Evening star., 1914-09-27
IS RUSSIA A FUTURE MENACE?

L ~ 4NH xN
cattle. struck terror To the people
| whose country was invaded One
after another the cities Of Russia fell
before these vast hordHs until nothing
was left but Novgorod-
Alexander Nevski WAS one OF the
bravest defenders OF the country. Hie
! successful wars against the many
| tribes marked him as = great leader
barians came he saw that resistance
was futile, and he advised submisstons
| and Russia bowed under the AonGol
yoke.
4 Z
sion lasted longer, but IL was never 90
| cruel. The Osmanli boast.
Result ed that no grass grew
ew where his horses feet had
VI "aIs' trod"; but as . matter Of
fact. under the Turkish rule. though
pillaged and occasionally massacreds
! the population still found IL possible
| to live. Bulgarians and Servians cher.
| ished the souvenir OF their former In
dependence, but they have never been
without the constant dread OF the tn
| tervention OF an alien race.
The story of the emancipation OF tho
Slavs from their oriental conQuerore
dates from the establishment OF the
claim SO often against the autocracy in
Russia might recall the fact that II
freedom was essential to the progress
OF, the west, authority was not less
| essential To the -existence OF Russia.
THAT the weapon forged to deliver
the land from the Asiatic invader was
sometimes turned against the people
] it had freed was inevitable lnstitu-
of their qualities, and the resurrection
OF Russia from the long death to which
she had been doomed by the AonGol
coneueror could not have been brought
Iaoout by any other means:
Mr. Stead concludes that 'it is not
| the strength. but the weakness of the
| car which has been the chief cause
of the disasters of his reign. Divided
the administration. have wrought sad
havoc with the prospects Of peace and
progress in the Russian empire"
But this criticism, was made in 1898.
In the Balkans the SIav has achieved
his freedom and tndependence. In RUS
| sia the Slav has received from the 10.
manofs the recognition of his right
/ to. self-goyernment
| Catherine of Russia dreamed of rid
ding Europe ofsthe Ottoman and Of re-
storing the Christian cross on the
Cathedral of St. Sophia History has
dealt harshly With CAtherine because
of her personal failings. due to her
peculiar logic, OF faer theory OF the
equality of the sexes.
1t may be recalled that Catherine II
to act as the protector of the Chris
tians Of the Balkans and was the first
nation to famltarize the Slavonic
world with the idea of Russia's historic
mission.
| Just here a rapid resume Of Russia's
history may. be Instructive in connec-
tion with current events.
RusSian The history may be d.
r. vtded into three periods
| AssoIy' First, Russia's origin
down to the establishment of the
czaret at Moscow. 1547; second, from
the czaret to Peter the Great, 1547-
1884: third. from Peter the Great to the
present.
In the ninth century. Slav tribes, the
vareoues, Of Scandinavian origin. ap-
peared and established themselves on
| the Dneiper, Dneister and the vclga.
West of these were established Lith.
l uanians, Poles, Moraks, Firms and Bul.
gars,.
Ivan III, surnamed the Terrible. de.
| stroyed the Tartar invaders and reign.
ed from 14s2-1507, Constantinople fell
under the Ottoman power. 1861 Ivan
fIvswas the drst to assume the title OF
csar. and reigned from l433-l6S4. Peter
the czars. defeated Charles XII and
founded st. Petersburg (now Petro-
igfadl. and rkigned from l66S-17zb.
Under Catherine II Poland was sArse
q n,,,r q .
| in 1875 against France. and NApcleon's
Invasion in 1912 constituted AI&3ander
chief of the Holy AlianuG The
treaty Of Paris. 1856. created asbarrier
stantinople. Subsequently victor at
Plevna over the Turks, Russia was
deprived of some of the fruits of that
victory by the treaty OF Berlin. 1879
1873.
When Russia was hopelessly in the
grasp of the despotism of the princes
Of Moscow. there suddenly emerged the
colossal figure of Peter the Great. This
man was born a barbarian, but he had
the soul Of civilizati tion. Charles XII or
Sweden would destroy him. but Peter
the Great yanquished his rival At Pol-
tava, and accomplished there the as as
Russia an outlet to the Baltic.
AS a reformer Peter the Great was
truly the greatest and he struck at
corruption with an II. iron IRON haa indescriSsbis
genius thus: Peter was the type OF
the Russian. In him the sovereign ana
the nation explain each other. A peo-
pie who are like such man are sure
of a great future"
Catherine II. named also the Sreas;
and the "Semiramis of the North,
reigned from 176s-l796. Her wars, re-
forms, protection to savants. her dipio-
matte role outweighed her despotism
and depravity. The reigns OF Paul.
Alexander and Nicholas followed. the
reign of Alexander II, 1S55-1SS1. was
proof of the great possibilities OF the
Russian. He created the assembly OF
the zemstvos, new tribunals Of justice
and law reforms and abolished serf-
dom, 1853, and was assassinated, 1851
1t is interesting to cite here Mr..
Stead's concluding note in 1909 about
the Slav. He said
W. 7. Stead's The day Of cast-irou
empires u fast draw
judgment. ing to a close. Tho
new century begins the era OF decenI
tralization and federation In one
form or another the whole vast stretch
of country from Petersburg to Prague
and from Prague to Adrianople will be
covered by federation or federatfons