The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-11-06
THE SLAV CHARACTER.
russian SeIf-Control and Excess-The
influence of the Romnnoffs.


to revel in obedience as the ordinary
Russian now does, nor is there any other
white people in which the idea is so inn
perfectly developed, Still something Is
known of the present SlaV, which is
sufficient to give the attentive gimp
Sc of his character as it is and Will
probably remain. In the first place, 1t
is clear that he belongs to no branch
of the other great families, but is man
of separate breed with its own qualities
and powers. He is so much unlike the
Teuton that the two races, though
much bound together by their historic
fate, cannot learn to tolerate each other,
but entertain each for each an acrid
scorn which, on occasion given, fire.
quently breaks out in open hostilities.
He is not like the Celt, though the
Frenchman thinks ne is, being less alb
sorbed in himself, less addicted to ly-
ing to himself, and less dominated by
the evil passion of envy. He is also less
logical, and, even when good, less capa-
BILE of that strenuous probity which dis
tinguishes the good Frenchman and is
probably less the product of his heart
than of his mind. Least of all is the
Russian like an Englishnlan, being of
all the great white races the most re-
ceptive, the least inpatient of control,
and the least inclined to a self-depend
ent individualism.
He is, in fact, Slav, of race by
itself, the dominant note of which is
a singular power of self-control. The
world dimly perceives this, and talks
Of the Russians obedience, his secret
iveness, his endurance, his patience his
resignation; but is more than any or
all Of these things-it is self-control that
he possesses. The Russian can make
himself dc anything he has decided to
do in way which other white races
despair of initiating or emulating. The
whole history of the dissenting sects of
Russia consists of Illustrations of this
proposition. If he believes war to be
forbidden, the Gear may chop him to
pieces or condemn him to the horrors
of life in Saghalien, that realization of
the Northman's idea of hell, but he viii
neither be drilled nor resist. He en-
uuTGS oil WlluOuI lIlcHluS, pul even lile
Gar cannot drive the Mennonite into
the ranks. If he becomes infected with
the notion of Origen, he mutilates him
self without a qualm, as the thirty
thousand or forty thousand Skoptsi do.
If he thinks he ought to be buried alive
he allows his fraternity to bury him
without resistance. No torture would
drag out of a Russian the secret he in
tended to keep nor induce him to aband-
on purpose upon which his mind had
closed His will is as powerful as that
of the Sunyasee, and acts quicker, acts,
in fact, with the rapidity of a child
who does what he thinks of doing in
stantly and without considering conse-
quences.v 1t is not only sentries 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
a supreme self-control which OCCASION
ally shows itself even in mental opera
lions. The Russian can keep himself |
from rage when convenient, can sub
NIT when to another European submits
sion seems degrading, can suspend the |
action of his own conscience-when he ]
has resolved on an action-say assassin !,
ation-which aff1icts it. This self-con-
troll, which Is perfect would make the
sovereign who could direct 1t effectual |
1y master of the world but that it is |
held in check by two deficiencies,
One is certain want of energy. The |
Russian has energy, it is true, but is not |
of the true Western kind, which goes
on whatever the obstacles, determined |
not to stop till one is out on the other !
side The energy of the Russian is that |
of the undervitalized man, who does
not stop and does not change, but who |
advances languidly, with halts, and with
proclivity to dying before his work is
finished Russian armies ordered be-
yond the frontier melt away impercept-
IDLY, their own generals cannot say why.
Foreigners declare it is all bad feed
ing, or bad clothing, or liability to dis
ease, and talk of Russian corruption
and savagery; but the soldier march |
ing westward or southwark is as well
fed as he ever was, and his clothing is
better, for the air is warmer, and yet
he disappears. The cause is want of
"stamina" is, energy in the reser-
voir-more than want of supplies. You
see the same thing in other departments
of life Nothing in Russia ever quite
succeeds, unless, indeed, there are Ger
mans in it, OF the twenty or thirty
social reforms which have been sug-
gested and adopted in this generation.
not one has realized what was expected
of it and most have been given up. They
meet with some obstacle, imperial au-
thority, or popular prejudice, or a
popularity of climate and they are
a abandoned. A little more persistence
might make them all succeed, but that
Is only to be evoked by supreme ordar,'
which is not Forthcoming.
The second efficiency is the first car
ried a step further--the readiness Of
Russians, noticed by all who write of
them or live among them, to despair. |
Their vast plains breed hopelessness.
The Englishman face to face with Chat
Moss works on and on till it is filed;
the Frenchman tears his hair and works
In spasms instead of steadily, but still ;
he also fills the moss the Russian, &C ,
customed to be defeated by Mature, and
lacking something within himself which
Is best defined, though not quite ac-