The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-11-13
WHAT RUSSIANS ARE LIKE
HOWTHEYARE UNLIKE ALL OTHER
 PEOPLE.

Past ng-Energy to Die
 But Not to oDo-IMmodcratet tn Every
 thing.
 Of the Russian as he would be after
 say, century of freedom we know
 nothing. At present he is a man of
 pure white lineage-vide Charles Pear
 sons remarkable testimony on that
 point-who for many hundred years has
 been subjected to Asiatic conditions
 which on many prominent points have l gravely modified his character, Nd
 white man, for example, Is by nature | inclined to reVel in obedience as the or dinary Russian now does, nor is there any other white people in which the i idea of individual right is so imperfect | ly developed. Still, something is known of the present Stay, which is sufficient to give the attentive a glimpse of his
 character as it is and will probably re-
 main. In the first place, it is clear that he belongs to no branch of the other
 great white families, but is a man of a separate breed, with its own qualities
 and powers, He Is unlike the Teuton that the two races, though much bound
 together by their historic fate, cannot learn to tolerate each other, but en-
 certain each for each an acrid scorn
 which, on occasion given, frequently
 breaks out in open hostility. He fs not | like the Celt, though the Frenchman
 thinks he is, being less absorbed in him
 self, less addicted to lying to himself
 and less dominated by the evil passion
 of envy. He is also less logical, and
 even when good less capable of that
 strenuous probity which distinguishes
 the good F'renchman, and is probably
 less the product of his heart than of his
 mind, Least of all is the Russian like
 an Englishrhan being of all the great
 white races the most receptive, the least
 impatient; of control, and the least in- clined to a sef-dependent individualism.
 He is, in fact, Slav of a race by him
 self the dominant. note of which is
 singular power of self-control. The
 world dimly perceives this and talks of the Russians endurance, his pa
 tience, his resignation; but it is more
 than any or all of these things, it is true self-controi that he possesses.
 The Russian can make himself do anything he has decided to do in way which other white races despair of iini
 tatlng or emulating. The whole histo- " of the dissenting sects of Russia Is full of illustrations of this proposition. tN lNnli 10, I,p II n Czar may chop him in pieces, or con- demn him to the horrors of life in Sag hallen. that realization of the North mans idea of hell; but he will neither be drilled nor resist He endures all without tlinching; but even the Czar cannot drive the Mennonite into the ranks. If he becomes infected with the notion of Orlgen, he mutilates himself without a qualm, as the thirty or forty thousand Skopts dol If he thinks he ought to be buried alive, he allows his fraternity to bury him without resis- tance. No torture would drag out of Russian the secret he intended to keep, or induce him to abandon purpose upon which his mind had closed. His will is as powerful as that of the Suny- asee, and acts quicker acts, in fact. with the rapidty of child, who does what it thinks of doing instantly and without considering consequences. It is not only sentres on duty who freeze to death in Russia, but coachmen on the box, policemen on watch, and even thieves waiting for prey, They all have their business to do, and they make themselves do it. with supreme self-control which occasionally shows itself even in mental operations. The Russian can keep himself from rage when convenient. can submit when to another European submission seems can suspend the action of his own conscience when he has resolved on ar action. say assassination which af- liicts it. This self-control which Is per feet, would make the sovereign who could direct it effectually master of the world but that it is held in check by two deficiencies.
 One is a certain want of energy. The Russian has energy, it is tdue, but 1t is not of the true western kind, which goes on whatever the obstacles, deter mined not to stop till one is out on the other side. The energy of the Russian is that of the under-vitalized man, who does not stop and does not change, but who advances languidly, with halts, and with a procivity to dying before his work is finished. Russian armies or- lered beyond the frontier melt away their own generals can not say why. Foreigners declare that t is all bad feeling, or bad clothing, or liability to disease, and talk of Russian corruption and savagery; but the soldier | westward or southward is as well fed as he ever was. and his cloth | ng is better, for the air is warmer, and | yet he disappears. The cause is want | ,f stamina na"--that is, energy in the | 'eservoir-more than want of supplies. | You see the same thing in other depart | nents of life. Nothing in Russia ever | luite succeeds, unless, indeed, there are | Germans in it. Of the twenty or thirty | ;ocla reforms which have been sug- ,ested and adopted in this generation, | lot one has realized what was expected | if it, and most have been given up. They meet with some obstacle imperi- Il authority, or popular prejudice, or a lbandoned. A little more persistence night make them all succeed. but that s only to be evoked by Supreme or er' which is not forthcoming. The econd deficiency is the first carried tep further-the readiness of Russians,
 ,ti inxr II y,it tn of4 |