Russia's Real Rulers.

Hastings Standard, Issue 217, 11 January 1897, Page 4

Russia's Real Rulers.

The Empire of the Czars has ever been more or less a pu.:zi»\ in its acts of foreign and internal policy, to the rest of Europe ; not, however, in the sense of a /»»/> n •• vrfn-'>s.-x, but, on the contrary, because of a steady continuity of action towards a given goal and a seeming in purpose The peculiar position of the Rn.-sian Press and the scanty channels of independent or throughtful information make the comprehension of the management of Russian affairs more diflieult, and the quite recent phases of Muscovite diplomacy now leave the most interested and most sagacious observers perplexed if not altogether at fault. The acts themselves are sufficiently patent to dismiss all doubt, and the ultimate results of the Czar's journey may be correctly imagined, if not casly calculated. Hut the ipiestion arises as to the inisr ' >i 'i nof the whole, as to the prime movers of the political pageant, or—to use the graphic expression employed in these very columns 011 the morrow of Prince Lobanoff's death—as to the identity'of the behind the Czar, the unknown quality or quantity inspiring the various moves and answerable for the course of events. The question is singularly complex, and the hailing points so numerous as to interfere almost with the lucidity of an exposition as the thread of information is being mvkeined ; but that the considerations w u propose to submit hero be grasp, d < nsier a short digression is necessary, and before introducing the real governors of Russia in their personal qualilieation we must explain the; physiognomy of Russian politics in general. Russia is. perhaps, the only civilised Tower to-day which draws a strait line of demarcation between home and foreign politics. This is based upon rules iaid down, first by tradition : secondly, elaborated by a set of personages enjoying the confidence of the Sovereign, whoever he may be. The Ministers have to forget and to forsake their own individuality and tendencies before an immovable programme, and all latitude left to them is limited to the elaboration of details—on the condition, however, that these should tit the established pattern. As to tradition, one may well hesitate before starting its funs , t iiriijn : for it is not only that continuity of diplomatic and political action resulting from the continuity of the same administrative and organising powers throughout consecutive reigns ; it is not a kind of moral legacy inherited by a new Czar from his immediate predecessor ; the tradition in Russian policy, especially foreign, is said to be based 011 the will of Peter the Great whose master-mind seems to have had a prophetic insight into most of the coming eventualities. It is, of course, impossible to make even a guess at the secret- clauses of the document; hut that its injunctions must be blindly obeyed is patent to all who have cared to notice the obstinate consistency of certain moves in Russian foreign politics—such as what may be best described as " DeiDrang liach Constantinopel," for example. It may be safely asserted, and it will be universally understood, that the main idea of Russia's great reformer was to tind maritime outlets for the country's military and commercial interests. The policy followed in Asia has the same object in view—tvxtr the steady progress to the Persian Gulf; for, let it be well understood, it is not India that Russia covets. This much for traditional tendences of Russian foreign politics. As to the programme set out n ////"/ , it may be broadly said that until the Berlin Congress German influence was writ large across governmental acts, and since the accession to the throne of Alexander 111. quite opposite counsels prevailed. What that influence was, and how odious it became, only those whose lot cast them in Russian civil or military service can realise. Soldiers had to obey generals who ignored the very terms of drills in Russian, and Ministerial employees had 10 take orders from chiefs who spoke pigeon-Russian. This was, amongst others the time when a Minister of Jn-tice, Count Pahlen. was granted the privilege of addressing the Imperial family in German, for the simple reason that he could not or would not learn Russian. A great reaction set in with Alexander 111., arid the anti-German feelings of this monarch are too well-known and have been shown too well in various legislative measures to stand now in need of enumeration. Everybody is aware also that side by side with a system of extreme reaction in home administration was inaugurated an era of consummate Liberalism in foreign politics. Within the last six years a-toiiished Europe has witnessed -1 . 11.-s of medi.-xal tyranny and persecution in the very heart of Russia, and a shakingof hands and embraces with Republican, revolutionary, and anarchist France. •* Cosas de Espana " is a vain word as compared to '• Cosas ■l. Russia *' : and now let 11s to the i actual factors of an existing state of | things to that- •• which at the prej » n: moment is behind the youthful I imtj. -ty of the Emperor of All the ! iiussias. [ In the first instance, we have the ' i iniliit nco of the Dowager-Emptv-s as depositary of the innermost thoughts and designs of the late (",<ar. and a paramount power in council. This influence is salt! to be farther reaching than that of the Czar S.lf, and I- rei«>r'.ed to have Uiii 1 :mi'si d <m all concerned with the la-t hr< at!) <>f the dying monarch. We have 110 choice but to accept this sriUMi.tiic as a \ fact, if only Ut.i.t-1 the art < n 111 and Franco- [ hilttu It ucies f v !» ager-Empress are perfectly weu Known, and that whatever has l»cn done so far cor roborates our information. A sadder fat-tor of tliis certainty may be found in the policy ofc reaction pursued at borne ; indeed, in direct opposition to bojxs initially rnit«4 even

against the original designs of the new reign. With the gluistly vision of Alexander 11. on his deathbed, the souvenir of the explosion at the \\ inter Palace and that of Borki, and the memory of her husband's slow agony, the Dowager-Empress believes in reaction amitrtiiur, and advices accordingly. Next in point of influence come the Grand Dukes, with, at their head Grand Duke Michael Nicolaieviteh, brother of Alexander 11., President of the Council of the Empire. His Imperial Highness, now in his sixty-fourth year, Symbolises at _ the same time oral and written tradition, and serves as a link between antiCrimean and modern nriimc. The third element of the governing quantity is a Court Camarilla, headed by Count Woronzoff-Daschkoff, Master of Ceremonies ; and finally comes the Holy Synod in the person of Chief Procureur Pobiedonostzeff and the Coust clergy.— St James' Gazette.