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} + div.footnote p {text-indent: 2em; margin-bottom: .5em; } + .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } + body {font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; } + table {font-size: .9em; padding: 1.5em .5em 1em; page-break-inside: avoid; + clear: both; } + div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; } + div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } + .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; + margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } + .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; + page-break-before: always; } + .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77805 ***</div> + +<div class='tnotes covernote'> + +<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> + +<p class='c000'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='titlepage'> + +<div> + <h1 class='c001'><span class='xlarge'>THE</span><br> MAINSPRINGS OF RUSSIA</h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div>BY</div> + <div><span class='large'>MAURICE BARING</span></div> + <div class='c002'>THOMAS NELSON AND SONS</div> + <div class='c003'><span class='small'>LONDON, EDINBURGH, DUBLIN, LEEDS PARIS, LEIPZIG, AND NEW YORK</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_iii'>iii</span> + <h2 class='c004'>DEDICATION.<br> <span class='c005'><span class='sc'>To H. G. Wells.</span></span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='c006'><span class='sc'>My Dear H. G.</span>,</p> + +<p class='c007'>I dedicate this book to you in the hope that +you will read it; for if you do, I shall feel certain +of having at least one reader who will understand +exactly what I have tried to say, however inadequate +the expression may have been, and +who, at any rate, will not misunderstand me.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Not long ago I was looking on at a play in +London. The audience was, on the whole, of +that kind which the Americans call “high-browed,” +with a certain sprinkling of the semi-intelligent +and the wholly elegant. Behind me +were sitting a young man and a young lady, +who were discussing intellectual topics suited to +the rarer atmosphere of that interesting theatre. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_iv'>iv</span>Among other subjects, they talked about Mr. +Stephen Grahame’s books and articles on Russia. +I do not know if you have read his books; if +not, I advise you to do so. But you probably +know that they deal with the Russian people; +that Mr. Grahame walked on foot from Moscow +to Archangel; and travelled, as a pilgrim, with +Russian pilgrims to Jerusalem. It is therefore +obvious that he came into close contact with the +Russian people, and that his knowledge was at +first hand and derived from direct experience.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Well, would you believe it, the highly educated +young gentleman who was sitting behind me, +who had read Mr. Grahame’s books and articles, +said—I could hardly believe my ears, but he +said it—that the trouble about Mr. Grahame +was his blind faith in <i>the Russian Bureaucracy</i>. +I confess, when these words caught my ear, I +thought to myself what is the use of writing +books if intelligent people in reading them derive +an impression which is the exact opposite +of that which you think you have expressed +with some clearness?</p> + +<p class='c007'>The young man in question went on to say +that such was Mr. Grahame’s fierce faith in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span>political reaction that he dared to compare a +half-starved Russian peasant with a free American +citizen, and here again he revealed fresh +vistas of misapprehension.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I have often had similar experiences myself +since I began to write about Russian things. +I have at various times been accused of being +a revolutionary, a conservative, a liberal, +a fanatical reactionary. But these accusations +have left me indifferent, since, as they +contradict themselves, they cancel out into +nothingness.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As far as the subject of Russia is concerned, I +have always, and only, had one object in view: +to stimulate in others an interest which I have +myself experienced. I know—I cannot explain +why it is—but I know that between the Russian +and the English peoples there are curious possibilities +of sympathy, curious analogies, and +still more curious differences which complement +one another. I know the Russians and the +English do get on well when they meet and get +to know each other. I know the sympathy I +myself have felt, and do feel, for the Russians is +a sympathy which would, can, and could be felt +<span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>by many of my countrymen. This has been my +whole and sole object in writing about Russia. +I am engaged on one more very short book on +Russian literature, and then I shall drop the +subject for ever. I have said my say. I leave +it to the newer and better writers to say theirs.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But in the meantime, in regard to this book, I +repeat I wish to secure at least one reader who +will understand and who will not misunderstand. +That is why I dedicate this book to you. At +the same time I hope, even if you do not read +it, that it will remind you of the strenuous days +and the Attic nights which we spent together +in St. Petersburg.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Yours ever,</div> + <div class='line'>MAURICE BARING.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in4'><span class='sc'>St. Petersburg</span>,</div> + <div class='line'><i>February 22-March 7, 1914</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span> + <h2 class='c004'>PREFACE.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>I have endeavoured in this book to provide some +kind of answer to the questions which I found +by experience are generally put by the traveller +who comes to Russia for the first time, and whose +curiosity is stimulated with regard to the way +in which the people live and to the manner of +their government.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I have endeavoured to convey to the reader a +single idea of the nature of the more important +factors in Russian life. I am only too well aware +that what I have to supply in the way of explanation +and elucidation is inadequate, incomplete, +and superficial. My excuse is that the +questions of the average inquirer are, as a rule, +neither profound nor comprehensive; and that +profound or comprehensive replies, were I capable +of giving them—which I am not—would be +received neither with attention nor interest. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>They would be like arrows shot into empty space. +For the average inquirer has neither time nor +inclination for exhaustive inquiry or minute research. +He wishes to be told what he wishes to +know in a manner he can understand, and as +briefly as possible. But my hope is that I may +stimulate the interest of the reader in the subject, +and in a manner which may lead him to seek +for more exhaustive information at the fountainhead, +or at richer sources than mine. This is +every day becoming easier.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Some years ago books on Russia which had any +serious value or substantial interest were few and +far between. Lately the interest in Russian affairs +has been stimulated by many causes: by the +coming of Russian artists, singers, and dancers to +England; by the appearance in the press of valuable +articles written by Russian authors; by the +publication of adequate translations from Russian +authors (Mrs. Garnett’s translations of Dostoievsky, +for instance); and by several excellent +books written by English authors on Russia, +such as the books of Mr. Stephen Grahame dealing +with the Russian people, the admirable and encyclopædic +work of Mr. Harold Williams, and, in a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span>somewhat lighter vein, Mr. Reynold’s “My Russian +Year.” All these books reveal a standpoint, +a mastery of the subject, that are far removed +from the fantastic, false, and melodramatic concoctions +that were abundant some years ago.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In calling this book the “Mainsprings” of +Russia, I am conscious of having omitted +several of the most important mainsprings of +Russian life: chief among them its commerce +and industry. The subject is so large that, had I +dealt with it at all, there would have been no room +for anything else in a book of this size. Also, +as far as the actual facts are concerned they are +to be found clearly stated in Dr. Kennard’s +excellent “Russian Year Book.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nor have I attempted to deal with the Army +and the Navy, which I consider to be factors +which are likely to be dealt with by experts, +since they cannot afford to be altogether neglected +by foreigners. There is another subject I have +omitted—it is not, it is true, a mainspring of +Russian life; but it is a sore spot and a question +of burning vital interest—I mean the Jewish +question.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In a book as short as this it would be impossible +<span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span>to devote sufficient space to the matter +without crowding out other things which concern +the greater majority; but it is most desirable +that competent observers should deal with the +Jewish question in Russia, which at present, as far +as the rest of Europe is concerned, is almost +entirely handled either by bitter Anti-Semites, +or by those who are the actors in the drama itself. +And there is no question in Modern Russia +which is fraught with more far-reaching effects, +and probably none which is at present more +difficult of solution.</p> + +<p class='c007'>My thanks are due to A. J. Halpern of the +Russian Bar for his valuable help in regard to the +chapter on “Justice,” to Mr. Dimitriev-Mamonov, +and to many other Russian friends for their criticism +and advice.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>I.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Retrospect</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_13'>13</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>II.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Russian Peasant</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>III.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Nobility</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>IV.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Government Machine</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>V.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Causes of Discontent</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>VI.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Average Russian</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_155'>155</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>VII.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Liberal Professions</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_183'>183</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>VIII.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Russian Church</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_216'>216</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>IX.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Education</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_246'>246</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>X.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Justice</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_269'>269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>XI.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Fascination of Russia</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_299'>299</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='chapter ph1'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c012'> + <div>THE MAINSPRINGS OF</div> + <div>RUSSIA.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER I.<br> <span class='c005'>RETROSPECT.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>I should like to set the reader’s mind at +rest at once. I am not going to ask him to +read a historical treatise on the origins of the +Russian people, nor am I going to lead him into +the obscure pathways and dim shadows of the +remote past.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Firstly, even if I wished to do so, I have not +the necessary erudition, nor the requisite powers +of learned exposition. Secondly, the origin of +the Russian people is a debatable question; the +theories with regard to it are constantly changing, +and vary with the fickle fashion of the day; +the orthodox views of forty, of thirty, of twenty +years ago are now said to be old-fashioned; and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>the orthodox views of to-day will probably be +considered old-fashioned before very long. The +reason being that all such views are highly conjectural, +and that very little is known about the +shifting tides, eddies, and currents in the immeasurably +far-off floods of races and tribes out +of which the Russian people emerged.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Thirdly, whenever I open a book that begins +with a historical retrospect, I feel that it is the +reader’s duty to skip that chapter.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Why, then, write anything of the kind? The +answer is that I am writing on the assumption +that the reader is an average reader, and that if +he has bought or borrowed a book about Russia, +he will be sufficiently interested in the subject +to be able to stand a few simple facts to begin +with, even if they are historical. I also assume +that, if he has bought or borrowed this book, +and has not gone to a public library to get a +more learned book, he is not a specialist—that +is to say, he knows as much or as little as the +average Englishman knows about Russia who +has received an average English education, who +reads <cite>The Times</cite>, and takes a moderate but intelligent +interest in international politics and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>foreign countries, and who has perhaps read one +or two standard books on Russia, and not only +<cite>My Official Wife</cite> by Savage, <cite>Michael Strogoff</cite> by +Jules Verne, and all that picturesque tribe of +books called either Red Russia, Scarlet Russia, +Crimson Russia, Free Russia, the Real Russia, +Russia as she is, or Russia as she isn’t.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is also another class of reader who may +take up the book, also an average reader, with +an average education, but whose knowledge of +Russia is of a different and wider kind—the +reader of translations of Russian novels, the +devotee of Tolstoy and Turgeniev and Gorky; +the man or woman—it is generally a woman—who +has seen translations of Chekhov’s plays at the +Stage Society, and who is a fervent admirer of the +Russian ballet. He or she is interested in Russia, +but has never been there; and although familiar +with Russian novels and plays, he or she is more +inclined to form an opinion of the Russian people +on data derived from English novels on Russian +life than from Russian novels on Russian life.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I have often come across cases of this kind—I +mean people who do not appear to realize +that the intensely realistic Russian fiction that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>they so much admire probably has some basis +and counterpart in real life, and who, in spite +of this documentary evidence with regard to +Russian life, with which they are familiar, still +continue to form a picture of Russian life based +on English fiction such as is written by English +journalists and novelists.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Such readers, my experience is, if they come +across certain historical facts about Russia in +the past or the present, meet them with a shock +of surprise and often with a smile of incredulity.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is for the benefit of the average reader of +every kind that I want to try and make a few, +a very few, historical facts clear, which I think +throw light on any attempt to deal with any +aspects of Russian life. If the reader knows +them too well already, he will forgive me and +skip, proud of his superior knowledge; if he +disbelieves them, he can dispute them, and +prove me wrong.</p> + +<p class='c007'>My first fact is geographical. It is that +Russia is a flat country, without an indented +seacoast, and without sharp mountain ranges. +It is not only flat but uniform. Owing to this, +the expansion of the Russian people took place +<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>on land. The Russians were, and are, constantly +emigrating, at first from south to north, and +afterwards from west to east. Russia is therefore +a country of colonists.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I remember once saying this to a man to whom +the statement evidently came as a shock of surprise, +because he replied, “Really, I thought +Russia was an autocracy.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Now, who are these colonists? Who are the +Russians, in fact? I wonder if one set this +question to all the schoolboys and undergraduates, +what the most prevalent answer +would be. I believe it would be something like +this: that the Russian was a man got up like +a European except in winter, but that if you +scratched him you would find a Tartar, and +that a Tartar was a man with a yellow skin and +a snub nose. I think you might also often get +the answer that Russians were Slavs; but that +if you asked what a Slav is, you would be told +he was a kind of Tartar.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In Russia at the present day you will find +representatives of every kind of race and every +kind of creed—Buriats who worship Buddha, +and disciples of the late Lord Radstock—and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>every kind of language; but out of all these, +three dominant races played a part in Russian +history—the Finns, the Tartars, and the Slavs. +The Slavs got the best of it. They absorbed the +Finns and ousted the Tartars.</p> + +<p class='c007'>So we remain face to face with the question, +What are the Slavs? As to how, why, whence, +and when the Slavs came to Russia hundreds of +books have been written, and the solution of +the problem is, I believe, like that of many +historical questions, a matter of fashion.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One solid fact, however, rises before our +grateful comprehension. The Slavs are a white +people like the Latins, the Celts, and the Germans; +they have nothing in common with anything +Tartar, Mongol, or Semitic; and there are +traces of them having been in Southern Europe +on the banks of the Vistula and of the Dnieper +from time immemorial.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Having got to Russia a long time ago, they +overran the country and absorbed it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>They began in the south, the capital being +Kiev, and in the eleventh century Russia was +a part of the political system of Europe.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Russia, in the days before William the Conqueror—in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>the days of Harold, who was related +to one of the rulers of Kiev, Yaroslav—was not +more backward than France or England were +at that time, and would probably have developed +in the same manner as the other European +countries had it not been for an unfortunate +interruption in the shape of a Mongol or Tartar +invasion.</p> + +<p class='c007'>From the thirteenth to the sixteenth century +Russia was under the dominion of the Mongols.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Slavs, as they gradually expanded and +absorbed Russia, fell into two natural divisions: +the Great Russians and the Little Russians, +which correspond to the north and the south. +When the Mongol invasion came about, the +Little Russians were cut off from the Great +Russians.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Great Russians continued to expand +northward, southward, and eastward. They were +engaged in a perpetual struggle against the East. +They acted as a buffer for Europe against the +East; and in the sixteenth century they finally +got rid of the Eastern yoke altogether and +drove them out of the country.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is the big fact I have been leading up +<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>to: Russia saved Western Europe from being +overrun by hordes of barbarians.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“There is,” writes the late Mr. Stead, in the +introduction to the translation of Labaume’s +narrative of Napoleon’s campaign, “a strange +and pestilent habit among some Englishmen of +ignoring all the great services which Russia +has rendered to the cause of human progress +and the liberty of nations.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>That Russia acted as a buffer against the +barbarian invasion from the East is the first +and not the least of these services.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the sixteenth century the Great Russia was +a kingdom centralized in Moscow, chiefly engaged +in fighting her neighbours, the most powerful +of which was Poland, and one of the most energetic +and singular of her rulers, Ivan the Terrible, +began to negotiate with the West. Ivan, in +fact, wished to marry Queen Elizabeth; but +Western Europe was not vitally affected by +Russia until the appearance on the stage of the +world of that extraordinary monarch, and still +more extraordinary man, called Peter the Great.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Peter the Great not only conceived and +executed the idea of opening in Russia a window +<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>on to the West, but he restored to Russia her +place among European nations—the place she had +occupied in the eleventh century, and which she +had lost owing to the Mongol invasion.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It was no abnormal or unnatural mission +that Peter the Great set out to accomplish, +otherwise his work would have died with him. +He carried Russia along the natural road of her +career. Only, being a man of abnormal genius, +he gave to Russia a violent electric shock; he +accelerated to an extent, which seems little short +of miraculous, the natural progress of the country. +He accomplished in a few years the work of many +generations. “<span lang="fr">Pierre I<sup>er</sup></span>,” says Montesquieu, +“<span lang="fr">donnait les mœurs et les manières de l’Europe +à une nation de l’Europe.</span>” He shifted the +capital of the country, built St. Petersburg +on a swamp, created an army, a fleet, enrolled +quantities of foreigners into the service of +Russia. He sketched the outlines of a gigantic +plan, which still remains to be filled in to this day. +The violence and fury with which he compelled +a reluctant people to adopt his changes had, +of course, its drawbacks. A nation has to pay +for a man of genius, even when he is working +<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>on the right lines, for what is for the good of +his country, and for what is, in the long run, in +accordance with its national spirit.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Peter the Great was successful, but the methods +which he had to employ in order to bring about +his swift and gigantic changes were not without +regrettable results, which are still visible in the +machinery of Russian administration and in +the nature of many Russian institutions. He +found Russia a sleepy kingdom encrusted with +Oriental habit and Byzantine tradition; he +hacked off that crust with an axe, and he left +Russia open to the influences of Europe, and +ready to value the place which was her due +amongst the nations of Europe.</p> + +<p class='c007'>His work was carried on by Catherine II. on +the same lines, and further. She opened educated +Russia to European ideas; she civilized +Russia intellectually; and Russia, under her +guidance, took a leading part in the European +Concert.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But it was later that Russia was destined to +play a part which vitally affected every nation +of Western Europe. This was in 1812. In +1812 Russia broke up the power of Napoleon.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>“Leipzig and Waterloo were but the corollaries,” +writes Mr. Stead, “of a solved problem.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“It is an incontestable fact,” writes M. Rambaud, +the French historian of Russia, “that of +all the allies, Russia showed herself the least +grasping. It was she who had given the signal +for the struggle against Napoleon, and had +shown most perseverance in pursuit of the +common end. Without her example the states +of Europe would never have dreamed of arming +against him. Her skilful leniency towards France +finished the work begun by the war.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>So far, all these facts I have mentioned concern +the relations of Russia to Europe; they necessarily +reacted on the internal conditions of the +country.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The fact that Russia was playing an important +part abroad meant that the means by which this +part could be played had to be furnished at +home, and the finding of such means affected +the administration of the country and the whole +of its population.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In order that Russia should be able to play +a part in Europe, the first thing that was necessary +was an army.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>Peter the Great made an army (and a fleet). +How did he do it? Where did the officers and +men come from?</p> + +<p class='c007'>When Peter the Great came to the throne, +the organization of the State was patriarchal. +There was practically no standing army except +a kind of corps of janissaries, the <i>streltsy</i> (which +he destroyed). There were two classes: the +nobility and the peasants. The nobility held +the land and the peasants tilled it; but the +nobility held the land on one condition only, +and that was that they should render military +service in their own person when it was +necessary.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The nobles were at the same time landowners +and servants of the State, but they were +landowners only on condition of being State +servants.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The peasants belonged to the land; they were +attached to the land and could not be separated +from it. This is what serfdom meant in Russia. +Serfdom was not an immemorial institution in +Russia. It was not a relic of paganism or +barbarism; it was founded neither on conquest, +nor on the habit of turning the captives made +<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>in inter-tribal wars into slaves, nor on a difference +of race or colour; and unless this be understood, +unless the true nature of this serfdom +be realized, it is impossible to understand the +part which the Russian peasantry play in the +Russian nation.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Briefly, serfdom came about thus. The +peasants cultivated the land which the monarch +conceded to the nobles as a salary or means of +subsistence in return for military service. But +up till about the end of the sixteenth century the +peasants could choose and change their masters, +and pass from one estate to another. They +used, in fact, to exercise their right of transfer +once a year, on St. George’s Day.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At the end of the sixteenth century labour +was precious and rare, and eagerly sought after +by the nobles. The peasants were naturally inclined +to emigrate, and the more adventurous +were attracted towards the regions of the Don, +the Kama, the Volga, and Siberia, and they thus +avoided paying taxes. Moreover, the larger +landed proprietors attracted the peasants to +their estates to the detriment of the smaller landed +proprietors. The primitive fiscal system of that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>day suffered from all this, and as a remedy to +this state of things, in order to guarantee and +regularize the financial and military supplies of +the State, the peasant was attached to the soil. +In 1593, in the reign of Feodor, the son of Ivan +the Terrible, and owing to the initiative of +Boris Godonnov, the right of transfer from +one estate to another was first temporarily taken +away from the peasant. The prohibition to +transfer their service on this date was renewed +by several sovereigns, and was finally crystallized +in the law of the country. Once attached to the +soil the peasant gradually lost his civil rights +and became the chattel of the proprietor; thus +what began by being a simple police measure +ended by becoming organized slavery. Such +was the state of things when Peter the Great +came to the throne. The peasant was attached +to the soil, the nobility were the army, for when +an army was needed they had to fight themselves +and to supply so many men into the bargain.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Peter the Great wanted a standing army; +and in order to get one, and at the same time +to carry on the administration of the country, +he created, or rather enlarged, the system of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>universal service. Every single Russian became +a public servant. Henceforward it became obligatory +for the noble to serve the State either in +the military or the civil service—always, and +not only in times of war. Moreover, in order +to be an officer he had to pass an examination, +and if he failed to pass it he had to serve as a +private soldier. Further, in order to get enough +soldiers, a system of conscription was introduced; +that is to say, in every place, out of so +many thousand men, so many were taken.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Again, the nobility ceased to be a closed caste +depending on hereditary titles; it became a +class of State servants, and was thrown open to +all. Rank depended on service. Instead of +obtaining a post because you were a noble, you +became a noble for having attained by service to +such and such a post. Rank in service became +the only rank. Thus Peter the Great, in order +to create a standing army, created a standing +civil service; he destroyed the principle of +hereditary aristocracy; and both branches of +the universal service he created, military and +civil, were divided into its fourteen grades or +<i>tchins</i>, hence the word <i>tchinnovnik</i>, the ordinary +<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>Russian word for official. Again, as he was +constantly going to war, and constantly needed +men, and the nobility had to supply so many +men from their land, he tightened the bonds +which attached the peasants to the soil. He +strengthened the system of serfdom; and the +rulers who succeeded him carried on the same +policy, because the revenue depended on the +State being administered by the landed gentry, +which gradually ceased to be an aristocratic +caste, and kept on increasing in size, until towards +the end of the reign of Catherine II., when it had +grown to be a vast bureaucracy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is clear that, if the great majority of the +landed proprietors were engaged in administrating +the country, they would have less and less +time to look after their estates after the old +patriarchal fashion; and it is also clear that as +civilization progressed everything in the machinery +of the State necessarily increased in size. +Men were needed to deal with the more complicated +machinery; with the administration +of finances, of justice, and of the police. The +men who filled all the new posts created by the +ever increasing complication of the administration +<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>of the State were the former landed proprietors, +the actual officials. The consequence +was they ceased to be able to look after their +land. This being so, there was no defence left +against the growing moral sentiment which had +risen against serfdom, namely: the moral principle +that it was wrong that peasants should +be in the position of cattle and chattels. This +sentiment was expressed more than once by +the peasants themselves in mutinies. It was +expressed from the outside by all that was +enlightened in the country.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Emperor Alexander I. took the first steps +towards the great reform by liberating the +serfs in the Baltic provinces. It is said that his +brother, the Emperor Nicholas, on his deathbed +left the execution of the reform as a solemn +legacy to his son and successor, Alexander II. +The Crimean War was the actual shock which +brought the reform about. Literature was a +powerful factor in pressing it on. Writers of +genius, such as Gogol and Turgeniev, by their +descriptions; publicists, such as Samarin and +Herzen, by their pleading, played a large part in +accelerating its advent. They gave expression +<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>to what was the universal and imperative +opinion of thinking Russia, so that the reform +when it came about, and when the serfs were +liberated in 1861, was the work of the nation +as well as of the Emperor.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This retrospect has brought us to the year +1861. Since then many momentous things have +happened to Russia. A war; the inauguration +of a system of local self-government; another +war; and if not a revolution, a revolutionary +movement, a long and vital crisis, out of which +rose the beginnings of popular representation. +But these events, in so far as they deal with +Russian life as it is to-day, will be dealt with +in the subsequent chapters.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER II.<br> <span class='c005'>THE RUSSIAN PEASANT.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>The Russian peasant is the most important +factor in Russian life. He constitutes the +majority of the nation. The peasant not only +tills the arable land, but he owns the greater +part of it. This is a fact which is practically +unknown in England. There was once an anarchist +Russian who gave a lecture to the poor +in the East End of London on the wrongs of the +Russian people. In the course of the lecture +he declared with fervent indignation that no +peasant in Russia could own more than so +many acres of land. Upon which the audience +cried “Shame!” The irony of this is piercing +when one reflects that not one member of that +audience had ever owned, or could ever in his +wildest dreams look forward to owning, a particle +of arable soil.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>The average reader, who has some vague notions +of Russia, probably thinks of the Russian +peasant as a serf, and as such a scarcely civilized +savage—a little better than a beast. It has +already been mentioned in the preceding chapter +that serfdom in Russia was not a slavery resulting +from conquest or difference in race and colour, +but the outcome of economic conditions. Serfdom +was a measure by which the peasant, who +had a tendency to wander, was made fast to +the land, because if he wandered the State was +threatened with economic ruin; moral slavery, +and the ownership of the peasant by the landowner, +were the ultimate results of this economic +measure. When the legislation which ultimately +produced serfdom was framed, it was not regarded +by those who framed it as a permanent +solution of the relations between landowner and +peasant, but only as a temporary makeshift. +The result—namely, slavery—was unforeseen.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Now, the peasants never, through nearly two +centuries of slavery, lost sight of the fact that +this legislation was only a temporary makeshift, +a stroke of opportunism. Moreover, they kept +fast hold of the idea that the land was theirs; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>that the land belonged to the people who tilled +it; and that if for a time it was in the hands of +landowners, that was because the emperor was +obliged to lend it to the landowners, in order +to pay them for such military service which +the destinies of the fatherland rendered indispensable.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In 1861 came the emancipation of the serfs, +and this emancipation did not merely mean +the end of the personal and moral slavery of the +peasant, but something far more important also—namely, +that a portion of the land which the +peasant considered to be his by right was restored +to him. The emancipation of the serfs +was an act of State expropriation. More than +130,000,000 <i>desiatines</i> of land (350,964,187 acres) +passed from the hands of the landowners into +the hands of the peasants for ever. On an average +each peasant received from 8¼ to 11 acres; in +the north he might receive more, in the south less. +The nobility—that is to say, the landowners—were +paid down by the Government for the land +they had given up; the peasants had to pay +back the State in instalments, over a period of +more than fifty years. The State acted as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>banker to both parties, and not only paid the +landowners ready money, but advanced the +money to the peasants. The peasant had to +pay back the money advanced to him at an +interest of six per cent. over a period of forty-nine +years, until the year 1910.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In 1907 these payments were cancelled.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The peasants, after the emancipation, were +to continue to own the land in common, as they +had always done before.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the days of serfdom every landowner possessed +so much land, and the serfs—or, as they +were called, “the souls”—who belonged to it. +After the emancipation, each batch of serfs +belonging to each separate owner became a +separate and independent community, which +owned land in common. The land which was +thus owned in common could not be redistributed +more than once every twelve years, and even +then only if two-thirds of the village assembly +voted for redistribution. A similar majority +was necessary before any of the common land +could become private property.</p> + +<p class='c007'>All the land which was fit for cultivation was +divided amongst the peasants, according to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>number of taxed members in each household. +But as the nature of the soil varied with its situation, +and was richer in one place than another, +or was more or less advantageous owing to +other reasons—say its proximity or distance +from the village—instead of receiving all his share +of the land in one place, each taxed member in +every household received so many strips of land +in different places, so that the division might be +fair.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Supposing the land to be divided amongst +Tom, Dick, and Harry was good in some parts, +bad in another, and indifferent in a third, and +each was to receive an acre: Tom would receive +a third in the good part, a third in the bad part, +and a third in the indifferent part, and Dick +and Harry would fare likewise. When the land +was redistributed, the share received by each +household varied as that household increased +or diminished in numbers.</p> + +<p class='c007'>From 1861, the year of the emancipation, +until 1904, the year of the Russo-Japanese War, +the only change of importance in the peasant +system of land tenure was made in the reign of +Alexander III. A clause was introduced into +<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>the legislation on peasant land tenure which +made it impossible for the peasant to buy himself +out of the Commune. This clause was added in +1890. It was done because the Government at +this period looked on the peasants as a safe +conservative element, and considered that communal +ownership of land fostered conservatism. +During all this period agriculture had not improved, +but had deteriorated. Half the landowners +in Russia disappeared, and their place was +taken by the peasants or by the merchants. +The remaining landowners either let their land +to the peasants, or tried (and for the most part +failed) to farm it rationally.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In 1904 came political unrest and universal +political discontent. And amongst the peasants +this discontent was expressed by one formula, +and one formula alone—“Give us more land.” +Agrarian riots took place all over Russia, and +landowners’ houses were burnt and their cattle +destroyed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Universal expropriation was brought forward +as a political measure, but economically it was +felt by those who had faced the question practically +to be no remedy, except in regard to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>land which was let by the landowners to the +peasants.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nevertheless, something had to be done. All +over Russia every landowner sold a certain +amount of land to the peasants, and a great part +of the land which had been hitherto let to the +peasants, and not farmed by the landowner +himself, became the peasants’ property. In 1905, +roughly speaking, twenty-five per cent. of the +amount of land still belonging to landowners +passed into the hands of the peasants.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In 1910 another great change came about. +Owing to a law, drawn up at the initiative of +P. A. Stolypin, the peasant obtained the right +of leaving the Commune, and of converting +his share of the land into his individual and +permanent property. He could, moreover, exchange +his separated strips of land for a corresponding +amount of land which should be as far +as possible all in one place. And if he wished +to do this, and to start a farm, he could receive +financial assistance from the State.</p> + +<p class='c007'>On paper, nothing could be more satisfactory, +the situation seeming to be this—that the peasant +is able to leave the Commune if he wishes and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>become an independent peasant proprietor, but +he is not compelled to do so. The idea was +expressed at the time of the emancipation of the +serfs by the men who drafted the law of reform, +that it was desirable to leave the question of +communal tenure to settle itself. And the same +idea was reasserted by the Russian ministry, +when the Bill on peasant land tenure was introduced +into the Duma—namely, that it would +be wrong either to bolster up the Commune +artificially, or to destroy it, and that the right +course was to leave the population itself free to +settle in every individual case whether it wishes +to remain in the Commune or not.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Practically this is not what has happened. +Practically, both owing to certain clauses in the +law itself, and owing to the manner of its application, +pressure has been put on the peasants +to leave the Commune. The law works advantageously +for those who leave the Commune, +disadvantageously for those who wish to remain +in the Commune. To explain how this happens +would entail going into many technical points. +To those who are interested in this subject, I +would recommend an article in <cite>The Russian +<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>Review</cite> of November 1912, by Alexander +Manuilov, a member of the Russian Council of +Empire.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But if it is too lengthy a task to explain how +this is so, it is easy in a few sentences to explain +why this is so.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The law on land tenure was made by the +bureaucracy. The bureaucracy has always +treated the peasant question from a political +point of view. When the communal system +seemed to lead to conservatism, the bureaucracy +backed up the communal system (this was so, +as I have already said, in the reign of Alexander +III., and indeed made it impossible for the +peasant to leave the Commune); when after +1904 the communal system seemed to encourage +socialistic ideas, or to be made a basis for socialistic +ideas, the bureaucracy backed up individual +land tenure. Moreover, in the law itself and in +the manner of its application the minority (those +who wish to leave the Commune) are backed +up at the expense of the majority, because by +so doing the Government considered they were +creating good sound conservative voters.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In spite of this pressure, and perhaps because +<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>of it (although in some parts of Russia they +have displayed eagerness to become the permanent +owners of their respective strips of +land), up till 1910, only four per cent. of the +peasantry availed themselves of the right to exchange +their strips for an allotment in one place; +and up till January 1, 1912, the Communes +who petitioned for deeds numbered only 4,656; +and out of 45,994 Communes, only 174,193 +petitions were forthcoming, which shows a +proportion of one in every three or four.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is, of course, too soon to generalize on the +result of such recent legislation. Comparisons +and analogies with similar legislation in other +countries—such as Ireland, for instance—would +be misleading, for the existence of the Commune +is peculiar in Russia. At the present moment +the Russian peasant owns land. He either +owns strips in the land belonging to the Commune, +shares which are liable to periodical redistribution, +or else he has become the permanent +owner of his strips, or else he has exchanged +them for an allotment and started a farm.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At the present moment the peasants own by +far the greater part of the arable land in Russia, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>and every family owns in arable land at least six +acres; and on an average in the densely populated +districts, at least 10 acres. In the more +thinly populated districts of the north and +south, the average increases.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is clear then that the peasant is an important +unit, the most important unit in the +nation. It is well then to look into the nature +of this important unit, and to see what kind of +being he is, and what are the mainsprings of his +conduct.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At the outset there probably exists certain +preconceived notions which it is as well to get +rid of at once.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The first of these is that there is anything servile +about the Russian peasant because during +two centuries he endured serfdom. “In spite +of the period of serfdom through which he has +passed,” writes Sir Charles Eliot in his <cite>Turkey +in Europe</cite>—and Sir Charles Eliot possesses +first-hand knowledge of Russia—“the Russian +muzhik is not servile; he thinks of God and the +Tsar in one category, and of the rest of the world +as more or less equal in another.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>And Dostoievsky, in writing about Pushkin, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>says that one of this poet’s chief claims to greatness +is that he recognized the intrinsic quality +of self-respect in the Russian people, which they +proved by the manly dignity of their behaviour +when they were liberated from serfdom.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian people, in spite of centuries of +serfdom, with the exception of individual instances, +were not and never have been slaves.</p> + +<p class='c007'>So much, I think, can be stated without fear +of contradiction or controversy. Before going +any further I want to clear the ground a little. +The reader must be prepared to find, not only in +foreign books about Russia, but in Russian +books about Russia, and to meet with in conversation +not only from foreigners who have +travelled and lived in Russia, but in conversation +with the Russians themselves, widely +divergent and contradictory ideas and opinions +with regard to the nature of the Russian peasant. +He will hear on one side that he is intelligent, +on the other that he is crassly obtuse. On the +one hand that he is humane, on the other hand +that he is brutal. He will find in Russian +literature that by some writers he is exalted as +the salt of the earth and the solution of life, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>and that by others he is decried as a hopeless, +inert mass of ignorance and prejudices. M. +Leroy Beaulieu in his <cite>Empire des Tsars</cite> tells a +story of how once, when he was travelling on the +Volga, a “lady said to him, ‘How can you +bother yourself about our muzhik? he is a brute, +out of which nobody will ever be able to make +a man;’ and how on the same day a landed +proprietor said to him, ‘I consider the <i>contadino</i> +of North Italy to be the most intelligent +peasant in Europe, but our muzhik could give +him points.’”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Further, most Russians will tell you that +the peasant will rarely give himself away, and +that to the outside observer of another class he +probably is, and will always remain, a sealed +book. The net result of all this is that readers +may justly say to me, “And what can you +know about the subject?” And it is to this +very question that I think I owe some sort of +reply before continuing to say anything else +about the nature of the Russian peasant.</p> + +<p class='c007'>My claims to be in a position to say certain +things which I have got first hand about the +Russian peasant are not, it is true, great; but I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>believe them to exist. They do not rest on +what is called erudition. I am no expert in the +difficult problems, economic and others, which +are connected with the life of the Russian peasantry; +but it so happens that I have been thrown +together, so to speak, with the Russian peasant +under peculiar circumstances. During the years +I have spent in Russia I have made friends with +peasants in various places, and have often in +travelling had much talk and intercourse with +them. But it is not chiefly on that that I base +my observations—it is on this: that being in +Manchuria during the greater part of the Russo-Japanese +War, as I drifted about from one part +of the army to another I was thrown together +with the Russian soldier, who is a peasant, +often on terms of absolute equality; that is to +say, I was to him no longer a <i>barin</i> (one of the +upper classes), but a kind of camp follower, of +which there were multitudes in Manchuria during +the war—a man who, in their eyes, had a <i>barin</i> +himself. On one occasion I was asked where +my <i>barin</i> (master) was, and when I said I was my +own <i>barin</i>, the peasant who was talking to me +said he thought I was just a common man. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>Thus on many occasions I met, travelled with, +and bivouacked with soldiers on their own +footing, and shared their food, lodging, and +talk <i>on equal terms</i>. And it was this experience +which gave me glimpses into things, and an +insight into certain manners and customs, which +I should otherwise have ignored. The knowledge +that I thus gleaned was confirmed to me +by my subsequent travel in Russia, especially +by journeys which I sometimes made in third-class +carriages. But all this would not be in +itself sufficient to give me any right to talk about +the Russian peasant. All this would have given +me the material, but not the means of using it. +I base my claim to right of using it on one simple +fact: I like the Russian peasant very much.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In speaking of Pushkin’s love of the Russian +peasant, Dostoievsky says: “Do not love me +but love mine (that is to say, love what I love). +That is what the people says when it wishes to +test the sincerity of your love. Every member +of the gentry, especially if he is humane and +enlightened, can love, that is to say, sympathize +with the people on account of its want, poverty, +and suffering. But what the people needs is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>not that you should love it for its sufferings, +but for itself; and what does ‘love it for itself’ +signify? If you love what I love, honour +what I honour. That is what it means, and that +is what the people will answer to in you; and +if it be otherwise, the man of the people will +never count you as his own, however great your +distress may be on his account.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Well, in saying that I like the Russian peasant +very much, I mean that I honour what he honours, +and his way of looking at life; his standards of +right and wrong seem to me the sound and true.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is for this reason that, in all humility, I +claim the right of deducing certain statements +from the experience that I have had amongst the +Russian people, and in laying them before the +English reader.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Now as to the chief characteristics of the +Russian peasant. In the first place, and most +important of all, he is intensely religious, and his +religion is based on common sense.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Mysticism,” Mr. Chesterton once wrote, +“was with Carlyle, as with all its genuine professors, +only a transcendent form of common +sense. Mysticism and common sense alike consist +<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>in a sense of the dominance of certain truths +which cannot be formally demonstrated.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>In this sense the Russian peasant is a mystic. +His religion does not come to him through books +or study or spiritual sciences, but it is the outcome +of his experience, and of a very hard and +bitter experience. The first and cardinal point +of the peasant’s whole outlook on life is that he +believes in God, and that he sees the will of God +in all things, and that he regards a man who +disbelieves in God as something abnormal, and +as something not only abnormal but silly. He +believes in God because it seems to him nonsensical +not to do so.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It would be easy to call as witnesses on this +point a host of the most famous names in Russian +literature. But the objection might be made +(a false objection in my opinion, but still it +might be made) that writers and poets idealize +reality, and see in others what they feel in themselves +or what they want to see; so from Russian +literature I will only call one witness, and +that is N. Garin, an engineer, who bought a +property in the country and devoted many +years solely to farming it, and was thus brought +<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>into daily constant and intimate touch and communication +with the peasants.</p> + +<p class='c007'>He begins relating his experiences thus: “By +my conversations and intercourse with the +peasants I could not help becoming acquainted +with their inner life. As I got to know them I +was struck on the one hand by their strength, +patience, endurance, and by an inflexibility which +attained to greatness, which made it easy to understand +how the kingdom of Russia had come to +be. On the other hand, I met with obduracy, +routine, and a dull hostility to every innovation, +which made it easy to understand why the Russian +peasant lives so miserably. Two brothers +lived in a village. One was married and the +other was a bachelor. The married brother +has five children and a wife, but is himself the +only bread-winner; the unmarried brother lives +in the family, and helps in the work with all his +might, but he is old and ill. The married +brother falls sick and dies. The old man is left +with the family on his hands; he sets about to +support it with the slender strength at his disposal. +There are no savings, nothing put by. +In the cottage half-naked children are running +<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>about, all with colds; they are crying; the +cottage is cold, the atmosphere is foul, the calf +squeals, the dead man is lying on the shelf, and +on the face of the old man there is an expression +of calm, as if all that were quite natural +and had to be so.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“‘It will be hard for you to feed eight mouths +all by yourself?’ I ask.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“‘And God?’ he answered.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“God is all. Starvation is beckoning through +the half-broken little window of the rotting house; +the last bread-winner dies; there is a heap of +children; the sister-in-law (the only woman) is +sick; there is no money for the funeral; and he, +being questioned as to his lot, answers, ‘And +God?’ And you feel something inexpressibly +strong, unconquerable, and great.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>I will supplement this story with a little piece +of first-hand evidence which I gathered myself. +This is only one instance out of a great many +which I have come across in the course of my +various sojourns in Russia.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It was in a small provincial town some years ago, +in the winter. I was walking late in the evening +down one of the larger streets. It had been +<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>thawing, and the streets and the pavements were +sloshy. It was dark. Just as I was reaching a +street corner which faced a large open place, I +became aware of the sound of muffled, persistent +sobs. I looked round, and I saw sitting on the +pavement, with his back to the wall, a little +boy, a peasant’s child, who was softly crying +his eyes out. He was sobbing slowly, not loudly, +but persistently; not whining, or crying in the +kind of way children cry when they fall down or +quarrel, but he seemed to be sobbing out of the +fullness of his little heart. He was not trying +to attract attention, nor did he pay attention +to me or to any one else. He seemed quite +unconscious of the surrounding world, and +plunged in his own grief. I stopped and asked +him what was the matter. He answered that +his father had sent him to the town to buy +something (I forget what it was), and had given +him the money, and that the money had been +taken away from him. It was quite a small sum. +He was afraid to go home. I at once gave him +the money, and the little boy stood up, dried his +eyes, and crossed himself. Then, without a word, +he went home. He thanked God: it was not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>necessary to thank any one else. And I never +saw anything like the expression of gratitude on +his face as he crossed himself; but to me he did +not say one word. What was the use? It was +God who had come to his rescue, not I; you +might just as well thank the violin after a +concert for the beauty of the music.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is only the story of a child; but the child +in Russia, just as anywhere else, is father of +the man.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is difficult to bring home to the average +Englishman the way in which religion enters +into the daily life of the Russians, and especially +into the daily life of the peasants. How often +have I heard it said, how often have I read in +newspapers, of the dark superstition into which +the Russian people is plunged! If it be superstitious +to regard religion not as a rather disagreeable +episode belonging exclusively to Sunday, +then the Russian peasant is superstitious indeed. +If it be superstitious to cherish no <i>mauvaise +honte</i> with regard to religion, not to be ashamed +of talking about God as a matter of fact, of +saying one’s prayers in public, of going to Mass +on Sundays and holidays, of fasting during +<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>Lent and other seasons of merrymaking at +Easter, of crossing yourself before meals, of invoking +the Saints, of revering images and +relics, then the Russian peasant is superstitious +indeed. But you must not put down such superstition +to ignorance, for it has been shared by men +such as Saint Augustine, Sir Thomas More, Lord +Acton, and Pasteur—none of them what you +would call ignorant men.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Sometimes the traveller will note the fact that +the Russian peasant will prostrate himself over +and over again before an image, or cross himself +over and over again mechanically. He will +say the thing is an idle form that has no spiritual +significance. He will be wrong. The Russian +peasant fulfills the form and ritual of his religion +as a matter of course. He is not more +superstitious in the fulfilling of them than an +Englishman is superstitious when he uncovers +his head before the colours of a regiment. In +the case of a Russian peasant his meticulous +observance of ritual and form is just as much a +matter of course to him, it is just as much based +on common sense as that inflexible belief in +God and the working and will of Providence +<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>which Garin so pointedly illustrates in the +passage I have quoted above.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian peasant sees things in their true +proportion. He believes in God, as a matter of +course, because it is plain to him that God +exists. He goes to church and observes the formalities +of his religion because it is plain to him +that is the right thing to do, just as it is plain +to the ordinary English citizen that it is right to +stand up when “God save the King” is being sung.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian peasant may be, and can be, and +often is, as superstitious as you like about other +things, but his superstition does not proceed +from his religion. His superstitions are likewise +a matter of tradition; he believes in the <i>domovoi</i>, +for instance, the spirit that inhabits houses, +well known once to the English peasantry, under +the name of the hobgoblin; Milton calls him +the drudging goblin:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c013'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“And he by Friar’s lantern led</div> + <div class='line'>Tells how the drudging goblin sweat</div> + <div class='line'>To earn the cream bowl duly set,</div> + <div class='line'>When in one night, ere glimpse of man,</div> + <div class='line'>His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn</div> + <div class='line'>That ten day labourers could not end,</div> + <div class='line'>Then lies him down, the lubber-fiend,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>And, stretched out all the chimney’s length,</div> + <div class='line'>Basks at the fire his hairy strength,</div> + <div class='line'>And crop-full, out of doors he flings,</div> + <div class='line'>Ere the first cock his matin rings.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>The <i>domovoi</i> in Russia is merely supposed +to inhabit houses. I do not think he is ever +suspected of working. He is good-natured but +capricious. Each house has its goblin. He sits +in the corner underground. If you move from +one house to another you must give notice to +the goblin and summon him to come with you. +If you forget to do this, the goblin will be offended, +and stay where he is left, and show marked +hostility to the <i>domovoi</i> brought by a new tenant. +The two goblins will fight; china and furniture +will be broken; and this will go on until the first +householder comes and invites the goblin to his +new house. Then everything will be all right +once more.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Garin says that he once said to a peasant: +“What, in your opinion, is the <i>domovoi</i>—the +devil?”</p> + +<p class='c007'>The peasant, quite offended, answered: “Why +should he be the devil? He does no harm.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Then is he an angel?”</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>“God forbid! How can he be an angel +seeing that he’s hairy?”</p> + +<p class='c007'>So the peasant agrees with Milton in thinking +that the hobgoblin’s hide is covered with hair.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The hobgoblin plays the part of a kind of +moral barometer to the family, foretelling good +or bad fortune. At supper-time he is heard to +move, and then the elder of the family asks +whether good or evil is impending. If it be +bad, the <i>domovoi</i> says, “Hu” (Hudo being the +Russian for bad); and if good, he mutters, +“D... D... D... D...” (Dobro being the +Russian for good).</p> + +<p class='c007'>To sum up the whole matter briefly, the religion +of the Russian peasant is, if you analyze +it (a thing which the peasant would, of course, +never do), a working hypothesis of the world; +or, to take Matthew Arnold’s phrase, a criticism +of life; and it is more a solution, a philosophy +which he has evolved not from books, not from +professors or teachers, but from life itself. It +is the fruit of his native common sense. In +this observance of the forms of religion he likewise +follows what has for him the sanction (<i>a</i>) +of common sense; (<i>b</i>) of immemorial custom.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>Such a point of view one would think at first +sight was not difficult to grasp. Experience has +led me to believe that it is difficult for English +people to grasp it. They go to Russia; they see +the peasants prostrating themselves in churches, +kissing images, taking off their hats as they pass +churches; they see crowds feasting on Saint +days; they see pilgrims asking for and receiving +alms. And they say, “What backward people! +How superstitious!” Or again (which is much +worse) they say kindly, “What charming people. +How picturesque!” In the first case they are +being consciously superior, and in the second +case they are being unconsciously condescending.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the first case they are simply pitying +people for what they consider retrograde and +backward; in the second case they are expressing +an admiration whose real source is contempt. +They do not know it is contempt, but it is. +Their belief in their own superiority is so sure, +and so sound, that they no more question it than +the Russian peasant questions his belief in God.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is the same good-natured, easy-going contempt +an English workman feels for foreign +workmen when he happens to work abroad.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>I know of a case of an English gardener who +was employed in a French country-house. An +Englishman who was there asked him how he +liked the French.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Oh! the French are all right,” he said, “if +you treat them well. They are quite willing. +You mustn’t bully them. You must +treat them nicely and kindly. Of course <i>you +can’t expect them to work like Englishmen</i>.” He +talked of them good-naturedly, tolerantly, as +if they were men of another race, and laboured +under some great radical natural disadvantage +through no fault of their own. Had he been +talking of negroes instead of the inhabitants of +l’Ile de France you would not have been surprised.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is exactly the attitude of the many +English travellers, and of certain English +residents in Russia, towards the Russian people. +They do not, since they are not taught it at +school—neither in board schools nor in private +schools, nor in public schools, nor in grammar +schools, and least of all at the universities—know +that once the whole of Europe, and especially +the English, looked on religion as the +Russian peasants do now; or if they do know +<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>this, they thank Heaven that some parts of +Europe, and in any case the English, have outgrown +this backward ignorance and this dark +philosophy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is true, and it is only fair to state, that this +attitude towards the religion of the Russian +peasant is shared to some extent, but in a quite +different manner, by the Russian educated +classes, and more especially by the semi-educated. +Of this I will write later in greater +detail. But there is this great difference—the +Russian educated and semi-educated classes +may sometimes think these religious ideas of the +Russian peasants childish; but not because +they look on the peasant as a kind of inferior +being, a savage or a “native.” They think +the peasant’s religion is childish, because they +think all religion is childish (whether the Pope’s, +the Patriarch’s, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s, +Mrs. Eddy’s, Mahomet’s, or Buddha’s), a thing +which they have outgrown. But, as one Russian +writer has pointed out, the Russian intellectuals +are, on an average, not superior but inferior to +the idea of religion, for they have never experienced +it; and it is here that their attitude +<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>resembles that of the average Englishman. The +average Englishman considers himself religiously +almost immeasurably above the Russian peasant +in enlightenment; it has never struck him that +he may be below him. And until this humble +thought strikes him, he will never be able +to understand the religion of the Russian +peasant.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I was once talking to a lady who had been +to Moscow about Russia. She said Moscow +was very interesting, but she added: “I suppose +it’s dreadful of me to say it, but all those +<i>mosques</i>” (and by the mosques she meant the +Cathedral and the Christian churches, which in +their rites and customs probably resemble the +early centuries of Christianity more closely +than any in Europe) “were always so full of +poor people, and such dirty people.” The +idea of a church being a place where no distinction +was made between rich and poor, +where rich and poor could enter at any time of +the day, where rich and poor jostled each other +and crowded together in dense crowds to hear +Mass on Sunday, was an idea entirely new and +entirely foreign to her. And in expressing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>this, I venture to think she was below and +not above the Russian peasant’s standard of +religion.</p> + +<p class='c007'>With regard to superstition, superstition is to +the Russian peasant a thing quite apart from +religion. It fills up a gap for him. In the +region of the inexplicable, all matters that religion +does not deal with, such as omens, the +peasant puts down to other agencies, harmless +agencies as a rule, such as hobgoblins; and +here again he follows custom.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I have said that the basis of the Russian +peasant’s religion is common sense. Common +sense is likewise the backbone or the mainspring +of his material as well as of his spiritual existence, +the key to his methods of work and his +manner of play, his social code, his habits and +customs; in a word, to his practice as well as +to his theory.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the past much has been written on his +backwardness, his obduracy, his love of routine, +his persistence in remaining in old grooves, his +hatred of innovation, his hostility towards all +forms of progress. There is, of course, in many +individual cases, a great deal of truth in these +<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>charges, but there is something else to be said +as well. People are now beginning to say that +often what at first sight appears to be wilful +obduracy and blind and senseless conservatism +is, in nine cases out of ten, merely the choice of +the lesser of two evils, a choice obviously dictated +by common sense.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is now being largely recognized by practical +experts in agriculture in Russia, that the reason +the peasant obstinately adhered to antiquated +methods and turned a deaf ear to modern improvements +and innovations, was not always +that he was stupid, and not necessarily that he +was obstinate, but that the improvements and +the innovations suggested to him, although +admirable in themselves, were, given his particular +circumstances, likely to cause him more +harm than good; the main fact being that +he was too poor to take advantage of them; +that the older method was the lesser evil, +the newer method being the cause of a greater +evil.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I will give a few instances of what I +mean.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is an admitted fact in countries that have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>a continental climate that the earth will only +retain a sufficient quantity of moisture if it is +ploughed early in spring and remains ploughed +throughout the summer. Consequently the fallow +land should be ploughed early in spring for +the winter-sown crops. The peasant knows this +well, but he does not plough early in spring, +he ploughs late in summer; but if you ask him +why, he puts to you the unanswerable question, +“Where shall I put my cattle, if I plough early +in the spring?”—the only place for his cattle +being the fallow land, since all the remaining +part of his land consists of growing crops. As +soon as the harvest is over he can, of course, +use the stubble for his cattle. This is an instance +of what seems to be at first sight backward +obstinacy, and is in reality expediency—the +choice of the lesser evil, dictated by common +sense.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At one time every effort was being made to +persuade the peasant to use a modern improved +plough instead of the primitive instrument he +preferred, which resembled that in use in the +days of Abraham. He often refused to do so; +but why? Not because he had anything against +<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>the new plough as an instrument, but because +if he had not enough capital to buy one (its +cost being 50 roubles = £5), and if he borrowed +money from a rich peasant to do so, he risked +losing all his substance; he risked being sold +up in order to pay his debts. So in this case, +the old-fashioned plough (which cost him only +five roubles = 10s.) was a lesser evil than complete +ruin.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But, on the other hand, it has now been +proved that as soon as the peasant can get the +necessary capital, as soon as he can obtain credit +from co-operative credit associations, he does not +hesitate to buy iron ploughs, or even Canadian +corn-cutters, or any modern implement you like +to mention.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Scientific agriculture is being widely taught at +the present moment in Russia. Agricultural +colleges are spreading, and the number of agricultural +students is every day increasing. But +it is the firm conviction of the most learned +of the scientific agriculturists that all you can +do for the peasant is to open for him doors on +possibilities of teaching him what can be done; +but that if it comes to teaching him <i>how</i> to do a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>thing, you cannot. He knows <i>how</i> to do everything +much better than any theorist. Centuries +of close and constant contact with the soil have +taught him more than all the learning and all +the theory in the world. You can bring to his +notice new methods for him to try, new experiments; +you can submit new possibilities to +him; you can enlarge his horizon to any extent; +you can educate him; you can provide +him with new instruments; but in the practical +use and application of knowledge it is he who +will teach you, and not you who will teach +him. He has the experience that only practice +and centuries of practice can give.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Not long ago one of the best known of the +scientific Russian agriculturists spoke in this +sense to some young students. He bade them +remember that their whole task consisted in +suggesting possibilities to the peasants; but if +they met with opposition, they must never insist, +for the peasant probably knew best, his +knowledge being the fruit of the accumulated +experience of countless generations. I believe, +and I know that many Russians agree with me, +that the history, the life, the philosophy, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>the religion of the Russian peasants illustrate +one immense fact: that the majority is always +right in the long run. <i>Vox populi, vox Dei.</i> He +may have temporary aberrations; but give him +time, in the long run his view will be the right +view.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But some one may say, “Surely you do not +wish to advance the dangerous and doctrinaire +view that the land should be entirely in the +hands of the peasant; for you have already +stated that the peasant believes that the land +is his, and that all the land should be in the +hands of those that till it? Surely you are not +in favour of the wholesale expropriation of land—of +the total abolition of landlords?”</p> + +<p class='c007'>My answer to this is, “Yes, I think the peasant +is <i>right in the long run</i>, and I think he is +right in thinking that in the long run the land +not only should be, but will be, his.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>At the present moment there are two kinds +of landowners in Russia:—</p> + +<p class='c007'>1. Absentee landowners, who rent their land +to the peasant on short leases (on an average +from one to six years) without sinking any capital +either in buildings or in any other improvements.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c014'><sup>[1]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>A large portion (as I have already +said) of the land thus rented to peasants by +absentee landlords was sold to the peasants +(with the assistance of the State land banks) in +1905; and it is generally admitted that the +remainder, all the land still rented to the peasants, +should become their permanent property. +This is what is actually happening (slowly and +gradually), with the assistance, again, of land +banks.</p> + +<p class='c007'>With regard to the land farmed by the landowners, +the question is different. Such farming +is carried on, as a rule, on a very large scale, +at a great expenditure of capital, which is sunk +in the land.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At one time (in 1905) wholesale and immediate +expropriation of all the land owned by the landowners +was advocated by some political parties +and individuals as the solution of the land question +in Russia.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>But a wholesale act of expropriation, if put +into force immediately, would not only bring +about an economic crisis affecting the landowner, +but it would reduce the standard of farming +and diminish the productive capacity of the land, +and impoverish the peasants themselves.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The peasants, possessing little or no capital, +would not be able to maintain the high standard +of farming carried on by the landowners; and if +the land hitherto farmed on this high standard +were suddenly to be made over to them, they +would earn less by trying to farm it without +capital than they earn at present by working +on the landowners’ land.</p> + +<p class='c007'>If, then, wholesale and immediate expropriation +is out of the question as a wise, practical, +and beneficent measure, why and how is the +peasant right in looking forward to the day +when all the land will belong to him?</p> + +<p class='c007'>Before such a state of things can be brought +about, two things must happen to the peasant. +He must acquire (<i>a</i>) capital, (<i>b</i>) a wider instruction +in agricultural methods and a more extensive +general instruction—in a word, a better +education.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>This is actually happening now. The peasant +is enabled to acquire capital through the +existence of co-operative credit associations and +land banks. And everywhere now, all over +Russia, agricultural schools are increasing and +instruction in improved agricultural methods is +spreading. The creation of a body of agricultural +experts stationed throughout the country +under the supervision of the county councils, in +order to advise the peasants and farmers on +matters of agriculture, and the establishment +of experimental farming stations on a comprehensive +scale, have done this.</p> + +<p class='c007'>When the peasant will be in possession of sufficient +capital and instruction (and there does +not appear to be anything Utopian in this prospect) +in order to compete with the landowner +who farms his own land, he will gradually oust +the landowner altogether. Once possessed of +the same means as the landlord, he will not only +be his equal, but his superior; he will supersede +him; he will be the master of the situation, and +in the long run he will become <i>ipso facto</i> the +owner of all the arable land in Russia; and the +change could thus come about without any economic +<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>crisis, and without imperilling the interests +of the State.</p> + +<p class='c007'>People may perhaps wonder why, during the +revolutionary ferment of 1905–6, when there was +so much talk of expropriation in the air, when +there was so much agricultural disturbance all +over Russia, the peasants did not simply take +all the land belonging to the landowners. It +is not a sufficient answer to say the soldiery, +remaining loyal, prevented any such thing. The +soldiers are peasants, and there was probably not +one soldier among them who was not convinced +that the land belonged to the tillers of it by +right.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It will perhaps not be thought fantastic if I +here again repeat, as an answer to this question, +the democratic theory, which I know is so distasteful +to many, that the majority are always +right; that the peasants, in a vague and inarticulate +fashion, vaguely knew or dimly felt that +if they did such a thing the only immediate +result would be wholesale anarchy; and that it +was their fundamental common sense which unconsciously +led them to insist on the partial +sale of the land let to them by the landowners, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>and to rest contented for the moment with this +preliminary step. They would, of course, not +be able to explain the matter thus; but this +was in all probability the explanation of their +conduct.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I repeat here, lest the reader should think I +am foisting on him fantastic stuff and idealistic +theory, that the individual peasant is as often +as not obstinate, lazy, and backward; that all +the peasants are in need not only of wider +instruction in agricultural methods, but also +of general all-round education.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The individual peasant would not come out +with any theory as to the lesser of two evils; +he would probably defend his backward practice +as being the best, or as being that which had +always been followed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nevertheless, in spite of this, those habits of +the peasant which are the result of accumulated +experience have, if you look into them, a fundamental +basis of common sense, even though the +individual peasant may be unaware of the fact. +The immemorial popular tradition and custom, +the stored and accumulated wisdom of the peasantry +(to which the immense quantity of popular +<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>proverbs and saws which exist in Russia are as +the leaves are to a tree) according to which they +act as a body, will be found to be sound and right +in the long run, although the average individual +peasant may be unable to give any reason for accepting +and following the dictates of that wisdom +which is his inheritance; he may be not only +incapable of defining it, he may be unaware of its +existence. But as a member of the community +to which he belongs he will nevertheless apply +that wisdom, as circumstances call for it, and +express it by the acts of his daily life; and his +individual voice will be a part of that larger +voice which has sometimes been thought to be +identical with the voice of God.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER III.<br> <span class='c005'>THE NOBILITY.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>The very word nobility in connection with +Russia is misleading. There is no English +word which is the equivalent of the Russian +word for nobility—<i>dvorianstvo</i>. In French, there +are two words, <i>noblesse de cour</i>, which correspond +to the Russian word.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian word <i>dvorianin</i>, which we translate, +for want of a better word, noble, means a +man attached to a Court, and courtier would be +the right translation, if courtier did not happen +to mean something else. The Russian noble is +a Court servant, who is entitled by the service he +renders to the State to an hereditary rank. +Nobility accrues by right to the man who has +reached a certain definite step or <i>tchin</i> in the +army or in the civil service.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The service, moreover, is open to everybody +<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>who can pass a certificate examination at the +end of his school time. During the whole of +the eighteenth century, and the first part of the +nineteenth century, from the reign of Peter the +Great to the end of the reign of Alexander I., +every single officer of the nobility army, and +every single civil servant holding an equivalent +rank, became <i>ipso facto</i> a noble.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The lowest rank in the army, that of an ensign, +conferred the right of nobility.<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c014'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>Later on, in 1822, in 1845, and in 1855, the +grade which conferred hereditary nobility was +raised.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The net result of all this is that (<i>a</i>) the nobility +as a class is enormous (in European Russia the +hereditary nobility number about 600,000); (<i>b</i>) +there can be nothing aristocratic about such a +nobility.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This does not mean that the descendants of +old families do not exist in Russia. Such families +<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>exist, and are, perhaps, more ancient than +any in Europe. Moreover, a certain number of +names and families stand out amidst the encircling +obscurity, some of them illustrious with +an almost fabulous antiquity, like names in a +saga or an epic, and others illustrious from great +services rendered in more modern times. Russian +history is “bright with names that men +remember”; on the one hand names recalling +those of the Knights of the Round Table or the +heroes of the Niebelungenlied, on the other +hand names resembling that, say, of the Duke +of Wellington.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Titles have little to do with the matter: amongst +this little band of the illustrious, some of the +families have titles of recent origin; others, +again, almost incredibly remote both in lineage +and fame, have no titles at all.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The great mass of the nobility have neither +title nor any outward sign to distinguish them +from the herd of nobles, with the exception of +the collateral branches of the royal family.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Russia was originally a conglomeration of small +principalities (all descending from, all collateral +branches of, one prince), grouped at one time +<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>under the leadership of Kiev, and later on absorbed +by the principality of Moscow, which +eventually became first a kingdom, and then <i>the</i> +kingdom. When Moscow absorbed all the minor +principalities, the princes, bereft of their principalities, +still retained their titles. “Prince” is, +therefore, the only true Russian title that exists +in Russia.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The titles of graf (count) and baron are borrowed +from Western Europe. There is no word +either for count or baron in the Russian language, +and the German terms are used. These +titles are confined to a few families, and are either +titles of recent creation, conferred by the sovereign +for special services, or they denote families +of foreign extraction and origin.</p> + +<p class='c007'>About two-thirds of the princely families +descend from the ancient sovereigns of Russia, +and about forty of them go as far back as Rurick, +the oldest of all Russian sovereigns. Such are +the families of the Dolgoruky, Bariatinsky, +Obolensky, Gortchakov, Khovansky, Galitsin, +Trubetskoy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As far as lineage and antiquity are concerned, +these families are as old as any in Europe; but +<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>in spite of the existence of these ancient families, +whose ramifications are innumerable (for instance, +there are about three or four hundred +Galitsins, male and female), there is no such +thing in Russia as a political aristocracy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One of the causes of this state of things is +probably the democratic system which prevails +in every Russian family, be it that of a prince +or of a peasant, of dividing property equally +amongst the whole family; and as the title +is likewise inherited by every member of the +family as the process of subdivision goes on, it +sometimes happens that the sole inheritance of +the descendant of an illustrious family is his +name.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One would have thought this constant process +of subdivision must have ultimately decimated all +the large estates in Russia. It probably would +have done so had it not been for the size of the +country, the perpetual opening out of new territory, +the unceasing colonization of such remnants, +and the consequent rise in the value of +land.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Moreover, the division of property is made +among the male members of the family only. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>The female members of a family receive only a +fourteenth share of the patrimony; they receive +a marriage portion, and sometimes nothing besides.<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c014'><sup>[3]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>There is also in Russia, as everywhere else, +what the French would call “<i>une aristocratie +mondaine</i>.” Even here there is less spirit of +caste than in other European countries. It is +impossible to define what constitutes and what +limits this society in Russia, just as it is impossible +to define what constitutes the limits +of any such society anywhere. It has nothing +necessarily to do with the governing class, and +nothing to do with the great mass of the nobility, +and nothing necessarily to do with illustrious +names or services, and is hall-marked neither by +wealth nor by titles, but by a freemasonry of +manner and culture. It is a society consisting +of many separate groups, which live their own +life and touch each other at certain points. +Thus in St. Petersburg there is an <i><span lang="fr">erste Gesellschaft</span></i>, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>who all talk French as a matter of course, +and very often English as well, and who at one +time talked French better than their own language. +The younger generation of this class, +however, know Russian well.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Thus it is that in speaking of the Russian +nobility as a whole and as a class—and it is a +vast class—the English reader must put out of +his head all ideas of aristocracy such as it existed +in England, France, Germany, Spain, and +Italy, and realize the following facts:—</p> + + <dl class='dl_1'> + <dt>1.</dt> + <dd>The noble in Russia is a State servant. + </dd> + <dt>2.</dt> + <dd>Any one can enter the State service if he passes the requisite examination. + </dd> + <dt>3.</dt> + <dd>The attainment of a certain rank in the State service carries with it the rights of + hereditary nobility. + </dd> + <dt>4.</dt> + <dd>There is no political aristocracy in Russia. + </dd> + <dt>5.</dt> + <dd>Until 1861 only the nobility had the right to own land in Russia. + </dd> + <dt>6.</dt> + <dd>There is no such thing as a territorial aristocracy in Russia. + </dd> + </dl> + +<p class='c007'>How is it, then, that if until this year 1861 +the nobility alone had the right of owning land +in Russia, there is no such thing as a territorial +<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>aristocracy? And how is it, if innumerable +descendants of old princely families exist at the +present moment in Russia, there is no such thing +as a political aristocracy?</p> + +<p class='c007'>The answer to these two questions is to be +found in the history of the past, and, without +going into any elaborate historical disquisition, +the roots of the matter are fairly easy to +trace.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the earlier times of Russian history, long +before the invasion of the Tartars, before the +Norman Conquest in England, Russia was divided +into principalities, which were governed by +princes. Every prince had a body of followers, +who constituted around his person a kind of +armed militia. This militia was called the +<i>druzhina</i>. Its members were free. They could +serve whom they pleased. They could pass from +the service of one prince to another. Out of this +class of armed servants arose the <i>boyars</i>, who +were likewise the voluntary servants of the +princes, and who could serve whichever prince +they pleased. They were naturally inclined to +choose the richest and most powerful prince, and +thus they were attracted to the Court of Moscow, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>and thus the minor principalities became weaker +in resources and poorer in followers, and were +gradually absorbed one after another by the +Grand Duchy of Moscow. And when Moscow +became the central and predominant kingdom +of Russia, the boyars became the servants of +the Tsar of Moscow. But the boyars did not +serve the monarch for nothing; in return for +their service they received land. Originally +the servants of the princes were remunerated +for their services by receiving allotments of land, +which passed from father to son, as well as by +money, and the revenues accruing from certain +Government appointments. Had the boyars +continued to possess hereditary allotments, and +nothing but hereditary allotments, they might +have grown into a caste of territorial aristocrats. +As it was, as Russia grew bigger, and when +Northern Russia was annexed to the kingdom +of Moscow, the only new sources of capital were +the immense stretches of new land acquired by +the Tsar of Moscow. Henceforward the Tsar, +instead of giving the boyars hereditary allotments +of land in return for their service, gave +them temporary allotments of land in the newly-acquired +<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>territory. These allotments were in +theory supposed to belong to the Tsar’s servant +so long, and so long only, as he served, but in +practice they generally belonged to the owner +during the whole of his lifetime. A grant of +land of this kind was called a <i>pomestie</i> (manor), +and the owner of it a <i>pomeshchik</i>, which came in +the course of time to be, and is at present, the +ordinary Russian word for a landowner.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Thus the Tsar accomplished at one swoop many +different objects. He distributed the men of +service in the interior and at the frontier of the +country, and by granting them only the temporary +lease of the land in distant parts of the +country, he prevented the growth of a strong +landed aristocracy whose existence and rivalry +he feared. He made these newly-created landowners +into a barrier against foreign invasion, and +into an instrument of national defence; the land +became a means for the upkeep of the army, since +the landowners constituted the army, and the +armed servant in return for his service received +land, which, in addition to being a wage, made +that service possible by giving him a means of +upkeep.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>The principle was established that the servant +of the State should be rewarded for his services +by the possession of land; and soon the corollary +followed that the owner of land <i>must</i> serve.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Hereditary holdings still existed; but gradually +the right of administrating them came to depend +on service. In the sixteenth century, in the +kingdom of Moscow, all owners of hereditary +holdings were State servants. A man who inherited +a holding was obliged to serve if he +wished to continue to possess the hereditary +ownership of it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Thus it was that the nobility in Russia acquired +the dual nature of landowner and servant of the +State. The servant of the State became a landowner, +and only on the condition of being a +servant of the State, as has already been stated.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The result of all this was that the nobility +took no roots in the land. Their interest was at +Court. Their land was merely their pay. Thus +no landed or territorial aristocracy came into +existence, as in other European countries. In +Russia there are no feudal castles, no families +taking their names from places, no titles derived +from property, no <i>von</i> and <i>zu</i>, no <i>de</i>, no Lord So-and-So +<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>of So-and-So; comparatively few stone +houses. The noble generally lives in a wooden +house, which has the nature of a temporary +makeshift residence.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nevertheless there was an obstinate attempt +on the part of the Russian nobility to form a +political aristocracy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The boyars, grouping themselves round the +throne of Moscow, attempted to do this. They +organized themselves into a complicated hierarchy, +according to which precedence depended +on the pedigree of their forefathers. The +duties and position of each boyar was written +down in a complicated kind of peerage called +“books of pedigree.” His rank had to remain +exactly what that of his forefathers had been.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Organized in this fashion, the boyars became +an hereditary, stationary, and exclusive caste, +perpetually quarrelling over questions of pedigree, +the rights and wrongs of which were extremely +difficult to determine.</p> + +<p class='c007'>By the time Ivan the Terrible came to the +throne (1547) the boyars were individually +powerful, but the very nature of such an organization +precluded all idea of solidarity and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>union. Every single noble wished to be <i>primus +inter pares</i>. Every family was at war with its +equals. Ivan the Terrible dealt with the boyars +individually by cutting off their heads. The +books of pedigree were abolished in the reign of +Peter the Great’s predecessor, and the name +boyar was abolished by Peter the Great.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Henceforward the service of your forefathers +was no longer of any account. Neither lineage +nor rank counted any longer. Your rank depended +henceforth on your <i>tchin</i>—that is to say, +the post you held in the service of the State; +and that, in its turn, depended on your personal +merit, on the nature of your service. The Russian +nobility became a class of State servants +in which the hereditary principle ceased to exist; +and although some of the privileges which Peter +the Great took away from the hereditary nobility +were restored to them by his successors, the great +fabric of the State service which he created still +exists. So does the <i>tchin</i>, with its fourteen grades, +created by Peter the Great. A boy leaving his +college or gymnasium, and having passed what +the Germans call his <i>abiturienten examen</i>, and +what in some of our public schools is called a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>certificate examination, has access to the lowest +rung of the official ladder.</p> + +<p class='c007'>University degrees confer a <i>tchin</i> on the +student, and with every fresh diploma he receives +he ascends a further rung of the ladder. +For instance, a son of a peasant, if he goes to +school, passes his examinations, and finishes his +course at the university, may serve, say, in +the department of Railway Traffic Organization, +and by ascending one grade of the ladder after +another, he may, partly by luck and partly by +merit, end by being Minister of Finance or Prime +Minister.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The successors of Peter the Great exempted the +nobility from compulsory service; and Catherine II. +not only confirmed this exemption, but increased +and enlarged the privileges of the nobility. +She made the nobility into a privileged class. In +order to prepare the way for local self-government, +she created intermediate powers between +the throne and the people, and gave the nobility +a part to play in local administration, and roped +in the merchants to co-operate with them, thus +endeavouring to form a <i>bourgeoisie</i>. The nobility +enjoyed the privilege of appointing local justices +<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>of the peace and local officials. The administration +of every district had to pass through the +hands of the nobility in the shape of a marshal, +in some respects a kind of lord-lieutenant<a id='r4'></a><a href='#f4' class='c014'><sup>[4]</sup></a>; one +presided over every district, and one over every +province, and both were elected by the Assembly +of Nobles. The theory was that the influence +of the marshals of the nobility would counterbalance +the action of the governor of the province, +an official appointed directly by the Crown. +This was the theory, and a theory it more or less +remained owing to the apathy of the nobility, +who failed to take full advantage of their privileged +situation. Nevertheless the nobility did +play a considerable part in local administration; +and consequently, in proportion as they tended +to become bureaucrats, they ceased being landowners. +They had less and less time to look after +their property. They ceased, for the greater +part, to be practical and practising landowners, +and they left the management of their estates +in the hands of their stewards, and often used +their estates as a means of raising money, so that +in 1859, on the eve of the emancipation, two-thirds +<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>of the estates and the nobility were in pawn, +and the remaining third was often mortgaged +to individuals.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The privileges granted to the nobility by the +successors of Peter the Great could not fail to +affect the peasantry. The peasants were at this +time tethered to the soil. Peter the Great had +tightened the bonds which attached them to +the soil, and Catherine II. had done nothing to +loosen their bonds. In fact, the situation of the +peasants, instead of improving, had grown worse. +The rights of the master over the serf had been +extended. The master had the power of dealing +administratively with the serf; he could +banish him to Siberia, sentence him to penal +servitude, and could sell him apart from the +land. The situation of the serf was not only +crying out for reform, but the peasants knew +and complained that the whole logical principle +of the case for serfdom had been violated.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The peasantry rightly considered that serfdom +was a temporary measure coinciding with the +compulsory service of the nobility. If the nobility +ceased to serve the Tsar, logically they +should cease to serve the nobility, because the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>nobility were only given the land on condition +of serving the Tsar, and on that condition alone, +and the peasants belonged to the land.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The discontent of the peasants expressed itself +in risings, which were sometimes serious, and +the moral feeling against the existence of serfdom +became stronger and stronger. And since +the nobles were too much occupied with other +affairs to look after their estates in person, and +their serfs in a patriarchal fashion, there was, as +has already been said in Chapter I., no possible +argument left in favour of serfdom.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nevertheless, as Catherine II. saw clearly, the +emancipation of the serfs could only be carried +out with the co-operation of the nobility. In +her reign the time had not come for this, because +the nobility were opposed to the reform. +The reform came about in 1861, and by it the +nobility lost the unique privilege of being the +only class in Russia able to own land, and the +access to landed proprietorship in Russia was +thrown open to all classes.</p> + +<p class='c007'>When the immense act of expropriation which +the emancipation of the serfs entailed took place, +about half the landowners in Russia disappeared. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>Quite a new and mixed class of landowners came +into existence: merchants and absentee landowners +who leased their land to the peasants, and +finally those who sunk their capital in the land and +tried to carry on agriculture on rational principles.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I have already spoken of the result of absentee +landownership in Russia, and the further sales +of land which were made to the peasants in +1905, and of the exemption of the peasantry +from compulsory communal land tenure. Looking +back on the situation now, one is aware +that the landed nobility in Russia is being slowly +and gradually oozed out of existence; it is being +subjected to a slow process of expropriation in +favour of the peasants, the merchants, and the +new capitalists; and in the course of time, as +soon as the peasantry has the means, the capital, +and the knowledge to compete with it on equal +terms, the nobility as a caste of landowners will +disappear altogether.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The two questions which I put towards the +beginning of this chapter: How is it there exists +no political aristocracy in Russia? and, How is +it that there exists no territorial aristocracy, in +spite of the fact that until 1861 the nobility had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>the exclusive right of owning the land? can perhaps +be answered thus:—</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is no political aristocracy in Russia, +because as far back as we can see in Russian +history we find no traces of that spirit of caste +and solidarity which creates a compact body, +sharing a common outlook, and pursuing a definite +political and social aim. As far back as we +can see in Russian history the nobles were State +servants, and when they were given privileges +which were not dependent on service, they were +powerless to make themselves into anything +else. They had neither the instinct nor the +desire to do so.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There have in Russian history been aristocrats, +but no aristocracy; and when those aristocrats +were powerful, they were bound together by +no <i>esprit de corps</i>, and by no common object: thus +it was easy for the Crown to disintegrate them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There has been no territorial aristocracy, because +the land was a temporary loan made to +the nobility in return for service. When the +service ceased to be compulsory, the land was +at once reclaimed by its original owners, the +men who tilled it. A hundred years after service +<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>ceased to be compulsory for the nobles the +peasants were given back a great part of the +land, and ever since then they have been gradually +getting back more and more of it, and in +the course of time there is no doubt that they +will end by getting back all of it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian nobility is a thing apart. An +aristocracy on the Western European pattern no +more exists in Russia than do feudal castles on +the European pattern. There is an analogy +between the flat uniform surface of the landscape +in Russia, the absence of sharp mountain +ranges and deep valleys, of variety and variegated +features, and the nature of Russian institutions. +The Russian nobility is, like the Russian +landscape, devoid of sharp features—all one +level. It is democratic, and averse to the prominence +of individual personalities. All the +features that are characteristic of aristocratic +tendencies, such as primogeniture, spirit of caste, +class exclusiveness, do not exist. The Russian +nobility is democratic, and it lacks the salient +features and the sharp and defined character +which has distinguished in the past the nobility +in the other countries of Europe.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>It may very likely now occur to the reader to +ask if there is not and never has been such a +thing as a political aristocracy in Russia; and if +the Russian nobility is so democratic, why was +there ever any discontent in Russia? Why was +there such a thing as Nihilism and a revolutionary +movement?</p> + +<p class='c007'>It would seem at first sight that a system in +which rank was entirely dependent on merit, and +in which the service was open to everybody, left +nothing to be desired, as far as democracy is concerned. +In certain respects it is obviously democratic, +in others it is fatal to all free democracy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The principle, of course, is as democratic as +possible; but what happens in practice? In +practice you have a gigantic machine worked by +a governing class of officials which is absolutely +uncontrolled by public opinion.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Any one can get into the governing class, that +is true; but nobody who is not in it can check +its action, and at one period nobody could even +criticize it. The result is the triumph of bureaucracy +at the expense of any kind of democracy +or of any kind of aristocracy; while the only +thing that profits by it is arbitrary despotism. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>And though the system is theoretically favourable +to the advancement of merit, it is a thousand +times more favourable to mediocrity, routine, +office-hunting, officialdom, red tape, to the +stifling of all individual initiative, and the +shirking of all moral responsibility. The chief +evil result of the system was the uncontrolled +arbitrary character of the central government +and the local administration as carried on by +the provincial governors and other officials of +the Government; and it was against this arbitrariness +that public opinion in Russia revolted, +and expressed itself either by militant acts of +revolt, assassinations, or explosions, or peaceably +in a demand for political reform. And in +this peaceable demand the nobility played an +important part.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I have already said that Catherine II. gave +privileges to the nobility with the idea of preparing +the way for local self-government. She +knew that in her time such institutions could only +be elementary, and that real local self-government +was impossible, since besides the nobility +and the merchants, the rest of the population +were serfs; but she determined to lay the foundations +<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>of self-government, and to prepare the +way for the future. She gave the nobility privileges +which in other countries must certainly have +led to a conflict with the Crown; but in her +time nothing of the kind happened, since the +nobility took no advantage of their situation. +But the situation which she created did ultimately +lead to a conflict with the Crown, because +it was the organs of the local self-government +which voiced the demand for representative institutions +in Russia, and headed the movement +which obtained them. The first step towards +local self-government was made by Catherine II., +the second step was made by Alexander II. In +1864, in addition to the Assemblies of Nobles, +Zemstvos (county councils) were created, containing +representatives of every class; later, the +nobility and the peasants elected their representatives. +Every district of every government +or province was given a Zemstvo, or county +council; and above this (and formed from the +district councils) each government or province +was given a county council. Both the district +and the provincial county councils were presided +over by the marshals of the nobility.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>Here were the means and the instrument at +least of checking the uncontrolled action of the +bureaucratic machine; but the natural corollary +of local self-government—namely, central political +representation—was for the time lacking. Moreover, +from time to time the officials appointed +by the Government were given powers to check +the action of the county councils.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Ten years passed. The enthusiasm which +greeted the era of reform in the ’sixties died +out in a smoke of disillusion, and a revolutionary +movement sprang up, and a Nihilist fever, culminating +in the assassination of the Emperor +Alexander II. in 1881, when he was on the eve +of granting a constitution to Russia. This +shelved all question of reform for another twenty-five +years; a period of sheer reaction followed; +and it was not until the Russo-Japanese War in +1904 that the public discontent found expression +in a manner which had to be reckoned with.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It was now that the Zemstvos played a +supremely important part. They headed the +constitutional demand for reform, which had +developed side by side with a revolutionary movement. +And they obtained first the promise of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>a consultative House of Representatives, and +finally, on October 17, 1905, a charter promising +to the people the foundations of civic liberty, +the convocation of a Duma, and the promise +that no laws should in future be passed without +receiving the sanction of the representatives of +the nation. The rank and file of the army which +brought this to pass were the whole of the educated +middle class of Russia, but its leaders +and spokesmen were the members of the nobility +in the county councils. It was not the nobility +as a class which acted and brought this about, +but the instruments of local government, the +county councils; and every single organ of +local government, each county council, had at the +head of it a member of the nobility. So far, +then, from acting as a separate caste, the Russian +nobility, in the movement and demand for +reform and emancipation, simply expressed the +opinion of the man in the street; and this was +all the easier, for the simplest definition of the +Russian noble, and one which sums up the whole +matter, is that in Russia the noble is almost +every tenth man in the street.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER IV.<br> <span class='c005'>THE GOVERNMENT MACHINE.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>Up till October 30, 1905 (O.S., October 7), +Russia was an unlimited autocracy. The +Emperor bore the title of Unlimited Autocrat of +all the Russias. But Russia possessed, nevertheless, +certain administrative and legislative +institutions. There was a consultative assembly +called the Council of Empire, founded by Alexander +I., whose business it was to make laws; +and a Senate, founded by Peter the Great, an +administrative institution, whose business it was +to see that the laws and the Emperor’s ukases +were carried out. The Emperor could always +issue special ukases, and he could suggest any +laws to the Ministers whom he appointed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The initiative of legislation was in the hands +of the Emperor’s Ministers. They presented laws +to the Council of Empire, which discussed and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>amended them, and presented them, together +with the findings of the majority and the minority, +and sometimes the finding of an individual member, +which were the outcome of their deliberations, +to the Emperor for his sanction. In this +manner the fundamental laws of the empire +were drawn up.</p> + +<p class='c007'>On October 30, 1905, this state of things was +profoundly modified by the publication of an +imperial manifesto which laid down certain new +principles of government.</p> + +<p class='c007'>If these principles were carried out in practice, +Russia would no longer be an unlimited autocracy. +What it would exactly be is a little difficult +to define. In the old days the Government +of Russia was defined as being an autocracy +tempered by assassination. It would be difficult +to define it exactly as it is at the present +moment. It is a limited autocracy; an autocracy +limited indirectly by the existence of legislative +institutions.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At the same time, it was technically a mistake +to call the manifesto a constitution, because the +Sovereign did not categorically divest himself of +his autocratic rights; he took no oath to any +<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>constitution; all he did was to grant his subjects +certain privileges, which, if carried out, would +limit the purely autocratic character of his power. +He himself remained an autocrat. He could, if +he saw fit to do so in the future, take back the +privileges he had granted. The manifesto was a +charter rather than a constitution. It promised +to the people the foundations of civic liberty +based on the liberty of the person, liberty of conscience, +liberty of speech, and the right of forming +unions, societies, and associations. It announced +that a National Assembly (the Duma) +would be convoked, elected by the people, who +would henceforward be called upon to co-operate +in the government of the country. It +laid down the principle that in future no law +should come into force without previously receiving +the sanction of the Parliament.</p> + +<p class='c007'>A National Assembly elected by the people was +not a new phenomenon for Russia. Ever since +1550 National Assemblies appear from time to time +in the course of Russian history. They failed to +become a permanent feature and factor in Russian +life owing to the strife of classes. The population +split up into classes, and this was due to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>birth of economic problems and the manner in +which they were solved; the peasants became +slaves in the hands of the landowners, and the +National Assembly ceased to be national, and +became representative of an upper class which +was divided against itself, owing to the conflicting +personal interests it fostered.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Emperor Nicholas II. in convoking a +National Council was not creating a new precedent, +but resuscitating an old one. The word +Duma means Council, and the Tsars of Moscow +in olden times had governed with the aid of an +assembly of nobles called the Council of Boyars.</p> + +<p class='c007'>When the manifesto was issued in 1905, it +was clear that the fundamental laws of the +empire made no provision for a Duma, and +that if a Duma were to assemble on the +basis of the manifesto, its situation in the +State and its relation to the Sovereign would +be undefined. For this reason a revised version +of the fundamental laws of the empire +was confirmed and published on April 23, +1906.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This revised edition of the fundamental laws +defined the position of the Sovereign with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>regard to the Duma. According to its provisions, +the supreme autocratic power was vested +in the person of the Emperor; but according +to another section it was laid down that the +Sovereign exercises legislative power in conjunction +with the Council of Empire and the +Duma.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The principle of the manifesto that no law +should come into force without previously receiving +the sanction of the legislative institution +was confirmed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Emperor retained the title of Autocrat, +and concentrated in his person the legislative, +executive, and judicial powers; but the substantive +“Autocrat” was no longer preceded by the +adjective “Unlimited.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>The executive powers of the Sovereign entitled +him to convene, adjourn, and prorogue the +Council of Empire and the Duma; to dissolve +the Duma; and to dismiss the elected members +of the Council of Empire before the term of their +mandates, but not without fixing the date of +fresh selections and of the session of a new +Duma.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Emperor retained the right of appointing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>the president, the vice-president, and half the +members of the Council of Empire; the right +of veto, and the sanction of laws; the sole initiative +of any changes in the fundamental laws; +and, as has already been said, he shared the +initiative in all branches of legislation with both +the Houses.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Emperor also retained the right of issuing +special ukases, sanctioning unforeseen expenditure +not provided for in the Estimates, for emergencies +in case of war, and loans for expenditure +in war.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The fundamental laws also contained an emergency +clause of another kind, according to +which the Emperor, by special ukase, can promulgate +laws in cases of emergency when the +Houses are not in session, subject to their being +subsequently submitted to them for approval. +But no change may be made in the fundamental +laws in virtue of this clause, nor may it modify +the legislative institutions and the electoral laws +for the two Houses. Moreover, any regulation +made in this way ceases to be in force if, in two +months after the beginning of the session of the +Duma, no Bill is introduced by the Duma +<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>confirming it, or if a Bill is introduced and +rejected.<a id='r5'></a><a href='#f5' class='c014'><sup>[5]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>The executive powers of the Emperor consist +in the appointment and dismissal of the Prime +Minister and the Ministers, the direction of foreign +affairs, the proclamation of martial law +and any modified kind of martial law, and the +command of the military and naval forces.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Emperor has also certain judicial powers, +such as the confirmation of the verdicts of criminal +courts.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At this moment, then, the legislative institutions +of Russia consist of the Council of Empire +and the Duma. The Council of Empire is the +Upper House; half of its members are elected, +and they receive their mandates in certain +proportions from the synod, the nobility, the +universities, the corporation of merchants, and +from Poland. They are elected for a term of +nine years. The remaining members (including +the president and the vice-president) are appointed +by the Emperor.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>The Upper House shares with the Lower House +the right of initiative in legislation, as well as +that of voting supplies and of making interpellations.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Lower House, as has just been said, has +also the right of initiative legislation; but certain +subjects, according to the fundamental laws, are +outside its competence—namely, the institutions +of the imperial court; the imperial family; +war and naval departments; the jurisdiction +of military and naval courts.</p> + +<p class='c007'>On the other hand, the imperial budget and the +budgets of individual Ministries, and the authorization +of loans, are within its competency. It +has also the right of making interpellations. +There is not, as in the English House of Commons, +a certain time put aside every day for questions. +Notice is given of interpellation, and the question +of whether it shall be regarded as pressing or not +is put to the vote. If expedition is voted for, the +interpellation must be answered by the Ministers +within a month; if extreme expedition is voted +for, within three days; if expedition is not +voted for, the answer is given within an indefinite +period.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>The right of interpellation, and the larger fact +that an assembly exists where discussion of public +affairs is public, are, as is the case with most +Parliaments, the chief assets in the influence of +the Duma. As far as actual legislation is concerned, +the Upper House can throw out any of +the Bills which the Lower House passes.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The electoral law is exceedingly complicated. +The degree of suffrage it confers is very far from +being universal. In the first place, elections are +indirect; in every government voters elect a certain +number of electors, who in their turn elect +members to represent the government in the +Duma. Only males who have reached the age +of twenty-five have the right to vote; and all +those who are in any branch of military service +are excluded.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The voters are (<i>a</i>) those who vote by property +qualification—that is to say, persons residing +in the various districts who can satisfy a property +qualification, the amount and classification of +which depends upon their occupation. For instance, +landowners are classified according to the +amount of land they possess, and merchants or all +persons engaged in commercial pursuits, according +<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>to their trade licence. This class of voter must +either own immovable property, hold a trade +licence, be in the receipt of a pension and salary +arising from his employment in the Government, +municipal, or railway service, or be the +occupant of a lodging hired in his name.</p> + +<p class='c007'>For such voters one year’s residence in the +polling district is required.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As the qualification is high, the number of +voters is necessarily limited.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(<i>b</i>) A second class of voter consists of peasants +whose names are on the rolls of the rural +communities—that is to say, heads of households. +One year’s residence in the polling district +is necessary for them also.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(<i>c</i>) A third class, consisting of town voters, +artisans, and employees in factories, works, and +railway shops. Six months’ residence in polling +district is required.</p> + +<p class='c007'>An election is carried on thus:—</p> + +<p class='c007'>All the voters are divided into five groups: +Landowners; peasants; town voters (two groups +according to their property qualification); artisans, +etc.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Each of these groups elects separately, by a system +<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>of two degrees, a certain number of electors +who shall represent them at a general meeting of +the government or province. This large Provincial +Assembly, consisting of landowners, peasants, +and town dwellers, meets together, and elects a certain +number of members to represent the government +or province in the Duma. In this assembly +the landed class interest and the richer merchants +and town dwellers have the advantage in numbers, +and are consequently in the majority. In order +therefore to safeguard to a certain extent the +interests of the other classes, the Government +Assembly must first of all elect one member to +represent each of the following classes:—</p> + + <dl class='dl_1'> + <dt>(<i>a</i>)</dt> + <dd>The peasants; + </dd> + <dt>(<i>b</i>)</dt> + <dd>Landowners; + </dd> + <dt>(<i>c</i>)</dt> + <dd>The town electors (only in certain governments); + </dd> + <dt>(<i>d</i>)</dt> + <dd>The artisans (only in six governments). + </dd> + </dl> + +<p class='c007'>And as each government is entitled to return +a certain number of members fixed by the law,<a id='r6'></a><a href='#f6' class='c014'><sup>[6]</sup></a> +the requisite number is completed by electing +members from the remaining total of electors.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There are two exceptions to the general procedure: +<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>the largest cities, and Siberia, Poland, +and the Caucasus (where the procedure is somewhat +different). The larger cities—St. Petersburg, +Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, and Riga—vote according +to property qualification, and elect members +directly to the Duma.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The result of this complicated system of suffrage +is that the landed interest and the wealthier +classes are predominant in the Duma, and consequently +the Conservative element is the strongest.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Radical, Social Democratic, and Labour +element which exists in the Duma is furnished +by the big towns, with their direct elective +system, and the election of members representing +the peasant class, which is always guaranteed—and +the artisan class, which is to some extent +guaranteed—by the elective assemblies of every +government.</p> + +<p class='c007'>All that I have written so far concerns the instruments +of legislation. The administration of +the country, the actual business of government, +is carried out by the Senate, the Council of Ministers, +the governors of the provinces, the +Zemstvos (county councils), and, as far as religious +affairs are concerned, by the Holy Synod. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>The highest administrative institution of the State +is the Senate. The Ruling Senate was founded +by Peter the Great in 1711, with the object of +representing him and acting on his behalf during +his frequent absences. Its functions, which are +essentially the same to-day as they were then, +only on a larger scale, consist in supervising all +branches of administration and in seeing that the +laws are carried out throughout the country. +The Ruling Senate, at the same time, is the high +court of justice for the empire, the highest +court of appeal in administrative matters, and +exercises supreme control; it promulgates all +laws, and supervises the courts of law.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Senate has several sub-departments, which +have various functions, the most important of +which is that of checking the executive power, +and seeing that it is exercised in accordance with +the law. The department to which this function +belongs is also charged with the promulgation +of a law, and may refuse to promulgate it if +the law is contrary to the fundamental laws. A +procurator, representing the Crown, is attached +to every department of the Senate, who is subordinate +to the Minister of Justice. The latter, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>in this connection, is called the Procurator-General.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Senate also examines complaints brought +against Ministers, governors, or provincial and +district officials. The senators are appointed by +the Emperor.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Council of Ministers consists of the Ministers +and heads of administration.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There are twelve Ministries: Foreign Affairs, +War, Admiralty, Finance, Education, Ways and +Communications, Agriculture, Justice, Commerce +and Industry, the Imperial Court, the Interior, +and the Department of Government Control.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Each individual Minister is bound to bring +before the Council all Bills that are destined to +come before the Duma and the Council of Empire; +all proposals concerning changes in the +staff in the chief offices of higher and local administration; +and all reports which have been +drawn up for presentation to the Sovereign.<a id='r7'></a><a href='#f7' class='c014'><sup>[7]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>Russia is divided for purposes of administration +into provinces called governments. Peter the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>Great was the first Russian ruler to make such a +division. He divided the country into eight governments. +Catherine II. increased the number +to 40. At the present day there are 78 governments—49 +in European Russia, 10 in Poland, +8 in Finland, 7 in the Caucasus, 4 in Siberia.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There are besides these governments, twenty-three +provinces which are called territories +(<i>oblasti</i>), which are either incompletely organized +or retain special institutions. They are +for the greater part situated at the extremes +of the empire. The average size of a government +is greater than Belgium, Holland, or +Switzerland. The divisions were made artificially +and arbitrarily, and the governments +in this respect resemble the French departments.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The governments are divided into districts, +which correspond to the French <i>arrondissements</i>. +Each province has from eight to fifteen districts, +and is parcelled out for administrative +and judicial purposes, according to its size, +between a certain number of officials called +<i>zemskie nachalniki</i>, called by some English +writers land captains. These <i>zemskie nachalniki</i> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>were created in 1889<a id='r8'></a><a href='#f8' class='c014'><sup>[8]</sup></a> to replace the local +justices of peace, who were abolished in that +year. They were a kind of official squire. The +office could in principle only be held by a member +of the hereditary nobility. They exercise executive +and judicial authority over the villages in +their area of jurisdiction. I will discuss their +judicial authority later in the chapter on justice. +They have the character of police officers in +that they make bye-laws, and that of magistrates +in that they decide on their infringement. They +are nominated by the governor, and appointed +by the Minister of the Interior. They have +the control of the peasants’ communal institutions. +All resolutions of the village assemblies +and findings of the canton courts are submitted +to them. All the officials of the peasants’ +administration are subordinate to them. They +have now become, more or less, officials of the +Ministry, and are no longer men of weight or +position among the nobility. The total number +of these <i>zemskie nachalniki</i> in every district +<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>form a Board which sits in the district town +once or more every month, as necessity arises. +This board is presided over by the marshal of +the nobility of the district, and with the co-operation +of a police official called the <i>Ispravnik</i>, who +has charge of the police duties of every district, +and of other officials, constitutes an administrative +unit which corresponds to a French <i>sous-préfet</i>.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At the head of every province is a governor, +who is proposed by the Minister of the Interior, +and appointed by the emperor. He is responsible +for the administration of the government. +His office is not unlike that of the intendant +of the old <i>régime</i> in France, and the préfet of +modern France. Formerly the governor concentrated +all the administrative powers in himself, +and every province was a miniature autocracy. +The governor is assisted by a board +of Administration, over which he presides, and +which consists of a vice-governor, councillors, +the government medical officer, the government +engineer, the architect, the land surveyor, +and their deputies.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The governor can issue special regulations for +safeguarding public order; he exercises control +<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>over all the administrative offices and institutions, +all officials and public servants, and the +institutions of local government. All regulations +passed by the county or district councils, or +the town corporations, must be confirmed by him; +and likewise the election of all officials elected +and appointed by the local self-governing bodies.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The principal check on the apparently unlimited +powers of the central administration, personified +in the various governors, lies in the rights +exercised by the Assembly of Nobles.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The nobility in every district meet once every +three years and elect a president for their district, +who is called the marshal of the nobility of the +district.</p> + +<p class='c007'>After this is done, all the nobility of all the +districts in the province unite to elect a president +for the province. He is called the marshal of +the nobility of the province. The election of +the marshal of the district must be confirmed +by the governor; that of the marshal of the +province is confirmed by the Emperor in person, +and by the Emperor alone.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In order to belong to the Assembly of Nobles, +it is necessary, besides being a noble by birth, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>to own land in the district or the province; to +possess either a military or civil <i>tchin</i>; or in +default of this sign of rank, certificates testifying +that you have passed certain examinations.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The right to assemble and elect marshals for +the districts and the province (and a board of +trustees for the orphans of nobles) is all that +remains now of the larger privileges conferred +on the nobility by Catherine II. Those privileges +consisted in the right of appointing the local +judges and the chief local officials—that is to say, +the county police. This prerogative lasted until +the epoch of the great reforms in the ’sixties.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But in spite of the loss of their former privileges, +the nobility, as represented in the marshals of +the districts, still discharges manifold duties of +an intricate character, and by so doing forms the +corner-stone of local administration, and consequently +constitutes a certain check on the +otherwise uncontrolled action of the governor +of the province.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As far as administration is concerned, the +marshal of the province is less important than +the marshal of the district. He is an <i>ex officio</i> +member of the governor’s board of administration, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>and as such, both by tradition and by right, +he exercises considerable influence, since an +independent influential personality is certain to +be elected to the post.</p> + +<p class='c007'>On the other hand, the duties and powers of +the marshal of the district are more numerous, and +stand in closer touch with the machinery of +provincial administration. He is the president +of all the executive committees in the district: +all committees that deal with the settlement of +questions relating to the peasants’ land, military +conscription, and the supervision of local schools. +He is the president of the district tribunal (the +court of petty sessions), and as such the chief +justice of peace of the district. He is, moreover, +the <i>ex officio</i> president of the Zemstvo +Assembly.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The marshal of the district has duties and +capacities of a dual nature. On the one hand +he performs representative duties resembling +those of a lord-lieutenant of an English county; +and on the other hand, in conjunction with +the board of <i>zemskie nachalniki</i> I mentioned +just now, he fills the place of a French <i>sous-préfet</i>. +But the important fact about his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>position is that he is outside and not inside the +central official administration. His position is inviolable +because once he is elected he is irremovable, +save by imperial ukase, except in the case +of his falling under sentence for breaking the law.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The strength of his position lies less in his +executive power than in the fact that he is an +independent unit, acting in the machinery of +administration, but outside bureaucratic control, +and consequently a check on the local central +administration. He receives no salary, and is +necessarily a man of social position.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Lately, owing to the reactionary tendency +towards centralization which followed the revolutionary +movement in Russia, and which has not +yet abated, the influence of the district marshal +has been, to a certain extent, impaired, owing to +the greater influence exercised by the police, who +make capital, and lead the central administration +to make capital, out of the fear of revolution.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Besides the Assembly of Nobles there is a +further check on the action of the provincial +governor in the office of the procurator. This +office is attached to the divisional courts of +justice. And the procurator, besides acting +<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>as public prosecutor and exercising general +control over law courts, has to see that the law +is executed. If a governor acts illegally, the +procurator has the right to appeal to the Senate, +which we have already seen fulfils the special +duty of examining such complaints.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Side by side with the Assemblies of the Nobles +there exist assemblies of representatives of +different classes.</p> + +<p class='c007'>For the purpose of local self-government +European Russia is divided into village communes, +and into groups of communes which +form an administrative unit, called the Canton +(<i>Volost</i>). The Canton varies in size, and can +include as many as thirty villages. Both the +Commune and the Canton are self-governing. +The village is governed by the Commune—that +is to say, the village assembly—which manages +the property of the village and divides it among +its members, exercises disciplinary rights, and +has the control of leases of land made to outsiders. +But both as regards the affairs of the +Commune and the Canton, the peasants are, as +a class, isolated. The Commune and the Canton +can only levy taxes on their own members.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>The Canton has an assembly also. Each +Commune sends one man from every ten households +to the Assembly of the Canton, which elects +a president called the Elder, and five judges +chosen from the peasants to serve on the court of +the Canton.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The provincial administration is, to some +extent, entrusted to elective District and Provincial +Assemblies called Zemstvos.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Zemstvo was created in 1864. The word +<i>Zemstvo</i> means territorial assembly; the institution +corresponds to our county council. There are +two kinds of Zemstvo, the smaller being elected +to deal with the affairs of a single district; the +larger is selected by the Zemstvos of all the +districts, and forms a county council for the +whole province to deal with the affairs common +to all the districts in that province.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Both the assemblies must be summoned at least +once a year. (They sit for about a fortnight.)</p> + +<p class='c007'>The District Zemstvo Assembly is elected +indirectly, and consists on an average of about +forty members. The elections of the District +Zemstvo are organized according to class division, +or rather civic status. Each class elects so +<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>many representatives—the peasants so many, +the nobility so many, the town dwellers so +many. The number of the representatives of +each class is fixed by law in such way as to give +the representatives of the nobility the preponderance. +Thus about half (or more than half) +the members consists of members of the nobility; +the remainder are peasants, and include three or +four merchants from the towns. All members +are elected for a term of three years.<a id='r9'></a><a href='#f9' class='c014'><sup>[9]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>The Provincial Zemstvo consists chiefly of +members of the nobility, elected from the District +Assemblies.<a id='r10'></a><a href='#f10' class='c014'><sup>[10]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>Both the assemblies elect from amongst themselves +a standing committee (<i>zemskaya uprava</i>) +of four or five paid officials, which is appointed +for three or four years. These standing committees +do practically all the current work of +the district.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The governor of the province has the right to +confirm or to refuse to confirm the election of the +presidents and members of the Zemstvo Assemblies; +to institute legal proceedings against +them; to exercise a veto on all resolutions of +both bodies. The assemblies have the right of +appeal to the Senate.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The nature of self-government in the towns, +and the control exercised over it is practically +the same as that of the Zemstvo institutions. +(The property qualification for the elector is high.)</p> + +<p class='c007'>The importance of the Zemstvo institutions +lies in the fact that they minister to the practical +needs of the community. Within their scope are +the ways and communications, the roads, and +the Zemstvo post, all medical and charitable +institutions, mutual insurance, prevention of +cattle disease, fire brigades, primary education, +and the development of agriculture and trade.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>The practical weakness of the Zemstvo as an +institution is that it possesses no lower elective +unit corresponding to a vestry or a parish; no +boards below those of the district, which +execute its decisions.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The resources of the Zemstvo consist in taxes, +which are levied by the District and Provincial +Zemstvo on land, whether owned by the peasants, +the nobility, or the Crown.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The main characteristic of the Provincial +Zemstvo (since it was remodelled in 1890, before +which date it was more democratic) is that it is +extremely reactionary. But the Zemstvo consists, +as I have already said, chiefly of the nobility—that +is to say, of members of the more cultivated +classes—and the result of this is, that in spite of +its members being reactionary in views and +sentiment, the work done by assemblies of these +reactionary members is, except in times of +violent reaction, such as the period immediately +following after the revolutionary movement, of +a progressive nature.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In looking back on the work that the Zemstvo +has accomplished during the last fifty years, one +sees clearly that the action of the Zemstvo has +<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>been purely progressive, and the work done has +outstripped in liberalism the views and the +opinions of the nobility taken as a class, which +constitute its most important ingredient. This +explains the mistrust which the central administration +entertains towards the Zemstvo—even +towards its reactionary members. The representatives +of the central administration, by +exercising their right of confirming or cancelling +elections and resolutions, are for ever trying +to hinder and hamper the work of the Zemstvo, +and to acquire greater control over it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In a matter such as the Zemstvo it must by no +means be assumed that the various Ministries in St. +Petersburg are necessarily at one. On the contrary, +they may be, and they often are, at sixes and +sevens. For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture +is really (and ever since it has existed always has +been) progressive; and since it wishes to get things +done, works with the Zemstvo; and so does the +Ministry of Finance, as far as it is concerned with +the Zemstvo. This guarantees a certain counter +influence to that of the Ministry of the Interior, +which carries on the traditional policy of its department, +of regarding the Zemstvo as an enemy.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>If we look now at the work which is being +accomplished by the Zemstvo in the various +branches which come under its scope, we see a +considerable improvement in medical institutions +and in all that regards public health; a +vast improvement in primary education, the +progress being lately so great that there has +been a demand for supplementary funds for +education; and quite lately agriculture has +taken a sharp bound forward, and in so doing +has received considerable assistance from the +State.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Taking the Zemstvo and its work as a whole, +as a factor in Russian life and administration, +it is clear that it is the one real and vital political +force in Russia, in spite of the reactionary +tendencies of the majority of its members, and +in spite of an important organic weakness in +its constitution, which I have already mentioned—namely, +the absence of a link between the +Zemstvo and the people it represents.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is near to practical life, and it is nearer to +the population than any other institution or +body, and since it possesses, in its limited way, +wider facilities for the public discussion of vital +<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>interests than any other institutions, it has +during the last fifty years proved the real organ +of public opinion, and the real lever in the matter +of progress, for it was the Zemstvo which voiced +the universal desire for reform in 1905, and +contributed in no small way to the changes +which were then made.</p> + +<p class='c007'>All that is here set down, when you read it +through, sounds, as far as the Zemstvo is concerned, +as if all were for the best in the best of +all possible worlds; but in practice the work +of the Zemstvo is hampered by the power of the +officials appointed by the Central Government, +and the power of these officials is not only +used arbitrarily, but sometimes in a manner +definitely contrary to the law. For the governor +of the province, if he cannot absolutely put a +stop to the work of the Zemstvo, can hamper +it in every possible way, and put effectual +spokes in its wheels. It is not only that the +possibility of his so doing exists, but the fact +is being actually and not seldom experienced at +the present time, owing to the low administrative +standard of the governors who are appointed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is worth mentioning also that in the important +<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>outlying districts of Russia—in Poland, +the Baltic provinces and the Caucasus—there is +no Zemstvo, and all the duties of the Zemstvo +are carried out by a committee of officials, and the +majority of these do their work extremely badly. +Also, in these regions the nobility have no rights.</p> + +<p class='c007'>If you review the Government machine which +administrates Russia as a whole, the same +criticism applies. On paper the fundamental +laws of the empire, the rights of the two Houses +and of the Senate, and of the instruments of +local self-government, together with the numerous +checks and safeguards against official lawlessness, +seem to provide a very fine working +constitution. In practice the rights are often +overruled, and the checks disregarded.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Duma, by its very existence, of course, +is an element of progress, however indirect; but +here again the Government, owing to the nature +of the electoral law, can exert pressure on the +elections, and have so far succeeded in always +obtaining a reactionary majority, so that the +actual composition of the Duma is not what +it would be if the Government exerted no pressure +at all.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>Again, since any form or shade of constitutional +government is a new feature in Russia, in many +cases that arise there is no established precedent +which can be referred to, and the course to be +taken is doubtful, but in such cases the benefit +of this doubt accrues to the Government.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In spite of this there is not the slightest doubt +that in Russia at present the existence and the +action of the Duma are felt, indirectly, very +widely indeed. And as a rule people who are +in the thick of Russian affairs, the Russians +themselves, will not realize this so well as an +outsider.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The existence of the Duma has proved a +factor in national progress. And the outsider, +who has had any experience of Russian life in +the past, will at once see that the progress in +the general state of affairs from what existed +ten years ago to what exists now has been +immense. There is a great gulf between the +period before 1905 and the era which began in +1905. The trouble is that the government +and the administration have not kept step and +time with the national progress. And when +people say in exculpation of the faults of any +<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>given government, that every country has the +government which it deserves, it may safely be +said that the actual government of Russia is +less good than what Russia deserves, since it is +impossible to deny that, in some respects, +Russia is comparatively, relatively, and taking +the general state of affairs and of national progress +into consideration, less well governed at +present—as is the case probably with England +and most other European countries—than it was +not only in the immediate past, but even in the +days of Alexander II. Hence there exists an +increasing political discontent, into the specific +causes of which we will inquire in the next +chapter.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER V.<br> <span class='c005'>CAUSES OF DISCONTENT.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>I have already said in the preceding chapter +that the principles of central and parliamentary +government in Russia, and the theory of local +administration and local self-government, if investigated +on paper, produce an excellent impression, +so that the casual inquirer, glancing at +the subject for the first time, will be tempted to +exclaim, “What more can the Russian people +want?”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Moreover, there has perhaps never been a +period when Russia was more materially prosperous +than at the present moment, or when the +great majority of the people seemed to have +so little obvious cause for discontent; and yet—it +would be futile to deny it—unmistakable signs +of discontent exist.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Seeds of discontent have been sown, and are +<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>every day being sown broadcast, and unless their +early shoots are uprooted in time, it is difficult +to imagine that they will not bear momentous +fruit in the future, however distant such a future +may be.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Whereupon the casual inquirer would probably +ask a further question: “If the Russian people +are discontented, why are they discontented? +What are these seeds of discontent? Whence +do they come? And are their grievances substantial +or frivolous, real or imaginary?”</p> + +<p class='c007'>The answer is, I think, simple.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The seeds of discontent, where they exist, are +the result of one simple fact. In 1905 explicit +promises were made to the Russian people, +which, if carried out, would insure their complete +political liberty and the full rights of citizenship. +Those promises have in some cases not been +carried out at all, and in other cases they have +only been carried out partially, or according to +the letter and not according to the spirit.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Practically, political liberty does not yet exist +in Russia, and the rights of political citizenship +are still a vain dream.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Every now and then the spokesmen of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>Government inform us that the Russian people +are quite indifferent as to legislative reform, and +that all they care for is competent administration. +I think, however, putting aside altogether the +question whether competent administration can +be obtained without legislative reform, that +nobody will deny that some people in Russia +want political liberty. It would be equally +difficult to deny that the absence of political +liberty indirectly hampers and annoys and +exasperates a still greater number of people, +who take no interest in politics and who foster +no political theories of any kind.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Hence discontent arises, which will necessarily +vary and increase in proportion as such annoyance +and exasperation is felt by a greater or +lesser number of people.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the years that followed immediately on the +publishing of the Manifesto in 1905, the policy +of the Government during the administration of +P. A. Stolypin was: “Order first; Reform +afterwards.” To P. A. Stolypin fell the ungrateful +task of restoring order. He accomplished +his task, successfully if drastically. And +it is only fair to say that it would have probably +<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>been impossible to restore order save by drastic +measures. It must also be said in fairness that +P. A. Stolypin initiated certain large measures +which tend towards reform—his Land Bill and +his Education Bill, for instance. But the reforms +initiated during his administration, and +during that of his successor, have as yet only +been partial; and so far the practical policy of +the Government has consisted in taking away, +curtailing, and limiting with one hand what has +been given with the other.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is partly due to the constant introduction +of qualifying clauses and amendments in any new +laws that are liberal in spirit—amendments which +have the effect of hindering the practical operation +of the laws; and partly to the quality of the local +administration, whose duty it is to interpret and +to execute the laws. As a general rule, the local +administrative officials, by the manner of their +interpretation, are completely successful in sacrificing +the spirit to the letter of the law, and of +depriving the laws of their true meaning, and of +rendering them null and void in practice.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Such a policy must inevitably have an exasperating +effect on the population.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>Let us look into the matter a little more closely.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Manifesto of October 30 promised, firstly, +the creation of a deliberative and legislative +assembly without whose consent no new laws in +the future should be passed; and secondly, the +full rights of citizenship—namely, the inviolability +of the person, freedom of conscience, freedom +of the Press, the right of organizing public +meetings, and of founding unions and associations.</p> + +<p class='c007'>How far and in what manner have these promises +been fulfilled? How far are these things a +practical factor in Russian political life to-day?</p> + +<p class='c007'>Let us take the Duma first.</p> + +<p class='c007'>We have already seen that the Duma possesses +a considerable indirect influence, and that by its +very existence, and quite apart from what it may +effect or fail to effect legislatively, a change has +come about in the government of Russia; but +in spite of this, the powers, or rather the power, of +the Duma is to a certain extent paralyzed by the +attitude of the Central Government towards it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The attitude of the Government towards the +Duma is a curious one. Firstly, by its interpretation +of the law, by the addition of qualifying +clauses and amendments, the Government tries, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>whenever it can, to diminish the powers that +have been granted to the Duma, and more +especially in so far as they concern the Budget; +and secondly, the Government floods the Duma +with a great quantity of irrelevant and trivial +legislation with the object of keeping the more +vital and important issues out of its reach.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is one reason why any prevailing discontent +is prevented from subsiding, since by acting +in this manner the Government never ceases +to fan the smouldering ashes of discontent into +flame, and to feed the flame with slender but +continuous supplies of fresh fuel.</p> + +<p class='c007'>So far, then, we have already one cause of +discontent—the attitude of the Government +towards the Duma; and this attitude consists, +in a word, of doing everything it can to prevent +the Duma from becoming a reality—a vital factor +in the State—and in trying to convert it into +a passive annex to the Government machine.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The second question now arises. What has +been, and what is, the attitude of the Central +Government towards the remaining promises +made by the Manifesto of October 30th? I +will take the promises separately; but before +<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>doing so, it will be as well to point out that, at +present, all matters which are affected by the +promises laid down in the Manifesto of 1905 are +being carried out by temporary regulations, +instead of by laws passed through the Duma. +It is clear that temporary regulations lend +themselves easily to amendment, and amendments +signify a deviation from the original +intention of such regulations. Moreover, all +temporary regulations are interpreted by the +local officials, whose powers of interpretation +are necessarily arbitrary, and whose powers +of evasion, explanation, and general tergiversation +are incredibly ingenious, and are almost +invariably employed in the interests of reaction. +I will now take the various points in order.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(1.) <i>The Inviolability of the Person.</i>—With +regard to this question, practically nothing has +been done. A Bill on the subject was introduced +by the Government during the third session of +the last Duma, but was rejected by the Duma +because it did not affect the root of the question. +Another Bill was introduced later, +but has not yet emerged into the region of +fact. The laws of the country on this point +<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>are brief and explicit. They guarantee to the subject +a slightly protracted form of <i>habeas corpus</i>, +and are summed up in twelve short clauses; +but if you buy the book containing these twelve +short clauses, you find they are followed by a +whole volume of amendments, explanations, and +rules relating to exceptional circumstances. +Practically, these exceptions deal for the greater +part with so-called political offences; but owing +to the ramifications of these manifold amendments, +both the central and the local authorities +can enlarge their conception of what constitutes a +political offence to almost any extent. The interpretation +becomes infinitely elastic; and thus it is +easy for people who have no more to do with politics +than the man in the moon to fall under the +suspicion of a political offence, and the life of +everyday people is reached and touched by the +ramifications of exceptional clauses made to a clear +law, which was originally passed in order to deal +with cases germane to one exceptional matter, and +which could only therefore affect a small minority.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Again, all the ordinary laws of the country +can be suspended and overruled by the putting +into force of temporary regulations, which are +<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>introduced by the authorities as administrative +measures in districts which are, or are supposed +to be, disturbed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>These temporary measures are in reality minor +forms and shades of martial law. They consist +of what are called the state of “Reinforced +Protection,” and the state of “Extraordinary +Protection.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Both these exception “states” may be proclaimed +by the Ministry of the Interior, after a +resolution of the Cabinet Council, which must be +confirmed by the Emperor.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Under the state of “Reinforced Protection,” +governors-general, governors, and city prefects +have the right of inflicting punishment for the +infringement of any rules they may issue by a +fine not exceeding 500 roubles (£50), or by a +term of imprisonment not exceeding three months, +without trial. They have also, among other things, +the right of prohibiting public or private meetings, +of shutting commercial establishments, of prohibiting +the residence of any person in a given district.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Under the state of “Extraordinary Protection” +their powers are enlarged. For instance, +a special police can be created, and certain +<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>offences can be removed from the jurisdiction of +ordinary courts of law and can be tried by +courts-martial; newspapers and periodicals can +be suspended, and schools can be closed for a +period not exceeding one month. The state of +“Reinforced Protection” is still in force at this +moment in many parts of Russia, and although +one reads from time to time in the newspaper that +it has been removed from such and such a place, +it often happens that it is merely the name which +has been abolished. The governor will often continue +to exercise rights which are supposed to +apply solely to exceptional circumstances.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Further, these “States of Protection” are +often left in force in places where there is not, +and has not been for a reasonable time, a shadow +of disturbance.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(2.) <i>Freedom of Conscience.</i>—A law whose +sole object was religious tolerance was passed a +few years ago. Theoretically freedom of conscience +is supposed to exist. Practically, it +exists only very partially. If there are fifty +members of any religious denomination in any +place in Russia, they are supposed to be allowed +to build a church, where they can worship as they +<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>please. But there is a clause in this law forbidding +propaganda; and lately the interpretation +of this clause has become more and more elastic, +and in virtue of it technical objections are raised +showing that Catholic or Uniate, or other unorthodox +societies, are not in order, and their +churches are consequently closed. Sometimes +technical objections of another nature are +found to meet the case. A case in point +is that of the Catholic Uniates who were +allowed by P. A. Stolypin to have a church in +St. Petersburg. That church has now been +closed by the Minister of the Interior, Maklakov, +on the grounds that the church building does +not fulfil the technical conditions obligatory +to buildings where public meetings are held. +Nothing could be more typical. The tendency +during the last three years has been to take away +by means of technical objections, or under the +pretence of having discovered traces of propaganda, +the larger liberties that were given. And +this again irritates all those whom it may concern. +As soon as any religious sect is suspected +of opening rivalry to the Orthodox Church, +some means or other is immediately found for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>prohibiting it. The Salvation Army are not +allowed in Russia. Such things being the case, +it would be absurd to say that liberty of conscience +exists in Russia; on the other hand, it +exists in larger measure than it used to.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(3.) <i>Freedom of the Press.</i>—Broadly speaking, +the Press is free in Russia at present, and this is +perhaps the greatest asset which resulted from +the revolutionary movement. Before 1905, there +existed what in practice, although not in theory, +was called “Previous Censure”—that is to say, +representatives of the censorship used to visit +the newspaper offices and censor the newspapers +at their own sweet will. At present people can +write what they choose in the newspapers, but +the administration has the right to inflict a fine +not exceeding 500 roubles (£50) on a newspaper +(<i>a</i>) for publishing false news concerning the +Government; and (<i>b</i>) for inciting the populace +to rise against the Government; and in the case +of “Extraordinary Protection,” newspapers, as +we have seen, can be stopped altogether.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The effect of this regulation is felt far more in +the provinces than in the large cities, for it +stands to reason that a small newspaper with a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>narrow circulation will be more sensitive to such +a fine than a large newspaper with an enormous +circulation, to which it will be no more than a +flea-bite. Moreover, the regulation is applied +more often and more indiscriminately in the +provinces than in the large cities.</p> + +<p class='c007'>For instance, the Moscow newspaper, the +<cite>Russkoe Slovo</cite>, which I believe has the largest +circulation of any Russian newspaper, published +on November 7, 1913, the following schedule +of the fines imposed on newspapers for comments +on the Beiliss trial up to date:—</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr><th class='c015' colspan='2'><i>October 24 (November 7, N.S.).</i></th></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Pamphlets confiscated</td> + <td class='c011'>1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Newspapers fined</td> + <td class='c011'>1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Total fines, 200 roubles (about £20).</td> + <td class='c011'> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'> </td> + <td class='c011'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><th class='c015' colspan='2'><i>Total for 30 days of the Beiliss Case.</i></th></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Editors arrested</td> + <td class='c011'>6</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Editors summoned</td> + <td class='c011'>6</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Newspapers confiscated</td> + <td class='c011'>27</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Pamphlets confiscated</td> + <td class='c011'>6</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Newspapers closed</td> + <td class='c011'>3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>Newspapers fined</td> + <td class='c011'>42</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c016' colspan='2'>Total of fines (up to date) 12,750 roubles (about £1,275).</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>A similar schedule, with its daily total of fines, +appeared every day during the ritual murder +trial.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It will be seen that the fines, when added up, +do not amount to a very considerable sum, but a +succession of such fines, not large in themselves, +can end by doing damage to a small provincial +paper. In any case they exercise an irritating +effect.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Here again the question of interpretation +plays an important part.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Almost anything can be interpreted as coming +under the head of “false news concerning the +Government,” and it is often easy to catch a +newspaper out of a technical inaccuracy, although +the statement made may in its substance +be true.</p> + +<p class='c007'>For instance, if in a schedule such as that I +have quoted it were stated that the editor of +such and such a provincial newspaper had been +arrested, and supposing the fact were true; but +supposing also he had been subsequently released, +and the news of his release had not +reached the newspaper which published the news +of his arrest, the newspaper would be fined for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>spreading false news with regard to the action +of the Government.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Supposing, again, a regulation in a provincial +district had been infringed by an official, and +the news of the infringement were published in +a newspaper; if the newspaper made a mistake +with regard to the exact rank of the official in +question, it would be fined for spreading false +news.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Newspapers that copy news from other newspapers +which come under the ban of “false +news” are likewise liable to be fined.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This state of things, although it leaves the +richer newspapers indifferent, exasperates the +great mass of the journalistic world beyond +measure.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(4.) <i>The right of holding Public Meetings.</i>—Public +meetings are allowed, theoretically, under +certain conditions. In the first place, in order to +hold a meeting you must apply for permission +to the local governor, and state the object of +the meeting. If the local governor refuses, +you must give up the idea.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Secondly, a member of the police must be +present at any meeting, who shall have the right +<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>of putting a stop to the proceedings if he thinks +the speakers are showing signs of an anti-governmental +tendency.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The police have in the last few years continually +enlarged their conception of what can +be considered anti-governmental, so much so +that they often go to a meeting with the sole +purpose of stopping it, and seize the first pretext +of so doing, especially if it is a meeting of working +men. The net result of the policy is that +public meetings are rare, even at election times. +Even the programmes of concerts must be +sanctioned by the police.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(5.) <i>Associations and Societies.</i>—These had a +brief and flourishing existence immediately after +the publication of the Manifesto, during the +administration of Count Witte and the session of +the first Duma; since then they have practically +ceased to exist. They are entirely subject to +Government control, and have been controlled +out of all existence.</p> + +<p class='c007'>These five clauses which I have just analyzed, +if they were carried out in practice, would confer +on the Russian citizen complete rights of citizenship—in +a word, political liberty. As it is, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>they are either not carried out at all, or in so far +as they are carried out they operate in virtue +of temporary regulations which are (<i>a</i>) liable to +constant amendment; (<i>b</i>) at the mercy of the +interpretation of local officials.</p> + +<p class='c007'>So, if the attitude of the Government towards +the Duma is one great cause of discontent, the +nature and the tendency of local administration +is another.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The local administration is bad in itself, and +has the effect of exasperating the people.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One of the reasons why this is so, is the necessity +which the local officials feel themselves to be +under of keeping up their prestige, and the +prestige of the Central Government. The result +of the policy of “Order first; Reform afterwards,” +as it filtered through the various branches of +administration throughout the country, is that +the greatest crime in the eyes of the administration +is criticism—criticism of any kind—because +the slightest breath of criticism is held to +be subversive and detrimental to the prestige +of Government; and in the eyes of the officials, +the Government must be upheld at all +costs.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>In the country, in the provinces and districts, +at the present day in Russia, the illegality +practised by Government officials is more flagrant +than it was before 1905, because before 1905 +illegality came from above, and from above only, +and the local Government officials did not dare +to infringe their obligations, but now the illegality +is decentralized, and disseminated throughout +the complicated network of administration. And +since any kind of criticism is looked upon as a +crime, those who are guilty of it, or are suspected +of being guilty of it, are liable to meet +with every kind of small restriction, check, and +annoyance, and hence the life of the people +is interfered with, and discontent is engendered.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nowhere is this clearer than in the part played +by the secret police.</p> + +<p class='c007'>We have said that criticism is regarded as a +crime, and as an attack on the prestige of Government, +but the reason of this is that criticism of +governmental methods or officials is regarded +as being synonymous with sympathy with the +revolutionaries, and the ideas of the extreme +parties, and this wide definition of criticism +<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>includes religious propaganda, the spreading +of false news, and all anti-governmental speech +or action. All these things are regarded as denoting +sympathy with revolution, and revolution +in its extreme form.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is the view of the administration as a +whole, and the view is strongly reflected in the +action of the secret police, which exists all over +the country; and the business of the secret +police is, if not to spread discontent, to make it +appear far more formidable than it is; to make +it appear active where in reality it is only passive, +otherwise there would be no reason why a large +part of the secret police should exist at all.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In order to check and keep an eye on the +revolutionary movement, whose existence the +administration suspects everywhere, a wholesale +system of espionage, of secret reports, of private +denunciation, exists. The administration employs +a quantity of people who are paid to +“sneak” of what is going on in various quarters. +Now the step from the office of spy to that of +<i>agent provocateur</i> is an easy one. It is obvious +that a spy who wishes for further information +about people who are thought to be revolutionaries +<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>will obtain that information more easily +if he pretends to be a revolutionary himself. +So the spy easily degenerates into the <i>agent +provocateur</i>, and the people, knowing that spies +and <i>agents provocateurs</i> exist in their midst, feel +they are never safe. And this feeling that you +are never safe, whoever you are, or wherever +you are (for a report may be at any moment +being concocted about you, in the very <i>milieu</i> +where you live), gives a constantly increasing +stimulus to discontent. It is not so much the +things that happen, but the feeling that something +may happen, that nobody is safe, which +prevents discontent from dying out. Here, as +in other respects, the life of the people is +interfered with, and the people are exasperated.</p> + +<p class='c007'>All that I have written so far applies to Russia +proper, but it is applicable in a higher degree +to the Ukraines, to Poland, the Caucasus, the +Baltic provinces, and to Finland.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In these provinces the arbitrary nature of +local administration and the illegality practised +by Government officials is felt more strongly +still than in Russia. Consequently, in all these +<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>outlying dominions, there prevails a greater or a +lesser degree of discontent. And this discontent +is further increased by the policy of the Central +Government towards these dominions; for the +Government <i><span lang="fr">vis-à-vis</span></i> of the Duma makes +capital out of the question of these different +nationalities, and places in the foreground questions +of legislation which concern them. They +are used as a political weapon, as a spring-board +for nationalist theory and practice, and as a +means for shelving measures of reform, which +deal with Russia proper. This not only exasperates +these various nationalities to a high +degree, but it also exasperates those Russians +who wish to see the reforms that were promised +realized in their own country.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Finally, the question arises, “Why is this +so?” What prevents Russia from being quietly +governed according to the comprehensive laws +that already exist in its code, and according to +the admirable and perspicuous principles of its +political constitution? and further, what prevents +the Government from fulfilling those +promises made, which are as yet unfulfilled, +and from putting into practice reforms which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>the majority of thinking people in Russia agree +are indispensable?</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to give a +satisfactory and categorical answer to these +questions.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Political Liberals in Russia would probably +answer that the old <i>régime</i> which was scotched +but not killed in 1905 is gradually recovering +strength, and is simply fighting for its existence: +that it is a case of self-preservation. On the +other hand, there are Independent Conservatives +and Independent Radicals who would tell you +that what is needful in Russia is a strong executive, +a drastic and courageous dictator, who +would be strong enough to hew down the impediments, +and cart away the rubbish, and govern +Russia according to its ancient traditions; that +this is the only form of government which has +ever been successful in Russia, but that no such +man of action is forthcoming at present. Others, +more sceptically inclined, would probably remind +you that every country has the government it +deserves; and that if political liberty in Russia +does not exist, it is owing to the fundamental +tendency of the Russian character towards indiscipline, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>and that since every Russian is more or +less undisciplined, it is impossible for them to +expect that their Government will be anything +but arbitrary.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One thing is certain, the drawbacks, the restraint, +the impediments, the danger of criticism, +the checks on free speech, on free worship, and +other forms of freedom, to which I have alluded, +naturally touch the educated part of the population +more nearly than they do the great mass—the +majority, the peasants—who at this moment +are better off economically than they have ever +been before; and consequently, even if they +are discontented, it stands to reason that in the +present circumstances it would need a powerful +stimulus to increase their discontent to breaking +point.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And what is true about the peasants is true, +to a certain extent, about the remainder of the +population.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The population on the whole are prosperous +at the present moment, and their grievances are +neither sharp nor strong enough, nor sufficiently +abundant, to make the temperature of their +discontent rise to boiling point. When the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>discontent which now exists becomes sufficiently +widely and deeply felt to stir the average man to +sympathy with action, and the abnormal man +to violent action, then there may be an outbreak, +unless it be anticipated by timely measures +of reform, and the causes of discontent be +removed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At present nothing is being done by the +Central Government or the local administration +in this direction. At the present moment the +local administration is making capital out of +the fear of a revolution and a revolutionary +movement, of whose existence there is little or +no evidence, and infecting the central administration +with this fear. Both the local and the +central administration are constantly taking +steps and issuing minor repressive measures to +counteract a danger which, in the opinion of +most people, exists only in the imagination of +detectives; but if this policy continues, it is +more than probable that the administrative +powers will in time succeed in transforming the +danger from an imaginary one into a real one, or +rather, they will create the very danger they are +afraid of; and the next revolution in Russia +<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>will be the offspring of the fears of the administration—of +a bogey.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The last revolutionary movement in Russia +had a destructive and demoralizing effect on the +population; it produced a wave of hooliganism +among the lower classes, and a current of anarchical +thought and conduct in the educated +classes. It also had a demoralizing effect on the +minor officials and public servants; but whereas +in the great majority of the uneducated and +educated public the balance of equilibrium was +automatically restored, owing to the necessities +of everyday life and a natural reaction towards +common sense, this demoralization had a more +lasting effect on the officials, who once having +been used to meet exceptional circumstances +and lawless acts by arbitrary means and illegal +measures, found it difficult to divest themselves +of the habit. And the lower the rung of the +official ladder the more apparent the demoralization +becomes.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Now, it is the small officials who are more +intimately in touch with the population. Consequently +the effect of their action is being continually +felt, and the effect is bad. And until +<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>something is done from above to remedy this +state of things, the smouldering embers of discontent, +as I have already said, will never have +a chance of growing cold, and may ultimately +burst out in a fire of alarming proportions.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER VI.<br> <span class='c005'>THE AVERAGE RUSSIAN.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>The great danger in studying Russian life is to +pay so much importance to the trees that +the wood escapes notice. The temptation to do +so where Russia is concerned is all the greater +owing to the interest of individual trees; and +by individual trees I mean not only individuals, +but phases, tendencies, currents of thought, particular +types, and political parties. Such types, or +schools of thought, or political groups, although +often of great interest in themselves, are rarely +representative of the average tendency; and +yet by foreigners it is often taken for granted +that they are not only typical of the whole, but +that nothing else beside them exists.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There was a time when Russia was supposed to +consist entirely of Nihilists and policemen; at a +later period social revolutionaries took the part +<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>of Nihilists, and the <i>agent provocateur</i> played the +chief part in the opposing camp, in the general +view one obtained from the foreign press.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This general view was, of course, founded on +fact. At one period Nihilists did exist, did +conspire, and did blow up.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As for social revolutionaries, they existed in +great quantities, and the <i>agents provocateurs</i>, too, +became so numerous that it was scarcely worth +while to be a social revolutionary. These groups +are historically and psychologically worthy of +careful study, but they were never representative +of the average Russian, any more than the +Fabians or the militant suffragettes are representative +of the average Englishman and Englishwoman.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Then again, you get the interesting types +created by the masters of literature. You get +Dostoievsky’s neurasthenic murderer, Raskolnikov; +his frigid and calculating political intriguer, +Verkhovensky; his undisciplined and centrifugal +Dimitri Karamazov. You get Turgeniev’s intellectual +and uncompromising Bazarov; his enthusiastic +sponger and <i>génie sans portefeuille</i>, +Rudin; Tolstoy’s Levin, Gorki’s anarchical proletarian. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>And all these characters are each of +them more interesting than the other, and all +of them reveal qualities that are Russian and +nothing but Russian. But none of them is the +average Russian, because the man of genius, when +he creates a type such as <i>Lear</i> or <i>Faust</i>, is not +endeavouring to portray the average man, but +is making a synthesis of the human soul; so +that every human being can see something of +himself in the mirror of the poet’s creation. But +that creation is larger and wider than nature; +and so far from being confined to the characteristics +of the average man, contains within itself +all the possibilities and capabilities and passions +of the human soul—all the strings of the instrument, +its whole gamut, its complete range of +expression.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And the creations of a Russian novelist such +as Dostoievsky afford us a synthesis of the +Russian soul, in its profoundest depths, in +its sorest spots, at its widest extremes, at its +highest pitch of rapture or despair. The result is +that they are no more portraits of the average +Russian than <i>Lear</i> is a portrait of the average +Englishman; and yet they are profoundly Russian, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>just as <i>Lear</i> is profoundly English, and +<i>Faust</i> is profoundly German—although <i>Faust</i> is +hardly a typical portrait of the ordinary German +bourgeois.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One of the results which the genius of Russian +novelists has had on foreign opinion is to create +a general impression that Russia is a country of +“inspissated gloom,” because the greater number +of the Russian novelists and poets deal with +tragic themes, and their characters are painted +in sombre colours.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is nothing very strange about this. +Happy individuals, like happy countries, have no +history; and if you want to write drama, and +especially tragic drama, the domestic affairs of +<cite>Œdipus Rex</cite> or <cite>Othello</cite> obviously offer more fruitful +material to the dramatist than the domestic +affairs of Darby and Joan or of Philemon and +Baucis. Even if the writer’s aim is comedy, +he will probably choose themes and material +which give occasion for merciless satire or extravagant +mirth, and create characters which on +the comic side are as far above or below the +average as those of the poets on the tragic side. +<i>Falstaff</i> is just as extraordinary a character as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span><i>Hamlet</i>, and <i>Sam Weller</i> is just as exceptional +as Napoleon; yet <i>Sam Weller</i>, again, is profoundly +English.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In Russia, just as in other countries, the +cheerful side of life is reflected in literature, and +the average man plays a part also—only that +branch of Russian literature is less well known. +Gogol, for instance, has created innumerable +comic types; and Pushkin has, in his masterpiece, +<i>Evgenie Oniegin</i>, drawn a masterly portrait +of an average type, and more especially +in Tatiana he has given us a lifelike portrait of +the soul of the Russian woman, which is a radiant +soul. But Gogol is less well known abroad than +Turgeniev; and Pushkin’s work being written +in verse, suffers badly from inadequacy—or, +rather, impossibility—of translation.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The net result is that the impression the outside +reader obtains from such Russian literature +as is available to him is that Russia is a gloomy +country, and that the Russian people are steeped +in a cloud of permanent melancholy. And yet +the first thing that strikes you when you go to +Russia is the cheerfulness<a id='r11'></a><a href='#f11' class='c014'><sup>[11]</sup></a> of the people and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>the good humour of the average man. Not +long ago, <i>apropos</i> of an article on Dostoievsky’s +<cite>Idiot</cite>, a well-known Russian artist wrote to +<cite>The Times</cite>, saying that you might just as +well judge the English people by <cite>The City of +Dreadful Night</cite> as the Russian people by Dostoievsky’s +characters. The writer of the article +explained, in answer, that he was not judging +the Russian people at all, but only the faith of +Dostoievsky. And although I think the writer’s +purpose was plain, and that he achieved it +admirably, nevertheless the Russian artist’s +complaint, if it did not apply to the writer of +that article, was a wholesome reminder to the +public in general that the creations of Dostoievsky +are creations of genius, and creations of tragic +genius profoundly Russian, but dealing almost +exclusively with the tragic adventures of the +soul (which is, after all, the business of tragedy), +and leaving out its sunnier experiences. As +the Russian artist pointed out, there is another +side to the medal of Russian life, and not +only a bright side, but an unusually bright side—the +<i>svietlaya duscha</i>, the radiant soul of which +the Russian poet speaks, whose radiance, in my +<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>opinion, is nowhere plainer than in Dostoievsky’s +novels, in spite of, and sometimes even because +of, the encircling gloom.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It stands to reason that, if all Russians were +as melancholy as they are depicted as being in +many Russian novels and plays written by men +of genius, the great majority of the Russian +nation would have cut their throats a long time +ago.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is evident that there must be a great deal of +cheerfulness, humour, and joy to counterbalance +the gloom, the anguish, and the melancholy which +is so vividly and so poignantly described by so +many Russian authors, or else life would not +go on.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is just what is the case. The Russian +goes easily to extremes: he is not, as a rule, fond +of half measures; so that when he is melancholy, +his melancholy takes an extreme form. +He is fond of going the whole hog; and if he +is inclined to neurasthenia and hysteria, he will +give full scope to his fancy in that direction: +he will be not uninclined to say with Baudelaire, +“<i>J’ai cultivé mon hystérie avec jouissance et +terreur.</i>”</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>But the average Russian is, perhaps, little +more inclined to neurasthenia than the average +Englishman. The average Russian is well educated, +cheerful, sociable, intensely gregarious, +hospitable, talkative, expansive, good-humoured, +and good-natured. You hear often in Russia +the phrase <i>shirokaya natura</i> applied to the Russian +temperament—a large nature. It means +that the Russian temperament is generous, unstinted, +democratic, and kind. Good-heartedness, +and sometimes great-heartedness, is the +great asset of the average Russian. He is the +most tolerant of human beings. He is preeminently +indulgent, and extends to the faults +and failings of his neighbours the same indulgence +which he knows his own faults and failings +will receive at his neighbour’s hands. His +lack of hypocrisy, and the manner in which he +will speak of his own shortcomings and deficiencies, +will sometimes strike the foreigner as +being the quintessence of cynicism.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One of the most contented Russians I ever met +was a man who had got the post of assistant +ticket-collector on a small railway line. His +duty was to check the ticket collector. This man +<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>had once upon a time been enormously rich. +He had possessed estates, where he entertained +his friends on a large scale, and provided them +with every kind of amusement in the way of +sport. Besides this, he had a private theatre of +his own and a private orchestra. He spent all +his money in this way, until there was none left, +and he was obliged to accept what post he could +get. But as an insignificant public servant on +the railway line he was just as cheerful as ever; +he said that he had just as much fun. “I used +to drink champagne,” he explained, “now I +drink vodka; the result is the same in the long run. +I used to have a lot of money. I’ve spent +it; money is meant to spend. What is the good +of keeping or hoarding it? One can’t take it +with one when one dies.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>This man had a <i>shirokaya natura</i>—a large and +generous temperament. There was no trace of +neurasthenia observable in his character. Stinginess +is a quality which is rare in Russia. Thrift +and economy are not among those virtues which +are commonest there. On the other hand, +broadness of mind and largeness of heart are +virtues which are among the commonest.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>After Count Tolstoy died a posthumous play +of his was published, called <cite>The Living Corpse</cite>. +The subject of the play was a story that happened +in real life, taken straight from the newspaper, +with the names and the <i>milieu</i> changed, +and it struck me, when I read it and saw it +acted, as being typical of Russian life—a story +which could only happen in Russia. It is perhaps +worth while retelling it here, as it throws +more light on the subject than pages of argument.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The story is as follows. Liza Protasova leaves +her husband Feodor, whom she had loved, because +he is</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c013'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“A little slovenly in dress,</div> + <div class='line'>A trifle prone to drunkenness.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>Not a bad man, but weak, extravagant, and +given to periodic outbreaks, when he spends the +night listening to gipsies singing, and drinking +champagne. You must know Russia to understand +what listening to gipsies means, and you +must be well inoculated with gipsy music before +you understand the tyrannical spell of it. It is +in a lesser degree like smoking opium.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Apart from these more or less venial failings, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>Feodor, as I have said, is not a bad man, nor is +he even an unfaithful husband. Nevertheless, +his wife, after one of these periodic outbursts, +leaves him and returns to her mother, who thoroughly +approves of such a course. But no sooner +has Liza taken this step than she repents herself +of it, and she sends Feodor a message by one +Karenin asking him to come back to her. Karenin +is an honest prig and a bore. He is also +in love with Liza. He executes the commission; +but Feodor is listening to the gipsies, and especially +to one of them called Masha, and he refuses +to go back.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Weeks go by, and then months. Karenin +loves Liza; Liza loves Karenin. Masha loves +Feodor. Liza’s mother wishes her daughter to +be divorced and to marry Karenin. An embassy +with this proposal is dispatched to Feodor. +But according to the Russian law in such a case, +in order to get a divorce when a wife has left +her husband because she no longer wishes to be +his wife, the husband must take the guilt on +himself. He must declare himself a guilty, unfaithful +husband; and if he is not one, he must +concoct sham evidence to show that he is, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>swear to it. This Feodor refuses to do, because +he is not guilty; he has not been unfaithful. +He says, “I have been a bad husband, I am a +worthless man; but there are things which I +cannot do, and one of them is quietly to tell the +necessary lies in order to make this divorce +possible.” He seeks another solution. He finds +a simple one—suicide. But when the revolver +is at his temple he hesitates, in an agony; and +at that moment Masha the gipsy intervenes, +sees what is happening, and suggests another +solution—that he should let the world think he +had killed himself, and in reality escape with +her into the limbo of the disclassed, leaving his +wife free to marry Karenin. He does this. He +writes a letter to his wife, saying that he is +about to kill himself; he leaves his clothes by +the river. The plan succeeds; by chance a +corpse is found. Liza says it is that of her +husband (and it is no use saying that this is +improbable, because it all happened). Feodor +and Masha disappear, and Karenin marries Liza. +All is for the best, for them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Feodor sinks deeper into the mud; and one +fine day, when he is telling his story to a friend +<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>in a squalid tavern, he is overheard by a kind +of tramp, who, quick to see the possible profit +arising out of such a situation, suggests to Feodor +a scheme of joint blackmail—that they should +blackmail Liza. Feodor tells him to go to what +I see now is prettily called “the underground +world”; and the tramp, in a rage, calls a policeman +and gives Feodor in charge for bigamy. +But not only is Feodor had up for bigamy, +but his wife and Karenin also: they are +charged with conspiracy—if that be the right +term—for having been privy to the scheme, +and for having paid Feodor to get out of the +way and to become a “living corpse.” The +maximum penalty of the law for bigamy is +exile to Siberia; the minimum what is called +“Church contrition.” But in any case the second +marriage is cancelled, and if Karenin, Feodor, +and Liza were acquitted of conspiracy, Liza and +Feodor would nevertheless be bound to resume +their interrupted married life. The lawyers do +not believe a word of the true story as it is told +by the witnesses; and Feodor, to prevent Liza +from being bound to him once more, commits +suicide in the corridor of the law courts during +<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>the trial. That is the story, and such are the +facts—such as they actually happened in real +life.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In this story Feodor, both in his faults and in +his good qualities, is intensely typical of the +Russian character.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This story illustrates the melancholy side of +Russian life. To convince yourself of the cheerful +side of the Russian character, you have only +to look at any regiment of Russian soldiers +marching through a street and singing as they +march. It is the melancholy note of Russian +music that is best known abroad. But cheerful +songs and choruses exist in great abundance, and +if you listen to the people in villages singing +in the summer night, it is nearly always a cheerful +song that you will hear to the accompaniment +of the accordion; and often the songs are not +only cheerful but irresistible in their lilt. The +sense of rhythm of some of the village singers, +and especially of the accompanists, whether +they play the accordion or the three-stringed +guitar, the <i>balalaika</i>, is sure, masterly, and +astounding. The accompanist follows the singer +with an infinite diversity in unity, and while +<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>varying all the time, and introducing fantastic +changes and daring improvisations, he never +loses hold of the main trend of the subject, of +the fundamental rhythm: he varies with invariable +law.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Such music is infectious and captivating. It +would inspire the lame to dance and the dead to +walk. It is untiring. It seems to be able to go +on and on for ever without pause or hesitation, +and to reveal a fresh energy and to draw a new +supply of strength with every new verse.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The average Russian is not only fond of music—he +likes noise. Formerly in the restaurants +there used to be large barrel organs or orchestrons. +Now in the smarter restaurants there are bands +of stringed instruments, and in the eating-houses +of the poor, gramophones. Indeed, the popularity +of gramophones in Russia is extraordinary. +A love of gramophones is surely the sign of a +cheerful temperament.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The amusement which the Russian is fondest +of when he wants to have a really good time is +to go and listen to gipsies. The entertainment +is worth describing, as it is the unique property +of Russia, and is the one thing you can almost +<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>be sure the average Russian will understand, +just as you will be sure the average Englishman +will understand a sporting contest or a music-hall +comic turn.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Looked at from the outside, as you see it, for +instance, on the stage in Tolstoy’s play, this is +what you see. A private room in a restaurant. +It is rather dingy. In the corner there is a battered +piano, much the worse for wear. On the walls, +looking-glasses. At one end of the room a plush +sofa. In front of it a table, champagne bottles, +and glasses.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The spectators sit on the sofa. In front of +them, occupying the whole of the other side of +the room, is the chorus of gipsies. The gipsies +are not raggle-taggle people in shabby and gorgeous +clothes. They are a chorus of men and +women in ordinary dress, who, though swarthy +in complexion, look like the audience in the +upper circle at a Queen’s Hall concert.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The gipsies show signs of the boredom and +fatigue common to professionals engaged in the +performance of their professional duties. They +yawn. One of them has got a toothache and a +swollen face. They carry on an undercurrent of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>irrelevant conversation amongst themselves, while +they automatically sing. The outsider will notice +the mechanical side of the gaiety and the poetry +they are paid to evoke. The candles on the table +are guttering, and through the windows of the +cheerless private room the cold dawn pierces, +or the bright sun streams, as the case may be.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But those who are of the feast, and in it, +notice none of these things. They are there for +glamour, and they have got it. Oblivious of +every sordid detail, and of all the mechanism, +they are aware only of the poetry, the romance, +and the passion evoked by a wailing concord of +piercing, discordant sounds which play on the +nerves like a bow upon strings.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The chorus sit in a semicircle, a man with a +guitar stands up and leads the chorus, his guitar +and his body swaying to the rhythm. A woman +takes a solo part. The chorus rises into a wail as +loud and as fierce as the howling of a pack of +wolves, and then dies away in an unsatisfied sigh.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The first time you hear this monotonous and +exasperating music you may think it disagreeable; +but the moment you are bitten by the +music and infected with it, the sensation is rather +<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>like this: first you tremble all over as with a +fever; then you are aware that the fever is +pleasant. Then you forget all this: you are +far away amid white dawns and sleepless midnights, +and when you are brought back to reality, +you demand—you insist on—one more glimpse +of that sweet and bitter, that discordant and +melodious, fairyland.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The gipsy music certainly has the quality of +growing on you. It intoxicates some people. +They are bitten by it to such an extent that +they crave for it, as for a drug. They cannot +do without it. Others are invincibly bored. +But to the average Russian, to go and listen to +gipsies, when you wish to enjoy yourself especially, +is a common custom, and an expensive custom, +so that, as a rule, people club together when they +wish to treat themselves to this luxury.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The expense is part of the fun. If the average +Russian wants to celebrate a feast of any kind +he wishes to add to the festivity the spice of +recklessness which the feeling that he is spending +more than he can afford will give him. And if +on such occasions he falls into the spending mood, +he will spend recklessly.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>He is generous, and, as a rule, careless about +money. An enormous amount of borrowing is +constantly going on. A asks B to lend him a +hundred roubles. B complies at once, although +he hasn’t got it, and borrows it from C. Laxity +in money matters, which is fairly common, is +probably in some degree the result of the widespread +administrative venality in the past, +which was in its turn the inevitable fruit of +long years of unchecked bureaucracy in a large +country. At the height of the old <i>régime</i> venality +was in Russia a natural corrective to the narrowness +or severity of regulations. Toleration was +obtained by bribery. The schismatics, or the +Jews, or any class which suffered from administrative +disabilities, got round them by bribery. +Again, when you have a bureaucracy on a very +large scale, a great number of the minor public +servants cannot possibly live on their wages: +they will be certain to supplement their insufficient +incomes by exacting and receiving bribes. +Administrative corruption was at one time practically +universal in Russia. It has received +much more than a considerable check since the +creation of the Duma and the increased liberty +<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>of the Press, since in the Duma questions can +be asked, and transactions can be brought to +the public notice which in the old days were +securely screened from all possible investigation +or inquiry.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The average Russian was probably not more +venal than the average native of any other +country. Some of the causes of his venality +were common to the human race, and were such +as produce venality in any time and in any +country; and chief amongst these is the one I +have already mentioned—the underpayment of +the public servant. Another cause of corruption +was the irresponsibility of officials. Until the +Duma was made, public officials were, as a rule, +immune from the law which in theory laid down +severe penalties against all abuse of authority +and all illegalities committed by officials in the +performance of their public duties. All this has +changed in the last ten years, and is changing +still; there is infinitely less administrative corruption +than there was. The average middle-aged +Russian of to-day was brought up in an +atmosphere in which the public revenue was regarded +as a fair game for exploitation, and those +<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>who cheated the State, or made money by bribery +or any illicit means of any kind, were treated +with the utmost tolerance.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In spite of this, the average Russian is not +one whit more dishonest or immoral than his +fellow-creatures in neighbouring countries. But +if he is dishonest, his failing will be far more +noticeable than that of the dishonest in other +countries: firstly, because he will take infinitely +less pains, or no pains at all, to conceal it; he +will not hide it under a veneer of hypocrisy—he +will wear it on his sleeve; secondly, because +he is fundamentally good-natured, and his good +nature varies from heights of Christian charity +on the one hand, to depths of complete moral +laxity on the other. On the one hand you have +Dostoievsky’s utterly disinterested Mwyskin, and +on the other hand Gogol’s completely venal +Khlestyakov. The average Russian will probably +have a dose of both qualities.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The average Russian is, above all things, a +sociable being, who is fond of eating good solid +food and drinking vodka, and who is averse to +strenuous mental or physical exertion. This +does not mean that you will not find any amount +<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>of hard workers in Russia; but I am talking of +the average man. And it is just the average +man, <i>Monsieur Tout-le-Monde</i>, the man in the +street, who is left out of the discussion when +people think, talk, or write of Russia. The intellectuals +are discussed, the Nihilists, the Socialists, +the revolutionaries, the extreme reactionaries, +the man of genius, the criminal, the martyr, +the hero, the scoundrel, the æsthete. But the +average Russian is, as a rule, neither a hero, +a genius, a scoundrel, nor an æsthete. But he +is in the long run the man who counts. It is +with his sanction and co-operation alone that +any great change has been made in Russian +history. At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese +war, he, the man in the street, was mildly in +favour of it. After the initial reverses he was +angrily in favour of it. After several months +he was angrily against it, and his anger was +directed against the Government. So much so, +that the Government was compelled to take +active steps, and to promise tangible reform. +The climax of the hostility of public opinion +happened when the whole country went on +strike in the autumn of 1905. Then, for one +<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>moment, the whole of Russia was in agreement, +and public opinion was consequently irresistible. +Later on, when political parties were formed, +public opinion was no longer at one, and weakness +began to set in.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Finally, when the constitutional and peaceable +reformers had succeeded in effecting nothing +beyond the creation of the Duma (which was +in itself an immense step), and the militant +reformers had merely achieved a series of sporadic +acts of terrorism, one result of which was +that the whole of the criminal classes followed +their example and adopted their methods for the +purposes of individual hooliganism—the average +Russian, the man in the street, was alienated +from the revolutionary movement, and no longer +gave it his support. Naturally enough, for his +pocket and his person were no longer safe. +The street became no place for a man. He +could no longer go for a walk in it without +the possibility of having his private purse +“expropriated.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Political theory had become a practical fact +with a vengeance so far as the criminal class were +concerned. And the political terrorists had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>taught the impartial burglar the use and convenience +of the Browning pistol, and had shown +him how easy it was to rob a bank by bluff or +dynamite. And as soon as the man in the street +condemned revolutionary methods in Russia, the +revolutionary movement came to an end. It +could not live without his inarticulate support, +without his active or passive sympathy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And what is the average man doing or thinking +now?</p> + +<p class='c007'>The answer to such a question must necessarily +depend on the exact moment at which it +is put. Had it been put in the summer of 1913—in +July, say—it would have been safe to say in +answer to this question, and in reviewing public +opinion during the last two years, that the average +Russian was consciously or unconsciously feeling +the effects of the increased and ever increasing +prosperity of the country; that he was manifesting +indifference both towards internal and foreign +politics; that he was making and spending +money, and falling into a lethargy of prosperous +materialism. But the autumn of 1913 has +already shown how rash it would have been to +make any such definite statement, without qualification, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>and without leaving a door open upon +fresh possibilities.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In spite of the increasing prosperity of the +country—in spite of the rapid strides that education +is making—seeds of discontent, which so +far from being removed from above have been +watered from above, have lately been making +themselves manifest. And if it is too much—and +it is too much—to say that the average Russian +is as yet affected, it is at all events true that a +considerable section of the educated, political, +and commercial community, including many +men well known in the political world who had +hitherto supported the Government, are complaining +in no uncertain voice of the acts of the +administration.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There exist in Russia a great many antiquated +and useless things in the shape of legislative and +hampering regulations which need sweeping +away. If the local administration of the country +were universally excellent and competent, the +average man would not probably trouble his +head about them. But the local administration +of the country is neither excellent nor competent: +its acts are often perilously illegal. And +<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>it is difficult to see how it could be otherwise, +until the remains of the old <i>régime</i> are swept +away from above, and a new <i>régime</i> is inaugurated. +So far from anything being done in this +direction, the old <i>régime</i> is being bolstered up; +and so far from keeping their promises of reform, +the central administration has been busy +taking away, or limiting, what had already been +given. The result of this has been that the +Government has succeeded in exasperating a +large part of the educated portion of the community. +Discontent is being expressed. The +Government has succeeded in rousing at least +one section of the population from the lethargy +brought on by prosperity; and as soon as this +discontent has become sufficiently widespread, +and sufficiently strong and universal to cause +the man in the street not only to speak out, +but, if not to act, at least to sympathize with +action, then, unless some timely measures are +taken from above, it is possible that efforts may +be made from below to remove the causes of +discontent.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the meantime the man in the street is certainly +aware of the prevalence of discontent, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>and in many cases and places he is acutely +discontented himself. It would be idle to speculate +on what proportions his discontent will +reach, and what its effect will be either in the +immediate or the remote future. The future +will answer this question. But ultimately, +I think, it is safe to say that the achievement +of political liberty in Russia will depend +not on the dynamite and the death of revolutionaries +however self-sacrificing and however +ardent, nor on the measures of a statesman +however far-seeing and however wise, but on +the will and desire of the average man. On the +day the average man really desires political +liberty he will get it. So far, the only thing +he has desired and obtained is individual liberty—liberty +of thought, <i>liberté des mœurs</i>. In order +to obtain political liberty, he will no doubt have +to sacrifice a portion of the unbounded power he +now enjoys of doing exactly what he likes in the +sphere of personal conduct, because political +liberty implies personal discipline, or a certain +amount of personal discipline. Will the average +Russian make a sacrifice? That depends, perhaps, +on what store he will ultimately set on political +<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>life and political freedom; on how far indifference +will prevail; and also on the future policy and +quality of the local and central administration. +But in the long run the question as to whether +any efforts towards obtaining political liberty will +be successful or not, depends on the generation +which is growing up, and which is as yet an +unknown quantity. But whatever strange and +new fruits the coming generation may bring +forth, one thing is certain—no vital changes will +come about in Russian life without the conscious +or unconscious co-operation of the average man.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER VII.<br> <span class='c005'>THE LIBERAL PROFESSIONS.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>In Russia the representatives of the liberal professions—lawyers, +doctors, professors, literary +men, agricultural experts, statists, schoolmasters, +journalists—are denoted, as a rule, by the generic +term <i>intelligentsia</i>. The term is elastic, and its +use, as I know by experience, can easily lead to +the greatest misunderstandings; the reason of +this being that the word is sometimes used in a +broad sense, and sometimes in a narrow sense, +and sometimes in a still narrower sense. That +is to say, the word <i>intelligentsia</i> is sometimes +used by Russians to denote anybody who can +read or write, anybody who has received a certain +education. That is the broadest sense of +the word. In this, its largest sense, the word +means the whole of the middle class, from which +nine-tenths of the officials and public servants +are drawn.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>But when Russians use the word <i>intelligentsia</i>, +they generally mean the members of the liberal +professions, exclusive of officials.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Again, some Russians use the word <i>intelligentsia</i> +in a still narrower sense, in order to denote not a +class but a frame of mind; they use the word +as we use a phrase such as “Nonconformist conscience:” +and in this sense the member of the +<i>intelligentsia</i> could belong to any class, just as in +England a Liberal, a Nonconformist, or a vegetarian +could belong to any class. And it is the +use of the word in this narrower sense that leads +to misunderstanding. For if you describe or +speak of the attributes and the characteristics +of the <i>intelligentsia</i> in this narrower sense, you +run the risk of labelling the whole middle class +of Russia with characteristics which do not apply +to them; just as if in England the word Nonconformist +were used not only to denote the +Nonconformist sect, but the whole of the English +middle class.</p> + +<p class='c007'>So, before going further, it is well to make one’s +position quite clear. In using the term <i>intelligentsia</i> +in this chapter, I mean to denote, firstly, +the representatives of the liberal professions—lawyers, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>doctors, literary men, professors, schoolmasters, +students, journalists, statists, and agricultural +experts—the educated middle class, +the intellectuals; and, secondly, the semi-intellectuals +and the half-educated.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The intellectuals form, at the present moment +in Russia, a factor of great interest and of great +importance. They are largely represented by a +political party, called the Constitutional Democrats, +the Kadets, which played an important part +in the revolutionary movement. The whole mass +of the newspapers, both in the provinces and in +Moscow and St. Petersburg, with the exception of +some organs of a conservative and reactionary tendency, +are edited by the intellectuals among the +<i>intelligentsia</i>; and the ordinary staff of every newspaper, +who make the paper, are recruited from +the semi-intellectuals of the <i>intelligentsia</i>. It was +the <i>intelligentsia</i> which, in the struggle for liberation, +supplied the rank and file of the army, of +which the county councils were the spokesmen +and the leaders.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is, as Mr. Stephen Grahame, one of the +most competent of modern observers of modern +life in Russia, says, an articulate part of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span><i>intelligentsia</i>, which he calls the higher <i>intelligentsia</i>, +containing a great number of cultured +and educated people; and side by side with +this, there has sprung up lately a <i>bourgeoisie</i> +that calls itself <i>intelligentsia</i>—a lower middle +class, which takes to itself fifty per cent. of the +children born in the great towns to-day. Mr. +Grahame calls this the lower <i>intelligentsia</i>, and +stigmatizes this latter class in severe terms as +being materialistic and cynical.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I propose, then, to divide the middle class +into two divisions—the educated and the half-educated.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Ever since the revolutionary movement the +<i>intelligentsia</i> as a whole has come in for a large +measure of abuse, not only from its enemies, but +from members of its own class. It has for the +first time in its comparatively brief history, if +we except occasional indirect criticism, been subjected +to a fierce and systematic criticism from +the inside; the reason of this being that many +Russian thinkers are convinced that the course +of the revolutionary movement and the action of +the first two Dumas showed that politically the +Russian <i>intelligentsia</i> was immature, inexperienced, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>unfit for political leadership, incapable of +statesmanship, divorced in ideas and feelings +from the people, and incapable of heading a +popular movement. Some of these critics have +gone further, and have dwelt on the religious +indifferentism of the <i>intelligentsia</i> as a class as +the explanation of the inability of the <i>intelligentsia</i> +to act on the masses in Russia.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“The fact is,” M. Bulgakov writes in the +<cite>Russian Review</cite> of November 1912, “that educated +or especially half-educated Russian society +in its average representatives is almost without +exception atheistic, or, to put it more correctly, +indifferent to religion. A very superficial religious +indifferentism, expressed most naturally in +atheism, is met with on all sides, and everywhere +in the Russian <i>intelligentsia</i>. The various political +tendencies and parties among the <i>intelligentsia</i> +carry on violent disputes with regard to various +dogmas of sociological and political catechism, +but do not discuss the existence or non-existence +of God, or this or that religious belief. Here +there are no questions, for it is taken for granted +that there can be no talk of religion for the educated +man, because religion is incompatible with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>enlightenment.” He goes on to say that the +dogma that science has once and for all disposed +of religion altogether is assimilated early in life +by the “intelligent,” and in most cases is not +re-examined for the rest of his life. “In religion +the Russian <i>intelligentsia</i> shows a kind of +mental deficiency; on the average it is not +above but below ideas of religion, for it has +never properly experienced them.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>This being so, the critics of the <i>intelligentsia</i> +go on to say “that this lack of religion condemns +them to remain out of touch with the +people, for if they are divorced from the people +in that which the people hold most sacred, how +can they come close to them at all?”</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is nothing new in such criticism and +such strictures; nearly all outside observers of +Russia have said the same thing in the past. +What is new is the quarter whence the criticism +proceeds—namely, from the inside, from the +<i>intelligentsia</i> itself; and this signifies that a reaction, +or rather a revolt, is proceeding in some +quarters amidst this prevailing materialism and +this superficial indifferentism.</p> + +<p class='c007'>These are questions which are of great interest +<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>to the Russian reader. To the English reader, +who probably has not the slightest idea of the +nature of the ordinary member of the <i>intelligentsia</i>, +the question is probably less interesting.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Again, such critics, in writing for a Russian +audience or for an English audience more or less +acquainted with Russia, are not under the obligation +of qualifying their statements by pointing +out the good qualities and the merits of the +<i>intelligentsia</i>, because they know that their readers +are well aware of them, and will take them for +granted.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But as the English reader is unaware of their +qualities, either good or bad, it would be misleading +to dwell greatly on defects to those who +are unacquainted with the general atmosphere +and the main characteristics of the people under +discussion.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the first place, the members of the <i>intelligentsia</i> +are Russians. This fact, strangely enough, +seems often to be lost sight of by their opponents, +who talk of them as if they were made of some +totally different substance from the remaining +part of the Russian people. And if this is true +of the <i>intelligentsia</i>, it is still more true of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>official world. Writers, and especially English +writers, talk of Russian officials as if they too +were made of some different stuff—as if they +were a race apart which had nothing in common +with the rest of the Russian people. This is +not so. The <i>intelligentsia</i> and the officials are +Russians; and being Russians, they have certain +qualities and certain defects which are probably +common to all Russians, which are the natural +result of the Russian temperament. Where +they differ from the classes which are above +them or beneath them is in their education—or +rather in the effect which that education +has had upon them. The disease is the same; +it is the way of taking it which is different.</p> + +<p class='c007'>They are extremely well educated; infinitely, +incomparably better educated than the average +Englishman. They are sometimes over-educated. +The Russian mind assimilates with ease; +it apprehends with incredible quickness; it is +sensitive, receptive, plastic, agile. Such qualities +in the case of men who are naturally thoughtful, +studious, and serious, lead, of course, to a +wide and deep culture. But in the case of the +half-educated—in the case of people who quickly +<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>assimilate a smattering of the ideas that are in +the air all over Europe—the result is a radical +immaturity, something that is immature in its +very overripeness, something shallow, thin, and +superficial.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In spite of this, if you take the average Russian +of the educated middle class, he is extremely +well educated—so much better educated than the +average educated Englishman that comparison +would be silly. The average Scotsman would +compare favourably with him, and the average +German: only the Russian has a quicker, more +adaptable mind; and he is more inquisitive of +what is going on outside the walls of his country +than the average Frenchman.</p> + +<p class='c007'>If you took an average schoolboy of thirteen, +and put him at an English public school, he +would find the work given to an average English +schoolboy of thirteen not only easy, but +childish.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Moreover, the educated Russian is far more +catholic in his culture than the average Englishman. +A certain grasp of mathematics, of political +economy and physical science, a knowledge +of European history, would be looked upon by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>him as a matter of course, whereas the English +public schools and universities turn out not only +undergraduates but dons who have specialized +in one subject—and sometimes not well in that—but +reveal an astounding ignorance in every +other branch of human knowledge.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I remember once a Russian pointing out to me +some remarks written in a popular book by an +English don, and remarking that a Russian child +could not possibly have written anything so silly. +I, indeed, needed no persuasion. On the other +hand, I remember one of the more radical members +of the first Duma pointing out to me that +in matters of practical political organization an +English child could give the Russian political +leaders points.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Most educated Russians are familiar with the +works of Herbert Spencer, Huxley, John Morley, +Buckle, and John Stuart Mill. They are at the +same time not only familiar with, but acutely +appreciative of, humorous and serious English +literature—of Dickens, Bret Harte, Wells, Jerome +K. Jerome, Conan Doyle, etc.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One of the stock things you constantly hear said +about Russians is that they are wonderful linguists. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>I believe this generalization to be largely +built on the prowess of Russian men and women +who have had foreign nurses and governesses. +It is true that in St. Petersburg and Moscow +society every one talks French, and most people +talk English, and nearly every one knows German. +It cannot be said that the English of +St. Petersburg is of the purest. It is a dialect +peculiar to St. Petersburg, and full of strange +idioms translated from the French. Such phrases +as, for instance, “One says he is very frightful” +(meaning, “They say he is very frightening”), +or, “I find her a bother” (meaning a bore), +are characteristic of that fluent dialect. However, +if it is not pure, it is at any rate fluent.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But if you take the average representative of +the middle classes in Russia, you will sometimes +meet with a knowledge of French, more often +with a knowledge of German, and seldom with +a conversational knowledge of English; but not +universally with either of these three. Nor will +you find that the average representative of the +Russian middle class learns these languages with +more than average speed when he is abroad; +although the Russian is, as a rule, very quick +<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>to appreciate shades of meaning and forms of +humour which are peculiar to other languages +than his own.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Taken as a whole, the middle class in Russia +is cultivated, widely and deeply cultured in its +upper strata, and in its best representatives +more widely cultured than the average Frenchman +or German. In its lower strata, among the +half-educated, the “little learning” that has +been rapidly assimilated has indeed proved a +dangerous thing, and has produced in the head +of the individual a salad of half-baked philosophy +and superficial Nihilism which remains fixed for +ever like a dogma.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In this sense the half-educated in Russia are +in a state of adolescence. They have cast aside +what they regard as the superstitions of boyhood, +and they have accepted as incontrovertible dogma +the ideas which they believe to be +the most advanced in Western Europe, and +have poured them into a fixed mould, where +they remain stereotyped for the rest of their +lives.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is what M. Bulgakov means when he +says the half-educated in Russia are not above +<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>religion, but below it; not superior to it, but +inferior to it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In using the word half-educated, I am alluding +to the larger class of people in Russia who +have just emerged above the surface of the +uneducated: members of the proletariat often, +peasants sometimes who have received half an +education, clerks and minor public servants, and +students who have not passed any of the higher +standards. It is amongst this class that you find +a chaos and welter of half-baked ideas; it is here +that you find a jumble, a salad of ill-assimilated +and strangely-assorted goods, a flotsam and jetsam +of Western philosophies and theories, crystallized +and hardened into rigid dogma, and clung to +and paraded with a desperate <i>amour propre</i> and +a fierce tenacity. It is, of course, the negative +philosophies which are chosen. When a schoolboy +reaches the age of adolescence—when he first +makes the discovery in England, say, of Renan +on the one hand, and of Swinburne, Ibsen, and +Nietzsche on the other—he is tremendously proud +of what seems to him his bold and rebellious +“views:” he labels himself a “freethinker” +and a pagan. He is filled with iconoclastic zeal. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>He feels like young Siegfried about to storm +Walhalla, and bid its tottering halls crumble +before his sword. If he is at the university, he +will perhaps refuse to go to chapel from conscientious +scruples, and he will wear a red tie +on Sunday to show he is a Socialist.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“I read the Gospel as an ordinary book,” +said a young freethinker to the late Dr. Jowett, +the Master of Balliol. “Really, Mr. Smith,” +said the master, “you must find it a very +extraordinary book.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Later on he finds the question is not quite so +simple as he imagined, and that the old-fashioned +superstitions are tougher than he imagined; that +science has not spoken the last word on religion; +and that certain facts and ideas had perhaps +escaped his plausible philosophy. He makes the +discovery that the higher criticism is not always +infallible, and that disbelief is sometimes quite +as intolerant as belief; that freethinkers are not +always free. In fact, he grows up.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But in the case of the Russian half-educated, +they do not, as a rule, grow up intellectually. +They reach the stage of rebellious and destructive +denial, and remain there. Fragments of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>Nietzsche, Marx, and Schopenhauer contribute +to the intellectual salad which constitutes their +negative creed; and once that creed is formed, +it no longer develops—because the atmosphere +in which the half-educated live in in Russia they +will meet with nothing to counterbalance this +negative influence. They regard this negative +philosophy as a thing which is taken for granted +by all sensible and educated men, a thing about +which there can be no possible doubt. Atheism +is a matter of course, like a pair of trousers. +There can be no other possible creed for an +educated man. If a man is not an atheist he is +not educated. Intellectually he wears his shirt +outside his belt, and not tucked in. Socialism or +Anarchism is the only possible political creed. +If a man is not a Socialist or an Anarchist, he +is obviously a member of the “black-gang” of +reaction. Any educated man who goes to church +or is religious is, in the eyes of the half-educated, +a member of the black-gang—a fanatic, an anti-Semite, +an obscurantist.</p> + +<p class='c007'>He will remain stationary in this negative +view, because this view is in the air he breathes +and amongst the people with whom he consorts. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>He will never come across the contrary view; and +he will consequently take for granted that all +views to the contrary, all religious belief, all disbelief +in disbelief, are confined to the uneducated, +and that as soon as the uneducated (the peasants) +receive the “light,” they will free themselves +from these old-fashioned and cumbrous shackles +of superstition. He will be, moreover, immensely +proud of his negative creed, which he will regard +as the hall-mark of culture and the password +which admits him to the intellectual parliament +of man, the enlightened federation of the +world.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Mr. Belloc, in one of his essays, I think, tells +the story of an educated man who lived alone +and isolated in a village in the Vosges, far removed +from towns, railways, and means of communication. +Thither Mr. Belloc wandered one +day, and this man, who entertained him, unpacked +with pride the baggage of portable +atheism which was current in the ’fifties. +Mr. Belloc told him atheism was no longer +thought to be an indispensable hall-mark of +education, and no longer regarded as the key +to all philosophies. He was distressed and bewildered. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>That is exactly what the half-educated +in Russia are now being told by many Russian +writers—Berdayev, Bulgakov, Ern, Rachinsky, +Florensky, Kozhevnikov, Samarin, Mansurov; +but the news has not yet penetrated into their +inner consciousness.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It had already been proclaimed by greater men +than these—by Dostoievsky, Tyutchev, and Soloviev; +but the message of these men of genius +has not reached the hearts of the half-educated +in Russia. They are still in the stage of the +Oxford undergraduate who reads the Gospel as +an “ordinary book.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>But let us leave the half-educated and go back +to the fully-educated. It is, perhaps, needless to +say that Russia is rich in men of European reputation +who have rendered noble service to science +in many branches, and especially in medicine. +What is perhaps less well known to English +readers is that in the medical profession in +Russia not only will you find many names +which enjoy a European reputation, but the +standard of competence, knowledge, and ability +is almost universally high. All over Russia, +no matter how remote the place, you will be +<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>sure to find a general practitioner who is not +only highly competent, but highly cultivated. +Moreover, these doctors live the hardest and +most self-sacrificing of lives: they drive long +distances in all weathers; they have to struggle +against the enormous odds imposed on them +by the rigorous climate, the poverty and the +backwardness of the great mass of the people; +and often they have to deal with scourges, such +as epidemics of typhus, cholera, and even +plague.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Socially, the average member of the Russian +middle class is attractive, expansive, and easy +to get on with. He is completely devoid of +hypocrisy, and untainted by snobbishness and +pretension. He is friendly, good-humoured, and +hospitable, and, when not afflicted by hypochondria, +a cheerful companion. He is fond of +discussion. An Englishman living with a Russian +family is struck, as a rule, by the long conversations +that go on, sometimes far on in the night, +generally about politics or abstract questions. +There is no conventional limit of hours. If these +people want to go on playing cards all night, they +will go on playing cards all night; they will not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>stop because they think “it is really time to go +to bed.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>In thinking over the characteristics of the +educated middle class in Russia and the educated +middle class in England, the chief differences are, +of course, the same that differentiate the natural +character of the Russian and the Englishman. +The Russian middle class is, if you take the +average, not only better educated, but more +broad-minded, less provincial, less pretentious, +far less reserved and less self-satisfied, and not +at all hypocritical. It is also, I should say, +less self-disciplined; and it has often struck me +that those members of the <i>intelligentsia</i> who +are most violent and bitter in their denunciation +of the arbitrary behaviour and the irresponsible +despotism of the Government are, if one sees +them on a committee, far more despotic and +arbitrary than the most despotic official. But +that is perhaps the logical law of human +nature.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The average Russian is certainly less self-satisfied +than the average Englishman; although +he is sometimes self-satisfied in some respects +and in a quite different fashion.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>Self-praise is not a thing you often come across +in the Russian <i>intelligentsia</i>. On the contrary, +you far oftener have its members comparing +themselves unfavourably with their neighbours. +But this note of self-depreciation sometimes +exists side by side with one of pride and vanity, +which is sometimes pardonable and sometimes +not. I came across an instance of this lately in +a large Russian newspaper—the <cite>Russkoe Slovo</cite>.<a id='r12'></a><a href='#f12' class='c014'><sup>[12]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>A writer in an article on English life and Englishmen, +in which he makes a number of interesting +appreciations and criticisms, compares the +two countries, and after making the debatable +statement that, in his opinion, Russia and England +are the only two countries which are now +playing a significant part in the historical arena, +says, “Yet what a gulf there is between us. +How far more intelligent, how far more talented, +how far broader-minded, how far more sincere +are we!” It is difficult for either a Russian +or an Englishman to settle such a question. +They are neither of them the best judges; +yet I should say, personally, that this writer is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>probably right, if you take the average. On +the other hand, my impression is—and it +may very likely be a false one—that this +broad-mindedness, talent, cleverness, and sincerity +is spread in a certain even proportion +more or less equally and uniformly over a larger +social stratum in Russia, producing a certain +high level and standard of general intelligence; +whereas in England, where no such high standard +exists, you may encounter gulfs and precipices +of complacent ignorance and narrow-minded +stupidity; but, on the other hand, you will meet +with high peaks and jagged rocks of originality, +imagination, and sometimes genius. In England, +while the general standard of intelligence +is immeasurably lower, the exceptions are more +remarkable, and not merely because they are exceptions, +but in themselves. Contemporary literature +affords a good example of what I mean. +In Russia, the average reading public and the +novel-reading public is on a much higher level +than the average English-reading and novel-reading +public, and the average literature food +supplied to it is higher also: the average Russian +novel or story never descends to the level of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>silliness which you find in the great majority of +English magazines. On the other hand, contemporary +English literature contains more names +that are famous, and whose fame has crossed the +frontiers of their country, than contemporary +Russian literature. For instance, if we put +Gorky with Kipling as belonging to a past generation, +there is in Russia no imaginative writer of +the present generation who can be compared with +H. G. Wells; no realistic novel as fine as Arnold +Bennett’s <cite>Old Wives’ Tale</cite>; no writer as original +as G. K. Chesterton.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian stage is on a far higher intellectual +level than the English stage, and the Russian +theatre-going public is incomparably more intelligent +than the English theatre-going public; +yet the Russians have no dramatist whose plays +(with the exception of one play by Gorky) are +acted all over Europe, such as those of Bernard +Shaw. The ordinary Russian intellectual may +despise Bernard Shaw’s philosophy and drama—in +fact, the writer of the article I have just quoted +cites as an instance of the low level of the English +stage, the fact that Bernard Shaw who, he says, +is “a back number” in Russia, is considered the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>first of English dramatists. But is it certain the +Russian has realized Shaw’s humour to the full? +This, moreover, does not prevent it being +true that Bernard Shaw’s plays are acted all +over Europe, as well as in Russia; that the French +have called him the modern Molière; and that +contemporary Russia has produced no dramatist +who can claim so large a public, nor so wide an +appreciation in Europe.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The writer of the article I have quoted says +that the Russians and the English are alike in +possessing two faces. In generalizing on the +characteristics of a people, and especially the +Russian and the English people, one must always +bear in mind the element of paradox and contradiction +that exists. With regard to the English people, +this writer notes the fact of the contrasts +you meet with in England, and the dual +nature of the English character; but whereas +he notes the naïveté of the English public, its +boisterous mirth in contrast to the serious element +in many phases of English life, the imaginative +quality of the English seems to have escaped him. +“I think we are an imaginative people,” writes +Mr. Wells about the English in India, “with an +<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>imagination at once gigantic, heroic, and shy; +and also we are a strangely restrained and disciplined +people who are yet neither subdued nor +subordinated.... These are flat contradictions +to state, and yet how else can one render the paradox +of the English character and the spectacle of a +handful of mute, snobbish, not obviously clever, +and quite obviously ill-educated men, holding +together kingdoms, tongues, and races, three +hundred millions of them, in a restless, fermenting +peace?”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Yes, it is true,” I would answer to this Russian +journalist; “probably true that you are far +more intelligent, far more talented, more broad-minded, +and less hypocritical than we are.” +And then I would ask him to read some further +words of Mr. Wells, which concern circles of the +official English in India, “conventional, carefully +‘turned out’ people, living gawkily, thinking +gawkily, talking nothing but sport and gossip, +relaxing at rare intervals into sentimentality and +levity as mean as a banjo tune.” Among such, +he says, “a kind of despairful disgust would +engulf me. And then, in some man’s work, in +some huge irrigation scheme, some feat of strategic +<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>foresight, some simple, penetrating realization +of deep-lying things, I would find an effect, +as if out of a thickly-rusted sheath one had +pulled a sword and found it a flame.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian writer has forgotten, or has never +come across, the flame; and that is not surprising, +for the flame is not obvious to the casual observer. +But the Russian character has felt its heat, +expressed as it is in the phases and images of +English writers of genius in the present as well +as in the past. The flame has left its marks on +Russian literature.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I can imagine a Russian brooding or reasoning +over Russia—say the Russia of the remoter +provinces—much in the same way as Wells +reasons over the British in India. I can +imagine him saying: “Again and again I +would find myself in little circles of minor +official Russians, slovenly, superficial, despotic +in their disregard of other people, lax, casual, +cynical, carefully ‘educated’ people, living noisily, +thinking noisily, talking nothing but cheap philosophy +and gossip, relaxing at frequent intervals +into fits of drunkenness, gambling, and extravagance, +as sordid as the tune of a barrel organ, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>and a kind of despairful disgust would engulf me. +And then in some man’s speech, in some sudden +flash of white-hot sincerity, some stripping naked +of the soul, some gesture of human charity, some +evidence of sympathy and understanding, some +simple, penetrating realization of divine things, I +would find an effect, as if in a heap of mouldering +refuse, festering weeds, and broken bottles +I had stumbled across a tin box, and forcing it +open, found it filled with precious balm and myrrh—celestial +in its fragrance.” And then perhaps +he might have added: “I think we are a great-hearted +people with a humanity at once charitable, +broad, and deep; and yet we are a tough, +obstinate, arbitrary, and undisciplined people, +who are as yet neither socially independent nor +politically free. These are flat contradictions.” +I am certain of one thing. Any generalizations +on the characteristics of any people must include +flat contradictions, and especially any generalizations +on the Russians of any class; for the +whole of Russian history is based like a fairy tale +on a huge paradox—namely, the survival of the +weakest, and the triumph of the fool of the +family; the strength of the fool being that he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>has something divine in his folly which outwits +the wisdom of the wise.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In speaking of the prevailing dead level of a +high standard in things intellectual in Russia, I +gave literature as an example. Perhaps I ought +to cite some of the sister arts as exceptions; but +with the exception of music, perhaps, the same +rule applies here too. In the decorative arts +Bakst has attained a European reputation, and +in stage design and stage decoration Russia stands +perhaps higher than any other European country +at present. But here it should be noted that +one of the great pioneers in advanced stage +decoration in Russia was Gordon Craig, also a +case in point of the startling exception, startling +in himself as well as an exception to the encircling +mediocrity. The Russian stage has felt not only +his influence, but his direct inspiration; and +Aubrey Beardsley is responsible in Russia for a +whole chaos of decadent illustrators. Then there +is music, in which Russia is collectively and +individually far superior to England at present. +These are questions which need separate and +more detailed treatment; but it is worth while +mentioning here that the greatest exception to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>the rule—if it is a rule—that in Russia you will +find a high standard and few towering exceptions, +is to be found in the operatic stage in the +person of Shalyapin, who by common consent +is, besides being a magnificent singer, the greatest +living actor and artist on the operatic stage, and +perhaps on any other stage either. On the other +hand, the first theatre in Moscow, the Art Theatre, +furnishes an example of the original rule—nowhere +in Europe is the <i>ensemble</i> so perfect, +the troupe so well disciplined, the production so +harmonious; yet the company contains no single +actor or actress of genius.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is, of course, the <i>intelligentsia</i> who suffered +most in the past, since the epoch of the great +reforms of the ’sixties, from the want of political +liberty in Russia, and it is from the ranks of the +<i>intelligentsia</i> that the revolutionary movement +started. They had, until the creation of the +first Duma, no means at all of taking part in +public life unless they became officials and entered +the Government service.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Those who did not play an active part in politics +were not, it is true, or were only indirectly, +hampered by this state of things. They were +<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>hampered, that is to say, by the censorship +on certain books and on certain ideas, by the +caution of the press and the absence of public +debate, by the liability of falling under the +suspicion of political heterodoxy; whereas those +who took a part in the revolutionary movement, +either directly or indirectly, were liable at any moment +to suffer in person for their opinions, and +they did suffer. In their action as active revolutionaries, +in the manner in which they were +ready to undergo any sacrifices, however +great and however tedious, the Russian revolutionaries +belong to the great and authentic +martyrs of the world. They sacrificed themselves +without any fuss or ostentation. They +were willing to endure years and years of imprisonment +or exile if they thought that would +benefit their cause. They went on hungerstrike +when the rules of their imprisonment +were not being properly carried out, if the +quality of the food supplied to them was not +up to the standard, or if the prison regulations +were not being properly fulfilled; but not because +they were put in prison. That they accepted +as a rule of the game. Nothing broke their +<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>indomitable and patient purpose. They were +ready to abandon everything which makes life +worth living, and they claimed neither the hero’s +laurel wreath nor the martyr’s crown. They were +content to be anonymous; they gladly gave +their bodies to be crushed, if, they thought, +they could thus make stepping-stones over which +future generations could walk. The Russian +revolutionaries did not go out of their way to +seek to lose their lives; but they were ready, +if the occasion demanded it, to give their lives. +But as far as their main policy was concerned, +they took the offensive against the Government; +and not being allowed to express their opinions +in print or in public, they expressed them with +dynamite.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In looking back at the whole movement, one +is struck by the absence of cant in the +methods, the writings, and the behaviour of +the <i>active</i> revolutionaries. They were as simple +and as natural in their assassinations and their +martyrdom as they were in the rest of their +behaviour. They showed the same absence of +hypocrisy. Some people call this the Russian +simplicity; others call it (Mr. Conrad, for instance) +<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>Russian cynicism. It is, if you like, a +kind of inverted cynicism; a reckless way of +looking facts in the face, and of stripping the soul +of all its decent trappings. And yet there is +nothing Mephistophelian about it—no mockery, +no irony, but an inverted and inflexible logic +which leads people to disregard all barriers and +to carry out in practice what they preach in +theory, though they should cause the pillars of +the world to fall crashing to the ground.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I have been speaking, of course, about the active +and militant members among the revolutionaries, +not of its platonic and passive sympathizers. +Amongst those you may find the political cant +which is common to that species of mankind, of +all races and in all countries.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But if you take the Russian middle class as a +whole, absence of cant and hypocrisy is certainly +one of their chief characteristics. Uniformity of +education is certainly another. “Culture” is +made into a fetish (and this is true of all educated +people in Russia). A certain stereotyped +form of culture, including a certain number of +subjects, is looked upon as being as indispensable +as clothes. A man who is lacking in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>visible label and hall-mark of this so-called +“culture” is looked upon as if he were morally +naked.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The worst of it is, the possession of this culture +does not necessarily mean that its possessor is +cultivated. It is often skin-deep and a random +assortment of superficial ideas, confined sometimes +to the knowledge of certain names and +catchwords, and to a second-hand acquaintance +with certain books, theories, and currents of +thought.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The idea that this kind of “culture” is indispensable, +and that a man who does not possess +it is uneducated, is undoubtedly a bureaucratic +idea, and the fruits of the long-standing existence +of bureaucracy. Such culture is a superstition, +and has nothing necessarily to do with +real culture, which implies the assimilation and +the thorough digestion of any kind of knowledge.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But, as I have said before, it is more especially +to the half-educated that this applies. The truly +well-educated middle class have revealed their +culture to the world in the shape of the men of +science, the historians, the economists they have +produced, and the books they have written.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>But the Russian intellectual middle class is +historically still young. The greatest works of the +Russian genius in the past were written before it +existed, when they were as nothing, and came +from the nobility. The future will show what +the <i>intelligentsia</i> in their turn will produce. +But such as it is at the present moment, it +offers to the student of Russia a field of surpassing +interest; and the Englishman who +goes to Russia and lives among its members +will come back, as a rule, with the horizon of his +mind widened, and in his heart a soft spot for +the Russian <i>intelligentsia</i>.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER VIII.<br> <span class='c005'>THE RUSSIAN CHURCH.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>The Russian Church calls itself the Holy +Catholic Apostolic and Orthodox Church. +It is a national Church, and at the same time it is +a branch of a great Christian community which +includes many nations and peoples—namely, the +Eastern Orthodox Church.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian Orthodox Church numbers at +present over a hundred million adherents, eighty +millions of which are Russian subjects; of the +remainder about half are Slavs of old Turkey or +of Austro-Hungary. Greeks, Roumanians, Bulgarians, +and Serbs all belong to the Orthodox +Church, and the Orthodox Church has missions +in China, Japan, and North America.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Until the eleventh century the Eastern and +the Western Churches formed one Church. In +the eleventh century a schism broke this unity +<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>and divided a large fragment of the Eastern +Church from the Western Church.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Even after the schism had taken place, even +as late as the beginning of the twelfth century, +intercommunion existed between the two +Churches, and Russian princes and princesses +of Kiev intermarried with members of the Latin +Church. Efforts were made later to heal the +schism, the most important of which were the +second Council of Lyons in 1274 and the Council +of Florence in 1439. At both these Councils +union was proclaimed and accepted by the +Greeks, but neither of them had any permanent +result. The findings of the first of these two +Councils soon became a dead letter; those of +the second were repudiated as soon as the Greek +delegates reached home, and the delegates +were regarded as apostates. Thus the schism +has lasted practically since 1054. It was fraught +with deep moral and political consequences for +the East, and especially for Russia. The cause +of it was not really doctrinal or dogmatical. +Points of dogma, and trivial points at that, +were used as pretexts after the schism had become +a <i>fait accompli</i>. The true cause of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>schism was the immemorial rivalry between the +Greeks and the Latins.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The schism between the Eastern and Western +Churches ranks, Sir Charles Eliot says in his +<cite>Turkey and Europe</cite>, with the foundation of +Constantinople and the coronation of Charlemagne, +as one of the turning-points in the relations +of the East and the West. It was disastrous +to Russia and to the Byzantine Empire. +To the latter, because it crystallized and deepened +an antagonism which prevented the East and +West from combining against the common +enemy, and thus proved one of the main causes +of the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the +establishment of the Turk in Europe. To Russia, +because, isolated as she was already by her +geographical situation, by this further isolation +and rupture with the West she fell an easy prey +to the hordes of barbarian invaders from Asia, +and her national development was interrupted +for centuries. As far as dogma is concerned, the +differences between the two Churches are to +this day trivial, and in earlier times they were +slighter still. The Orthodox Church has the +same seven Sacraments as the Catholic Church—namely, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, +Penance, Unction, Holy Order, and Matrimony.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is a certain difference in the administration +of the Sacraments. The Orthodox baptize +with a threefold immersion. Confirmation is +administered immediately after baptism; and +this was so in the West during all the thirteenth +century. Auricular confession is regarded as +indispensable by the Orthodox, but the Sacrament +of Penance is less precise and more flexible than +in the West. The Orthodox Church holds the +dogma of Transubstantiation. That is to say, the +Orthodox believe that the Holy Eucharist is the +true body and blood of Jesus Christ under the +outward appearances of bread and wine, and +that transubstantiation takes place—namely, the +change of the inward imperceptible substance +into another substance; while all the species and +accidents—that is to say, those qualities which +are outwardly perceived by the senses, such as +colour, taste or shape—remain unchanged. They +reject all explanation of a typical or subjective +presence. Holy Communion is given in both +kinds to the laity; the Sacrament is administered +by means of a golden spoon, in which particles of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>the bread of the Eucharist float in the consecrated +wine. Infants receive Holy Communion +after baptism. The Sacrament of Extreme +Unction, called by the Russians <i>Soborovanie</i> +(that is to say, Unction without the extreme), +is administered by several priests, and is not +reserved for those <i>in extremis</i>; it is regarded +less as a preparation for death than as a means +of healing the sick.</p> + +<p class='c007'>With regard to Holy Order, no priest in +Russia is allowed to marry after he is ordained. +He is married before he is ordained, and marriage +has become a necessary preliminary to Order.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Orthodox Church proclaims the indissolubility +of marriage, but in practice admits that +the infidelity of one of the parties authorizes +separation. Violation of the conjugal oath is +regarded as annulling the sacrament, and only +the injured party is allowed to remarry.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Orthodox have the same fundamental +cycle of feasts as the Catholics. The Holy +Liturgy is said according to two rites—those of +St. John Chrysostom and of St. Basil.<a id='r13'></a><a href='#f13' class='c014'><sup>[13]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>The Orthodox observe four great fasts: +<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>Advent, forty days from November 15 until +Christmas Eve; Lent, beginning on the Monday +after the sixth Sunday before Easter; thirdly, +a period from the first Sunday after Pentecost +until June 28; fourthly, the fast of the Mother +of God from August 1 to August 15. According +to the Orthodox fast, only one meal is allowed +a day, and abstinence not only from meat, +but from fish, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, and oil +is required. The fasts are carried out by the +poor with great strictness, and even among the +wealthier classes there is more fasting and abstinence +during Lent than in the West. Statues of +our Lord or of saints are forbidden, but pictures +and any images on a flat surface are allowed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>To sum up, the foundations of the Orthodox +faith are: Belief in one God in three Persons, +in the Incarnation of God the Son, the Redemption +of Mankind by the sacrifice of His Life, the +Church founded by Him with her Sacraments, +the Resurrection of the Body, the Life Everlasting. +They have a hierarchy; they accept +the Deutero-canonical books of Scripture as +equal to the others; they believe in and use +seven sacraments; they honour, invoke, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>pray to saints; they have a cult of holy +pictures and relics; they look with infinite +reverence to the Mother of God.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In all these main points, which I have here +enumerated, there is no difference between the +Orthodox Church of the East and the Catholic +Church of the West. The two Churches originally +separated on minor questions of discipline; +they are at present separated by certain questions +of dogma as well. But the great difference +between the two Churches is the difference of +constitution, which proceeds from the very fact +of the separation. The first difference in dogma +between the two Churches is the procession of +the Holy Ghost. The Eastern Church refuses +to add the word <i>filioque</i> to the Nicean Creed. +But even here, although the Orthodox do not +admit that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the +Son as well as from the Father, they have never +explicitly stated a contrary belief; and although +they deny that the twofold procession can be +inserted in the Creed, they grant it allows of an +orthodox interpretation. This is a purely theological +dispute, and to this day it remains the +chief point of difference between the two Churches. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>The two Churches differ in their conception of +purgatory; the Orthodox pray for the dead, +and believe in a middle state, where the dead +sleep and wait passively; but they do not +define the matter any further, and they reject +all idea of the purification by spiritual fire. They +deny that souls which have departed this life +can expiate their faults, or at least the only +expiation they admit are the prayers of the faithful +and the Holy Mysteries.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Orthodox deny the dogma of the Immaculate +Conception. The Catholic dogma of +the Immaculate Conception is that all mankind +are from their conception tainted with Original +Sin, except the Blessed Virgin, who by a special +privilege and grace of God was preserved immaculate—that +is, free from the stain of Original +Sin from the first moment of her conception.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I repeat this definition because it is not generally +known to Protestant Englishmen, who, as +a rule, confuse the Immaculate Conception with +the Incarnation of our Lord, and I know +of cases where they obstinately maintain this +belief in the face of evidence.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The doctrine, although not accepted in theory +<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>by the Eastern Church, is practically a part of +their belief—that is to say, they never cease to +call the Blessed Virgin All Immaculate, or +Very Immaculate.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Finally, the Orthodox Church denies the dogma +of Papal Infallibility. This is in reality the only +difference between the two Churches which has +any real importance, either religious or political, +because it includes any other possible difference, +and from it proceeds the difference in constitution +and in political situation between the two +Churches.</p> + +<p class='c007'>For Catholics the door on dogmatic definition +has been left open indefinitely; for while holding, +<i>de fide</i>, that the revelation made to the apostles +was final and complete, new <i>definition</i> of the +revelation, as is seen in the creeds, as heresies +arise, or as fuller expansion of doctrine, is admitted +indefinitely.</p> + +<p class='c007'>On the other hand, the Orthodox believe that +the time for definition has been closed, once and +for all, and for ever. They believe that nothing +can be added to the decisions of the first Seven +Great Councils, which took place before the +schism between the two Churches, and which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>contained, according to them, the infallible, +final, complete, and unalterable definition of the +Church and the dogmas of the faith. The Orthodox +regard the first Seven Councils to have been +infallible in the definition of dogma, exactly in +the same way as Catholics consider the Pope +to be infallible in his capacity of supreme Pastor +of the Church, when speaking <i>ex cathedrâ</i> he +defines revealed truth and teaches points of faith +or of morals. The Orthodox deny that the Pope +has authority over the whole Church. The +Russian and the Greek catechisms agree that +the Church has no other head than Jesus Christ, +our Lord—so far this agrees with the Catholic +catechism—and that He is represented by no vicar +on earth. The Orthodox regard the Pope as +the Patriarch of the West, and legitimate first +Patriarch (<i>primus inter pares</i>), but they reject +his universal claim.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And as the first Seven Councils left some +matters undefined and the Fathers of the Church +did not foresee all possible contingencies, such +matters remain undefined in the Orthodox +Church.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Since the Orthodox Church possesses neither +<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>a spiritual sovereign nor an international capital, +such as Rome, it naturally tends to decentralization, +and hence the growth of national and +independent Churches, which the Greeks call +autocephalous.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian Church was the first to establish +its independence, and the example of Russia was +followed by Greece, Servia, and Roumania.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In 1872 Bulgaria, in obedience to its national +interests, seceded from the jurisdiction of the +Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, in order +to be no longer classed with the Greeks; for, +according to the Turkish system, all those who +submitted to the jurisdiction of Constantinople +were officially classed as “Greeks.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Thus the Bulgarians formed an autonomous +Church in the domains of the Ottoman Empire, +alongside of the Greek Church, before Bulgaria +constituted a State, and for so doing they incurred +the anathema of the Orthodox Patriarchate of +Constantinople, and were condemned as heretical, +since the patriarchate maintained that the +delimitation of ecclesiastical jurisdiction should +correspond to political delimitation, and that in +the same political state there could only be one +<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>Church. Bulgaria’s action, therefore, was contrary +to church canon—that is, heretical. Nevertheless +its independence was recognized by the +Sultan, and the Bulgarian Church was established +under an Exarch of its own, while Russia, +without making any definite pronouncement, +nevertheless never accepted the anathema of +Constantinople.</p> + +<p class='c007'>A few years later Bulgaria became an independent +principality, and had the jurisdiction of +the Bulgarian Exarchate been limited to the principality +of Bulgaria, the Œcumenical Patriarchate +would have been logically bound to recognize it; +but according to the firmans of the Sultan, the +jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Exarchate extended +beyond the frontiers of Bulgaria, and included the +dioceses of Thrace and Macedonia, which nominally +belonged to the Sultan and were a bone of +contention between the Greek and the Slav +influence. Thus the Greco-Bulgarian schism +continued. This question has now once again +sprung into importance. The dioceses of Macedonia +and some of those in Thrace, which were +under the religious jurisdiction of Bulgaria, and +under the political dominion of the Porte, are +<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>now, as the result of the latest wars in the Balkans, +and of the Treaty of Bucharest, partly in the +hands of the Servians, and partly in the hands of +the Greeks. Hitherto the Bulgarian Exarchate +was the nucleus around which all the elements +of Bulgarian nationality in Macedonia were +gathered; but now, owing to the second Balkan +War, the Bulgarians in Macedonia come under +the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Servia, +and are in fear, consequently, of losing their +nationality, since the Bulgars fear that neither +their churches nor their national schools will +succeed in maintaining their existence in the +new Greek and Servian territory. The consequence +was, that some of the Bulgars in those +parts of Macedonia talked of secession from the +Orthodox Church, and submission to the Church +of Rome, or of embracing Protestantism, as the +best means of preserving their nationality.<a id='r14'></a><a href='#f14' class='c014'><sup>[14]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>In spite of these differences, the Russian Church +and the independent Churches of the East form +in reality one, for if they lack unity of organization, +they possess unity of creed, and the unity +of creed is ensured by its immutabilty, which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>renders unnecessary all international authority +or periodical congresses. Since matters of dogma +have been discussed once and for all, or have +been left vague and undefined indefinitely, there +is nothing for such an authority to define, and +nothing for such a congress to discuss. And the +panegyrists of the Orthodox Church are proud +of the lack of central authority and the organization +of the Churches according to States, which +they consider combine unity of creed with +ecclesiastical independence, according to Homayakov’s +formula, “Unity of freedom in love.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>But if the nationalization of the Oriental +Churches is a source of strength, it is at the +same time a source of weakness, for the result +of the national constitution of the Orthodox +Churches, and of their having no spiritual head, +has been that many of its branches have been +secularized, and of this the Russian Church is +a signal example.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Orthodox Churches, and especially the +Russian Church, were thrown open to the civil +power, the power of the State, and became subordinate +to it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian Church became subject to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>State. It is often said that such a circumstance +is a guarantee of political liberty and of liberty +of thought; but neither the history of Russia +nor that of the Greek empire furnishes us with +examples to the point. Both in the history of +Russia and of Byzantium we are confronted with +two phenomena—intellectual stagnation and +political despotism—to which the Church seems +to have contributed, since being subject to the +State she had no means of resisting civil authority, +and the power of the State was left without +a single check. The civil authority had the support +of ecclesiastic authority, and the temporal +authority was backed up by the spiritual power; +no obstacle was raised in the path of autocracy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The alliance of Church and State kept down +the intellectual growth of the nation within, +and prevented the invasion of new ideas from +without. The result of the alliance was stagnation +and isolation. And in the East there +was no common clerical language, as Latin in +the West, to help civilization, for the Greek +Church did not impose its language on its sister +Churches, but left to each the use of its own +tongue.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>This peculiar constitution of the Russian +Church, as Sir Charles Eliot puts it, “has produced +in Russia an almost Mohammedan confusion +of Church and State, or at least of religion +and politics.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>But this state of things did not come about +all at once.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Christianity reached Russia through Byzantium +at a time (988 <span class='fss'>A.D.</span>) when the Eastern +Church was still in communion with Rome, after +a temporary schism between the East and +West; a Russian Metropolitan held the see of +Kiev, and was appointed by the Patriarch of +Constantinople. During this period the Russian +Church was a province of the Byzantine Patriarchate.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Then came the Tartar invasion and the migration +of the Russian princes to the basin of the +Volga, and finally to Moscow. Moscow had a +Metropolitan who was still suffragan of the +Greek patriarch, but elected by his clergy and +chosen by his sovereign. This was the second +phase of the Russian Church during which it +gradually acquired its independence. Moscow +became a kingdom, and at the death of Ivan +<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>the Terrible, in 1589, Russia demanded a Patriarch. +In 1589 Job, the Metropolitan of Moscow, +was consecrated Patriarch. This was brought +about by Boris Godunov, in the reign of Feodor, +the successor of Ivan the Terrible (1589).</p> + +<p class='c007'>Thus began the third phase of the history of the +Russian Church—the phase of its independence. +The Russian Church was henceforward independent +of Constantinople.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There were ten Patriarchs of Moscow in succession. +At first they played a powerful and +important part in Russian history, and helped +to save Russia from foreign dominion.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The culminating point in the history of the +independent Church was reached when in the +reign of Alexis, in 1642, Nikon became Patriarch.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Patriarchate of Nikon had two great +and far-reaching results—firstly, a conflict with +the civil authority which ended in his defeat +and deposition from the patriarchal throne, +and in a consequent loss of prestige to the +patriarchate; and secondly, a schism which +tore the Russian Church in two, and which was +the result of a wise reform—the revision of the +text of liturgical books, into whose text, owing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>to continuous copying and recopying, inaccuracies +had crept.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nikon spoke with great energy against the +supremacy of the State over the Church. Six +years after his consecration, he was brought +before a Council, condemned and deposed, thanks +to the intrigues of the Boyars. His revision of +the texts was accepted by the Council, but not +by a great part of the Russian people, who clung +obstinately to the old unrevised books and +called themselves “Old Believers.” Hence +arose the great schism of the Russian Church. +The “Old Believers,” were persecuted and +became fanatical. Besides the revision of the +texts, Nikon changed one or two trifling details +of ritual in the liturgy. This was enough to +convulse Russia. Later on, all enemies of foreign +innovations flocked to the camp of the “Old +Believers,” endured any persecution, however +severe; and the net result of this, at the present +moment, is that there are 25,000,000 Russians +who live in schism from the Russian Church.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The fall of Nikon established once and for all the +authority of the State over that of the Church, +and the great schism weakened the authority of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>the Church, owing to the secession from it +of a great part of the nation. The patriarchate +was shaken and weakened; but weak as it was, +it appeared too strong to suit the taste of Peter +the Great, who abolished it in 1721.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In its place he established the Holy Directing +Synod. Thus began the fourth phase of the +Russian Church, which has lasted until to-day.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is nothing necessarily anti-liberal in +the existence of a synod, and it is not peculiar +to the Russian Church. Greece, Roumania, +and Servia administer their Churches by means +of a synod. Its tendencies depend necessarily +on the manner of its election, the nature of its +guarantees, the laws and customs of the country +in which it exists.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Holy Synod consists at the present day +of executive members and assistants, of permanent +and temporary members. Among the +permanent members are the Metropolitans of +Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, and the +Exarch of Georgia. The temporary members +consist of four or five archbishops, bishops or +archimandrites, the emperor’s chaplain, and the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>head chaplain of the forces. All the members +are appointed by the Emperor, and in addition +to these ecclesiastics, the Emperor appoints a +delegate who is called the Procurator-General. +The procurator is a layman, and represents the +civil authority. His duty is to see that ecclesiastical +affairs are carried out in accordance with +the imperial ukases. No act of the synod is +valid unless he confirms it. He has the right +of veto, should its decisions be contrary to the +law. Practically, therefore, but not theoretically, +he controls the synod; and in his turn he carries +out the will and obeys the orders of the Emperor.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It would be a great mistake, however, whatever +may be the result of this institution in practice, +to call the Emperor of Russia the head of +the Russian Church. He makes no such claim, +and Russian orthodoxy recognizes only one +Head of the Church, our Lord, and only one +infallible authority speaking in His name, the +Seven First Œcumenical Councils. The Emperor +may be the autocratic master of the +Church; he is not the head of it. His authority +is from the outside only. In questions of dogma +he has no authority at all. He is regarded as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>the temporal defender and guardian of the +Church; his authority, and consequently the authority +of the State, concerns the administration +of the Church solely, and even here his power +is limited by tradition, canon law, and the +œcumenical character of the Church.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Dogma is equally outside the domain of the +Holy Synod, and even disciplinary measures +come before the Holy Synod as before a commission +of inquiry, the final decision remaining +with the Church.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Such is the teaching of the Russian Church +with regard to relations of Church and State, +and the position of the Emperor with regard to +the Church.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Yet in spite of this, there is no Church where +the influence and the authority of the State is +so deeply felt as in the Russian Church; for in +practice the Church is governed through the +Holy Synod, and not through the bishops, for the +synod overrules the bishops, and in practice, +and in spite of the theory, the procurator overrules +the synod, and the procurator is the civil +authority in the flesh. The Russian Church is +consequently, in practice, a State Church, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>many of its earnest members have never ceased +to deplore the fact.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Russian books dealing with theological questions +in the past are full of this bitter and oft-reiterated +complaint; but I will quote what +an apologist of the Russian Church wrote as +short time ago as November 1912, showing that +the complaint of the past is if anything more +vital now than ever. In an article on the Russian +public and religion, S. Bulgakov says that +a faithful and powerful ally of the atheism +of the <i>intelligentsia</i> is without doubt the +secular character of the Church, its ruinous dependence +on the State under the synod <i>régime</i>, +and owing to the absence of self-government. +He also says that one of the reasons of the alienation +from the Church, not only of the <i>intelligentsia</i> +but of the people, is the bureaucratic +caste of the Church administration, the access +of officialdom and arbitrary power to the fields +of freedom and love. “It is not,” he writes, +“a question of any corruption or distortion of +dogma; on the contrary, the Russian Church +adheres with devotion to the dogmas of the +Universal Church.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>“The main lever by which the State directs +the Church at present is the episcopacy, which, +contrary to canon, is appointed by, and consequently +to a certain extent picked out by, +secular authority. The Holy Synod is likewise +chosen from these bishops, and by secular +authority also.... The bishops, who should +remain all their life in their dioceses, have been +commuted into ecclesiastical governors, changing +dioceses more quickly than the governors change +provinces.... Theoretically, the Orthodox +Church should be self-governing from top to +bottom, but the painful reality reveals on the +contrary so great a paralysis in the public life +of the Church, as to give the outside observer +the impression that nothing is here but ecclesiastical +governors, under the direction of the +procurator of the Holy Synod and the secular +authority that is behind him, with a clergy +stripped of all rights.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Such a statement sums up what has been constantly +said in the past, and what is being said +with increasing vehemence in the present by +earnest members of the Russian Church, who +recognize with sorrow the almost total alienation +<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>of the Church from the educated classes, and look +forward with apprehension to the day when the +indifference of the educated and the street-corner +atheism of the half-educated shall spread +to the peasantry. But, on the other hand, the +very fact that such statements are made shows +that side by side with the growth of rationalism +there is a movement in the opposite direction +as well.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Many years ago, in the days of the fathers and +grandfathers of the present generation, educated +Russia was divided into two camps—the Slavophils +and the Westernisers. The leaders of the +Westernism were Bielinsky and Herzen; those +of the Slavophils, Homyakov, a poet and the +father of the Ex-President of the Duma; and +others.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Westernisers saw in rationalism and +atheism the last word of Western culture, and +made a religion out of socialistic Utopias, and +at the same time took part with a fervent enthusiasm +in the struggle for political freedom. +Orthodoxy and the Church were to them an +expression of despotism and reaction.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Slavophils, who were, in their most +<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>flourishing epoch, by no means political reactionaries, +and being more cultured than their opponents, +were saturated with the philosophy, art, +and religion of the West, nevertheless revered the +religious character of the sovereign’s authority, +based Utopias on it likewise, and, in contradistinction +to the cosmopolitan ideal of the +Westernisers, for whom nationality did not exist +except ethnographically, made a cult of nationality +which for them was inseparable from religion +and orthodoxy. There was the same difference +between their ideals as there is now between +those of Mr. Chesterton and Mr. Blatchford; +only whereas in England Mr. Chesterton has +but few followers, the Slavophils were expressing +the inarticulate aspirations of the great mass +of the Russian people.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Slavophilism was represented by many men +of genius, such as Dostoievsky the novelist and +Vladimir Soloviev the philosopher.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Its tradition has not died out, and although +the majority of the <i>intelligentsia</i> may be adherents +of the opposite school, yet the descendants +of the Slavophils have many notable representatives +among the minority (whose names I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>have already cited) in philosophy, art, and +literature; and a universal characteristic of +them is their interest in religion.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The ordinary Russian street-corner atheist +sees in the Church nothing but an instrument +of clerical obscurantism and political reaction. +He looks at the matter from the outside, and, +from his point of view, the opinion is excusable.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But the descendants of Slavophilism look at +the Church from the inside. They know from +experience the blessing of the Sacraments, the +majesty of an immemorial tradition, the glory +of a mystical and liturgical Church whose ritual +and liturgy is one of inexpressible richness, +depth, and beauty. Even to the most indifferent +agnostic the Russian Church affords a +spectacle of surpassing æsthetic interest, and if +he is musical an incomparable source of wonder +and delight in the quality of its sacred song.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As far as ritual and ceremony is concerned, the +practice and custom of the first centuries of +Christianity, which were in many cases simplified +by Rome, before they were curtailed or +rejected by the Reformation, have been preserved +intact in the East. Nothing is more false +<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>than the idea which often prevails in some +quarters that the rites of the early Church were +simple, and grew more and more complicated +towards the Middle Ages. The rites of the Church +in the fourth and fifth centuries were long and +complicated, and were gradually simplified by the +Latins. The proof is the ceremonial of the Eastern +Churches, which has remained exactly where it +was in the fourth and fifth centuries. Mass, +for instance, in the Coptic Church, lasts five +hours or longer. Low Mass, which was one of +the simplifications introduced by Rome, is unknown +in the Greek and Russian Churches. +Every Mass is a high Mass, intoned and accompanied +by plain song, in the presence of the +faithful, and generally only on Sundays and holy +days. The same liturgy and rite is observed +by the Uniate Catholics, whether Greeks, Ruthenians, +Poles, etc. The liturgy is sumptuous, +and at the same time austere. There is only one +altar, which is separated from the congregation +by a large screen called the <i>iconastasis</i>—that is +to say, the screen which bears the holy images—which +has doors which are opened and shut during +Mass, and beyond which the priest alone, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>the Emperor when he receives Communion on +the day of his coronation, has the right to penetrate. +Behind these doors, which are shut +before the consecration, the most solemn part +of the Mass is consummated. No organ or any +other instruments are allowed in the Eastern +Churches, and, as in the Sistine Chapel when +the Pope says Mass, only the human voice is +heard.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As far as liturgical song is concerned, the +Russians have far surpassed the Greeks, from +whom they received it. The liturgical music +consists of plain song, and of original chants +called <i>raspievi</i>, which date from the Middle +Ages. The singing of the Church choirs in Russia +is without comparison, the finest in the world. +The bass voices reach to notes and attain effects +resembling the 36-foot bourdon stops of a huge +organ, and these, blent with the clear and bold +treble voices of the boys, sing</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c013'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“An undisturbed song of pure concent.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>The best Russian choirs sing together like one +voice. They attain to tremendous crescendoes, +to a huge volume of thunderous sound, and to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>a celestial softness and delicacy of diminishing +tone. There is no finer chorus singing. The +Russians are extremely particular and appreciative +of religious music. Every kind of institution, +including banks, has its private choir; +and I know of a case where a banker chose his +clerks simply and solely according to the quality +of their voices, so as to form a choir who could +sing in church.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The finest choirs in Russia are those of the +Emperor, St. Isaak’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, +of the Cathedral of the Assumption, and +the Church of St. Saviour, and the Tchudov +Monastery at Moscow; and the finest religious +ceremonies are those which take place at Moscow +during Holy Week and on the eve of Easter.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Religious music in Russia has its roots in the +heart of the people. And whatever in the future +may be the influence of rationalistic tendencies +and materialistic theories, of superficial indifferentism +or ill-digested science, the Russian people +at the present moment love their liturgy and the +ceremony, ritual, and music of their worship. +The Church still plays an overwhelming part +in national life. And for the peasant, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>Church is not only a place of mystery, sweetness, +and consolation, but his window opens on to all +that concerns the spirit—it is his opera, his +theatre, his concert, his picture gallery, his +library.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian people still flock to the shrines +of the Saints, and walk hundreds of miles on foot +to visit holy places. A peasant woman once +asked me to lend her two roubles, as she was +going on a journey. I asked her where she was +going to, and she said, “Jerusalem.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>A pilgrim in a Russian crowd is as constant +a factor as a soldier, a student, or the member +of any other profession. The churches are still +crowded in Russia, and they have that attribute +without which a Church is not a Church—they +smell of the poor.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER IX.<br> <span class='c005'>EDUCATION.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>Education, like everything else in Russia, +has, in the course of its existence, experienced +many sharp ups and downs, which were the +outcome in the past of the vicissitudes of history, +and, in less remote times, of changes in the policy +of successive governments.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The birthplace of education in Russia was the +Church. Until the Tartar invasion, education was +entirely in the hands of the clergy; and like +everything else in Russia, it necessarily suffered +an eclipse during the epoch of the Tartar domination. +Peter the Great created secular schools, +sowed the seed of technical education, which was +later to bear such abundant fruit, and planned +an Academy of Sciences which was executed +by his widow Catherine.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>The University of Moscow was founded in +1755, in the reign of the Empress Elisabeth. +Catherine II. encouraged education in many ways; +but it was not until the reign of Alexander I. +that an attempt was made to organize a national +system of education. From that time until the +present day, education has experienced spurts +of progress and relapses into stagnation, according +as the political pendulum swung from reform +to reaction. From 1812 to 1855 reaction was +predominant. In 1855 education, as everything +else, revived under the influence of the great +reforms. After the assassination of the Emperor +Alexander II., in 1881, another period of +reaction set in, which lasted more or less until +the Russo-Japanese War; then came the +revolutionary movement which broke down +certain barriers, and was succeeded, as far as +education is concerned, by a Government policy +whose constant tendency has been towards +reaction, and here as elsewhere, and in other +matters, to take back or to curtail and limit +with one hand what it had given with the other. +But although the Government has constantly +interfered with and hampered the organization +<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>of education, it has not only been powerless to +withstand the great movement towards the extension +and progress of education which is at +this moment taking place in Russia, but it +has in some cases taken the initiative in +educational reform, so that if it curtails with +one hand it has none the less given with the +other; and the gift is more important than the +limitations, because, once made, it opened windows +that could never be shut again in spite of +all possible curtailments. In Russia at the +present moment there is a great and ever increasing +demand for primary, secondary, technical, +and higher education.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Primary education, which in Russia is always +gratuitous, is in the hands either of—</p> + + <dl class='dl_1'> + <dt>(<i>a</i>)</dt> + <dd>The Zemstvos, in the country. + </dd> + <dt> </dt> + <dd>The Municipalities, in the towns. + </dd> + <dt>(<i>b</i>)</dt> + <dd>The Church. + </dd> + <dt>(<i>c</i>)</dt> + <dd>The Minister of Education, to a small extent in that part of Russia where Zemstvos exist, + and a large extent in the ukraines where there are no Zemstvos. + </dd> + </dl> + +<p class='c007'>The course of primary education is planned on +<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>a basis of from three to six years. In all primary +schools, reading, writing, and arithmetic, and +religion are taught.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The tendency towards a longer and slower +course, because a three years’ course, while it +teaches a boy to read once and for all, has been +found not to leave a lasting impression on him +as far as writing is concerned.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The boy after a three years’ course will never +forget how to read, but he will entirely forget +how to write.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The primary schools are full to overflowing, +and have to turn back pupils all over the +country.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As far as the teachers are concerned, 60 per +cent. of them are women, 40 per cent. are men. +Only a small proportion are specially trained +teachers; the rest, especially among the women, +have merely finished their course at a Government +Gymnasium.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Of the three classes of primary schools, the +best are those which are in the hands of the +Zemstvo; then next in order of merit come +those which are in the hands of the Minister +of Education; and next the Church parish +<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>schools,<a id='r15'></a><a href='#f15' class='c014'><sup>[15]</sup></a> which are gradually being suspended +and ousted by the others.</p> + +<p class='c007'>All these schools were till quite lately (three +or four years ago) supported either by the respective +authorities in whose control they are, or by +private persons. As the sums of money rendered +available by such a system were totally +insufficient to defray the necessary expenses, the +consequence was that the general progress was +slow. A radical change in this situation was +made by an Education Bill, which was introduced +into the Duma by the Government, and +passed by the Duma a few years ago. This most +important measure provided that the various +authorities indicated above, which control the +schools, should receive yearly from the Government +a sum of about £40 in order to pay for the +schooling of fifty children—that is to say, for the +salary of one teacher for every fifty children, on +the condition that the Zemstvo, or the other controlling +authorities, as the case might be, should +<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>undertake to build, in a period of ten years, a +number of schools sufficient to meet the needs +of the whole population of their respective districts. +The result of this Bill will be that in +about five to six years’ time Russia will have +enough schools for the whole of its population, +and will be able to contemplate the practical +realization of compulsory education.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As it is now, in European Russia the percentage +of people who can read or write is only +22·9 in Siberia, and in the Caucasus it is less (12·3 +and 12·4); but it is higher in Poland (30·5), in the +Baltic provinces (71–80), and in certain governments, +such as Moscow (40) and St. Petersburg +(43–53).<a id='r16'></a><a href='#f16' class='c014'><sup>[16]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>Before considering the question of secondary +education in Russia, it must be pointed out that +all secondary and higher education in Russia is +of two kinds—namely, technical and general.</p> + +<p class='c007'>General secondary education is either directly +in the hands of the Minister of Education, or in +the hands of private persons under the close +supervision of the Minister of Education. There +<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>are, as in Germany, two classes of general secondary +education—classical, which is taught in the +gymnasia, and non-classical, which is taught in +the Real Schools; the gymnasia are attended +by boys and girls, but the schools are as a rule +not mixed. The Gymnasium’s course of instruction +lasts eight years; that of the Real +Schools, seven.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The subjects taught in the gymnasia are as +follows: Religion, Latin, Greek, Russian, mathematics +(as far as logarithms and the binomial +theorem, and including trigonometry), history, +natural sciences, French or German, English +(optional).</p> + +<p class='c007'>The course of the Real Schools is the same, +except that it excludes Latin and Greek, attaches +much more importance to mathematics +and natural science, and has two obligatory +foreign languages (French and German), and one +optional foreign language.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The course for girls is the same in kind, but +less in degree. The tendency for girls is to go +to the Real Schools in preference to the gymnasia; +and besides the gymnasia and the Real Schools, +there are also for girls a certain number of institutes +<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>and gymnasia founded by the Empress +Marie, open only to the daughters of the nobility, +and to foundlings and orphans. These gymnasia +are more or less the same as the ordinary Government +gymnasia; the institutes are closed pensions, +organized more or less on the lines of a +French convent; the pupils are boarders, and +the teaching of languages in these institutes is +especially good.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the ordinary gymnasia the average number +of pupils is 372, and the average number of +pupils in each class is 35. These schools are +open to people of every class; but this does not +exclude the possibility of nobles or other persons +founding special private schools for members of +their particular class.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the gymnasia and Real Schools the pupils +are mostly children of town dwellers and guild +artisans; the pupils live at home, and go to +the school only during school hours.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The school terms last from September 1 until +Christmas, and from Christmas until June 1, +leaving a holiday of three months in the summer.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The hours of work in school are from 9 a.m. until +noon, and then, after an hour’s interval for lunch, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., making five hours a day. +Preparation is done at home. There are no half-holidays. +On the other hand, there are many +whole holidays, since every saint’s day in Russia +is a whole holiday, and besides the saints’ days +there are other holidays as well. One point of +interest, in comparing Russian secondary schools +with English secondary schools, is that in Russian +schools there is no such thing as corporal +punishment, and if a Russian schoolboy were +chastised or beaten by a teacher he would be +almost ready to commit suicide from shame. +In the Russian gymnasia and High Schools, the +level and quality of the teaching are high. A +university degree is required from all teachers, +except in some rare cases in the lower classes +of girls’ gymnasia. On paper, and theoretically, +nothing could appear better than the system +of Russian secondary education. It seems to +have all the advantages of the German system, +and at the same time to be a little less strenuous.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nevertheless, almost any Russian, if you ask +him what is the chief characteristic of Russian +secondary education at present, will answer that +the education received is bad and unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>And if you ask whether this is the result of an +incomplete or faulty programme of instruction, or +of incompetent and inadequate teaching, he will +say, No; the scheme of instruction is sufficiently +extensive and difficult, the teachers are +well trained, competent and conscientious; it is +in spite of this, they tell you, that the education +which is the fruit of this laborious course +is unsatisfactory, and the culture obtained comparatively +low. If you press for the reason, they +will point to the influence of the Government +over the schools. The Government do not exercise +an open and direct pressure on the schools, +but they never cease from interfering indirectly +with them. They exercise a kind of censorship +over education; the teachers are being constantly +checked; certain subjects and certain +topics are tabooed; and the nature of the +censorship varies with the changing ministers.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Thus it is that education tends to be intensive +in one direction and incomplete in another; and +the net result is that the culture obtained is to +a certain extent superficial, and that the product +of the Russian secondary schools is a youth who +is intellectually half-baked.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>One of the chief results of the attitude of the +administration towards the schools is that the +pupils look upon their course of education +solely as a means of getting a diploma; they +cease to be interested in the education itself +which is provided for them, and they throw +themselves with exaggerated vehemence into +any other political or philosophical channel outside +it—into socialism, materialism, theoretical +and practical anarchy.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is what Russians tell you, and it is no +doubt true from their point of view; nevertheless, +if you compare the average level of secondary +education in Russia with that which exists in +England, you will notice at once that the average +Russian, as I have said earlier in this book, +is infinitely better instructed. I use the word +“instructed” purposely; because if you take +education in the larger sense, it is often the case +that the more ignorant Englishman has on the +whole a better balanced education than the over-instructed +Russian. That is to say, the intellectually +immature product of the English schools will +often be saner and nearer to reality and practical +life, and fitter to deal with the emergencies of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>life, than the intellectually overripe Russian, who +is immature in his very overripeness; and who, +by nature being intellectually plastic, agile, and +assimilative, receives an education of a kind that +starves him where he needs feeding, and overfeeds +him where he needs a low diet, and leads +him to seek for himself just that kind of intellectual +food and drink which is likely to inebriate +him, and to ruin his intellectual digestion. +With regard to the course of education itself, he +becomes simply and solely a diploma-hunter.</p> + +<p class='c007'>These remarks do not apply to technical secondary +education. There are in Russia technical +secondary schools of agriculture, engineering, +mining, forestry, and railways (all under the +management of the different ministries). The +general course of education received here is the +same in character as that given in the gymnasia +and the Real Schools; but it is combined with +a special course, and the technical schools produce +a type of youth who is not only more practical +and nearer to reality, but who is more really +cultivated in spite of the fact that the pupils of +the gymnasia have the advantage of the more +general course of education.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>There are also cadet schools and special schools +for officers under the Ministry of War, which are +sufficiently good; and commercial schools (similar +to the Real Schools), under the direction of the +Minister of Commerce.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The number of schools in Russia is still not +really sufficient for the demand; and since the +regulations binding on the institution of schools +by private persons have become less stringent, +the increase in the number of such privately organized +schools has been enormous, and this +testifies to the greatness of the general demand +for education.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Higher education in Russia is also of two kinds, +technical and general.</p> + +<p class='c007'>General higher education is supplied by the +universities. There are universities at Moscow, +St. Petersburg, Kiev, Kharkov, Yurieff, Warsaw, +Kazan, Odessa, Tomsk, and Saratov.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The largest university is that of Moscow, +where there are nearly ten thousand students; +and that of St. Petersburg, where there are +eight thousand. Admission to the university +takes place once a year, and admittance is given +to all students who have passed what the Germans +<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>call their <i>Abiturienten Examen</i>, at their +secondary school—that is to say, their leaving-certificate +examination. Besides the universities, +there are higher technical schools, which we +will come to presently.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The system of university teaching is the same +as that which exists in the rest of Europe and +in Scotland; the faculties include jurisprudence, +physics and mathematics, medicine, historical +philology, Oriental languages, and divinity.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But the part played by the universities in +Russian life and the special character of +Russian university education are unique.<a id='r17'></a><a href='#f17' class='c014'><sup>[17]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>Every Englishman who is at all interested in +Russia will be probably aware of the immense +influence that the universities have had on the +current of modern history in Russia.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>The young, the adolescent in all countries, have +often played a part in politics, whenever the +politics of a country have been in a state of +ferment. Sometimes the expression of their zeal +takes the form of patriotism, as in the War of +Liberation in Germany; sometimes, if the form +of the Government is reactionary, it leads them +to go and fight at the barricades.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In Russia the students have always taken an +interest in political matters; but at the beginning +of the century the universities were small +and aristocratic. Nevertheless, in 1825, secret +societies existed all over Russia, largely recruited +from the ranks of the young, and these finally +organized an insurrection in St. Petersburg, which +has become famous in Russian history as the +Decembrist Rising; and which stands in contrast +with all later insurrectionary risings in Russia, +in that it was exclusively the work of the nobility +and the gentry, and was confined to that class. +The society which brought about this insurrection +modelled itself on the German association of +students, the <i>Tugendbund</i>; and although its practical +results were nil, it left a tradition which the +students on the one hand, and the Government +<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>on the other hand (although unconsciously), +never permitted to die out.</p> + +<p class='c007'>All through the ’forties and the ’fifties, as +secondary education first became a fact and +subsequently went on increasing, the universities +grew not only large, but democratic, and formed +a democratic nucleus; and it was here that the +rationalistic movement which started in Western +Europe found the most grateful soil and the +quickest response. Liberal ideas had always +flourished among the students, and this blend of +liberal and rationalistic ideas, as soon as it began +to spread and to increase, met with a counter-movement +of repression from all successive governments. +And it is the glory of the Russian universities +that they never ceased to keep the flag +of their ideal, their demand for political freedom, +flying, and were always the soul of any progressive +political movement.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The universities were originally autonomous, +and though they were deprived of their liberties +for a time in the early part of the century, they +retained them fully in the reign of Alexander II.; +it was not until then that the universities came +to be an important factor, since up to that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>period they had been, as I have already said, +small and aristocratic; and it was only in the +fifties that they became democratic and large +enough to count. The privilege of autonomy +which had been given to the universities meant +that they were administered solely by a board of +professors, at the head of which was a rector. +This state of things lasted until the reign of +Alexander III., when the universities were again +deprived of their privileges and their autonomy, +and the Government tried to administer them +directly, with the usual result that trouble ensued; +only the trouble brought about by the +conflict of the Government with the universities +was more turbulent in character than that produced +by its clash with any other institutions or +classes of society.</p> + +<p class='c007'>A continual state of effervescence and of disturbance +on the one hand, and of repression on +the other, lasted until 1908, when autonomy +was again restored to the universities; and during +the next five years university life began, +in spite of periodical strikes and closures, more +or less to settle down; but as reaction set in, +a part of its activity was directed against the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>liberties of the university. In 1911, for instance, +all the professors in Moscow were forced to +resign.</p> + +<p class='c007'>At the present moment, if we do not hear of +disturbances in the university, this can be attributed +to the reaction among the students +themselves, who are in a natural state of depression +at the result of the revolutionary movement +of 1905, which from their point of view was a +complete failure. It may safely be said that it +is most improbable that such a state of things +will last very long, and even now there are unmistakable +clouds on the horizon. The policy +of the Government of giving, in educational +matters, with one hand and of hampering and +hindering with the other, was bound and is +bound to result in trouble sooner or later. The +troubles which occurred in the recent past in the +life of the universities, during and subsequent +to the revolutionary movement, without doubt +lowered the general standard of education. The +results obtained at present are worse than they +should be, considering the excellence of the professors. +Moreover, the constant troubles which +arose in the life of the universities during the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>revolutionary period, caused generally by some +move on the part of the Government, and invariably +followed by repressive measures (involving +temporary closure), drove thousands of +students to seek education abroad.</p> + +<p class='c007'>All that I have said about the universities +applies to the higher technical institutes, only +in a lesser degree. There is a considerable number +of such technical institutes in Russia. St. +Petersburg alone can boast of a Polytechnic, a +Technological Institute, a Mining Institute, an +Institute of Civil Engineers, a Higher Commercial +Institute; and in addition to these there +are institutes in other parts of Russia where +higher education can be had in the branches +of mining, railways, ways and communications, +forestry and agronomy, besides an increasing +number of agricultural schools all over the +country. The difference between the character +of higher technical and higher general education, +between the higher technical schools and +the universities, is the same as the difference +between the character of the technical secondary +schools and the general secondary schools.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As in the case of technical secondary education, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>higher technical education produces a more +practical type than the universities; and the +students of the higher technical institutes only +take part in politics when matters have reached +a definite crisis, in which their action can have +practical effect. The great importance of the +universities and of the higher technical institute +in Russia lies in the fact that they supply +the ranks of the whole of the higher <i>intelligentsia</i>. +All lawyers and all doctors come from the universities, +and the life and the fate of the universities +affect the cultured classes vitally. This +works both ways. The universities affect the +cultured classes, and the cultured classes act on +the universities.</p> + +<p class='c007'>For instance, every medical officer in every +county council is a university man, and he will +be vitally interested in the fate and doings of +his <i>alma mater</i>. Any blow at any particular +university will affect a whole class of people all +over the country; the influence of the universities +spreads like a network over the whole length +and breadth of Russia, and produces an <i>esprit +de corps</i> and a strong spirit of freemasonry among +the former students of the various universities.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>Games and physical exercise are not a feature +of Russian education—certainly not at least in +the English sense; and though outdoor sports, +such as boating and football, have been introduced, +and are popular in some of the universities—Odessa, +for instance—it is impossible at present +to discern even the dawn of any trend towards +physical sports and exercise such as we have in +France or Spain, for instance.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Lately, however, an organization of gymnastical +societies, under the supervision of Czech +instructors, and in some ways resembling the +German <i>Turnvereine</i>, have taken a firm root in +the towns, and enjoy great popularity; these +societies hold yearly festivals, and organize competitions +between various towns. The popularity +of these societies is likely to increase in +the future.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Besides the universities and schools I have +mentioned, there are still a great many more +educational institutions: veterinary institutes, +schools of art, archæology, Oriental languages, +and law; seminaries, ecclesiastical and naval +schools, and private institutions; and at the +top of the ladder of education there are two +<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>academies, one of art and one of science, consisting +of professors, men of science and letters, +who are chosen by election. Scholarships and +grants to poor students are distributed both by +the universities and the higher technical schools.</p> + +<p class='c007'>If one reviews the question of Russian education +as a whole, one is forced to the conclusion +that the material both of the teacher and the +pupil is good; the staff of teachers excellent; +but that the whole system is continually and +fundamentally vitiated by a policy, not exactly +of repression, but of constant censorship, interference, +checking, nagging, and hindering which +saps the school life of Russia, and deprives it of +all potential interest and vitality for the pupil. +It is reduced to an official machine, which turns +out either a specimen of bureaucratic mediocrity, +or a rebel who reacts against it and is +driven to anarchy and dynamite. If the Government +were to leave the whole matter alone, +there is no doubt that the schools would not +only manage their own affairs perfectly peacefully +and well themselves, but that they would +succeed in turning out a type of youth who would +be more really cultured than the present overripe +<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>and immature, half-baked, yet partially +burned specimen, which is the average product +of a system of education which cannot fail to be +one-sided and unsatisfactory so long as it is +cramped and diverted from larger channels by the +exasperating supervision of a paternal, officious, +and suspicious administration.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER X.<br> <span class='c005'>JUSTICE.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>The judicial system of to-day in Russia dates +from what is called the Epoch of the +Great Reforms—that is, of the reforms made in +1864 by the Emperor Alexander II. His new +judicial system is, next in order to the abolition +of serfdom, the most important of those reforms.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Up till 1864 justice in Russia dwelt behind +closed doors. It was organized on a class basis. +There was a court for the gentry, a court for +the townsman and for such peasants as did not +belong to landowners. Judicial decisions, civil +and criminal, were based solely on documentary +evidence prepared by the police. No oral evidence +was admitted. The proceedings were held +<i>in camera</i>. The judges appeared in public only +in order to pass sentence or to deliver a judgment. +It is needless to say that a system of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>this kind encouraged venality, partiality, and +injustice.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In reforming the old system, the Imperial +Government borrowed elements from the judicial +systems existing in France and in England, +but it by no means confined itself to slavish imitation. +The aim of the reformers was to reach +the principles and ideas on which our system and +the French system are based; and they created +a new system founded on ideas which have been +endorsed both in theory and in practice by modern +civilization. The chief principles at the basis of +the reformed judicial system in Russia are—(1) +the separation of administrative and judicial +powers; (2) the independence of the magistrate +and the tribunals; (3) the equality of all subjects +in the eye of the law (the abolition in the eye of +the law of all class distinctions); (4) the publicity +of trials; (5) the adoption of oral procedure; (6) +the participation of the people in the system +through (<i>a</i>) the introduction of trial by jury, +(<i>b</i>) originally, although this was altered later, +the election of judges. As a general principle, it +can be laid down that important cases in Russia +are tried, as they are tried elsewhere in Europe, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>by jury, in public and at the assizes; with one +notable exception, that of all political offences +and all crimes and misdemeanours committed by +the Press, which are tried without a jury.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Where the Russian system differs from the +English and the French systems is that the judicature +is divided into two sections mutually independent, +and differing in the extent of their +jurisdiction and in the manner in which their +judges are appointed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>As in many other countries, there are two +branches of tribunals—firstly, what were actually, +and what now correspond to, justices of the +peace, dealing with petty cases; and, secondly, +ordinary tribunals dealing with larger matters. +These two branches of justice are quite distinct. +They are parallel to each other. They are separate +and isolated one from the other, and meet +only on the top of the ladder in their common +right of appealing to the Senate, which is the +highest court of appeal.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Beneath this double system of judicature, local +courts exist in every canton: (<i>Volostnye Sudi</i>), +<i>tribunaux de bailliage</i>, which were established +when the serfs were liberated, dealing exclusively +<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>with the peasants’ affairs, and in which +both the judges and judged are peasants.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Canton Court consists of a tribunal of +three judges elected by the peasants. It deals +with small cases, and deals with them largely +according to established custom and tradition. +It stands to reason that peasants will deal with +matters which concern their own customs, codes, +and idiosyncrasies far better than people of any +other class.<a id='r18'></a><a href='#f18' class='c014'><sup>[18]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>The judicial system which comes next above +the Canton Courts is dual: Petty and Grave. +The Petty cases are entrusted to local justices of +the peace, town judges, and <i>zemskie nachalniki</i>.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In 1864, when the judicial system was reformed, +all such cases were dealt with by justices +of the peace, who were elected by the Zemstvo. +In 1889, the elective justices of the peace were +done away with, and they were replaced by +<i>zemskie nachalniki</i>, who, as I have already explained +in Chapter IV., are a kind of official +<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>squire, exercising executive and judicial authority +over the villages in their district. They are nominated +by the governor of the province and appointed +by the Minister of the Interior. Elective +justices of the peace have survived only in St. +Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, and Kharkov, and +some other towns, where they are elected by the +town assemblies for a term of three years on a +property qualification.<a id='r19'></a><a href='#f19' class='c014'><sup>[19]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c007'>In all other towns, and everywhere else, where +there are justices of the peace, they are now +appointed by the Minister of Justice.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This rather complicated system (under which +the functions of a judge were committed into +the hands of persons (<i>zemskie nachalniki</i>) who +were in their main attributes representative of +the executive) is now to be abolished by a new +law recently passed by the Duma, which divests +the <i>zemskie nachalniki</i> of their judicial functions, +and replaces the elective justices of the peace +all over the country. This new law comes into +force in regard to ten provinces on January 1, +1914, and will be extended over the remaining +<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>part of the country in the course of the next +year. The jurisdiction of the new justices of the +peace has been increased by the new law. In +civil matters they are now competent to try +cases involving fines amounting to 1,000 roubles, +and criminal offences carrying a sentence of +simple imprisonment without any curtailment +of civil rights. The appeal from the justices +of the peace is made to the general meeting +of the justices of the district; and from the +decision of this meeting (<i>siezd</i>) an appeal is +allowed, on points of law only, to the Senate. +The Senate, as is shown below, may either +dismiss the appeal or order a new trial. There +is, however, no appeal to the Senate at all +where the sentence carries with it a fine of +less than 100 roubles. The limit is now +30 roubles.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In the hands, then, of the justices of the peace +or of the <i>zemskie nachalniki</i>, as the case may +be, are civil claims not exceeding 500 roubles +(£50), and criminal cases where the penalty does +not exceed four months’ imprisonment or a +fine of 300 roubles (£30). Appeals against +the decision of a justice of the peace may be +<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>made to a bench of justices presided over by +a justice of the peace elected by his colleagues; +appeals against the verdicts of town judges and +of the <i>zemskie nachalniki</i> are heard by the +District Tribunal (<i>Uiezdny Siezd</i>), a court—the +sessions of the district—of which the marshal of +the nobility of the district is the <i>ex officio</i> chairman, +and which consists of <i>zemskie nachalniki</i> +(with the exception of course of the particular +<i>zemsky nachalnik</i> or town judge against whose +verdict the appeal is being made), town judges, +and the so-called honorary justices of peace.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Appeals against the verdict of the local courts +(<i>Volostnye Sudi</i>) are also heard by this district +tribunal.</p> + +<p class='c007'>An appeal against the verdict of the District +Tribunal (<i>Uiezdny Siezd</i>) is allowed on points of +law only, and goes before a special Board called +the <i>Gubernskoye Prisustvie</i>, consisting of the +governor of the province, as chairman, members +of the Divisional Court, and some higher civil +servants of the province.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Parallel with this branch of justice, which deals +with petty cases, we have quite separate from it +another branch which deals with more serious +<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>cases, and which consists of two tribunals: the +Divisional Court (Court of Assizes), and the +High Court.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Divisional Court deals with all civil cases +(with the exception of petty cases), and roughly +speaking, with all criminal cases, with the exception +of those which concern the prosecution of officials +for misdemeanours committed in the performance +of their official duties, and also the great majority +of political offences, which are dealt with by the +High Court. The criminal cases which come before +the Divisional Court can be judged by the +bench only, or by the bench and a jury; but if +the offence is such that the punishment may limit +the civil rights of the accused, or deprive him +of them altogether, the case must be tried before +a jury. Generally speaking, all criminal cases of +any importance are tried before a jury.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Divisional Court goes on circuit from place +to place; its jurisdiction usually extends over +five or six districts, and sometimes over a whole +government.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian judicial system is the same as the +French system as regards the nature and composition +of its tribunals, its tribunals of first instance, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>its facilities for appeal, its court of high +appeal (<i>Cassation</i>), its instruments of justice, and +its method of procedure. The justice of the +peace and the <i>zemsky nachalnik</i> (who at present +fulfils the duties of a justice of the peace), and +the town judge (<i>Gorodskoi Sudya</i>),<a id='r20'></a><a href='#f20' class='c014'><sup>[20]</sup></a> are the only +judges who sit alone. In all other tribunals +there is more than one judge. Every civil or +criminal case in Russia must be heard by three +magistrates, one of whom is the president.</p> + +<p class='c007'>A judge is irremovable unless he should commit +a criminal offence. He can be transferred, +but he cannot be removed. Attached to every +Divisional Court and every High Court there is +a magistrate appointed by the Government +called the procurator (who is not irremovable, +and holds office at the pleasure of the Minister +of Justice), who corresponds to the French <i>procureur</i>; +he is the advocate-general and public +prosecutor. His business is to prosecute crime. +But before the case reaches the procurator, it undergoes +a preliminary investigation at the hands +<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>of an examining magistrate (<i>Sudebny Slyedovatel</i>) +who corresponds to the French <i>Juge d’instruction</i>. +He begins his investigation at the +instance either of the police, or of a private individual, +or of a plaintiff. Theoretically, the investigation +was supposed to be entirely separate +from the prosecution; but, in practice, the examining +magistrate has become more or less a +tool in the hands of the procurator. The examining +magistrate has the right either to refer the +result of his investigation to the procurator, or +to let the case drop altogether, should in his +opinion the grounds for further proceedings be +insufficient.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The public prosecutor (<i>Procurator</i>), on receiving +the <i>dossier</i> of the case from the examining +magistrate (<i>Slyedovatel</i>), can either ask the court +to drop the proceedings in view of the failure of +the prosecution to make a case, or else he draws +up a bill of indictment (<i>Obvinitelni Akt</i>) on which +the accused has to take his trial. In the case of +more serious offences, the bill of indictment, before +it goes before the court, has to be confirmed +by the High Court (<i>Sudebnaya Palata</i>), which +acts as the French <i>Chambre de Mise en Accusation</i>. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>Civil cases do not go before the <i>procurator</i>, +and are tried, as in France, without a jury.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The procedure resembles that of a French +court of justice. First of all, the witnesses (in +criminal cases) are called, and each witness tells +his story consecutively. He is then cross-examined +by the procurator, and then by counsel +for the prosecution and counsel for the defence. +Cross-examination is by no means so formidable +as in an English criminal case, because the counsel +for the defence can at any moment insert a question +amongst the questions put by the counsel +for the prosecution. When all the witnesses have +been heard, the procurator speaks for the prosecution. +He is followed by the counsel for the +plaintiff, and then by the counsel for the defence. +After this, the procurator replies to the +counsel for the defence, and they in their turn +can reply on given points. The President of +the Court then sums up, and puts to the jury the +questions on which they are to give their verdict.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The jury have the right of putting questions +to any witness, as well as to the counsel for the +prosecution and to the counsel for the defence.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The jury consist of twelve men, “good men +<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>and true.” They are chosen from all classes of +the population, from the whole of the inhabitants +of the district, subject to certain conditions of +age, property, domicile, and position. In the +first place, there is a property qualification, which +varies according to different localities. All those +who fulfil the conditions of the law as regards +the age and property qualification are entered on +a list (<i>obshchy spisok</i>) and become liable to serve +on a jury. From this larger list, a second narrower +list (<i>ocheredny spisok</i>) is drawn up of +the men who seem the more qualified for the +work.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The sifting process, of which this second list is +the result, is carried out in every district by a +Board including several officials, the marshal +of the nobility for its Chairman. The process +is repeated every year, and after the sifting +about sixty men remain on the second list, out of +which the jury are drawn by lot.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But a property qualification is not in all cases +indispensable for a juryman. Public servants, +unless they are in the army, in the police, or in +the magistrature, and with the exception of officials +of the first four classes, who are exempted, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>can be chosen; likewise all local elective officers, +especially peasants, such as the judges of the +Canton Courts, the <i>elders</i> in the commune and +the cantons. The net result is that the jury is +mixed and democratic, and as a rule contains a +leaven of peasants and minor public servants, +and sometimes, indeed, consists almost wholly of +men from the lower classes. Here, for instance, +is a list of the professions followed by the +members of the jury before whom the Beiliss +ritual murder case was heard at Kiev. This +jury was exceptionally below the average of +educational standard.<a id='r21'></a><a href='#f21' class='c014'><sup>[21]</sup></a></p> + + <dl class='dl_1'> + <dt>1.</dt> + <dd>Peasant, agricultural labourer. + </dd> + <dt>2.</dt> + <dd>Peasant, cab-driver. + </dd> + <dt>3.</dt> + <dd>Minor public servant employed in postal service. + </dd> + <dt>4.</dt> + <dd>Minor public servant employed in postal service. + </dd> + <dt>5.</dt> + <dd>Peasant, employed in a wine warehouse. + </dd> + <dt>6.</dt> + <dd>Peasant, agricultural labourer. + </dd> + <dt>7.</dt> + <dd>Townsman, employed at railway station. + </dd> + <dt>8.</dt> + <dd>Peasant, agricultural labourer. +<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span></div> + </dd> + <dt>9.</dt> + <dd>Secretary at governor’s office, assistant of the revisor in the auditor’s office. + </dd> + <dt>10.</dt> + <dd>Peasant, agricultural labourer. + </dd> + <dt>11.</dt> + <dd>Peasant, controller in a town tramway. + </dd> + <dt>12.</dt> + <dd>Burgher, small householder. + </dd> + </dl> + +<p class='c007'>The above list, whether it is below average or +not—and it was said at the time to be startlingly +below the average—shows more or less the nature +of a Russian jury in a small town. There is +generally a larger dose of a more educated element, +but the elements which appear in this list +will probably be present in most juries in varying +quantities. It should be noted, however, +that the composition of the lists from which the +jury is drawn is very much in the hands of the +local authorities. In a big town a jury exclusively +composed of peasants is an exception, and a very +rare one.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Hence the peculiar character of the Russian +jury, about which much has been written and +much is being written.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Its chief characteristic is its leniency, its indulgence, +its tendency to acquit. And on this +account there existed, and there still exists in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>some quarters in Russia, a movement against the +jury as an institution, which bases its disapproval +on the reluctance of the jury to condemn. +But it is improbable that such a movement +will ever have a practical result. The disadvantages +of tampering in any way with trial by +jury are too obvious. Many characteristic stories +exist in Russian literature, and a still greater +number float about in the flotsam and jetsam +of current talk, illustrating by striking instances +the peculiar psychology of the Russian jury.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is said that a jury once returned a verdict +of “innocent, with extenuating circumstances.” +Garin, the author, tells how his house was once +set on fire by a peasant, and how without much +difficulty he collected overwhelming evidence +against a particular peasant for deliberate arson. +The peasant was tried before a jury of peasants +in the Canton Court. His guilt was clearly +proved. Nobody had any doubt but that the +verdict would be “guilty.” The peasants on the +jury did not deny the prisoner’s guilt, but were +of the opinion that six years’ penal servitude—the +sentence the prisoner would have received +for arson—was disproportionately heavy.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>“Two years in prison,” they reasoned—wrote +the foreman, narrating the case to Garin—“would +be enough to instil wisdom in him; but to +send him to penal servitude is too much. In +what are his wife and children guilty? What +will they do without a bread-winner?... +Their final argument was that it was a fine day, +and the sun was shining spring-like; how could +they ruin a man on such a fine day? They +were sorry for the gentleman, but still more sorry +for the orphans and the wife. Nobody was ever +ruined on account of a fire. It was God’s will, +and must be accepted as such.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>“It was only afterwards,” says Garin, the +sufferer in the incident, and the teller of the +story, “that it became clear to me that what +from our point of view may seem the greatest +injustice is from the point of view of the people +the expression of the highest justice in the world.” +Immediately after the incident, Garin was obliged +to leave the village where it occurred. He revisited +the place two years later. “I was at +once met,” he writes, “by a deputation of peasants, +whose spokesman made me a kind of speech +in which he said that the peasants were very +<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>glad to see me; and that they were very glad +for my sake that the prisoner had been acquitted; +that the Lord had not allowed me to +be burdened with a sin, in interfering with what +was not my business but God’s—the hounding of +criminals. ‘The Lord saved thee from sin,’ +they said to me; ‘all the good which thou didst +us has remained to thee, and has not been in +vain. The Lord punished them.’” And finally +he tells how the peasants narrated the bad end +the criminals had come to, taking it as a matter +of course that such things belonged to the sphere +of Providence, and not to that of man.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The story is characteristic. I could quote +many others of the same kind—stories in some +cases which are startling in their unexpectedness, +and in the difference of the point of +view from that prevailing in other classes and in +other countries. But strange as this point of +view may seem, it will generally be found that +there is in it a basis of common sense and an +element of sound fairness. The Russian peasant +juryman is indifferent to legal subtleties, and +often quite unaffected by forensic evidence, +which he looks on as a thing made to order, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>bought and sold. He will judge by his conscience, +and according to his own code of morals, +which, if indulgent, is none the less definite.</p> + +<p class='c007'>A friend of mine was once serving on a jury +in St. Petersburg. The prisoner was found +guilty of an odious crime, but the jury agreed +to a verdict of “guilty, with extenuating circumstances.” +My friend asked one man, who was +a peasant, how there could be extenuating circumstances +in such a case, to which he answered, +“I am not quite sure he did it.” If the principle +be a just one, that it is better that a guilty man +should go free than that an innocent man should +be condemned, then the chief accusation made +against the characteristics of the Russian jury +breaks down. A Russian jury will be almost +certain to give the prisoner the benefit of the +doubt. When the ritual murder case began at +Kiev, it was pointed out with dismay in several +quarters that it was absurd to try such a case +before an uneducated jury—that a jury of that +kind could not possibly appreciate complicated +questions of medical <i>expertise</i>, and all the arcana +of folklore and talmudic tradition and interpretations +of Hebrew texts, which played a large part +<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>in the trial. But when the trial was over, those +who interviewed the jurymen said that the jury +had paid no attention to all that; the visit to +the site where the body was found was the first +thing which affected their opinion; the eloquence +of the able lawyers engaged on both sides did not +influence them, as they said lawyers were “hired”; +but the conduct of one of the jury, who spent a +large part of his time in prayer, impressed them; +and finally they gave a verdict of “not guilty,” +which was the result of the workings of their +conscience.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is all the more remarkable in that they +very probably took the existence of ritual murders +as a matter of course; but however this may have +been, they realized that they had to find Beiliss +guilty or not guilty, and they found him not +guilty. A jury chosen from the most cultivated +classes of Russia could not have shown more +sense, and—as this case had raised political questions +and racial passions just as the Dreyfus case +did—had such a jury been infected by partisanship +or political or religious fanaticism, it is quite +possible that things might not have gone so well +for the accused. For whereas the jury thus constituted +<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>might have been liberal, it might just +as well have been reactionary and anti-Semite. +Of course the Russian jury has its drawbacks—it +may, if consisting of the lower classes, very +likely look upon certain forms of fraud as rather +a good joke; it may be over-indulgent to certain +crimes; but if the principle I mentioned just now +is sound, that it is better for the guilty to escape +than that the innocent should suffer, then these +drawbacks are amply compensated for.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is another point to remember: by heightening +the educational average of a Russian jury, +you would probably increase rather than diminish +its leniency; because this leniency is due to a +great extent to the inborn indulgence, tolerance, +and humaneness of the Russian people.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Juries drawn exclusively from the <i>intelligentsia</i> +are said to be still more indulgent than peasant +juries. Opinions differ on this point. A Russian +friend of mine tells me he believes the peasant +jury the more tolerant, in spite of what he has +heard, and in spite of his own experience to the +contrary; but it is probably a question of the +nature of the crime—the <i>intelligentsia</i> being more +severe for certain crimes which the peasants would +<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>condone as quite natural (say, certain forms of +forgery and violence), and the peasants, on the +other hand, dealing severely with a crime towards +which the <i>intelligentsia</i> would be more leniently +disposed. But the main point is that a Russian +jury, whatever its composition, is fundamentally +indulgent. It is far more indulgent than a jury +chosen from any other European country. I +remember being in St. Petersburg just after the +Crippen case, and hearing it discussed among +educated people in reactionary circles. These +people could not understand how it was possible +to hang a man on such slender evidence. Even +if the evidence had been abundant, the punishment +seemed to them too severe, but on slender +evidence the sentence seemed to them monstrous.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This leads us to the question of the punishments +which the Russian law can inflict.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The death penalty exists only for attempts +on the life of the Emperor or members of the +imperial family, forcible attempts to dethrone +the Emperor, and certain cases of high treason.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The death penalty was abolished by the +Empress Elisabeth in 1753. It is true that when +this was done it was rather the name than anything +<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>else which was abolished, since as long +as flogging continued with the <i>knut</i><a id='r22'></a><a href='#f22' class='c014'><sup>[22]</sup></a>, a leather +whip which was as deadly as the cat-of-nine-tails, +a sentence of over thirty blows (thirty-five +blows was the maximum allowed during the +last years of flogging) was enough to prove +fatal.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Flogging with the <i>knut</i> was abolished by the +Emperor Nicholas I. during the first year of his +reign (1825). During the reign of Alexander II., +from 1855 to 1876, only one man was executed +on the scaffold—Karakosov, who made an attempt +on the Emperor’s life. From 1866 to +1903 only 114 men suffered the penalty of death +throughout the Russian empire. These statistics +were read out and discussed in the Council of +Empire in July 1906 by M. Tagantsev, a celebrated +Russian legist, who pointed out that, in +contradistinction to this leniency, during 1906, +from January to June, 108 people had been condemned +to death under martial law, and ninety +had been executed, not counting those who had +been killed without trial.</p> + +<p class='c007'>When the Duma was dissolved in July 1906, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>and P. A. Stolypin took the reins of government +in his hands, martial law continued; drum-head +courts-martial were held all over the country, +and the number of people executed during 1907 +and 1908 was very great.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But it must be remembered that during this +period the country was in a state of anarchy. +Acts of terrorism were being committed almost +daily by the social-revolutionary party, and acts +of hooliganism and robbery under arms by the +criminal classes, who imitated and adopted the +methods of the revolutionaries. A vicious circle +of lawless crime and indiscriminate retaliation +seemed to have closed round Russian life, so that +during all this period the executions were to the +crimes in a proportion of about one to three. +It should also be remembered that during certain +phases of this epoch many parts of the +country were virtually in a state of civil war.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In any case, whether Stolypin’s policy was +defensible or not—and theoretically it was indefensible—he +was successful with the help of +the reaction that came about in public opinion in +putting an end to the anarchy, and after a time +things began to quiet down; drum-head courtmartial +<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>ceased, martial law gave way to “states +of reinforced protection,” and the country gradually +gained its normal state, and capital punishment +has once more become rarer, although it +cannot yet be said to be non-existent, since, in +virtue of states of reinforced protection (<i>Ysilenaya +Okhrana</i>), and by military courts, during 1912, +335 people were condemned to death, and 124 +were executed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In 1913, 148 were sentenced and 33 were +executed (the large number of persons reprieved +being due during this year to an amnesty given +on the occasion of the tercentenary of the imperial +family). The majority of crimes for which sentences +of death were passed are evasion from +prisons, riots in prison, or attacks on prison +authorities.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The criminal penalties meted out by Russian +law are:—</p> + + <dl class='dl_1'> + <dt>(<i>a</i>)</dt> + <dd>Penal servitude for life, or for terms ranging from four years to twenty years. + </dd> + <dt>(<i>b</i>)</dt> + <dd>Imprisonment from four to six years with consequent loss of civil rights. + </dd> + <dt>(<i>c</i>)</dt> + <dd>Deportation to remote parts of the empire for settlement. + </dd> + </dl> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>Formerly all convicts were deported, but now +some of them serve their terms in prisons in the +local Russian provinces.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Besides these criminal penalties, there exist also +what are called corrective penalties, which include +various degrees of punishment, ranging from +reprimands, fines, and imprisonment from three +days to three months, at the bottom of the scale, +to sentences of one to four years with loss of +civil privileges at the top of the scale. Among +these corrective penalties is what is called fortress +imprisonment for one year four months to four +years with loss of rights, and imprisonments for +four weeks to one year four months without loss of +rights. This punishment is usually applied to delinquencies +of a political or of a literary character.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Certain crimes are far less severely punished +in Russia than they are in England. A murderer, +for instance, as a rule will receive a sentence of +twelve years’ penal servitude. In some cases, +if there are extenuating circumstances, if he +acted under provocation, he will probably be +acquitted altogether. Again, there are cases of +murder which have been punished by not more +than two years’ imprisonment.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>Had Beiliss been found guilty he would not +have been hanged—as was stated in some of the +London newspapers—but the maximum sentence +he could have received (for murder of a child +accompanied by violence) would have been penal +servitude for life.</p> + +<p class='c007'>We have seen that there are in Russia two +tribunals—the Divisional Court and the High +Court, and that the High Court deals chiefly with +political offences, or with the delinquencies of +officials. Cases heard by the High Court are +tried either by the Bench, or by a special tribunal +consisting of judges and what are called “class +representatives.” These consist of the marshal +of the nobility of the government, a mayor from +the town, and the elder of the canton (a peasant). +Appeals against verdicts of the Divisional Court +in cases which were tried without a jury can be +made to the High Court, which can modify +the sentence, and a final appeal can be made +to the Senate. In cases which are tried by a +jury no appeal can be made on points of fact; +but an appeal can be made on points of law to +the Senate, which can either confirm the sentence, +or order the case to be retried either before the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>same tribunal, or before a tribunal exercising a +similar jurisdiction. The verdict in cases tried +by jury cannot therefore be modified, but it can +be cancelled and quashed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Senate in these cases corresponds to the +French <i>Cour de Cassation</i>.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian Bar came into existence as +a profession in 1864. Any one of a certain +education and standing is admitted to plead in +a criminal case in Russia, unless the case be +political. As regards civil cases, the privilege is +limited to the right of appearing before a petty +tribunal three times a year. This is an exception +to the rule that in a civil case only sworn +advocates or “private attorneys”<a id='r23'></a><a href='#f23' class='c014'><sup>[23]</sup></a> are entitled +to plead. Professional lawyers receive their training +at the university, and when, by passing the +necessary examination, they are in possession of +a certificate or degree, they are obliged to pass +through a preliminary stage of five years’ “deviling”; +then after a formal examination in legal procedure, +they become full-blown “sworn lawyers” +(<i>prisiazhnye povierenye</i>).</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>The Russian Bar has more than justified its +existence. Since it came into being in 1864 it +has produced a number of most remarkable men, +remarkable as lawyers as well as orators. Lately, +since the creation of the Duma, its influence has +made itself felt in politics, since many of the +members of the Duma who have played a leading +part in politics have been lawyers. The lawyers +naturally had the habit of speech, and were +often trained orators, so that as soon as an opportunity +arose for their peculiar gifts to have free +play, they were bound to come to the front on +both sides of the House. Among the members +of the Duma who have attained to prominence +are such men as Plevako, Maklakov, and +that of the late M. Muromtsev, the president +of the first Duma, who was one of the most celebrated +lawyers of the University of Moscow, and +one of the brightest ornaments of the Russian +Civil Bar.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Generally speaking, of all the reforms carried +out by Alexander II., that of the judicial system—leaving +out of account the emancipation of the +serfs, which was the <i>sine qua non</i> of all reform, +and without which all other reforms were useless—was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>the most greatly acclaimed. In the +first place, because the old system of justice +had been so bad; and in the second place, because +the new system proved to be a real success.</p> + +<p class='c007'>During the period of reaction which set in in +the reign of Alexander III., and during the first +years of the reign of the present Emperor, under +the reactionary administration of Plehve, the +Bar still retained its independence; and during +this time, it was at the Bar, and at the Bar only, +that independence of thought and speech could +be said to exist.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It must be said that the revolutionary movement +had a bad effect on it: firstly, because +many of its Liberal members were suspended; +and secondly because the Government, after the +revolutionary movement, did everything it could +to diminish the moral independence of the judges, +and to make them as reactionary as possible, +and in some respects this was successful. The +result of this policy is being felt now in political +or semi-political cases. But this is probably +only a transitional and temporary state of reaction, +following on the disturbance of the revolutionary +movement, and it will remedy itself +<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>automatically in the course of time, if the quiet +state of things that now exists continues; but if +this proves not to be the case, if the sparks of +discontent suddenly burst into flame, then circumstances +of a different kind will restore to the +Bar its ancient independence. Yet as things are +now, and taking all drawbacks, all temporary +embarrassments and hindrances, and all reactionary +influences into account; with every +disadvantage under which it may be labouring, +the Russian Bar must still be acknowledged +an admirable institution of which any country +should feel justly proud.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span> + <h2 class='c004'>CHAPTER XI.<br> <span class='c005'>THE FASCINATION OF RUSSIA.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_8 c008'>Gogol, the greatest of Russian humorists, +has a passage in one of his books, where +in exile he cries out to his country to reveal the +secret of her fascination.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“What is the mysterious and inscrutable +power which lies hidden in you?” he exclaims. +“Why does your aching and melancholy song +echo unceasingly in one’s ears? Russia, what +do you want of me? What is there between +you and me?” This question has often been +repeated, not only by Russians in exile, but +by foreigners who have lived in Russia.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The country is so devoid of the more obvious +and unmistakable signs of glamour and attraction. +As Gogol says, not here are those astonishing +miracles of nature which are made still +more startling by the triumphs of art.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>In Russia there are no</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c013'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in4'>“<span lang="la">Congesta manu prœruptis oppida saxis,</span></div> + <div class='line'><span lang="la">Fluminaque antiquos subterlabentia muros</span>”;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c017'>no</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c013'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in12'>“old palaces and towers</div> + <div class='line'>Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,</div> + <div class='line'>All overgrown with azure moss and flowers”;</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c017'>no “noble wreck in ruinous perfection,” where +“the stars twinkle through the loops of time”; +no “castle, precipice-encurled in a gash of the +wind-grieved Apennine”; no “rose-red city +half as old as time.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>There are none of those spots where nature, art, +time, and history have combined to catch the +heart with a charm in which beauty, association, +and even decay are indistinguishably mingled; +where art has added the picturesque to the beauty +of nature; and where time has made magic the +handiwork of art; and where history has peopled +the spot with countless phantoms, and cast over +everything the strangeness and the glamour of +her spell.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Such places you will find in France and in +England, all over Italy, in Spain, and in Greece, +but not in Russia. Russia is a country of colonists, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>where life has been a continual struggle +against the rigour and asperity of the climate, and +whose political history is the record of a long +and desperate struggle against adverse circumstances; +whose oldest city was sacked and +burnt just at the moment when it was beginning +to flourish; whose first capital was destroyed +by fire in 1812; whose second capital dates from +the seventeenth century; whose stone houses +are rare in the country, and whose wooden +houses are perpetually being destroyed by fire.</p> + +<p class='c007'>A country of long winters and fierce summers, +of rolling plains, uninterrupted by mountains and +unvariegated by valleys.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And yet the charm is there. It is a fact which +is felt by quantities of people of different nationalities +and races; and it is difficult, if you live in +Russia, to escape it, and once you have felt it +you will never be free from it. The aching, melancholy +song, which Gogol says wanders from sea +to sea throughout the length and breadth of the +land, will for ever echo in your heart, and haunt +the recesses of your memory.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is impossible to analyze charm, for if charm +could be analyzed it would cease to exist; and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>it is difficult to define the charm which is attached +to places where there is so little of that startlingly +obvious beauty of nature or art whose +appeal is instantaneous; where there is no +playground of romance, and no abodes haunted +by poetic or historical ghosts and echoes.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But to those who have never been to Russia, +and who will perhaps never go there, Turgeniev’s +descriptions of the country will give an idea of +this unique and peculiar magic. For instance, +the description of the summer night, when on +the plain the children tell each other bogey +stories; or the description of that other July evening, +when out of the twilight from a long way +off on the plain, a child’s voice is heard calling, +“Antropka-a-a,” and Antropka answers, “Wha-a-a-a-a-at”; +and far away out of the immensity +comes the answering voice, “Come ho-ome; +because daddy wants to whip you.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Turgeniev will afford to those who wish to +travel in their armchair magical glimpses of just +those particular episodes, pictures, incidents, +sayings and doings, touches of human nature, +phases of landscape, shades of atmosphere, which +constitute the charm of Russian life.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>Whereas those who will actually travel in +Russia itself will recognize not only that what he +writes is true to nature, but that incidents such +as those he records and causes to live again by +means of his incomparable art are a frequent and +common experience to those who have eyes to see.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The picturesqueness peculiar to countries rich +in a long tradition of art, and in varied and conflicting +historical associations, may be absent in +Russia; but this does not mean that beauty is +absent, and its manifestations are often all the +more striking from their lack of obviousness.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I was favoured with such a glimpse this summer. +I was staying in a small wooden house in Central +Russia, not far from a railway, but isolated from +all other houses, and at a fair distance from a +village. The harvest was nearly done. The +heat was sweltering. Everything was parched +and dry. The walls and ceilings were black with +flies. One had no wish to venture out of doors +until the evening.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The small garden of the house, which was gay +with asters and sweet peas, was surrounded +by birch trees, with here and there a fir tree in +their midst.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>Opposite the little house a broad pathway, +flanked on each side by a row of tall birch trees, +lead to the margin of the garden, which ended in +a rather steep grass slope, and a valley, or rather +a dip, likewise wooded, and on the other side of +the dip, on a level with the garden, there was a +pathway half hidden by trees; so that from the +house, if you looked straight in front of you, you +saw a broad path, with birch trees on each side +of it, forming as it were a proscenium for a distant +view of trees; and if anybody walked along +the pathway on the other side of the dip, although +you saw no road, you could see their figures in +outline against the sky, as though they were +walking across the back of a stage.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Just as the cool of the evening began to fall, +out of the distance came a rhythmical song, very +high, and ending on a note that seemed to last for +ever, piercingly clear and clean. Then the music +came a little nearer, and one could distinguish first +a solo chanting a phrase, and then a chorus taking +it up, and finally, solo and chorus became one, +reaching a climax on one high note, which went on +and on, getting purer and stronger, without any +seeming effort, until it eventually died away.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>The tone of the voices was so high, so pure, +and at the same time so peculiar, so strong and +unusual, that it was difficult at first to decide +whether the voices were high tenor men’s voices, +womanly sopranos, or boyish trebles. They +were quite unlike, both in range and quality, +the voices of women you usually hear in Russian +villages. The music drew nearer, and it filled +the air with a stateliness and a calm indescribable. +And presently, in the distance, beyond the +dip between the trees, and in the centre of the +natural stage made by the garden, I saw against +the sky figures of women walking slowly in the +sunset, and singing as they walked, carrying their +scythes and their wooden rakes with them; +and once again the high, pure phrase began, to +be repeated by the chorus; and once again +chorus and solo melted together in a high and +infinitely long-drawn-out note, which seemed to +swell like the sound of some crystal clarion, to +grow purer and more single, and to go on and +on, until it ended suddenly and sharply, like a +frieze ends. And this song seemed to proclaim +rest after toil, and satisfaction for labour accomplished. +It was like a hymn of praise, a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>broad benediction, a grace sung for the end of +the day, the end of the summer, the end of +the harvest. It seemed the very soul and spirit +of the breathless August evening.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Slowly the women walked past and disappeared +into the trees once more. The glimpse +was but momentary, yet it sufficed to conjure +up a whole train of thoughts and pictures of +rites, ritual, and custom—of pagan ceremonies +older than the gods, of rustic worship and rural +festival older than all creeds. And as another +verse of what sounded like a primeval harvest +hymn began, the brief vision of the reapers, erect, +stately, full of dignity, sacerdotal and majestic in +the dress and with the attributes of toil, added +to the impression made by the high quality and +pure concent of the singing, and one felt as if +one had had a vision of another phase of time, +a glimpse into an older and remoter world—older +than Virgil, older than Romulus, older than Demeter—a +world where the spring, the summer, and +the autumn, harvest time and sowing, the gathering +of fruits, and the vintage, were the gods; a +gleam from the golden age, a breath from the +morning and the springtide of the world.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>The place seemed to become a temple in the +quiet light of the evening—august, sacred, and +calm—and the procession of those stately +figures, diminutive in the distance, was like +the design on an archaic vase or frieze; and +the music seemed to seal a sacrament, to be +the initiation into some immemorial secret, into +some far-off mystery—who knows, perhaps the +Mystery of Eleusis?—or older mysteries, of which +Eleusis was but the far-distant offspring? The +music passed, the singing died away in the +distance, and one felt inclined to say,—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c013'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Is it a vision or a waking dream?</div> + <div class='line'>Fled is that music—do I wake or sleep?”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>When I say that the singing evoked thoughts +of Greece, the thing is less fantastic than it seems. +In the first place, in the songs of the Russian +peasants the Greek modes are still in use—the +Dorian, the Hypo-dorian, the Lydian, the +Hypo-phrygian. “<i><span lang="fr">La musique, telle qu’elle était +pratiquée en Russie au moyen âge</span></i>” (writes +M. Soubier in his <cite>History of Russian Music</cite>), +“<i><span lang="fr">tenait à la tradition des religions et des mœurs +paiennes</span>.</i>” And in the secular as well as in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>ecclesiastical music of Russia there is an element +of influence which is purely Hellenic.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It turned out that the particular singers I +heard on that evening were not local singers, but +a guild of women reapers who had come from the +government of Tula to work during the harvest. +Their singing, although the form and kind of song +was familiar to me, was quite different in quality +from any that I had heard before; and the impression +made by it is unforgettable.</p> + +<p class='c007'>If the aspect of nature in Russia is, broadly +speaking, monotonous and uniform, this does +not mean that beauty manifests itself infrequently. +Not only magic moments occur in the +most unpromising surroundings, but beauty is +to be found in Russian nature and landscape at +all times and all seasons in a multitude of shapes.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Personally I know nothing more striking than +a long drive in the evening twilight at harvest +time over the immense hedgeless rolling fields in +Russia, through stretches of golden wheat and +rye variegated with millet, still green and not +yet turned to the bronze colour it takes later; +when you drive for miles over monotonous and yet +ever-varying rolling fields, and when you see the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>cranes, settling for a moment, and then flying off +into space.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Later in the twilight, great continents of dovelike +lilac clouds float in the east, and the west +is suffused with the dusty and golden afterglow +of the sunset, and the half-reaped corn and the +spaces of stubble are burnished and glow in the +heat, and smouldering fires of weeds burn here +and there; and as you reach a homestead you +will perhaps see by the threshing machine a +crowd of dark men and women still at their +work, and in the glow from the flame of a wooden +fire and the shadow of the dusk, in the smoke of +the engine and the dust of the chaff, they have +a Rembrandt-like power; and the feeling of +space, breadth, and air and immensity grows +upon one; and the earth seems to grow larger, +and the sky to grow deeper, and the spirit is +lifted, stretched, and magnified.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Russian poets have celebrated more +frequently the spring and winter—the brief +spring with the intense green of the birch trees, +the uncrumpling fern, the woods carpeted with +lilies of the valley, the lilac bushes, and the +nightingale, which in Russia is the bird of spring, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>later the briar, which flowers in great profusion; +and the winter with its fields of snow scintillating +in the sunshine, when the transparent woods are +black against the whiteness, or, when covered +with snow and frozen, they form an enchanted +fabric, a fantastic tracery of powdered shapes, +gleaming against the stainless blue, or when, +after a night of thaw, the brown branches emerge +once more covered with airy threads and drops +of sparkling dew.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Wonderful, too, is the sunset and twilight +of the winter evening after the first snow has +fallen in December, when the new moon rises +above and is poised, like a silver sail, or a +gem, in a sea of azure that is suffused, as it +grows nearer the earth, with a rosy blush. +The white rays of the new moon looking +down from the sky flood the sheets of snow +with radiance, and lend them an intenser +purity; and lastly, with a tinge of cold blue in +their whiteness, they show up in bold relief +the wooden houses, the red roofs, and all +the furniture of toil; and these practical and +prosaic household things—these objects and +attributes of everyday life—assume a strange +<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>largeness and darkness as they loom between +the snow and the faintly blushing and lustrous +sky, as unreal and portentous as the conjured +visions of a magician.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The beauty and exhilaration of winter has +been well sung by the Russian poets, and the +long drives in sledges under a leaden sky, to +the monotonous tinkle of the sledge bell, and +the whistling blizzard with its demons that +lead the horses astray in the night; and as for +the spring, whose invasion after the melting +of the snows is so sudden, whose green robes +are so startling in their intensity, and whose +conquest of nature is so sudden and so swift, +it has evoked some of the finest pages of Russian +literature, in prose as well as in verse.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But there will be some who will enjoy more +than anything in Russia the summer afternoons +on some river, where the flat banks are covered +with oak trees, ash, and willow, and thick undergrowth, +and where every now and then perch +rise to the surface to catch flies, and the kingfishers +skim over the surface from reach to +reach. Perhaps you will take a boat and row +past islands of rushes, and a network of waterlilies, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>to where the river broadens, and you +reach a great sheet of water flanked by a weir +and a mill. The trees are reflected in the glassy +surface, and nothing breaks the stillness but +the grumbling of the mill and the cries of the +children bathing.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And then, if you are near a village, all through +the summer night you will hear song answering +song, and the brisk rhythm of the accordion; +or to the interminable humming, buzzing burden +of the three-stringed <i>balalaika</i>, verse will succeed +to verse of an apparently tireless song, and the +end of each verse will seem to beget another and +give a keener zest to the next; and the song +will go on and on, as if the singer were intoxicated +by the sound of his own music.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But the peculiar manifestations of the beauty +of nature in a flat and uniform country are not +enough to account for the overwhelming fascination +of Russia. That is a part of it, but that is +not all. And against that in the other scale +you must put dirt, squalor, misery, slovenliness, +disorder, and uninspiring wooden provincial +towns, the dusty or sodden roads, the frequent +gray skies, the long and heavy sameness.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>The <i>advocatus diaboli</i> has a strong case. He +could, and often does, draw up an indictment +proving to you that Russia is a country with +a disagreeable climate—an arid summer producing +uncertain harvests which sometimes result +in starvation, an intolerably long winter, a damp +and unhealthy spring, and a still more unhealthy +autumn: a country whose capital is built on a +swamp, where there are next to no decent roads, +where the provincial towns are overgrown villages, +squalid, squatting, dismal, devoid of natural +beauty, and unredeemed by art: a country where +internal communications off the big railway lines +are complicated and bad; where on the best lines +accidents happen owing to sleepers being rotten; +where the cost of living is high, and the expense +of life out of all proportion to the quality of the +goods supplied; where labour is dear, bad, and +slow; where the sanitary conditions in which +the great mass of the population live are deplorable; +where every kind of disease, including +plague, is rampant; where medical aid and +appliances are inadequate; where the poor +people are backward and ignorant, and the +middle class slack and slovenly; and where +<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>progress is deliberately checked and impeded in +every possible way: a country governed by +chance, where all forms of administration are +arbitrary, uncertain, and dilatory; where all forms +of business are cumbersome and burdened with +red tape; and where bribery is an indispensable +factor in business and administrative life: a +country burdened by a vast official population, +which is on the whole lazy, venal, and incompetent: +a country where political liberty and the elementary +rights of citizenship do not exist; where +even the programmes of concerts, and all foreign +newspapers and literature, are censored; where the +freedom of the Press is hampered by petty annoyances, +and editors are constantly fined and sometimes +imprisoned; where freedom of conscience +is hampered; a country where the only political +argument which can be used by a private person +is dynamite, and where political assassination is +the only form of civic courage: a country of misrule: +a country where there is every licence +and no law; where everybody acts regardless +of his neighbour; where you can do everything +and criticize nothing; and where the only way +to show you have the courage of your convictions +<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>is to spend years in prison: a country +of extremes, of moral laxity, and extravagant +self-indulgence; a people without self-control +and without discipline; always finding fault, +always criticizing, but never acting; jealous +of anything or anybody who emerges from the +ranks and rises superior to the average; +looking upon all individual originality and distinction +with suspicion; a people slavish to +the dead level of mediocrity and the stereotyped +bureaucratic pattern; a people which has all +the faults of the Orient and none of its austerer +virtues, and none of its dignity and self-control; +a nation of ineffectual rebels under the direction +of a band of time-serving officials: a country +where those in power are in perpetual fear, and +where influence may come from any quarter—where +nothing is too absurd to happen: a +country, as was said in the Duma, of unlimited +possibilities. I do not think the <i>advocatus +diaboli</i> can put the case stronger than that. +He would call as his witnesses the greatest Russian +writers of the past, and the most prominent +Russians of the present in political life, art, +literature, and science. He would call countless +<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>moralists and satirists, and prove that the Russian +God is the God of all that is topsy-turvy, +and of everything which is in its wrong place +and as it should not be. And he would laugh +at all the reformers, and tell them to reform +themselves; and he would end his indictment +with a smile, and murmur, “<i>Doux pays!</i>” +Of course the case of the <i>advocatus diaboli</i> is +as unfair as possible, otherwise it would not be +the case of the <i>advocatus diaboli</i>. And the +defence could make a strong counter-case refuting +some of these statements, qualifying all of +them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But the defence can do better than that. It +can point out that the very strength of the case +of the <i>advocatus diaboli</i> constitutes its weakness; +because if you say to him: “I know all that, +and you can make your case still stronger, if +you choose. I admit all that; and in spite of +all, and in some cases even because of it, Russia +has for me an indescribable fascination; in +spite of all that, I love the country, and admire +and respect its people.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>What can he answer to that? Nothing, I +think. If you admit the faults, and add that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>they seem to you the negative results of positive +qualities so valuable as to outweigh them altogether, +the case of the <i>advocatus diaboli</i> breaks +down altogether. That is my point of view +about Russia. I perceive countless faults and +drawbacks, some which may be the fortuitous +result of bad government, and only temporary, +and which will disappear, as other worse things +have already disappeared, with the march of +time; and others which may be innate and +radical—the result of original sin, and the way +in which the Russian character expresses its +indispensable dose of original sin, and inseparable +from it and ineradicable. There may be many +more which I do not even perceive. But this +does not affect me, because I have realized and +experienced the result of other qualities and +virtues which seem to me greater and more +important than all the possible faults put together, +and magnified to any extent; and the +net result of this is that the country has for me +an overpowering charm, and the people an +indescribable attraction.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And the charm exercised by the country as a +whole is partly due to the country itself, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>partly to the mode of life lived there, and to +the nature of the people. The qualities that +do exist, and whose benefit I have experienced, +seem to me the most precious of all qualities; +and the virtues the most important of all virtues; +and the glimpses of beauty the rarest in kind; +the songs and the music the most haunting and +most heart-searching; the poetry nearest to +nature and man; the human charity nearest +to God.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This is perhaps the secret of the whole matter, +that the Russian soul is filled with a human +Christian charity which is warmer in kind and +intenser in degree, and expressed with a greater +simplicity and sincerity, than I have met with +in any other people anywhere else; and it is +this quality being behind everything else which +gives charm to Russian life, however squalid +the circumstances of it may be, which gives +poignancy to its music, sincerity and simplicity +to its religion, manners, intercourse, music, +singing, verse, art, acting—in a word, to its art, +its life, and its faith.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Never did I realize this so much as once when +I was driving on a cold and damp December +<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>evening in St. Petersburg in a cab. It was dark, +and I was driving along the quays from one end +of the town to the other. For a long time I +drove in silence, but after a while I happened to +make some remark to the cabman about the +weather. He answered gloomily that the weather +was bad and everything else too. For some +time we drove on again in silence, and then +some other stray remark or question of mine +elicited from him the fact that he had had bad +luck that day in the matter of a fine. The +matter was a trivial one, but somehow or other +my interest was half aroused, and I got him to +tell me the story, which was a case of ordinary +bad luck and nothing very serious; but when +he had told it, he gave such a profound sigh +that I asked whether it was that which was still +weighing upon him. Then he said “No,” and +slowly began to tell me a story of a great catastrophe +which had just befallen him. He possessed +a little land and a cottage in the country not far +from St. Petersburg. His house had been burnt. +It was true he had insured, but the insurance +was not sufficient to make any sensible difference. +He had two sons, one of whom went to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>school, and one who had some employment +somewhere in the provinces. The catastrophe +of the fire had simply upset everything. All +his belongings had perished. He could no +longer send his boy to school. His other son, +who was in the country, had written to say he +was engaged to be married, and had asked his +consent, advice, and approval. “He has written +twice,” said the cabman, “and I keep silence +(<i>i ya molchu</i>). What can I answer?” I cannot +give any idea of the strength, simplicity, and +poignancy of the tale as it came, hammered out +slowly, with pauses between each sentence, and +a kind of biblical and dignified simplicity of +utterance and purity of idiom which is the +precious privilege of the poor in Russia. The +words seemed to be torn out from the bottom +of his heart. He made no complaint; there +was no grievance, no whine in the story. He +just stated the bald facts with a simplicity +which was overwhelming. And in spite of +all, his faith in God, and his consent to the +will of Providence, was unshaken, certain, and +sublime. This was three years ago. I have +forgotten the details of the story, which were +<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>many; but the impression remains of having +been face to face with a human soul, stripped and +naked, and a human soul in the grip of a tragedy, +as dignified as that of Prometheus, as touching +as that of King Lear, and as full of faith as that +of Job. And this experience, which brought +one in touch with the divine, is one which, I +submit, could only in such circumstances occur +in Russia.</p> + +<p class='c007'>When I say that for me Russia has a unique +and overwhelming charm, I mean that for me this +charm arises from my love of the Russian people; +and this love is not a predilection for the curious, +the picturesque, the remote, and the unusual, +but the expression, the homage, the acknowledgment, +the admiration of those qualities +which I believe to be the “captain jewels” in +the crown of human nature.</p> + +<p class='c007'>“Those foreigners,” wrote a Russian journalist +not long ago, “who come to Russia and rave +about the people, nevertheless in their hearts +despise us. They admire in us qualities which +they regard as primeval and barbarian; they +look upon us as good-natured and pleasant +savages.” I should like to assure that writer, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>or any other Russian who chances to read these +pages, that, whatever people may think, what +I love and admire in the Russian people is nothing +barbaric, picturesque, or exotic, but something +eternal, universal, and great—namely, their +love of man and their faith in God. And this +seems to me of a kind and of a degree that makes +all dissection of vices and enumeration of failings, +all carping criticism and captious analysis, an +idle business. It may be a profitable employment +for the Russians to blame and to criticize +themselves, and it is one in which they are +constantly occupied. It is less important in the +case of a foreigner writing for foreigners, and on +a country about which much prejudice has existed +in the past and many falsehoods have been +written; for him it is important to recognize +and to point out the sunshine of which his countrymen +are ignorant, and not to analyze the +spots on the sun. For it is the people who +admire whose observation is profitable, and it +is those who see and feel the sunshine who feel +and see the truth; for the sunshine and not +the sun-spots is the important fact about the +sun.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>Nevertheless, the expression of an admiration +for certain qualities in a foreign people is always +a delicate task. And often foreigners are justly +irritated for being praised for the qualities which +they least want to be praised for. Nothing is +more irritating than the condescending tone which +some people adopt in praising certain elements +which meet with their approval in foreign +countries. When, for instance, Anglo-Saxons say +to the Latin races: “Keep to your past; keep to +your superstitions, your relics, your ruins, and your +associations; remain artistic and picturesque; +but keep your hands off battleships, aeroplanes, +telephones, tramcars, and steam ploughs; leave +those practical things to us. You cannot deal +with them. You are charming as you are. +Do not try to be modern, you spoil the whole +effect by doing so.” This is often the attitude +of people to the Spaniards and the Italians, +and it is a maddening attitude. Or to the Irish +they say: “You are amusing, why should +you be competent? Why should you try and +deal with the serious business of politics?” And +such talk to an Irishman is more than maddening. +Or supposing foreigners were to say to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>the English, to the countrymen of Shakespeare, +Milton, Shelley, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, +and Constable: “Don’t bother about +writing poetry or painting pictures, stick to your +counters and your cotton-mills, you people of +shopkeepers; leave art to us,” we should resent +it. This attitude of mind arises from what a +French writer calls “<i>un optimisme béat</i>”—a +sort of open-mouthed, weak-chinned satisfaction +with oneself and all things, which is hopeless +and infuriating. And when this attitude is +blent with a tincture of rancid unction or a +dose of gushing and indulgent sentimentalism—when, +for instance, people condescend to patronisingly +rave about the ritual of such an institution +as the Catholic Church it is more intolerable +still.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is for this reason I wish to make myself +quite clear on this point. If, as I hope, I have +escaped the pitfall of giving the impression +that Russians are interesting as exotic and barbaric +specimens, as thinly-civilized savages, I +none the less wish not to incur the suspicion that, +in admiring in them the qualities of the heart, +I am overlooking in them the qualities of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>head, or assuming the absence of sterner stuff, +and of the tougher and more practical virtues. +I do not wish it to be thought that I am saying +to them, “Be good, sweet child; let those who +will be clever.” It is not necessary to point out +their cleverness and all it stands for. We all +know they are clever. I wish to point out that +I think they are good as well; and that their +goodness is more important than their cleverness, +because in general goodness is a rarer as well as +a greater thing than cleverness. This may be +a truism, but modern life has given to most +truisms the appearance of startling paradoxes.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Take, on the one hand, the most striking +examples among examples of energy and practical +achievements—of men, deeds, and facts—which +the Latin and Anglo-Saxon races can show, and +Russia need not fear to hold her own.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Take any one of the faults which Russian +critics hold up as the curse of the country, and it is +easy to show that though the accusation may be +true, it is not the whole truth; that the contrary +is true also, and the exceptions startling. +Russians, for instance, often single out laziness +and the want of practical energy as a national +<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>failing. Well and good; but the defence of +Sevastopol, the creation of the Trans-Siberian +Railway, and the transport of troops over a single +line during war time, are examples of abnormal +energy in the domain of achievement; and in +the persons of Peter the Great, Suvorov, and +Skobeliev, Russia has given to the world examples +of terrific and explosive energy. Stern stuff +must exist somewhere in the Russian character, +or else the Russian empire would not be there +to testify to the fact. The Russian empire is +the result of something, and it is there.</p> + +<p class='c007'>On the other hand, take those crying faults +which Russian critics single out and deplore as +being the sorest plague-spots and the weakest +points in the national life and character, and you +will find it easy to match them in the other +countries of Europe and in America. And +you will often find that what is attributed to +the evils of a particular form of government is +very often really the result of original sin, and +common to all countries under different forms +and names.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But my point is that while, as far as the general +category of faults and qualities, virtues and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>vices is concerned, the Russians are on a par with +other countries, and no worse if no better, they +have, <i>ceteris paribus</i>, a peculiar and unique gift +of goodness and faith in the nature of their +people which is difficult to match in any other +country, although you will find something like +it in America.</p> + +<p class='c007'>That is why I have dwelt less on that stern +stuff and those tough and stubborn qualities +which must be common to all great nations, +and whose existence naturally and inevitably +follows from the very fact of a nation being a +great nation. Such qualities must be taken +for granted. Did they not exist, there would be +no such thing as the Russian empire.</p> + +<p class='c007'>That is why I disregard them here, and have +chosen to dwell more on those qualities which I +believe to be peculiar to Russia, and which I +believe to be also a source of greatness. I happen +also to think these latter qualities to be more +important in themselves.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I hope now that I have made it plain that it +is on account of a humble admiration for these +special qualities, which by no means excludes a +serious recognition and respect for all other +<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>general qualities, and not on account of any +fantastic whim, condescending self-complacency, +or hypocritical sense of superiority, that with +regard to Russia I echo the words which R. L. +Stevenson once addressed to the deaf ear of a +French novelist: “<i><span lang="fr">J’ai beau admirer les autres +de toute ma force, c’est avec vous que je me +complais à vivre.</span></i>”</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><span class='small'>THE END.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class='c018'> +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. From this will be seen the difference between a Russian absentee +landowner and an English landlord. The English landlord is essentially +a partner in the farming, even if he does not farm the land +himself, because he will always sink a certain amount of capital in +buildings and their upkeep, whereas the Russian absentee landowner +invests no capital in anything: he merely receives the rent. +In some cases even the land taxes are paid by the tenant.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. Besides this hereditary nobility there was what is called personal +nobility, which was not hereditary. (This fact is without +any great importance; it simply means that when bureaucracy was +established in Russia it was necessary to distinguish between higher +and lower grades of public servants, and personal nobility simply +conferred rights of independence, at a time when only nobles and +public servants possessed any such recognized rights.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. It is perhaps as well to note here that the Russian law counterbalances +this state of affairs by giving the right to women, even during +the lifetime of their husbands, of enjoying and administrating their +own property. The Russian woman is not a minor in the eyes of the +law as in France.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f4'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. See page <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f5'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. Contrary to this last provision, the clause was taken advantage +of by the Government in 1907 to make a new electoral law which +changed the nature of the franchise. This was illegal, and according +to the fundamental laws, a <i>coup d’état</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f6'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. The number varies from three to twelve.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f7'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. Besides the Council of Ministers, there are various other deliberative +institutions, such as a Military Council, an Admiralty +Council, an Imperial Defence Council, a Financial Committee, and +a Court of Chancery.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f8'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. By a recent law which came into force in January 1914 the +<i>zemskie nachalniki</i> are being abolished in certain portions of Russia +and replaced by elective Justices of Peace.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f9'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r9'>9</a>. The peasants of each Canton elect a candidate, and the elected +candidates in their turn elect from amongst themselves the number +of members required. The nobility, the merchants, and any peasants +who are outside the Commune—that is to say, private landowners—are +elected by property qualification; they have to possess +so many acres, or so much immovable property, or a commercial +or industrial establishment of a certain assessed value. People who +own not less than one-tenth of the necessary property qualification, +also persons who are less than twenty-five years of age, and women, +may take part in the election by proxy.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f10'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r10'>10</a>. The Government or Provincial Zemstvo Assembly is composed +of a certain number of members, fixed by the law, elected by the +District Assemblies:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c013'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Of all the marshals of the nobility;</div> + <div class='line'>Of all the presidents of the districts;</div> + <div class='line'>Of the chairman and members of the government council;</div> + <div class='line'>Of representatives of the clergy;</div> + <div class='line'>Of the heads of the local branches of the Department of Agriculture.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f11'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r11'>11</a>. Cheerfulness, <i>not</i> gaiety.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f12'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r12'>12</a>. <cite>Russkoe Slovo</cite>: “At the Music Hall: G. Bayan,” September +14 (27), 1913.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f13'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r13'>13</a>. There is also in Lent the Mass of the Presanctified.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f14'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r14'>14</a>. It is very improbable that anything of the kind will occur.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f15'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r15'>15</a>. These are more or less in a state of decay, and in spite of +periodic spurts of activity brought about by various stimuli, such +as Government grants, they always lag behind the Zemstvo schools, +as they are a nuisance to the clergy themselves, who rarely have +time to attend to them.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f16'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r16'>16</a>. I quote these figures from the Russian Year Book, compiled +by Dr. Howard Kennard, for 1913.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f17'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r17'>17</a>. University education is <i>the</i> education in Russia. It has a traditional +pretension to be superior to all other (specialized) education, +owing to its encyclopædic and philosophical character. The Russian +characteristic of knowing something about everything and having vast +<i>aperçus</i> is fostered by it. The university is to the Russian student +what Paris is to the Frenchman, what Athens was to the ancient world. +The student often misses the lectures of his own course and attends +the lectures of other faculties, and this is encouraged by the professors, +who did the same when they were young. In Russia, erratic +and sporadic information is preferred to systematic and narrow +knowledge.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f18'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r18'>18</a>. According to a new law, which comes into force on January 1, 1914, +a higher village court has been created for the consideration of +appeals from the Canton Court, consisting of the local justice of +peace as chairman, and the presidents of the Canton Courts of +the district as members.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f19'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r19'>19</a>. Nishni-Novgorod, Kazan, Saratov, Kishniev, and the district +(<i>yiezd</i>) of St. Petersburg.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f20'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r20'>20</a>. This officer is to be abolished by the new law. At present +he exercises the same judicial functions as the zemsky nachalnik, +with the difference that his jurisdiction is in the town districts, that +of the zemsky nachalnik in the country districts.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f21'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r21'>21</a>. It has been widely affirmed that there has never been a peasant +jury in Kiev before.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f22'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r22'>22</a>. The word <i>knut</i> is the ordinary word for whip.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f23'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r23'>23</a>. Private attorneys (<i>chastnye povierenye</i>) plead before a specific +court from which they have received a special licence. They are not +required to take a university degree.</p> +</div> +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c003'> +</div> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c012'> + <div><span class='sc'>By</span> MAURICE BARING.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<table class='table2'> +<colgroup> +<col class='colwidth88'> +<col class='colwidth11'> +</colgroup> + <tr> + <td class='c010'>WHAT I SAW IN RUSSIA.</td> + <td class='c011'>1s. net.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c019'>“The experiences and impressions of a most accomplished travel-writer, +journeying to the battlefield of Liao-yang and back.”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r c020'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><cite>The Pall Mall Gazette.</cite></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c019'>“The volume is made up from three of the author’s earlier books, +and contains those sections which he regards as of permanent +interest. The reader will find that they give a fascinating account +of modern life in Russia as viewed from various standpoints.”</p> + +<div class='c021'><cite>The Queen.</cite></div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='small'>THOMAS NELSON AND SONS.</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='small'>THE MAINSPRINGS OF RUSSIA. <i>First Published, June 1914.</i></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c003'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c012'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1 c002'> + <li>Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + + </li> + <li>Used numbers for footnotes. + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77805 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57i (with regex) on 2026-01-29 06:49:32 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/77805-h/images/cover.jpg b/77805-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d77aae --- /dev/null +++ b/77805-h/images/cover.jpg |
