lead the country to a shameful separate peace… and
what efforts it was necessary to use to make the soldier masses at
the front understand that it was not by this method that the Russian
State must end the war and guarantee its interest….
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