Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-02-05

individual liberty and individual opin.
I ions become more and more familiar 10
Russians and penetrate into the Rus
sian mind. the public will acknowledge
that we have not been so very wronE
when we nave raised our voices against
the importance which individuals such
as RaSputin have been allowed to take
| in our society and in our governmental
circles and against this corrupt sys-
tenn OF administration, which, thanks
10 its crawling. 1attering prOpensitles.
/ licked his feet in the idea that by doing
80 they were pleasing the higher au-
thorities. who most of the time knew
nothing about the developments which
this intrigue WAS gradually assuming
Russia has still something oriental
about her. and in some respects she re-
sembles the Greek empire which fell
under the blows dealt at it by the pow
er of Islam IL needs new life and new
blood to flow in its veins. 1t requires
the support of this strong, earnest
British civilization, which is, perhaps
the most beautiful the world has ever
known.
/ have always been accused of being
too pro-English in my ideas and opin-
ions. If being pro-English means the
wish TO see my country freed from the
abuses. the existence of which has pre-
vented her from developing herself on
the road Of a progress embodied in the
respect of the individual, together with
the institutions that rule him, such as
Great Britain has known for so many
centuries. then ] will willingly confess
it. 1 am pro-English. l feel sure that
all good Russians share my feelings
We have had enough of the German
kultur and of German intrigues. They
it is that have brought my beloved
fatherland to the brink of ruin, ruin
which only her closer union with her
brave allies can prevent. The whole
sad incident of Rasputin's rise and fall
has been the result of German inter-
ference, and it would never have as
sumed the proportions to which it rose
il the German press had not exagger-
ated il and German spies spoken about
II. not only abroad but also in Russia
itself
When thinking about this story, which
savors in some of its details of super
stitions of the Middle Ages, one must
always remember what l said at the
beginning of this sketch or the career
of a mar whom circumstances and the
hatred of our enemies transformed in
to kind of monster devouring all that
il touched. This fact is that Russia
is still the land of many surprises, be-
always so strong in all the Slav races
Before Rasputin appeared there had
been other sectarians who had drawn
thousands of men and women around
them and who had inspired crowds
with feelings of fanaticism in no wise
different from the ones which the mod
ern Prophet" as some called him, the
modern Cagliostro. as others had nick
named him, had evoked in the breasts
of the simple-minded people whose con-
fidence he had abused and whose spirit
of superstition he had impressed. But
these had remained strictly on the reli-
gious ground and had not mixed them
selves up with any other questions.
They had grouped around them only
persons convinced of the truth of their
teachings, while Rasputin had gathered
about him men determined TO use him
for the benefit of their money-seeking,
money-grubbing schemes; men who saw
in the misfortunes that had fallen upon
their Fatherland only the possibility to
enrich themselves at her expense. They
would not have sacrificed the smallest
thing for her welfare; rar less would
they have given up the chance to add
TO the ill-gotten gains they were daily
accommodating. Without those persons
the whole story of Rasputin would have
ended in ridicule. Thanks to them and
to their capacity, it finished in blood.
The Aristocracy Redeemed itself
1t was, after all, the aristocTacy which
finally got rid of Rasputin, perhaps to
the great relief of many persons who
out of weakness, or let us say kindness,
had hesitated before taking the strong
measure of sending him away to where
il would have been difficult for him TO
do any more mischief. And it is doubt
full whether his removal anywhere than
TO a place whence there existed no posi-
bility for him to return would have
stopped the evil which the very mention
Of his name along was sufficient to do.
Credulous persons exist everywhere and
will always exist; timorous ones also
bound in the world. Even if Rasputin
had been exiled il would have been rel
atively easy for those who reaped sucn
rich harvest out of the blood and
the tears of the whole Russian nation to
attribute to him powers which he did
not possess, to threaten with his VEN
geance the persons who might refuse to
lend themselves to their dirty schemes.
He would have been a perpetual menace
suspended over the heads of those who
would have tried to rebel against the
directions issued by the enterprising
scoundrels who abused the prestige
which his so-called holiness had won for
man who in other times and in an
other country would not have arrested
for a single moment the attention of any
one. let alone the crowds.
Rasputin is dead, Let us hope that
his former supporters have lost to-
gether with him. their audacity and their
power OF doing mischief. But to say
that he was ever a paramount strength
In Russian politics Is an error which I
have tried to correct as far as lay with
In my mower For no other reason have
written this little book than to try
to divest the history of those exaggera-
tons with which everything connected
with this curious episode in the modern
history of my country has been sur
rounded. Rasputins story is simpler
than many persons think. and perhaps
the best explanation that can be given
OF il is TO recommend to those who
want to understand il a careful purusal
Of the book of Esther in the Bible.
THE END.