Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-11-29
THE TRADITIONAL POLICY OF
RUSSIA.
From the Atlantic. Monthly-1seS

From the Atlantic. Monthly-1S6S
At this moment, when the Pan
Slavic and Greco-C Catholic and Propa-
ganda gathers all its strength to aid
the Cars government in making an
other push at the East, and when the
Muscovite armies, as a preparatory
move, have taken possession of the
Khanates of Tartary, thus nearing the
British possessions of India, the ira
dtional policy of Russia, as exhibited
IN her ancient history, acquires a pc
cuIiar Importance.
Current events are often the out
come of deep-ruted tendencies. In
the case of Russia, everybody talks
fiuently of her traditional policy )"
yet how few are there who have even
a faint knowledge of the political and
social conditions through which that
empire has passed during and after
the Middle Ages! There is a we'll
nigh general, and withal falacious,
belief that Russia is ga young state"
in the prime of life, whose political
organization dates only from the last
century. Hence those comparisons
with the youthful Transatlantic Re.
public, arising out of few accidental,
and no doubt transitory, similarities
with omission of the deep and char
acteristic diversities.
1t is no exaggeration to say that
even in England, which is the rival
Asiatic power with Russia, one might
as we'll ask for general knowledge
of what the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan
did a thousand years ago as for an
acquaintance with ancient Muscovite
history. As the existence of the hu
man race is recorded to have had It's
origin with "Adam,' so Russian ex-
istence is often thought to have begun
with a certain Peter" As to what
occurred in the fabulous times before
the appearance of that historical Gar
scarcely any one cares to inquire.
Ere the Shipwright of Saardam
connected his empire with Western
civilization, Russia is usually assumed
to have been terra incognatd to Eu-
rope. Since his time only-so many
believe--the Northern Colossus has
acted a part as an aggressive power
in the East.
Yet in what different light would
''youthfup' Russia be regarded, were
it kept in mind that, centuries before
Gear Peter,-nay, at the very epoch
when Alfred the Great founded the
power of the English realm,-the an
cient Russian Grand Princes had al
ready made themselves hateful to the
Eastern world as barbarian sovereigns
Of the most grasping ambition. Opin.
ions with respect to Muscovite 'ortho-
dox" policy would be altered, if the
fact were remembered that, more than
nine hundred years ago. when Russia
was still sunk in paganism. the Danu
bian Principalities, the countries of the
Black Sea, the Balkan, and the Bos-
phorus, and the gates of Constantine
pie itself, were already the theatre of
Russian invasion and attack What
would be thought of the religious
mission" the antocrats have attributed
to themselves, were it remembered
that, in those far distant times, the
name, not only of the heather, but
even of the Greco Catholic R0S (Rus-
siam, was pronounced with feelings of
terror within the walls of Greco Cath
Ole Byzance long before that city of
worldwide Importance had become
the capital of the "Padishah and Ca
liphe of all the Mussumsn believers?
If we would keep to real historical
truth, we must reverse many current
notions and pGeconcieved ideas. We
must not seek in the so called evident
ly forged " Testament of Peter |, " tor
the textbook of Russian attempts at
universal dominion, or for the first In
dices of Russian movements against
Constantinople this encroaching ten.
dency must be traced ten centuries
back
In the ninth century, when the Rus
slams still revered the idols of Perun
and Yurru, while Constantinople was
ruled by an orthodox imperator, their
Grand Princes, as they were then
Called, IUauG Wal upVA OShoSNA"tHS
pie, holding the savage doctrine that
"Bvzantum must become their capital
because the Greeks were women and
the Russians blood men.
In the tenth century, when the
Russian Grand. Prince had embraced
the same faith to which the Byzan-
tine Empire adhered. another pre-
text had to be framed for aggression.
Constantinople was then to become
the residence of the barbarian, :" be-
cause it suits the dignity of the Rus
sian monarch to receive baptism in
the capital of Eastern Christendom. !"
In the eleventh century, another
trifing occasion was eagerly caught
at By Russia to make an attempt for
the conquest of Constantinople with
one hundred thousand men. And
when subsequently the Byzantine En-.
perors were relieved from further
attacks on the part Of Russia. it was
only because she had become weak
ened by internal feuds and ultimately
subjected to Mongol rule.