Introduction
In 1879, British politicians were warning that we must occupy Afghanistan to prevent Russia invading India, and that Emperor Alexander II’s military operations in the Balkans were not a liberation but an excuse to sweep across Europe that must be met with force. John Bright watched this escalation with alarm, and urged the Government to make our peace with Russia as we had with France – by trade.
I DO not wonder, however, that Russia does not show any great friendship towards us.* Look at the traffic she has in our manufactures. We send her six or seven millions a year, and we bring from her nearly three times as much. We take everything that Russia can export, unless it be tobacco and spirits. We take all free of duty in this country; but if we persist in being constantly suspicious, ungenerous, and hostile to Russia, we cannot expect but that such feelings will be returned. There is nothing that tends so much to friendship as trade, and you know perfectly well that friendship also tends very much to trade. The one acts upon the other. If you are friendly you trade all the more freely; if you trade freely, the more friendly you become.
In Russia there are 84,000,000 of people. They grow all things that we want — or rather, nearly all the things they grow we want. They grow corn, they export hides, they export flax, they export hemp, and other things which I need not describe.
* A year earlier, Bright had addressed Anglo-Russian relations with an appeal for Unbroken Amity. Unfortunately, the appeal had fallen on deaf ears.
Précis
In 1879, John Bright MP told his Birmingham constituents that Russia’s distrustful attitude towards the West was entirely understandable, as the West had been treating Russian badly for a long time. Friendship among nations, he said, was fostered by nothing so effectively as trade, and trade by friendship; and Russia was an ideal trade partner for British consumers. (58 / 60 words)
In 1879, John Bright MP told his Birmingham constituents that Russia’s distrustful attitude towards the West was entirely understandable, as the West had been treating Russian badly for a long time. Friendship among nations, he said, was fostered by nothing so effectively as trade, and trade by friendship; and Russia was an ideal trade partner for British consumers.
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