The sun., 1893-07-16

tons from abroad The national literature Q
Russia has for Considerable period belonge,
almost exclusively to realism or naturalism
oi all foreign writer's. the one most read IN,
relished lie Zola. who. Indeed. numbers NOR,
admirers among the Russians than among hi
own countrymen.
| vi.
Nothing, however. is more complex than tn,
character OF nation, and. therefore, aftel
having portrayed one side OF It. NJ Leroy.
Beaulieu 10 careful to indicate the other. lest
he should produce q delusive portrait. In
Russia. as elsewhere. nature not only acts on
the temperament through the climate. the
diet and the habits: on tho character through
the needs which che imposes and the fac.
ulties which she stimulates; she acts with
no less force on the Imagination. and the en-
tiro soul. through the pictures she presents
and the Impressions she arouses. As nowhere
Is nature simpler. 30 nowhere are the impress
| sions made BY 1t clearer. Ono OF the first to
be perceived by the traveller is a feeling Of
sadness. The sadness emanates from the
SKY and the climate; all northern nations
are moro or less touched with It, In Russia
tho very earth. fiat and monotonons, exhales
It 1t IL in tho poetry and music OF the
people-the folk songs which Herzen called
audible tears, and the popular airs OF slow
rhythm and In minor keys-that the native
melancholy, bred Of soil and cline. finds it's
| fullest expression. In these popular songs q
cloud OF wistfulness casts eleRiao shades over
the realistic background OF the national char
acter. In literature and cultured poetry this
| sadness assumes an intenser and bitterer
flavor. The poetry OF all the schools Is inn
pregnated with It: it has made itself felt in
the life as we'll as In tho works OF Russian
poets, most Of whom died young and some
tragically. Sadness. skepticism. irony-these
are the three chords Of tho Russian Tyre"
wrote Herzen. who added. Our laugh is but
an unwholesome grim"
The sort OF melancholy inspired by the cli-
mate and possibly by the political regime. at
times inclines the Russian soul to mysticism
which prevails over Its realistic instincts. or
combines with them In strange ways@witness
more than one popular religious sect and
many national writer. such as Gogol. Dos
toyefsky. and TolstoL Between this sponta-
neous sadness and the kind Of pessmism con-
sp!cuous in nihiism. 1t is easy to find link.
NJ. Leroy Beaulieu would define nihilism as
simply the Russian form of the negative and
revolutionary spirit OF the age. Far from be-
ing disease peculiar to Russia. it is moral
epidemic Of which the germ has been i'm
ported. and with which all Europe. nay. the
whole civilized world. is moro or less affected
only the symptoms and the consequences OF
the mnlady vary with each people. according
to the patients age. constitution. and habits.
IL. In tho low plains Of the Neva or the Volga
the attacks Of this revolutionary fever have
nowadays become endemic. and offer peculiar
symptoms that is due to the peoples idiosyn-
cracies. and also to their diet. According
to our author few designations have
lent themselves to more misunderstand-
ings than this term "Nihilsm." which.
in reality. is only a witty nickname.
invented by Turguenief. but disowncd by
the greater part OF those to whom it Is applied.
The word has changed its meaning three or
four times. or. rather. this contemptuous ap-
pellatton has been successfully attached to
different doctrines or tendencies. naturally,
however. connected with one another by a
more or less direct afflliation. M. Leroy Beau
lieu would distinguish three phases. or, so to
speak. three stages and metamorphoses In
the first acceptation Of the term nlhilism was
untinged with politics: 1t signfed little more
than certain ray Of comporting ones self. OF
thinking and talking-a mannerism fashion.
or. as one might say. an attitude or pose that
came into favor among young people between
1850 and 1870. especially among the younger
graduates at the university. and the girl stu
dents with cropped hair, residing abroad or in |
the provinces. The designation was pointed alta |
spirit OF revolt against received ideas and cur
rent conventionalities. against all traditional |
authorities and antiquated religious or pollt- |
fcal dogmas-a spirit Of neRation. in fine. |
stamped with an intolerant materialism and
naive radicalism: nothing more at bottom than |
a violent reaction Of the Russian soul against |
the system Of government and the intellectual |
yoke under which 1t had long been bent. This |
was the first. and. properly speaking the true |
nihiism which has been depicted in immortal |
strokes by the most famous Russian novelists.
After this theoretical and abstract nihiIism,
frequently dabbled In by amateurs. and at
times entirely made UP Of posing and outward
show. and which. moreover. did not attempt TO
carry out its maxims. except in individual
life and private relations. there came into
being about 1871. under the twofold iniu-
ence OF the Paris Commune and the Interna,
nional. nihilism all action and agitation,
into a militant socialism which
strove to spread its ideas among the people-a
nihilism already devoted to politics and revolu-
lion. having recourse to association and secret
though not as yet to plots and
murder. 1t was only after several years of dis
appointment and bitterness. toward 1S77-7S,
that this peacenbly preaching nihilism. meta.
norphosed into q violent party seeking redress
rom conspiracy and assassination, took UP for
is weapon dynamite, and for it's watchword
error Under the threefod aspect OF specula-
i've radicalism. socialistic apostolate and re-
'olutionary terrorism this third form OF nihil-
SIN has shed on the Russian tenn permanent o
powerful illumination, as OF tho electric light.
t has laid bare power OF logic as to intellect
! force Of will as to character. q capacity for
passion. fanaticism, stubbornness, and self.
levotion which might be matched among
hose religious sects OF the West which have
ought their votaries among the lowly. but
which. as they are exhibited In civilized Rus
ians. have been to Europe revelation.
NJ. VIII.
Jonn OF Arc.
We have received from the Messrs. Scribner
new life of Joan of Arc. by Lord RONALD
lower. This biography does not profess to be