Russia in Revolution.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 47, 24 February 1906, Page 10

Russia in Revolution.

— » TIIF, lIOIA' LANDS, Long ago, when overy poasnnl in Ruseia was a, serf, the saint Tlohou wrought wonders in the woods nbovo Kalian. Tho sick woro hoalod and tho wirked confounded al tho mero sight of him ; ho blessed springs and fields, and died in tho thick of nn excellent tradition. Tho forests about Tichouown, Puslyn nro enporb in their winter pallor, Tlio blroh and flr run to this sido and that in grey colonnados, valuable ni* conl mines, and infinitely moro picturesque. Horo and thero tho oven measure of the forest is punctured by cloarhigs, wherein a village Hits with a few woo fields alongside, About tho monastery Hsolf is a most substantial village, which fattens on tho pilgrims who come in crowds to kiss the bones of the long-doad sninti what time tho long-haired bull-throntoa monks chant (sonorously in tho goldplastered' ohapol, «iid tiro falnb sensation of incense loads the Koltimn air with a sensuous aeflthelioism, From round about, tho peasants como, too, to this home of well-staged wonders j thoy ntnnd or kneel through tho serviced, uncouth nnd gross, lowering and timid, nbanhed *nliko by tho pplondour that makes tholr mealiness conspicuous, nnd by tho grent mystery of religion that ofalms the deferoiice of their half-awak-ened intelligence, I have soon nothing mot'o pitiablo than the' peasants in the chapel nt Tiohouown, Puslyn, Tho uhrfnkng awo of the poor in tho presence of procioitß things, and tho crawling- humility of men bred on oppression, join with tho simplioity of arbitrary faith to mako them sorrow-worthy. I would much liko to know whnl they luioel to— the gold in the ikon or the idea tho ikon stands for, Thore nro three hundred nnd seventy monks at this mona*try, all sturdy men, shrewd and well-trained. They havo obligations of courtesy and charity, which thoy faithfully fulfil, and yet) it happens of lato that they seldom go a mllo from tho monastery but the peasants stono thorn. It is only during the past year that this hostility has been renuvrkod, which ehowa that among the propagandist* from the universities thw\» are men of remarkable persuasive power. Only an hour ago one rslnggerod in through the great gate with his faco laid open from oyd to lip. Borne moujlk had mad© practice with nn axe. It Is atraifgo enough, Boeing thnfc the man who did ib dare not go a w«ek without a religious observance * Devils would walk at his elbow df he ventured It) spooks would gibber <ib him between tin , tree-trunks. And yob tho reason, is not far to seek, All peasants discontent has its root in their lack of land. In the Governirtonb of Kaluga a man must havo two awes, to keep him#olf nnd Ills wlfo, and then* tholr hvina, must bo paro^do'wn to the abrupt level of liavd necessity. Tho whole province .would hob yield more thnn two-and-a-half acres per man if it wero divided up j and thus the move existence of a great landowner means 1 ' that, peasants must starve till the population adjusts itself, Of thoso that havo land a great many nro in debt) to tho Slate \ their payments towards freeholdn aro in arronr t nnd tho monwstery ha« of late boon stepping in, paying up in full, nnd taking the land to it«Mft Its estates have spread over mllfcSf they oover now close on n, hundred thousand ncrttS of fat land, field and forest, paying hugo profits to tho Churoh, but incidentally spoiling sheer ru|n to whole communities of peasants, whoso ono hope now can bo in a bloody wnv on Iho order of things Hint thrusts them forth to starve-. That jb wliy ftxe-hoads como hurtling out of the wood when a monk passes liy | that Is why tho preaching students j are well received in tho villages. It should bo understood that thnso peasants have, in general, nothing ngainst. the Government of Russia. They aro hot ldealiatßj they nro not yet divested of rovoronoo for the name of tho Tsar, The students who lecture among them, have infected them somewhat with n vaguo notion that Tsnr-worship is" at I tho bottom of tholr troubles, Hint material gains, which thoy dcslro, nnd moral gnlliß, which thoy do nob understand ■ iito to be hnd for the nuking if they will discard tho T*nr nnd nuk nil togolhpr in n manner sufllcicntly Insistent. But thero could bo no revolution if they wero not wished away from their solo livelihood. They nro by no mcnn» a fighting people | nnd it hn« taken much rowelllug to spur thorn to tho point on which they nvo now poised. In other words, nothing could hay© moved tljem to revolution but tho most complete, tho most obviously suflloieni, ground^ for revolting. All other Jiopo hns been cut off | and the longer they istarvo tho moro desperately will thoy riot through the ruins of law and order whon their tonchcrs glvo tho word. It asl6nnds one to «co with what ornny recklessness they drive, these doomed powers nnd potentates, With lean murder stalking them whenever they wnlk abroad, with the spirit of mnssacro nerv* ing itself to wssault, their walls, they cling yob to Iho old harshness of rule thai pn«sod beyond tholr right fifty yenrs ngo. Tho peasants about the monastery nro speeding townrds Htarvation, nnd yet whoso cuts a etit'k in their woods, whom gnlhcrs twigs for his flro, Is remorse* fossly jirowouted. Yesterday for tho latter oft'onco two men nud throe women went to p,nol for a moiilh-jA Russian gaol in winter I Tho «\il corollary wa» to bo seen In t lift monk who reeled homo to-day blinded vith blood. But do they, can they, iinaglno that a Ra»h or bo olosefl the account? Surely to tho most, lnexpM-lMiecd in Uusslnn nffftlrs mero region tells a different inle,— lVrcovnl Gibbon, in St. James's Budget,

neuter's correspondent nl Bnrbndon, writing on December 23, reports that specimens of rubber have been collected by the aboriginal Indiana of the NorthWest DlMrlcl. of British Guiana, nnd proved to bo of a very superior qunlity, possewslng grcnt cinßllruy, The samples nro believed to hnvc been collected from a saplum, possibly tho Hnpium Jeninnm. There we wvcral varieties of tho nnpium In tho Norlh-Wosl. Dhliicl, but it not certain if any other variety except tho Jcnmani yields a product of commercial talue, A writer in tho Scolwiwn, summarising dlvorco proceedings for the year 1905, «nys i— ."Orcnnionally mi echo \n beard of tho South Afrlcnn war, which wns reftpnnsiulo for a largo number of dlvorco no tionsj but theso ore now gradually disappearing, and whilo they we're vciy me inerouH In 1904 nml previous yonr, in 1005 there wero only; one or two, 1 *