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Rh an obstacle in the path of civilization? Will it not for ever prevent Western culture from gaining access to the Empire of the Tsars? Will it not for ever keep Russia isolated from Europe? It is strange that while Nature has established no physical barrier between Eastern and Western Europe, and has made one unbroken plain extending for thousands of miles, men should have erected this formidable intellectual barrier of language between the Latin, the Teuton, and the Slav.

But whether the existence of this formidable linguistic barrier is a blessing or a curse, whether we have cause to regret that, merely through the existence of the Russian language Russia can never be assimilated to Europe, or whether we have cause to rejoice that the existence of so difficult a language should maintain inviolate the originality and independence of the Russian people, one fact is certain, that the linguistic obstacle will be greater in the future than in the past. And the sooner we realize this and the consequences which it entails, the better it will be for the mutual relationship of European powers.

If the Latin, the Anglo-Saxon, and the Teuton are to be brought into close communion