Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-05-22
National Defects Of Russian Character.

National Defects Of Russian Character.
The Russians accuse the Jews of
being thoroughly dishonest in their
dealings, but so far as l have seen the
Russian is more than match for the
Polish Jew. Like the peasant, his i'm
mediate inferior in this social scale, and
like the noble. from whom he is re-
accumulated gold can fill up or bridge
over, the Russian merchant at the pres
ent state of his development is unable
to pursue anything more than an err
ratio, irregular and feverish course. He
IS found grasping at everything, yet
succeeding in doing nothing thoroughly,
and laying the foundations of great
edifices which fall into ruins before
they are crowned This peculiar feat:
ure is most painfully apparent in the
manufacturing industry of the country.
No, enterprise flourishes steadily: it
leads an ephemeral existence and dies
unless supported by the Government.
| A rich native merchant springs up at
Odessa, Moscow or ST. Petersburg and
testablishes a firm which at first com
nnands extensive credit, but almost as a
rule a second generation knows that
firm no more. The fortune amassed is
ldissipated in the satisfaction of barbaric
| indulgences or in the pursuit of some
scheme or shadow con jured up by un-
scrupulous persons feverishly awaiting
4 their turn for the temporary enjoyment
of wealth, which is from this cause sell
dom permanently concentrated and ac-
cumulated. 5aE .ia.,,s -ssss nl.. :,
With very few exceptions the nobility
and landed proprietors of Russia proper
are tainted with the same National de-
fects OF character and animated by the
same restless, .wayering and unscrupu-
lous motives and desires. Ruined to a
great extent by the emancipation which
deprived them of the means OF cheaply
cultivating their mortgaged lands, and
over head and ears in debt to banks on
which they have largely drawn, not so
much for the improvement of the eX-
tension OF their system of agriculture
as for the satisfaction of desires en-
gendcred chiefly by the physical and in
tSlIC|tuol AAoAOtoIIy VI lHC COuuCly huu
by the .non-recourSe to healthy corporal
and mental exercise, the landed gentry
of Russia afford the worst possible eX-
ample to the classes below them. AS
in the case of the merchants, an alb
sence of all scruple in the pursuit of
gain for immediate objects is painfully
apparent in all their acts. They cry
with the epicure: "Live while YOU
live,' and allow the morrow to take
care of itself. ,s:-f.,.s ga. 90 81.
No enterprise can. be made to flourish
in Russia except by the exercise Of
bribery and corruption and on the prin-
ciple of '.give and take" The Govern
ment Of the empire is conducted on the
same principle, or, rather, absence of
principle, for although the Imperial
Ministers and the members of the Coun-
Gil of the Empire are above all sus-
picion of venality, yet, as the Cabinet
is composed of statesmen protesting
the most opposite views on the most
important questions of domestic policy,
they exercise the authority which they
derive from the Sovereign, and are only
able to retain their places and emolu-
ments partly by intrigue. but chiefly by
traficking in their political principles,
that is to say. by making transactions
or arrangements by which each Minister
is enabled to carry out his own peculiar
views. Conservatives and Radicals,
supported severally by personages who
stand next the throne, squabble at the
council table over matters relating to
various departments of the State, and
when a compromise is not arrived at
on the principle of ''giye and take" it
is left for the unfortunate head of the
State to thread his way through all the
intricacies of the intrigues and plots by
which he is surrounded, and to confirm
the resolutions of a majority or mi
nority, according to his pleasure. the
bent of his mind, or the indirect inilu-
ence which has been brought to bear
upon him through channels in which
women's rights are frequently exercised
with considerable success.
The public service of the country,
and particularly the service to which
the conduct of foreign relations is in
trusted, is naturally affected by all
these influences. As matter of fact,
the several ambassadors of Russia and
foreign courts represent, not the policy
of a cabinet, but the aspirations and the
intrigues Of the faction to which they
may happen to belong; and almost as a
rule they represent and promote what
is only too we'll known as the principle
of Muscovite ambition and encroach-
ment. Viewed in this light, it is a matt
ter of the utmost difficulty to grasp at
any given moment the real policy and
intentions of Russia, Like the indiyid-
ual Russian, the Imperial Government
has no fixed policy or conduct. and its
language can seldom be trusted. Con-
sequently, in dealing with it, other, Gov
ernments should be guided solely by q
sense of what their own superior inter-
ests require to be said or done at a Civ
en- .moment,s irrespective sof imperial