The Washington herald., 1915-05-09

tomb of Frederick the Great never TO
quit the side Of Prussia until Napoleon
had been driven beyond the Rhine. but
after the defeat at Fredland in 1907 his
generals rebelled against fighting any
longer for foreign countries and they
fairly drove the Car into the arms of
the French Emperor on the raft at Til
sit. Russia soon wearied of the COM
pact. however, and il was to enforce its
provisions that Napoleon marched to
Moscow in 1912. No sooner had the Rus
slams driven the Surviving fragment of
the invading army across the Niemen
than their commander. Gen. Kutusof.
sat down and stubboruly refused to fol-
low the enemy beyond the frontier.
1t is safe TO predict that II Russia
should now succeed in clearing her bor-
ders Of foes, no alliance with England
or France would suffice to keep her in
the war. Her hatred of the Turks and
the national jealousy of the Germans. as
well as her newly developed affinity for
her fellowSlav in Austria Hungary and
the Balkans would make far stronger
appeal to her than any scrap N pa
per- which has passed between her and
the foreigners by the distant shores of
the Atlantic. And stronger even than
those emotions would be the thirst OF
the bear for the waters of Constantine
pie,
Fortunate will it he for the world II
a more ardent passion for military con-
quest never leaps into the 1S:;, nm. 0s
hearts OF Russia. Their" were 10000. OfI
Of them four years ago: there will be
2OO OaO 0OO tomorrow and -. C1O.N go the da V
after. For the giant Of the north Is
growing at the rate OF 3.GH0dO a year.
II the slothful autocracy of Petrograd
had Prussian thoroughn"ss, efficiency
and science no dixie could restrain Rus
STA from overlooking Asia and Europe.
Her men marry at Is and her girls at
Is and her birth rate is a in loo to Ger
many's 81. EnGlands y and Frances y.
Without sanitary laws or habits how
,,-itba NH holt nf oil
the Russians born do not live to be :.
Against a death rate of 10 to 1000 In
Germany and France, and Is in England.
Russia presents the blacklist record of
any great nation in Christendom. with A
mortality of 81. These be the fruits Of a
stagnant absolutism.
Russians and Americans.
The peasantry comprises within its
limits fully l2a.W0.UOo people. This real
Russia lies far away from Petrograd and
its myriad voices sink to an inarticulat Q
murmur there. But on the all enduring
shoulders of its little people" the huge
empire rests, and only they can carry il
forward.
The peasant more than the soldier has
conquered an empire for Russia. No
army. but nero band of robbers-Cos-
sacks-galloped across Siberia and plant
ed the Russian flag on the shores of the
Pacific in the days of Ivan the Terrible.
The real Russians are not as much Civ
en- as their neiShbors to foreign emigra-
ton. Nevertheless they have shown
themselves a race of pioneers and have
spread their settlements from the White
Sea to the Caspian. They are now pour
ing in streams into the immense and fer
tile spaces of Siberia As many as half
a million settlers have crossed over the
Trails in n year. and there are still less
than ~ 100000 people In all Asiatic Rus
STA. The emigrants do not go singly. but
in whole villages. carrying their priests
IL x..sI ., hAt,, Ax,
once to make a new Russia wherever
they drive their stakes.
Americans think of the Russians as a
PARKWAY people. They are, however.
their nearest Old World neighbors. As
the Muscovite has gone East, the Yam
kee has gone West until now only the
thirty-five miles of water In Bering
Strait divides them. And that Is not a
long sail, nor a long sledSe ride on the
ice.
The Russian and tho American are the
Youngest members in the family of ma
tons They are brothers In their ex-
periences. in their spirit of pioneering
and in their capacity for spreading and
matchmaking. And each has subdued
his great domain with Ak and pillow
rather than with sword and rifle. Both
have had enough TO do at home and.
therefore. have not been tempted into
wars of foreign aggression. Russia has
inch in 100 years. Together Ivan and
Jonathan may become the peacemakers
among nations.
The Destiny of the Slav.
- hal ba cyar