The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-16
RUSSIAN HISTORY
 GRAPHICALLY TOLD

The first Lecture of the High school Lyceum eodrse was delivered last night by Dr. Robert Stuart McArthur in the High school auditorium to a very large
 audience. The subject of the lecture was
 The Domain of the Czar or the Great
 Bear of the North"
 Dr. Phillips addressed a few words to
 the audience in which he said that he
 felt sure that the lecture about to be delivered would justify the whole ex- pense of the course of 12 and that these lectures were intended to do something
 more than to amuse, they were intended
 to be instructive and profitable to their
 hearers. He also announced that to-
 night the Bessie Abott musical company
 would give concert in the auditorium. Col. T. G. Bush, in his remarks intro- ducing the lecturer, took occasion to con-
 graduate the public and also the manage
 inent of the lecture course upon the high class of entertainment provided. "These lectures" he said 'are not by any means a full treatment of the subject, but should lead to more detailed investigation. They are antended to awaken an interest in peoples minds, and by that means be- come educational" Colonel Bush paid very high tribute to the lecturer, not only as a minister of the gospel but also as a man who had identified him
 self with all public movements in New
 York for the betterment of social condi- tions.
 Dr. McArthur won the sympathy of his
 audience in his first sentence by the way he spoke of the city of Birmingham and
 it's people. He Immediately took up the subject of his lecture and said no per-
 son could with any degree of certainty
 foretell what might happen in Russia in
 month, a week, even a day from the present moment Tomorrow" said he.
 ''the duma meets and what may follow that meeting Is beyond the power of man
 to say with certainty. In Russia the 18th
 century and the 2oth century are at war, democracy and autocracy are pitted against each other, and in all such con hicts democracy is bound to win.' The lecturer then proceeded to speak of the size and population of the Russian empire and employed comparisons with the United States to illustrate his state | ments. It was revelation to a great
 many to learn that in Siberia alone 1t
 would be possible to put all Europe and in addition 12 countries, each the size of Italy. Siberia could contain all the United States and Alaska and still have | 1,400O00 square miles outside. ''The gen. eral opinion of Siberia," said the lecturer. | lis that 1t is a country of cold weather | mines and convicts, but Siberia Is a | country of 5000,000 square miles, possess | ing untold mineral wealth, immense for | esHs and agricultural and pastorial lands | that will in the course of time make it one of the greatest countries in the l world" He said the total area of the
 Russian empire was about 100000 square
 miles with a population of nearly 15O,- ! 000,000
 The next subject the lecturer took up was the Russian himself, his char acter and condition. "The Russian"
 said the lesturer, lis not a fatalist, his whole character Is best described in one word, 'prikanzo,' 1t is ordered. A Rus | sian knows nothing but to obey; he | fights because he is ordered, he works | for the same reason, everything Is | 'prikanzo.' In the war with Japan 90 per cent of the Russians could neither | read nor write, while 90 per cent of l the Japanese could read and write. If | all the Japanese generals and officers | had died in one night the next morn- | ing would have seen men spring out | of the ranks to lead into bat<, but
 not so with the Russians. & Was the 1 public schools of Japan as much as | anything else that made for Japanese | victory"
 1 The lecturer stated he would rather | give four lectures on the subject of | Russia than one, but he would step | through Russian history, just touching | the mountain tops in the course of his | remarks. He began with the founda-
 tion of the nation 2To0 years ago and | graphically described the origin of this 1 people, leading up to the year S62 when 1 the Russian government was first es- , tablish ed. The conversion of Russia to | Christianity in 9S6 was the great turn | ing point in that country and its in- 1 huences remain to this day. Then fol- l lowed a sketch of the characters of
 Russian rulers from Ivan of the red hand 4nd black heart to Catherine l brave, beautiful and bad" Peter the 1 Great and Nicholas, who liberated 43,- | 000.00O serfs in 1881, and afterwards l fell at the hand of the assassin.
 The lecture was highly entertaining and instructive, but was considerably marred by the comic feature occasion ally introduced to provoke a laugh. The subject itself is sufficiently interesting to insure the attention of an intelli- gent audience without recourse to any
 thing savoring of the burlesque in word or action. F. I. M.