Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-12
TALKS WITH A NIHlLfST.
The Recent NihiIist AssOci. ton Cjrcu-
lar.
\ STRONG OBJECTION TO IT - SK0BELEFFS
SPEECHES AND HIS PoPULARTTY-GERMANs
AND RUSSIANS-wHEN NIHILIsM STARTED.

AND NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
AND EUssIANs-wBES NIHrLIsA STARTED.
From the New York Times.
When the circular was published short time
ago in Boston calling for contributions to fund
to promote nihilism and telling of the establish
ment of an association here, which circular had
attached to it the well-known name of Vera
Sassulitch. 1 sought my nihilist friend, the
doctor, and asked him what he thought of it.
81 have no wish to impugn the motives of
those who have issued the circular" replied the
doctor. 81 do not know them, and they may
be honest and wel-meaning people; but the
thing does not please me at ALL"
"What is Objectionable In it?"
"Thls begging tor money. / speak as Rus
sian, and say that strongly object to having
our party brought before the world as beggars.
1t is humliating to me as Russian to see this.
Tnere is no necessity to beg for money. our
party has never had to do it, and fail to see
any justification whatever for doing it now.
do not like it at all, repeated the doctor, with
some degree of irritation i'm his tone.
Then you would not advise contributions"
81 should not give any money myself, and 1
should not counsel any one else to give, until
by personal inquiry he can be very sure where
his money is going. / do not believe in it at all.
Our party has always been able to raise the
money it needed in Russia among our own peO-
pie, and it does so now. This coming before the
world in the attitude of beggars will do us inf
nitely more harm than any good which the
money obtained might do, supp0sing it to be
honestly spent. Besides there is no pressing ne
cessity for money. Are We to revolutiOniZe
Russia by buying up public opinion? only
know one time when our party was really in
need of money. There was a Temporary drain
OF funds. so they broke open the government
bank in St-Petersburg and replenished the treas
ury from the government funds. You may rest
assured of this. that when the nhlist party has
to go to other countries begging for money. the
revolutionary movement will be extinct in Rus
Bia and of that see no signs now"
'HOw about SkObeleff-s speeches? Do you
think they will lead to war;"
Mere talk Russia is i'm no condition to 90
70 war See the trouble we had in fighting the
Turks Certain it is if she fights Germany
single handed she will be whipped. With
France as an ally, attacking Germany on the
west while Russia attacked on the east. the re-
suit would probably be different. But Russia is
not fit for war now
would German war be POPULAR"
well, it would and it would not We Rus
SLAMS do not like the Germans at all, and the
great popularity of SkObeetf is due to the de-
light the people have in seeing how few words
from him set all Germany in an uprOar. They
enjoy the fun, and just now there is no more
popular man in Russia than the dashing General
who could so stir them up with an after-dinner
speech. Skobelef always has been popular
{
Inguist. and thorough Russian. There is
none of the GermanO-Official flavor about him.
Then he has not been mixed up in any disa-
greeable politics. TOdeben was sent to govern
the south, and GOurkho Center Russia and
Other generals to other parts under those eX-
traordinary orders for military rule, but Skobe-
len by some skillful means contrived to steer
clear of the mess"
ITO what is your dislike of Germany due?"
Partly historical, partly in race. Historically
II dates from the time of Ppfor Ho
was one OF the greatest men that ever lived but
think ne did Infinitely more BARN to Russia
than he did good. Our party has to undo much
OF the work he did He was one of those great
feformers who are too impatient to wait for
things to grow up naturally; they must build
them up artifcaly. He violently interrupted
the normal growth of the country. which. crude
and rough as it was. would have worked itself
out in time in a natural and satisfactory manner;
and introduced vast Imperialism. well organ
1Zed. thorough in its working and almost resist
less In power. This was utterly foreign to the
Russian people. who naturally are the most de-
mocratie in the world, think; and it was not
accomplished without great violence and blood
she'd Our vast standing army dates from him.
he succeeded by his iron will aud great genius
While he lived he worked solely for the good of
Russia-nO other thought was i'm his mind. But
the system he founded in the hands of his sue
ceSsors became one of the most despOtic tyran-
nies on earth. Have you read SchuIery's Rus
sian papers. published in Sc7-ibr.e,'s? Well. l
mention them to say that he has completely
Jailed to understand the place that Peter the
Great occupies i'm Russian history or the depart
ure that his reign marks in it.
"NOw. Peter the Great wanted men who could
DO his work, and he had to find them mainly
among the Germans. We Russians were not
advanced enough and not nearly SO well adapted
Dy race conditions. Mechanics. bOOk-keepers
architects, builders, administrators, supervisors
and other like the Gar had to get from Ger
many, He placed them in all positions of trust
and responsibility in the government service,
and to this day the court party and the office
holding class Of Russia is a German party. Ger
man used to be the court language but the
present Emperor, before he came to the throne
was one of the anti-German faction and carried
1t so far as to forbid German to be spoken in his
palace under penalty of fine. There probably
was some idea that it would help the Russian,
or anti-imperal, movement along to have him
succeed to the crown, and this may have been
In the minds of the men who planned the killing
OF the late Emperor.
'YOu can understand now to some extent
how the Russian people as a whole dislike this
foreign element, identified with the imperial
power. settled among them. l should say from
what | have seen in New York that the feeling
with the better classes Is much the same as that
with which the average American resident re-
CARDS the offce-holding freshman But. of
course, We have TO acknowledge that Germany
is ahead OF us in the march Of civiliZation-it il
useless TO Ignore that. But I do saw that di-
rectly Russia has fair chance for seif-1eyelon-
ment, which will be when she gets constitu-
tional government Germany will have to 90
along pretty quick five don't overtake and pass
her We Russians are in the crude state now.
but there is more improbable stuff in the Rus
sian than the German ever had or began to
have.
1.-THE Slavs and Germans arc so different that
1t IL not easy for them to mix well. The Ger
man Is dull, plodding, and methodical and we
are not methodical-that was how Peter found
II better TO employ Germans-but impulsive,
irregular, and quick"
SIS there a large German population In
Russian"
"Oh, yes. The Baltic Provinces are full of
Germans There has always been a large Ger
man emigration to Russia The Mennonites
who have been emigrating here are really Ger
mans not Russians They originally came from
Germany upon the invitation of Catherine. who
wanted to settle the vast and fertil territory of
southern Russia She promised tiein that their
peculiar tenet about bearing arms should be re-
spected. and they have been living IN their own
communities ever since. When military service
was made universally compulsory some time ago
they found themselves in trouble and emigrated
here"
H.