The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-25
exercise power for the sake OF power: and
his Empire could not last. (New York:
Harper Bros. $50


The Russian People.
Prussia and the Russians" by Edmuni
Noble, is a book which will be useful in
| these days. when everyone is more CT
| less interested in information about
the Gar and his people. 1t is a
careful and scholarly resume of the his
tory of the Empire, followed by a discus
sion of the future of Russia; and in The
| course of the history the author takes
| pains to point out the various causes
| which have affected, and still infiu nee
| the growth of the nation He rightly re-
| CARDS religion as one of the chief influ.
ences to be taken into consideration. and
the chapter on the faith of the Russian is
| especially interesting. Mr. Noble says
We shall find it impossible to avoid the conclu-
! S On that as in the political in the religious
aspect Of lis life Russia is living in the Middle
| Ages To expect it to nourish a religious life
| Ike that OF the West would be TO ignore the
| plain facts. For the Russia of today, with its
'ofest regions, its continental climate, its vast
| and isoatng distances. is pre-emnently the coun-
try Of primitive religion. Nor is it too mach
| to say that the masses who occupy its uniform
plans, bound from generation TO generation
| IN the tolls of the same monotonous labor, and
deprived of everything the glimmer
| of our modern knowledge which they get in
| the sight of a locomotive or an agricultural
impic1nent-as utterly vacant OF our glorious
eaihs II were living IN l1fet-tEaI
such people, in all that relates to religious he
lei and practice little removed from the
condition of which the stories about classical
Greece and Rome remind us. They have scarcely
yet outsrown what might be called the stage OF
| infiexon in religion-the period of mental de-
veiopmcnt in which spirits and deities are as
signed by the imagination to all the great classes
| oil appearances in nature which suggest supernat-
uial power. Hence, though monotheism is the
avowed faith of the Orthodox Church. the Rus
| sian peasant continues to believe or less in
| the original polythesm OF his pagan ancestors.
He does not name the various divinities. and
may not hold them consciously apart in his
mind; yet he finds their chief characters again
in the attributes which he has been taught 10 as
soeiate with the principal saints of the Christian
calendar. As seen. moreover, in his superstitions,
| in those spirit invocations and magic formulate
which form considerable part of popular i'll
| erature. he continues to believe in the exist.
ence OF that same spirit world which Grand
Prince N'adinir by ceremony of bapt n,
rainly supposed tina. he could Danish forever
from the Russian land.
1t is this practical denial of religion to Gull
ture in Russia which must be held responsible
for any justification there may be in the charge
OF righteousness often brought against the
movement for constitutional reform In western
Europe and in the United States the educated
classts have unlimited opportunities of dec-
sion to what particular religious faith is
worthy of their allegiance Unable to coop
crate with one Church. the religionist has a
hundred others-each degree liberal
more conservative than the restroom which he
may, make his choice. But in Russia chasm
yawns between the religious system which the
State thrusts upon its educated minority and the
ideal faith which its members would be likely
TO join were religious thought free. And this
chasn is made impossible by the pains and
penalties with which the State chains its sub.
iects TO the faith of the national Church.
OF the future of Russia he says:
How far. then. may such power Is Russia
veritable ffteenthcentury State weaiire .ie habit
iments Of the nineteenth, a power burdened with
responsibilities abroad harassed by disafection At
home expanded territorially beyond all man
aeoablc as well reasonable limits-hope to
perpetuate Itself as an autocracy? For answer
we must consider at greater length the internal
weakness that undcriics much OF the brave show
which Russia Is still enabled to make to the
world first-ciass military power. Her most
vital interest today is agriculture. Forty years
after emancipation, the industry and loyalty
OF the peasant continue TO constitute the chief
support Of the Russian system. Not only do
the peasantIy maintain the autocratic form OF
government: they contribute the great bulk OF
the expenditures Of the Empire. 1t is, more
over, from the ranks of the agriculturists that
the Russian armies recruited; il is the
Drawn and snew developed in the Russian vii
lagos which have enabled the colonizer of the
northeast to carry the RIi sian flag far toward the
Pacific; from the source have issued the
pluck and dash which have wrestcd the bulk OF
Central Asia from The nomad and have made
peasants of Russia are poorer as a class than
they were before 1861. Splendidly responsive to
the plans Of military generals. they seem to
be growing less and less able TO take care OF
themselves. Feeders Of empire, they themselves
are compelled TO live from hand 20 mouth: in
years Of want they die of hunger by the thou
sands. Meanwhile the conditions Of agriculture
in Russia steadily going from bad TO |
worse The Russians have already, il We
consider merely the difficulties overcome, at
tanned to a position OF the first rank in ma |
tional achievement. All the while. moreover, /
they have displayed a patience under huuiilia-
tion. residence from disaster. and a power of I
self-sacrifce in the pursuit of ideal ends. which
qualify them, if anything could. for national
greatness But they cannot reach their full /
stature as people while foreign caste-an au::
tocrscy which, as such, has already completed
its historic part in their development-continues .
TO hold them. largely in its own interest. TO !
Inadequate institutional forms elsewhere long
outgrown-forms which, degrading their social |
efficiency to Sel-ngh medieval levels, not only |
dsqualify then for tasks OF world unfcatioa hut
also threaten the integrity Of their national
life.
The conclusion of the author is that
Russian progress, while slow, is ineyita-
bic, and that the Russian Government |
will eventually be representative. He ar
CUES thus from a survey of the history of
its development thus far, and from study
of the character of the people them
selves.
Besides this general history of the En-
pire we find in some of the later chapters
a brief but comprehensive history of Rus
sian literature, and studies of the char
acters of Peter the Great, Catherine The
Great, and other Of the more notable
rrlers of the country. Considerable space
is also given to the exile system and Mr..
Noble endorses fully the reports CT Ken
nan. Boston: Houghton, Miftlin Co.
s1.50)