RUSSIA FOR THE RUSSIANS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10104, 23 March 1909, Page 1

RUSSIA FOR THE RUSSIANS.

This war cry has been heard move and more frequently in recent years. It spran" from one of the darkest epochs m •Russian history, says the editor of Hie Ruskaya Vyedomosti. Under its haulier in the Ws and '9G"s of the last century, the relation of tho Russian Government, to its alien subjects, as regards nationality or religion, was made acute, and there arose- the conception of "tlio true Russians," which introduced sharp distinctions into Russian life. "Kept in the background at the moment when the crash generated by it had come, it has ,liow again come to tlu: tore wit li still "renter intrusivoness. to reaction it owes its existence, and from miction a now draws new strength. It is de ended in the Conservative Press and laid as a foundation for organisations to be limit thereon, like the -Russian Imperial .National Organisation." In its name, the Government is advised to deprive other nationalities of their rights, ;ind uo.-ioty urged to keep aloof from them, a recommendation which, amounts to a boycott. Tt fills with clouds oE sophistry an atmosphere already charged wilh suspicion and enmity." . . . In defence of this cry it is <■ aimed that other nations do the same. .theadvocates repeat similar formulas : _ "I'.ngland for Englishmen," and -America tor Americans." It is, however, not ditheult, says the Russian editor already quoted, to show that the meaning of these mottoes is entirely different. . . "England is settled by people within whose number national dill'ereiicw that formerly separated; tho English irnm the Scotch have been, to a great extent, smoothed over. The motto "Kngkind for the Englishmen" threatens no English citizen, shows no preference of one over the other. Its point.—when there is one —is directed only against foreigner. As for the North American .States, into their composition enter the. most widely differentiated nationalities without anyone claiming' any dominance over the other .'R r-nich. hi the law the Indians do not enenjov, full rights, nor practically do the ne.->roes—but for certain reasons tins lad has nothing to do with the motto "America for the Americans." This motto refers not to Americans hv descent, but to . ose who attain citizenship after the fulfilment of certain obligations. These or other measures may be adopted against the influx of foreigners, hut not agaui'd, those who have become naturalised there. One may or m;w not sympathise wilh the tendency of the American people to bar from access to their country indigent emigrants from Europe,.. China, or .lapan. but one cannot, see the similarity between this tendeuev and that of our home made defence of Russia against non-Russians. Under the mime of non-Russians our "patriots" understand all those not belonging to the Russian nationality, although not only they, but even their grandfathers, were born in Russia- and have always been Russian subjects. The one who is not auinitted to a foreign country, or is admitted only under conditions hard to I'ul--1.1. cannot be regarded as an-.-'oll'ender. An offence, a heavv oli'ehee, may be, en the contrary, considered on the part of a Government anv attempt at limiting the rights of its su'biects simply because they do -not happen to belong to the governing race. This truth is understood among the partisans of national exclusion ; but the offence appears to them natural and jnevitable; and perhaps oven meritorious. From their point of view, a non-Russian by descent may be a'-'Russian resident, but not a Russian citizen. And yet. in a civilised countrv every inhabitant who has become a subject must be considered to be a citizen. With, the obligations the subject fulfils there must be closely connected the rights belonging- to the citizen." The life of an individual can be regarded completely only when he is bound to it by spiritual as well as material bonds, concludes the Russian reviewer. Similar is the case with a Government- whose strength or weakness greatly depends upon the feelings cherished toward it by those living within its boundaries. '•'There are therefore no worse enemies to the Russian Government than the narrow nationalists who endeavor to identify it with the suppression of every nationality except one. .. . Fortunately, however, for Russia the disseminators of ntolerance hardly find favorable soil m it. Our masses arc rather good-natured, and the cultured strata of our society are too much accessible to reason and conscience to indulge in low passions. 'The true expression of public opinion of. Russian society is to be sought rather in a Vladimir Solovyov (the great Russian philosopher and limnanitaTian) than in the epigones of that tendency with which he , victoriously wrestled.''