The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-28

young man. who has not even gained 1t
for himself, but has simply succeeded
TO It, The religious aspect OF the cere-
mony, the faith and devotion expressed
in 1t, are so foreign to our ordinary
thought that we regard them with sort
of tolerant Indifference, rs something
akin to the barbario orientalism Of the
whole display. But the imperial idea Is
positively antagonistic to our own po-
li,ical conceptions, and we cannot but
wonder that it s,ill finds acceptance
anywhere.
When even serious writer's speak of
the czardom as an unrestricted personal
despotism and treat Russian history
merely as succession Of acts and
deeds of irresponsible autoorats, 1t is
not strange that most of US should over
look the continuity Of Russian history
rs 9 history OF national development, in
which the czsrs are really but insignia
can. figures in the gres. current whose
successive stages they only marked
Peter and Catharine we're great personal
forces, but Russia was s greater power
than either of them, and the strength
Of Nicholas II is not in his birthright
alone, but in his acceptance as the
leader OF the Russians
Think of the nations whohe history We
know the best. England under the Plan
iagenets, under the Tudors, under tie
Stuarts, under the Commonwealth and
Revolution, under the HAnoverian line,
has taken the very widest possible range
in the conception Of monarchy; but 1t
has been England All the time and the
strongest as we'll rs the weakest mon.
archs have been only the expone nts of
the English people, in whose irresistible
development they bore their various
parts. France under Louis XIV, under
the Directory, under Napoleon, under
the new Republic, Ia still France, and
through all it's vicissitudes runs one
strong current Of expansive national
life. Russia Is larger, more complex,
and therefore slower, but the progress
OF which the world Is becoming aware Ia
of Russia and not of the Cars.
Indeed there has been no modern ma
ton within our time with policy so
! fixed and persistent as that of Russia.
Its institutions, though based on no
| written instrument, and though opposed
to many of our fundamental concep ions,
| have the strength Of immenorial
growth. The conception Of nationality,
Of what we call manifest destiny" WAS
never stronger in any people, and 1t
has shown itself in a unification within
and q constant expansion on the bor-
ders before which the West IN world
stands amazed. 1t is not the czars
that have carried the esgle and the
CROSS to the uttermost parts Of Asia
and are pressing steadfastly, generation
after generation, TO the expulsion of ,be
Turks from Europe and the recovery Of
st. Sophia; it is the same great power
that swept back Napoleon from Mos
cow-the giant force Of great people,,
still young and full Of faith AID de- vo-
tlon and expansive vitality.
1t 10 as the leader Of these people, the
exponent OF their faith and power, tbs
| Nicholas is crowned and cunsecrale6
| Ostensibly he is their irresponsible
| master, and so fsr as he shall act on
that idea he can do them and himself
much harm. In reality. his autocracy,
his mastery over all The kindred and
tribes that came to see the coronation,
Is neither less nor more thsn the power
OF Russisnism, and in his fidelity to
that great thought must lie the measure
OF his strength. The imposing spectac.e
at Moscow does not so much concentrate
attention upon the car as upon the po-
tentislity of Russia.-P
Times.