Misconceptions of Russia.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12169, 19 January 1903, Page 5

Misconceptions of Russia.

I ,; A 'writer in the London^ Daily Mail ! undertakes .tp a number of erroneous impressions very generally held with-, regard yto Russia, fie com.-, plains ,that British travellers seldom I'tafee the trouble to see more than one side of Russian life. Either they mix iwith the xipper classes, and come back ehavm'ed with < the 1 hospitality of , the Russian, people, or- else^ they, see only tHe lower middle , class and consequently "'they merely know the misery, the subjection of the peasants 1 ' and work- j ing people, and henceforth they be-J come embittered against the tyranny J which produces all-' this/' Contrary'] to what one generally hears, ' the 1 Daily . Mail writer did not find ' the Russian women strikingly beautiful. "The women of the aristocracy," .he says, "are fascinating, extremely ele- i gant, and very chic, careful copyists of* the French in matters of dress. ) The women of the masses have muddy complexions, chill oyes, and atrocious taste." Russian society men are pronounced to be iho best dancers in the woi-ldy -but -"not -adapted- to the role of the good husjjancL" As for the Hussigns' reputation for eitraordi:nary facility in acquiring foreign languages, -he attributes this' to. 1 the care with \ wliich ; Russian children 6f the upp^er' classes are 'taught, rather than to any abnormal uptitude for languages. "3£uglish children/ he *ob- j servos, "who have the same education with foreign governesses speak the languages correctly and as iluently." The reputation for diplomacy which Russian statesmen en30^ he is inclined- to discount largely because ' the Russian diplomat unlike, the English, "has no Opposition td demand information in Parliament, no strehous press to call for investigations, no general elections to, make-j him tremble in his might"." In other words, he never 'has to show hiß hand before his : cards > are played. Russian women, again, are' generally supposed to be far behind English women ' in economic independence, yet the medical colleges for women in- St Petersburg are among the finest in the .woi'ld, and there are ■ quite as many women doctors there as in London. His bwn impressions of Russian politics the writer sums up thus : "You are surprised to find that the people j have as many political rights as wo have, but' if you go dedper down you learn that they have no human fights iin reality, because the Tsar , can, at any moment, deny . fell their rights. [There is trial by jury, but the Tsar can always interfere. Over the 'deliberations of the village 'inir' (council \ there hangs always the -. contradiction fof the Tsar's prerogative."