RUSSIA'S UNFOLDING STRENGTH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14196, 13 January 1917, Page 3

RUSSIA'S UNFOLDING STRENGTH .

DOUBLE BURDEN IN THE WAR. THE DUMA AND THE ALLIES. PETROGRAD, November 17. Tragedy has been 'the leading note" of Russian history y and' there are .moments when tragedy seems almost too heavy to be borne. Yet it is at suchi moments that ona is compelled most- to wonder at the extraordinary tenacity of tnt Russian people. The rapid fluctuatio" of moods winch strikes the casual observer as characteristic of the Russian temperament conceals a curious persistence of national purpose. These ideals for which Russia is fighting m the waare bound up with the process of her internal development and her history more especially during the last fifty years, m which there has been a slow, hard struggle for the realisation of these ideals. It is not a mere unfortunate coincidence tTiat Russia should at this moment have to bear a double biuxlen— that he>historical effort at home should : continue at a time when she ( is waging a great European war. Thd two aspects of thi Russian struggle must constantly by borne m .mind, and events which miglr be regarded as alarming m other countries should not be' regarded as a sign of weakness but 1 ; as an indication of gradually unfolding strength. At this critical moment m the war Russia Has had to face her own drucial problem very reluctantly, because she would gladly have postponed this task until after thei accomplishment of the other Herculean task of the war, but the force of historical circumstances has dictated otherwise. In the Duma, which renewed its sitting this week, the problem was raised m its full extent The issue was stated clearly and .m « manner that admits of no evasion, and, although a detailed acaount of the proceedings must of necessity be postponed for the present, it was made abundantly clear that the Russian nation, an reprpr Rehted m the Duma, is whole-heartedly devoted to the cause for which the coalition is fighting, and is making a determined effort to shake off those impedimenta which prevent its applying all its great energies to the, work of securing complete victory. This week's Duma debates are as direct a blow to the Germans as any given m the field ; they constitute a profound patriotic effort to 'unlock fresh fountains of energy and to mobilise for victory the courage, will and intellect of the nation They are a new and immense asset m the moral equipment of the Allies,