The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY

Otago Witness, Issue 2652, 11 January 1905, Page 48

The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1905.)

THE WEEK.

" Vanqwm »tln* aitora, aiiod tapfentl* dlxif."— Jerivu. "G*od nature aid £»od Bens- must ertr joia."— Pom.

.With the fall of Port Arthur the centre of interest has shifted from the Russian Far East back to Russia Bepression itself, where the unrest and •ad Knssiaa dissatisfaction amongst the B«forms. populace appears to be in-

* creasing to a dangerous extent. We have, for instance, the warning of Prince Trubetztoi that Kxissia is in a ftate of anarchy, and that the revolution>ry movement is Tery dangerous and may prove terrible both for the people and for the Czar. The Russian authorities are apparently adopting their usual methods d! , repression—^papers that _speak\ out and teil the ..truth' are ,being. suspended from public sale, the- editors, being placed in durance vile ; whilst the students ■who take paxfc in publicf demonstrations are -cruelly knouted, this barbarous form of punishment being inflicted upon women, and young girls as well as men. It becomes, 'more "and more -evident that : the Czar is not the man for the jnoment. Whilst on ithe one hand he displays an inclination }to grant the reforms asked for in the 'interests of the people^ yet he is unduly swayed by appeals such as that just addressed to him by the Holy Synod of the 'Greek-Church, - which protests against the Czar abrogating, any of his power, at the instance of "the insensate machinations of certain nobles." The Czar's court is honeycombed by intrigues, and it is impossible .to say how matters will be decided. There is good reason for supposing that the despotic power possessed -by the^Czar is more imaginary tb>an real, for to -a"=large extent lie is~ac"tually~the-^slave c€ lu& -own -bureau-,, cracy. A strong-^ruler would speedily cX; tricate himself from the tyranny of his many advisers, but the Czar Nicholas is essentially weak. A shrewd observei has recently remarked) concerning him, "It is characteristic of his weakness that the Czar never strikes out a new line of thought or action, and that his decision on any "given question of policy is nothing more /than the choice of which >f two or more courses recommended to him by different advisers shall . be .followed. The Czar is jaever a leader like the German Emperor, £jut he is continually being led by some influentian man or group of men." The xiots which- are occurring in various parts of the Russian Empire^ seem to indicate that the revolutionary movement is making bead way, andr there \is nothing nWe terrible than an ignorant people ,in revolt, as witness the reign of terror which accompanied the French Revolution. In considering the present position- of the Russian ■Empire it is well to remember the pregnant words which "Calchas" penned in a . recent n'omber of the Fortnightly, and which place plainly before us the position ;Which the Czar and his Advisers, are called npon to face: "No country has substituted despotism for liberty except by force, end the effort has usually been violent and brief It would be .idle to ignore the peculiar dangers that must attend constitutional transition in Russia. She is-.iot intellectually prepared. She has no aristocratic or middle classes marked out for leadership capable of checking the forces . behind them, of converting the forces of revolution into those of evolution. The •Nihilist movement was more anti-national in spirit than autocracy itself ; it would 'have substituted communal for Imperial ideals j it expressed the very philosophy of disintegration. The Czar and' his Ad>/visers may well fear that if any conces- . jaens whatever should) be made, and the revolutionary instincts in 'Russia may he encouraged to burst, as before, into mad activity." There is a clear danger that the Assembly of the States-general may either lead straight to the reign of terror or that pure autocracy may have to be reestablished to quell anarchy. Nevertheless, tentative changes, must be made, l est more drastic ones should be forced. Some qrisks must be run to avoid "the certainty of greater. - The Russian peasantry is still in the Middle Ages. It is as. unfit for Parliamentary institutions as France in the epoch of the "hundred years war would have been for universal suffrage."

The conduct of the campaign in Maiclraria is, on the Russian side, not dissensions only hampered by internal

in the dissensions, which have reBnsslan Army, ceived fresh impetus since

the surrender of Por,t Arthur, was announced, but by the want of agreement amongst tne Russian commanders. According to the usually well-informed Vienna newspapers, prominent amongst which stands the Neve Freie Presse, the Russian military ■ administration is hopelessly divided — Alexieff hates Kourapatkin, Kourapatkin hates Sakaroff (the Minister of War), Gripenburg hates Kourapatkin, and Stoespel hates Alexieff. According to the Neve Freie Presse these dissensions amongst the generals constitute not only the key to the reign of Nicholas 11, but a commentary on' the strategy of- the Russo-Japanese campaign as well. Thus, once it has been ascertained .precisely whom a military genius hates, it is possible to determine ■with what grand ducal clique- he affiliates. /This is the- point of view from which" the announcement of General Griperiburg's appointment to the command of the second ■Manchurian army is regarded on the Continent. The impression made by that appointment is that the Grand Dukes intend 'to conduct the war from St. Petersburg,

The Echo de Paris, which, ever since the Czar's mother lost influence, has succeeded the Paris Figaro as the" purveyor of inside information regarding the affairs of the Russian Court, declares that "chaos" prevails among the Grand Dukes regarding the conduct of the campaign. That is why the Neve Freie Presse asserts that there is neither method! nor coherence in Kourapatkin's recent proceedings at the front. If the Continental view be anywhere near the truth, the second Manchurian campaign should be all in favour of the Japanese, and with General Nogi's army set free, Marquis Oyama will doubtless be able to give a good account of himself so soon as the winter begins to break.

The heat waves to whicte Australia has

once more been subjected The Influence affords another instance of of Climate the eccentricity of the clinpon mate of the Commonwealth, Character, an eccentricity which renders

the question of the available food supply always more or less a matter of uncertainty. Tins uncertainty has stamped itself upon the character, of the Australian aborigines, .and will doubtless ultimately result in the differentiation of the present I inhabitants of the continent from their original types. In Mr Howitt's new work upon the native tribes of South-East Australia, the degradation of the aborigines, as seen in such horrible practices as infanticide end cannibalism, is to some extent "attributed, to the poorness "of the country wiiich they inhabited. Infanticido is practised amongst many of the tribes to a greater extent than is usually supposed. Mr Howitt isays : "Infanticide is practised by the "Mining" to some extent, the mode of killing being by starvation. After a few days of short commons the child becomes peevish and troublesome, and in -consequence more neglected). When death ends its sufferings mupuru (magic) is said to be the cause. The reasons the natives give for this practice is that if their numbers increased^ too rapidly there would not be food for everybody. Yet they are very fond of their~offspring, andi very indulgent to those they keep, rarely striking- them ; and a .mother would give all the food she to her children"." < Again, in the Mukjarawaint tribe, where the children belong to the grandparents, Mr Howitt says : "The grandparents, when thete were too -many children, had to decide whether a child was to be kept alive or .not. If not, ihen either the grandfather or the father killed it by striking it against the mother' a knee and then knocking it on the head. Then the child -"was roasted andi eaten oy ihe grandparents, its. brothers, and grandchildren ; but its- parents did not eat of it. Occasionally friends were invited to the feast. The father could not order the child to be killed, for 'if he did' so the grandparents would raise "a party against him, and he would have to fight them." Doubtless had" the Australian Continent been fertile, well watered, and stocked with game these terrible conditions, so. realistically described by Mr Howitt, would never have obtained. Inasmuch as Mr Howitt inclines to the opinion that in the beginning all men and women sprang from these primitive and barbarous states of existence, the contrast between the squalid aboriginal and the civilised white man who is supplanting him is striking evidence of the" strides in evolution which the human race has made.

As if in additional proof of the evolution

theory, we are continually The Apaches confronted in the resorts of of Paris. the highest civilisation and

culture with exjtraordiinary cases of reversion to type. Not long ago an Australian writer made some remarkable • revelations, which have never been ' rightly disproved, concerning the organisation for criminal purposes possessed by , the Sydney larrikin pushes, the" writer's ' name being, \re believe, Mr Ambrose ■ Pratt. Now an American writer has dis- ' closed a somewhat" similar state of things ' existent in Paris. He says: "Paris, so, long the show city of the world,, has ever had its bands of highwaymen. Opportunity creates supply, and Paris has' ever offered the most tempting opportunities to the bands. But a-Vno time in its modern history, except during the Reign of Terror, has it been so frankly dangerous as now ; ! and the police seem powerless. The cause ' is the Apaches. They are no ordinary criminals. So peculiar are they that one almost knows an Apache on sight from the revoltingly cruel and insolent expression they habitually wear — sinister is not a strong enotigh word to dleseribe the utter abandon of human feeling in those counten- ■ ances. Ana as a mark of their impudent , defiance they all wear the cap which has ' come to be regarded as their emblem — a dark blue visored cap. It is said that no man is allowd to become a member of any of tne leading bands of the Apaches until lie has assassinated a:- least one person. The lowest estimate of the number of -these Apaches is 5000, the highest 20,000, both estimates including the allies "and instruments as well as the initiates. They are divided into bands, each band) being absolute for the quarter in which it J operates, and being self-governing and its own dictator. Each band elects a represen- ' tative to the senate of its order, and) the meetings of the senate are held at irregular intervals in various places." The moral characteristic of the Apache is the survival in him of that love; of blood and cruelty which was all but universal so long as war was regarded as the noblest of pursuits. "War has degenerated in the minds of the majority, until every form'of it, except .clearly. defensive war, is looked upon as akin to murder. But the Apache still retains the ancient passion in all its hideous fury. These Apaches have all had a good elementary education, and many are of respectable- if humble Paris families. But most of them originate in the conditions set forth every week in the Paris record of birtus — one fourth, of all the.

children born registered under the mother's name. Thus it is that Paris is now reaping a harvest of criminals as the result of her reckless disregard of the sanctity of che marriage tie and the hallowing influence of family life.