NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13846, 4 September 1908, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

j A FAMOUS NAME. The Marathon race is associated with a j nam© that still comes to us with a thrill of heroic and inextinguishabie impulse passed like an electric current through all th© linked succession of the four-and-twenty centuries. Every -schoolboy remembers the romantic and moving legend from which what is now the greatest of all races hits been derived. At She meet critical p moment in all the secular relations of East and -'.West, the great King gathered together the force of .many nations to crush j { for ever tue rising power of the Greek race. I The Hellenic tribes were animated by a new and etrange geaiuE—that which lias survived to this day, and ie known as the Western spirit. It was this vital spark of inspiration that the Eastern despot hoped 'to extinguish for ever under : the tramp of his vaet hordes. Scattered along the shores of the JEgean, the city-states of Greece were : exposed to bo crushed in detail. Upon Athens, so iwon to be crowned with immortal glory, fell the first shock. The great Persian triremee, 600 in •number,' and packed with armed men, swept down the coast, taking town after town. At la*t the overwhelming armament made for that wave-washed plot of level ground where "the mountains look on Marathon and Marathon looks on the sea." There 1 the troops of the Lord of the World wera | to bo disembarked, and that battle was to ! be fought which must be one of the decisive I events in the whole history of mankind. jlf the legions of Darius conquered, then ; for all practical purposes there would be no Europe. The Bosphorue would be an ■ Astatic canal. - The Greek cities would be ! governed by Asiatic satraps; and that, which we still call the Western spirit would be conquered and suppressed. In that I incomparable moment of splendid insola-tion-J-so like in many -ways to the situation j of England before the Spanish Armada was shattered—the Athenians looked round for ! allies. Surest help would come from the iron corps of Sparta. To the stern countrymen of Lycurgus swiftest heralds must be despatched, for upon the gaining or losing of a single day might hang issues of life and death, not only for the immediate liberty of Athens, but for the whole future of Greek freedom. The fast runner Pheidippides was chosen. Quick' from the mark and tenacious in the course, he may be imagined girt for such an effort as none kept in the memories of men had made hefore, , x The- herald flew, by height and hollow, by the margin of the sea, and through mountain passes, by night and by day. What rest was his we know not, but the distance from Athens to Sparta was 140 miles, and on the second day the goal was reached. ' It was the custom of the Spartans to refrain from expeditions during their religious festivals. The Spartans were willing to give help. But they would not march at once. They declared that their column must wait for the full moon. When the runner J returned with this message it was but too plain that the men of Lacedsemon would arrive too late for the purposes of a desperate emergency. The Athenians set forth alone, but before the issue was decided they were joined by the thousand from Plate*. Morning dawned upon the great day. Behind were the mountains, in front the hosts of Darius, backed by the great galleys dominating the sweep of the bay, and beyond again stretched the illimitable blue. The Greeks were but 10,000 or 11,000 in all, but able by will and valour to sway the fate of the world. The Persians, for all fighting purposes, were at least five times, and perhaps ten times, as numerous. The terror of their name had been stronger than armour. The .invaders..assumed that they would be allowed tc attack at their leisure. But Miltiades had determined that upon this day the athletic spirit of Hellas should be felt in the arbitrament of war. The Greeks were a nation of runners, and thenleader had calculated the distance they could cover without losing breath and weakening the power of their charge at the point of attack. There is probably some, exaggeration in the traditional reports that < the two fronts were a mile apart when Miltiades gave the memorable signal. Then, , t fi tbe wmm& fif ibe Lht>_ V"- '..'..-./.'■

I Greek lmftnio\ed a: by aiie impulse, and 1 j from the slightly higher ground swept J I down with levelled gpeare. The invaders I were shattered on both -wings, and from right and Aelt - the conquering Greeks closed \ upon the Persian centre and destroyed it. The wonderful deed was done, and the fortunes of mankind were for ever changed. THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA. ".We do not believe in them, we do not believe a word that they Kay—neither the Tsar, nor the Ministers, nor the Oetobfists. Consciously or unconsciously,' they all lie, and they must do lt.r It is. the logical necessity of their position. They will do nothing for .liberty because they can do nothing without destroying themselves. And they will do nothing for the education of the people because the ignorance" of the people is the foundation of their power. The speaker," writes Mr. VV. T. Stead, from St. Petersburg, in *he Daily Mail, "wis a typical Russian; a scholar, and a .■gentleman, who had been breakfasting with me in order to expound his views upon the present- state of things in Russia, before his consignment to prison for writing a political pamphlet. He spoke with the earnestness of intense conviction, and he delivered the above comprehensive formula of disbelief as Ida last word on the question. 'li you were made Tsar to-day,' I asked, 'what would you do?" 'Abdicate immediately.' he replied. 'It I did not I should be assassinated in two days by. the reactionaries, ■■whose , interests are bound up with the present system.' 'Then you see no hope in any direction;' I asked. "None. It is sad to have to admit it, for as a Russian patriot 3 love my country as fervently as any of the Extreme Right." The revolution is for the moment suppressed. Order of a sort once -more reigns in Russia. Rut there is no liberty. Russia is Under a system of protection and reinforced protection and martial law. Every day they hang people. . The prisons are full." More than 10,000 persons are under administrative exile : 300.000 others are forbidden to,live in their native town or village. These men, desperate and starving, rob in order to live. . That is all the disorder that exists. It is the direct result of reaction.' But have you not the Duma and the Constitution of October 17!' ' A,Constitution,' he replied bitterly, 'one of .whose fundamental.articles can be modified by the decree of dune lb, is no security against a coup d'etat. If the Duma ventured to assert itself it would be abolished. It is tolerated only so ?orig as it is impotent.' 'What, in your opinion, is the first need of the Russian people?' 'Education,' he declared, with great feeling. 'Russia in 40 years has increased her population from 80 to 150 millions. How many additional universities ha* she got in that time? One in Siberia! The illiteracy of the masses is appalling. We have far too few schools, and of those j which we have many are so utterly inefficient that the, scholars leave before they I learn how to read or write. But when I the majority of the Duma ask for six million roubles more fur education, the Minister for Education lifts up his hands in horror, crying, "Where can we find these six minions?" For building warships 40 millions, for the Amur railway more millions, for subsidised steamships to Shangliai seven millions, but for education, the first and most vital necessity of the Russian people, not an additional kopek!'" . . -