The mirror., 1915-04-01
THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
AND ITS PEOPLE
The Development of Russia
From the Time of Rurik.
The Vast Empire Of the Tsar--|ts Auto
cratic Government and its Present
Standing Among the Nations Ski|IfuI-
y and Ably Presented.
Chautauqua Paper by C. Il. 4.

Tourists and writer's have made us
well acquainted with the smaller. and
interesting countries of Europe, but
of the vast country comprising the
Russian Empire and its population
comparatively is little known. Rus
sia is often referred to as that ma
ton whose stature is that of a giant
but whose mental faculties are those
of child. 1t is also known as the
Bear" "while many of the other ma
tions in Europe are known by other
appelations borrowed from the ami
NAL kingdom. The popular Ameri-
can magazines would convey the
idea that Russia is a. tumble of Nj
hilism. political persecution and the
Imperial Ballet; but to judge peo-
pie by an expression of one phrase
of art, or any one or two incidental
outgrowths of its condition, would
fall far short of doing it justice.
Russia, as we'll as any other estab-
lished nation, has it's traditions, char
acteristics and measure of success
81 in human efforts which determine
it's position in the family of Ma
tions. To briefly sketch the growth
of this great Nation and review the
historical events that have led to
the condition of its people at this
time is the purpose of this paper.
Why is Russia called the Bear"
in the European Menagerie; that
massive, inscrutable, alternating
animal that walks like man, typi-
flying moroseness and brutality?
Why is this great country centu-
ry behind in the progress of the
world? The first reason we will
mention is it's physical and geo.
graphical condition which we may
understand by comparing it with
England. Both came into exis-
tance soon after the beginning Of
the Christian era. The history of
England tells of the upbuilding
by an island people of the greatest
maritime nation in the world. while
Russian history tells how a people
with great toll, pain and effort Sc
cured possession of the greatest in
land plain and so created the broad
est of land empires. For the first
thousand years, or until England
began to develop into COM
mercial nation, it's civilization was
no better model for the world than
that of Russia at that time, but the
last nine centuries have shown how
great is the influence of geographic
al conditions upon these two coun-
tries.
The most characteristic feature o1
Russia is suggested in the phrase
The Empire of the plain" This
explains why the Russian Empire, 8
vast expanse, containing S.5OO.OOC
square miles, extending a distance
of 1000 miles from west to east, OF
equal to one and one half times the
distance from Boston to San Fran.
cisco, and from the polar regions tc
the So latitude, only short dis.
tance from British India. or twice
the distance from St. Vincent tt
Galveston, is all one political unit
whereas the rest Of Europe, altht
smaller than European Russia alone
is divided into nineteen separate
political units. Where country
had natural boundaries. such a.
mountain ranges, seas or rivers
it was natural IN the early formation
of government to recognize thes,
also as political boundaries. East
ern Europe presented an unbrokel
Country, consequently we find NJ
political divisions in all that vas
region.
So then to-day the Russian EN-
pire comprises one sixth of the tota