Russia and the Czar.

Hastings Standard, Volume V, Issue 1424, 15 January 1901, Page 3

Russia and the Czar.

In Scribner's Magazine for October the chief feature is the first of a series of article by Mr Henry Norman, M.P., on " Russia of To-day " from which we take the following extracts : —What is Bnssia ? The unfettered, irresponsible, limitless, absolute rule of one man over a hundred millions of his fellows —is that it ? The ikon in the corner of every room where the language is spoken, the blue-domed basilica in every street of great cities, the long-haired priests chanting in deep bass; the pedestrian ceaselessly crossing himself ; the Holy Synod, whose God-given task it is to coerce or to cajole a heathen world to orthodoxy—is that Russia ? Or is it the society of the capital speaking all languages, familiar with all literatures, practising every art, lapped in every luxury, esteeming manners more highly than mortals ? Or is the vast and nearly roadless country, where settlements are to distances like fly-speck 3 to winflow panes, where the conveniences, the comforts, and the decencies of civilisation may be sought in vain ontside the towns and away from the lines of railway ; where entire villages are the prey of unnamable disease; where seven people out of every ten can neither read nor write ? It would be easier to say what is not Russia. Unless you realise that in Russia the Czar is everything, literally everything; that not only is his will law, bat that it is also heaven-inspired right, that his land and his subjects are his to dispose of wholly as he will —I am speaking, of course, of the masses of the people—you will not grasp the fundamental condition of Russia to-day. In a Russian battle not long ago the artillery, urgently needed in front to day, was stopped by a deep ditch. The soldiers thereupon flung themselves in until the ditch was full, and the artillery galloped over their bodies. The incident illustrates the relation of the common people of Russia to their Sovereign. As you go higher in the scale the fact remains, but on a different basis. Official rank ("tchin") is the standard of position—a greaterorless'tchin'determinesaman's honor and influence, and of course all conceivable " tchin " culminates in the Czar. If you have not yourself a high f tchin," you must be " protected "by somebody who has. Officials of high rank will hardly deign to notice you at one minute, and the next they are wholly at your service, if they have learned that you are well " protected." And in the highest society of all, whatever views they may privately hold and express, the Czar, as the source of promotion and the fountain of honors and emoluments, dT«*ells still alone npon the heights. In material things it is the same. I was once discussing with a Russian administrator the military capabilities of the Trans-Siberian railroad, and I remarked that there would not be rolling stock enough to convey masses of troops in a short time. " Every eDgine and carriage in Russia woald beputthers if necessary," was the reply. "But," I objected, "that would disorganise the whole commerce of the country, and bring tens of thousands to ruin." " You don't understand," answered this official, "if the Czar gave the word to take every railway carriage in Russia and run it across the Siberian Railway and throw it into the China Sea at the other end, who, I should like to know, would prevent it ?"