Literacy and Nationality

With zeal he complained that “Russia is great, but not harsh,” and held up his small Greece as an example—one that isn’t afraid to take on mighty Turkey. <…> I defended a restrained course for Russia, urging him that Greece’s very weakness, in a sense, turns into its advantage, and that any of our premature interference would bring the Greeks countless miseries. But he wouldn’t yield; he explained the moderation of our policy as the result of the people’s lack of education. “That’s why,” he said, “Russia isn’t harsh: the people are hard to rouse into making sacrifices for an idea… Try to wake up the Russian peasant!”