Russian Characteristics. Reprinted ... from the Fortnightly Review

Preface

. The present volume consists of a series of papers which, under the general title of Russian Characteristics, appeared in the pages of the Fortnightly Review, between September, 1889, and October of the present year, and concerning whose scope and object I should like to offer a few remarks. They were written without a trace of bitterness towards the governing classes or the governed masses of Bussian society, in the hope that they might prove a trustworthy contribution to Englishmen's know ledge of a truly remarkable people, who, in the opinion alike of sober friends and impartial enemies, seem des tined at no very distant date to play a leading* part in the politics of Europe, and it may be — I say it with all due respect for the authoritative and optimistic views of General Roberts — in that part of Asia with the prosperity of which the interests of this country are so closely bound up.

They aimed, therefore, at giving expression to ethnographical truths rather than political opinions. He would, indeed, be engaged on a wild-goose chase who should hopefully strive at the present moment to awaken an enlightened and fruitful interest in foreign politics,

PREFACE.

. VI bristling with outlandish names of persons and places, among a peaceful and domestic people like our own. Even our chosen representatives in the House of Com mons, although possessed, no doubt, of an intimate knowledge of physical and political geography, modestly imitate the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and would fain be treated by the leaders on both sides as if they were unaware that Bucharest is not in Asia Minor, or Salonica on the coast of Chili. The most solid service that could be rendered to such a people under such circumstances, by their best friend, seemed that of introducing them in an easy informal way to their future neighbours and probable heirs. And this I have honestly endeavoured to do. My aim, as affecting the Eussian people, was twofold : on the one hand, to direct the attention of the Govern ment to the miserable lot of the peasantry, in the hope of obtaining for them some moderate measure of relief; and on the other, to show that the people, improvident, shiftless, superstitious and immoral though they appear from our lofty English point of view, are yet not undeserving of a certain subdued admiration for having steered clear of still greater abysses in which almost every other people in like circumstances would probably have been swallowed up.

And in neither of these^J^Jfcs, \ am pleased to think, have my efforts been whoLM Hbwn away. The articles, which to my own knowleoj^vere carefully read by the highest dignitaries of the Empi<£. were in due time followed by a few slight improvements the paper on Finance, by a decree abolishing the prel

PREFACE.

. VII mium on Bussian sugar exported to Bersia; that on Finland, by a Ukase giving an assurance, which, if honestly acted upon, would,, I had reason to believe, satisfy the legitimate aspirations of the Finnish people ;* the paper on Frisons, by the creation of a secret com mission to report specially on the subject ; that on the Backing of the Beasantry, by a project of law which will probably receive the Imperial signature this winter, the object of which is to abolish inhuman usury of the kind described in that paper, and also by another proposal, now under the consideration ofthe Ministry, to lessen the burden of local as distinct from imperial taxation. If I have aroused less admiration for the endurance, or less pity for the sufferings, of the masses than seemed reasonable to hope, the explanation, I fancy, is to be found in the intellectual sluggishness of those readers who refuse to come down from their own lofty ethical plane to analyze the enormous forces which for centuries have been crushing out every moral sentiment and aspira tion, every nascent germ of manhood that manifested itself in the Bussian people, and to compare them with the marvellous resistance offered and with the upshot of the unequal struggle.

It is a terrible tale, to which only a Goethe, a Dante, or a Shakespeare could reasonably hope to do ju«-icriMp There was a time when the Bussian people were as coraprctely equipped for their part in the struggle for * This Ukase contained a distinct promise that the legislative indepen dence of Finland would be religiously respected. Three months have not elapsed since then, and it has already been violated by an uncon stitutional curtailment of the powers of the Finnish Senate.

PREFACE.

. VIII existence as were most of those who are become the successful nations of to-day. It was when, split up into a number of petty principalities and republics, they were honest, believing Bagans. Centralization gave them Muscovy, which began by absorbing all the Bussias, and may end by swallowing up Slavonic Austria and the Balkan Beninsula. Byzantine Christianity, which is a foul libel on Christ's teachings, sowed the seeds of irreligion, superstition, fatalism, and Nihilism, of which we have, as yet, seen but the flower, the fruit being still immature. The result of these combined forces — Autocracy and Orthodoxy — is the Bussian people of to-day. In the following pages I have striven to put the reader in possession of material data enough to enable him to gauge the workings and tendency of Bussian Autocracy, reserving for a future volume the more interesting analysis of the nature and fruits of Bussian Orthodoxy. CONTENTS.

Finland 406