The Washington times., 1903-11-13
Russia and the United States.
Friendly Feeling Existing in Russia To-
ward This Country.

~iiSAAiy EcciAnS EAlSlluS IN Russia i o.
ward This Country.
In a recent interview, Count Cassim
expressed his pleasure IN continuing
as Russian ambassador TO the United
States, and spoke of the exceedingly
friendly feeling entertained not only
by the Russian government, but by
The people as q whole, toward this
country. He also expressed sorrow
that he should have been regarded as
a diplomat of the school of Machia-
veli, and said that IN his opinion
franlness was the basis of diplomacy.
There Is perhaps no country in Eu-
rope about which Americans. as a rule
know SO little as about Russia. Om.
impressions of that land are a mix
tire Of Tolstoy, Krnnan, TourgueEiev,
and 1.-The Truce Of the Bear" We
know that Russia has an exile system.
and that Russian ideas Of social life,
marriage and religion are very diff
ferent from ours, and that is about all
that the average American does know
OF the subject.
The relations between this country
and Russia have been Influenced hith-
erto by two things: one, that Russia
was friendly to us two or three tines
H. our history when we were fighting
England, and the other, that our IN
terests and those of the Land Of the
Bear have not IN any way come into
conflict If IN our commercial devel-
epment we had run against the Slav
IS often as we have against the
Briton, We should know more about
him than we do, and also IN all prob
ability have be fighting him a dozen
times. Our diplomatic relations with
Russia have, IN short, been dictated BY
circumstances, and not at all by any
international or interraciaT feeling.
There is likely to come a time, how
ever, within the next twenty-five OF
thirty years, when the relations be-
tween this country and Russia viii as
sumo a much more personal and defin-
lite character, and, IN view of this, the
assurance that the Russian attitude
toward Us Is friendly is a pleasant
one. These relations VIII depend upon
the commercial development of Rus
STA, and that, IN turn. depends upon
her dealings with the powers There
Is no doubt whatever that the slow bu.
Irresistible force Of the Slav viii IN
time push :issough TO the sea. prob
ably by way of the Persian Gulf.
That means a great and sudden adj
vance IN what we call civilization for
thc uncounted millions of the interior
of Russia; and that, again, means her
dominion over the semi-barbarous
Tartar tribes, and possibly the great
e. part Of the Chinese, as part Of q
mighty war engine. The whole EN-
pire Is a sort Of undeveloped dyna-
mite factory, but dynamite is a useful
thing in its pisce.
It Is certain that when this develop
ment does come-and it is one OF
those things which we call manifest
oestiny-it six include many phe
nomena which viii astonish the un.
thinking The leap out of medieval
conditions made by Russia when the
serfs were freed, a generation ago, ]!
hardly yet understood IN all It's sig
nificance. The Russian character Is
capable Of immense progress and phe
llAmenal conservatism at one and th,
same time. aud this fact Is the eaus,
o. The anachronistic conditions pre-
vailing in Russia at the present day
The Russian resembles the American
u his progressiveness, his adaptable
~. bis intensity; IN all of these qaali
ties he appeals 20 us. Ia his soeia
and religious ideas he is Asiatic; tn,
family, not thu individual. is the unit
and this similarity gives HIM his ire
mendous pull over the Tartar anC
other Asiatic nomads. Here we shoulc
differ from him, and 50 deeply, thai