New-York tribune., 1894-04-20

rHE INpusTRIEs spu,setSTss 4p ns sSN and Trade Pr
x1' S ESQ., ina % ss7s ys vi HsT;aIIlG1s %Inns s"d s"d
Forestry. PIP. xxxii, S7 NoT is1 Siberia T, and the
Great Siberian Railway PIP Xi 2'' S Win Man,In mnHS
doT Of The snesn Consul iT% General to Russia St
Petersburg.
Mr. Rrodheaa holds q brief for Russia IN ner
.-a,.ors,, u.,,h other nations. It is impossible
for anv one who has studied the history OF NUS
- -.,.,,o,. ,ro,udice not 10 sympathze with
his statement Of the case and his arguments "po''
a. Tho new-fangled prejudice In favor ol oe
,nocracv ,s often as unjust as the old-fash'oneu
,r,,udica IN favor OF royal and divine right me
o,,ercs,,c nartissn OF human equality 'oree'S
,o,, long q line Of ancestors and now iohs d"
struggle with the elements 1t has rep"i'eu ~
rs.se him to his present level. lie SaHes "o,o
With Podsnapian self-con,eit and wonders why
all the world does not see things as he uoeS
II used 10 be the fashion to condemn ""o'e
sale all those who happened not 10 sVah" VII "
given platform But the thing Is done so'ie-
what differently at thn present day. me ''e"
~ people to differ begins to be respec'e"' "
The folly of fitting all feet 10 the same ooo'S l.
M longer questioned. Now Russia wouu cut
q very curious figure in the world al preSe'''
with a President and Congress ana supreme
Court. without a National Church. without peha
settlements in Siberia, without Il Gar anu
without a bureaucracy but with Nlhiiis'h an"
with a communism old as Sla'ic hu'''''
,o.,ro Not merely republic like the United
States but even a limited nonarcnN i'"'' w
,,r,c,,coll,. inconceiyable to the Russian masses
Yet much criticism seems 70 assume tha' RUSSIA
,,us, tbirl, along the same lines that the west
crn nations do and that II is only perNerSi'E '''
her mart that leads her to do things in her own
s,,or ~ this sort of censure that governments
ora NOT an Improvisation. and that hbertes are
never given but taken. If nation gets prlV'-
,eges which IT'S people are not fit for ana 90
not deere it either loses them right away or
nu.s thenn TO an III use. Above all. II Is a mis-
taLa IN sunnose that slow development means
,nrerioritv For centuries Russia was the Da''le-
ground between Asia and Europe. Across her
mains swept the Eastern hordes whlch presSen
the settled races Of Europe TO the sea on every
side The separate groups Of people IN Il cOun-
try 81 vast and devoid Of natural boundarles
could never have been reduced to unity without
.h,s ooreic, The striking uniformity in the
natural features and physical conditions ula'
nrevajled over vast expanses was itself oar
n solid political organization But the heces-
sitv Of ceaseess struggle raised upon the OASIS
~ local communism an imperial system "le
main business Of which was defence against 'he
Orient Russia became the bulwarK OF turope
against Asiatic migrations. She had to DO Tor
ages what Poland did for single generation.
Keeping the Turanan. whether Tartar OF lu'k'
in his place proved absorbing task
In the half-legendary story OF the call Tor
ruler sent TO the Mortimer one sees how Sec
opdarv the imperial superstructure seemed to
Pussians whose lives were bound up with their
sararate communities Mr.. Brodhead puts the
case ,cell when he saws that the heart OF the
r,,onire throbs in every rural commune and ST
Petersburg might be swept away without caus-
ing any great inconvenience to the nation. IL
was the vitality Of the village organisms in the
face Of anarchy affecting the relations OF these
organisms to each other which enapied the
Muscovites to say to Vareg and his Northnen'
1--WE have all good things save order ana JUS
tice" But they found that for the sake OF
order and Justice they must give up much Of
their freedom. In accordance with the usual
processes OF human nature they learned IN the
end that the development of order and justice
did not keep pace with the encroachments on
their rights The rural population had given
an inch and the growing system Of the bureau
cracy had taken all the rest not leaving the
peasant even the power to move D. p. Semenov,
in the massive collection Of practical essays
edited I'm English by COnsul-General Crawford,
shows how this loss Of liberty the part OF
the peasants was gradually brought about. The
mos: oppressive epoch Of serfdOm was the
middle Of the eighteenth century. Even then.
however certain traces Of selfgovernment re-
manned. relics Of happier time. The condition
Of the serfs not the same in different places.
This is to be accounted for by various his
torical and ethnographical reasons. European
Russia consists of districts which once formed
part Of the Kingdom Of Muscovy peOpled by
the Great Russians; of districts inhabited by
Little Russians. who temporarily under
Polish rule; of regions that constituted part Of the
former Kingdom Of Poland. peoped by Poles.
White Russians and Lithuanians: of provinces
that belonged 20 Sweden namely Finland and
the governments Of the Baltic; and finally Of
such places as became settled after the trans
formation Of the old Muscovte Kingdom into
the present Russian Empire. In the Kingdom Of
Muscovy. the Great Russians retained COM
munal organization and a communal right to
the free Of the productions OF the soil.
Among the Little Russians the commune, as un-
derstood by Russians was unknown, though
they held local assemblies. In the provinces
which had belonged 20 the Kingdom Of Poland,
serfdom OF the most oppressive devel-
oped 20 a great extent at time when II hardly
existed in Muscovy or in Little Russia. Vestlges
OF self-goveInment in the Polish and Baltic
parts of Russia are TO be found only in the White
Russian villages. whereas the Lithuanian Lett
and Esthonian peasant lands are generally
divided into single allotments separated one from
another and never concentrated into villages
Thus IT is seen that Russia as an imperial
organism inherited the features Of rural life for
which she has been most blamed. Il the people
OF other nationaties put themselves back into
a corresponding stage Of civilization they would
soon discover how many Of their own number
would be slaves. Naturally the efforts from
above TO correct abuses took the same course
in Russia that they had always taken in other
countries. Serfdom steadily made more
systematic up TO the breaking point That great