THE CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 61, 9 September 1905, Page 9

THE CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

The military correspondent of The Times (26th July) writes :— lt was necessary that Russian optimism should dio a natural death before peace entered into the region of practical politics. It is not so much the military situation of Russia that permits us to anticipate peace with a certain mild confidence, but rather the exhaustion of Russia's financial resources, and, aLjvo all, the deplorable situation in \_'n interior. From the purely technical c .unt of view of military organisation Russia is not exhausted, and it may be as well to lav stress upon the fact. "In m-re numbers the armies unden General Linovitch during the four months -.-Inch have elapsed since the battle of Mukden, may conceivably have been reinforced by 35,000 mea a month, or perhaps rather more, and it is possible, although authentic details are wanting, that the field armies now include, for what they are worth, between 350,000 and 400,000 men including the Ussuri command. It is also possible that after tho rains Lineyitch may indulge his desire of measuring his strength once more with tho enemy, or at all events of effecting a demonstration for the somewhat risky purpose of supporting M. Witte. It will be advisable for, the demonstration to take place at- a considerable distance from Oyama's troops in case it is desired that it should effect the intended purpose : for the Japanese now greatly outnumber their enemy, and have the reprehensible habit of passing to the offensive when attacked. Still, Russia can put a brave face upon affairs in the Far East, while at home a nation with four millions or more of soldiers is not necessarily disabled by the abstraction of one-quarter of • ita available forces in a distant war. There are, it, is true, six European army corps m Manchuria,, besides five brigades of rifles and all' the' available quick-firing-artillery. But tho places of tho active divisions sent away to the East have been taken by reserve brigades. If the quality of these reserve divisions was at first, and may still (be to some extent, inferior to the,troops they replaced, the quantity of infantry available in first line is not seriously changed. The Russian cavalry in the West are left practically untouched by tho war, since, except the -Ith Don Cossack Division 'and a couple, of dragoon regiments, all tho Russian horsemen are available for service. Cavalry, it is said, are for Russia whßt ships are for England. There are fourteen divisions oi regular cavalry practically - unaffected by the war, while the Cossacks in Manchuria aro mainly drawn from the eastern Voiskos, and a great mass of Cossack horsemen remain at disposal, in addition to regiments mobilised to keep" order in disturbed districts. It is therefore, necessary _ to realise that Russia still remains in a certain sense a" formidable military Power, both in Europe and in j Central Asia, and that, were her bankers more confiding and her people moTp united, little difficulty would be found in continuing the war. But, while Japan floats a 4£ per cent, loan for thirty "'millions at 90, and while her credit stands higher than at any other period of the war, Russia's financial backers are silent, and it is even stated by the Novosti that a syndicate of Russian bankers declares that the issue of an internal loan for fifteen millions is impossible at present. We have not had tho benefit lately of many panegyrics on the subject of the famous gold reserve, and the Russians have at last discovered that it is possible to possess a flourishing cache of this nature and a bankrupt Treasury at one and the same time. If -the Novosti is correctly informed, sixteen months of- war have already cost Russia about two hundred millions sterling, and at present ' the Alanchnrian venture, is costing her £500,000 a day. Russia is now close to ! her last financial reserve — the uscfuJ, necessary printing press. But even more depressing than the financial outlook is the political chaos, within Russia's borders. The state -of affairs in Poland and the Caucasus, and the feeling in Finland have hitherto prevented any serious mobilisation in these districts. The Cossack communities in tho East are nearly beggared, 'while the Donskia Vicdomosti reports that the Don Cossack nobility have passed a strong resolution against the employment of their Cossacks as police, and have stigmatised these duties as unworthy of their valour. The revolt of the Black Sea fleet, the' failure of tho pseudo-loyal ships to bring the rebel Potemkin to reason, and the surrender of this ship to the Roumanians , at Kustendji, may have had greater- effect fhan any military disasters in opening the eyes of the Tsar and his intimates to the true condition of affairs, while the mutinous conduct of tho sailors in the Balticand the scant confidence reposed in certain regiments by their officers prepare us for almost any news upon any^day. Autocracy, is bankrupt of everything save force, and force itself is beginning to crumble under the throne. Russia is in the throes of revolution, and, if this movement' still remains' for the moment quasi-pacific in character, it is liable to change at any moment in the event of any recrudescence of measures of repression or of any further -hesitation on .the part of the Government of- the Tsar to translate his promises into acts. There is, besides, another and a very important reason, quite apart from that of dynasties versus people which is working suoh tardy- but gratifying magic at Berlin, why Russia should, in the interest of the world, make peace with her. external enemy while she is in the way with him, modernise her institutions, and conform with' the spirit of the age. Russia, with all her faults, is a necessity to the European family of nations. A Russia with a cipher for Tsar, with her navy destroyed, her armies defeated, her treasury empty, her" diplomacy discredited and disarmed, and her people seething with disloyalty and discontent, leaves Continental Europe a prey to the first adventurer.