RED RUSSIA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13462, 29 June 1907, Page 3

RED RUSSIA.

BRILLIANT IMPRESSIONS OF THE

CZAR'S EMPIRE.

FOSTER PHASER'S NEW BOOK.

Of the writing of books about Russia there is no end, and the reading of them is frequently a weariness of the Qesh. Mr John Foster Fraser's "Red Russia" is .an exception. Mr Fraser has eyes to see, and a brilliant pen to describe what he sees. His pages are unpretentious, He has no pose of authority, but in a few sentences he makes the reader understand the country and the people as the learned treatise generally quite fails to' dp. Tako the following for example: — The scene is a St. Petersburg cafe in the evening. A military officer and a student have had a quarrel, and the soldier has fired at- the civilian. "Look what >r £hiß blackj^uard has done," exclaimed the student. He half raises his arm, and shows a hand dripping with blood. Bang! .Another shot has been fired. The student groans and sinks in a heap. Bang! Bang again! Once more baug! The soldier empties his revolver into the body of the dead man. Some women shriek. But the band is busy 'and laughter is loud, and people in distant parts of the room mistake; the shots for popping corks. Tltt» man is dead! The lady who is with him bends over him and sobs. ! The Tartar , -waiters bring a long tf.ble-cloth. They spread the cloth and 1 idcrlt from sight. And now let jollity continue. The liand plays a waits. "Champanski !" is the order. Again come the tinkle of v omen's laughter, the guffaws of wellfr»(i menIt is the law in Russia that nolioly toi.tl«s a corpse till the Prefect of !*••• l.c ai rives. An hour goes before !:« ccmes. Casual interest is shown in bis a-'-i'val. He arrests the murderer. As Ine two walk towards the door eyes follow them. Suddenly a civilian springs i(» his feet. He seizes a full champagne If i tie and crashea it on the head of lie n.mderer. It tears the scalp; bl ««vt uv I o) t mpagne drip down the umf ir.*n ■ Bravo !" shout civilians in the room Or* with the merry-making. Another raj; time, cake-walk tune ! l.bampanski !" A PRISON SCENE. j \j«other example. A troop >of < 'idsacks are attacking an unarmed mob. "You brutes!" screeches a young wotnan. "You are, brave when you have defenceless womun to fight. You were uotv so courageous when you had the Japanese bjefovc jou." She is surrounded, thonged, and arrested. Sho is marched to the barracks ! with officer's about her. In the yard of . tltc bin racks appears General

Priupi' . -i { 1 What has this woman done?'' he asks. "She has insulted the army," is the repl f • "Then let her bo flogged, now, here, in the open, and naked." Instantly the clothes are ripped from the woman. Not a shred is left upon her. She stands naked, as God made her. lieforo the jeering officers and soldier*, in the dim light and bittor cold. She, is flogged before them all. This is fine descriptive writing. The wholf scene' liyes befpre one, and it is wqtton. without qne^supeitf nous, word: JSO PARTISAN. Mr Foster Fraser is no partisan of either bureaucrats or revolutionists. He realises the Government's incapacity and corruption; but he has no illusions their opponents,, the "intellectuals." Much of tho political trouble in Russia is dne to the" f*6t that there are not sufficient Goverjunent uniformed posts tp go round. When a man tries and rails to secure a, post under Government lie comes to the conclusion the Government ft? rotten, and requires fundamental change so it can be representative of the people, And, unfortunately, Russia has already far more public servants than it; can afford. ' The Russian' public service is stuffed full, chock-a-block ; • it is swollen by numbers. When a telegram is sent, there is one man to count the words, another to mark the cost, another to take the money, and a fourth to give the receipt — all of which would be done 'by .a girl in an English telegraph office. All these men have to be paid. The taxes, with big leakages, are enormous, rin,<!l it is the intellrgenzia — the more or less educated people and not necessarily th<* "intellectual" as I have seen the word translated in English prints — who are shut out from Government service ; it is they, and not so much the peasants — wretched, starved, down-trodden, though, these be-^-who cry loudest for constitutional government. Good intentions go hand in hand with mediaeval abuses. Here is a little scene in a 'prison, illustrative of this common .conjunction: — The chief warder came hurrying in: "There are nineteen men in the yard on the point of mutiny; they have had nothing to eat for two days." He was in distress. They were all men awaiting trial, and were desperate with hunger. Men in custody, said the chief, can bo supplied, with food by friends, . while others '<.-)'- \ "Well, what happens to the others?" 4 T asked. He raised his' shoulders, and then he raised his eyebrows. "They just die," he said. But afterwards! learnt that this man, whose life was sought by the revolutionaries and who was always carefully guarded, spent two or three roubles each day of his private money to provide some of the prisoners with food. ' THE JEW. ) , In writing of the Jew, Mr Foster Fraser is ttgainM strikingly impartial. The Jew is cruelly, treated by a halfcivilised people,, .who, hate him because he is an alien, and. an alien who is glover enough .always to beat them. Frommany suggestive sayings one may quote the two following: — As a race the Jews are better off in Russia than . the Russians, themselves, and there is a half-understood gamble in the mind of the Jew between mas* sacre, and money-making. He is willing tc take his chances or massacre so long as on the credit side he can bring his sharp wits into competition with the dull wits of the Russian and profit cveiy time. The Jew is hot courageous. He has not tho pluck to be an assassin himself — not all a fault of race, but due in large measure to b9ing an alien, and keepiAg alive, not by resistance, but by submission to anyone who wished to kick him. He has the intellect, tho 1 >

craftiness of tlio East, the preference to do a thing by underground ways rather -than boldly and ih the open. He maim es the revolution. Behind all the ttirmoil— a nation in agony— s^ts the Czar Nicholas, a helpless, pathetic Jiguif. Nicholas 11. is neither the callous monster nor the short-sighted fool he i* often represented to be. He is a kindlyhearted, well-meaning goi-tleman, ww lt«l t« would like Russia to be peaceful would gc a long way to sacrificing his loy&l prerogative to secure it ; but he is weak lacking initiative, irresolute in decision, commands and counter win da, s ittcillating, and is rather sick of the „. lI9IC business. . :,.>*.. „, A nation' Without cohesion; without faith, without hope, without guidance - that is the impression one gets froa. Mi Fostev Fraser'a fascinating pages