484 



The Review of Reviews. 



yoveilther i, 1006. 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION. 



The Prophecy of Mr. Rappoport. 

 In the Fortnightly Reviai' for September Mr. 

 Rappoport recalls the realisation of his prophecy 

 about the dissolution of the Duma, and being 

 mightilv encouraged therewith, proceeds to " pro- 

 phesy some more." He says: — 



After one or two futile eurteavours— insincere, of course- 

 to form a oalition Oibinet, a regime of oppression, the rule 

 of TrepoS—TrepofsUhfena, as tl.e Russians call it— will ulti- 

 m.ite.y he e-tablished, with the aim of drowning the strug- 

 gle for liberty in torrents of blood. lu spite of the iron 

 rule the strugsle will continue. But will it ult.ima,tely lead 

 to a successful issue? At the risk of being accused of ex- 

 cessive pessimism. I unhesitatingly repeat, No; not without 

 :he intervention of Europe. The battle is now fought with 

 monev onlv. It the present Russian Government obtains 

 money from Europe, then Rtissia's freedom becomes a will- 

 o'-the-wisp, and the struggle will have to begin anew. 

 There is a vas.t diflerence between the France of 1789 and 

 the Russia of 19J6. and that things are not bound to 

 'appen in the land i>t the Ronitmofls as in that of the 

 Bourbons. 



'I'he raiuics of the iiidiflerence are due to many factors, 

 hut chiefly to three; temperament of the nation, currents 

 of tiiought. and ^wjcial and economic state of the two 

 lonntiies. The obst.icles in the way of Russian Liberalism 

 become less insurmountable. 



Only when the large masses of the Russian peasants have 

 been eaiiied over to the idea of political freedom, when they 

 have learned to understand that only a tabula ram of the 

 present rcqinie can save them and bring about a thorough 

 agrarian reform when they at last understand that they 

 I m hope nothing from autocracy. Liberalism and the re- 

 volution will triimiph. But. for the present at least, all 

 the uinujik is asking is an increase of land; he never 

 dreams of questioning the sacrosanct authority of the Tsar. 



The alternative. I do not hesitate to say. is clearly this: 

 either Tsardom triumphs once more, and Panslavism 

 shortly rears its Hydra-head against Europe, and. European 

 peace is contiHually disturljed. or Russian autocratic power 

 — Tsardom— is crushed and Russia relucel, not only to a 

 constitutional Power hut to a federated Republic. This 

 would mean not only peace, individual liberty, and pros- 

 perity for the Russian millions, but also commercial ad- 

 vantages for Europe and especially for England. Without 

 the assistance of Europe the Russian people will struggle 

 in vain against Tsardom. The time, therefore, has now 

 come for constitutional Europe and republican America to 

 stop bloodshed, the crimes, and the atrocities committed by 

 the Russian (lovernment. and to crush the power of auto- 

 cra.cy and absolutism. 



What he means by intervention is really the ceas- 

 ing to intervene bv lending money to the Russian 

 Government. 



The St. Petersburg correspondent of the North 

 American Revieiv takes a \cry gloomy view of the 

 prospects. He says : — 



Trie bulk of the people are benighted, superstitious, ignor- 

 ant, to a degree which Americans can hardly realise. 

 Hence they are open to all kinds of hypnotising sugges- 

 tions from without, while incapable of any deliberate 

 action on their own initiative. 



Thev kill doctors whenever there is an epidemic of 

 cholera, accusing the doctors of po'soning the wells and 

 spreiding the disease deliberately. They burn witches with 

 delight, disinter the dead to lay a ghost; they strip un- 

 faithtul wives stark naked, tie them to carts, and whip 

 them through the village. In a word, the level of civilisa- 

 tion in the rural districts is lower than that of the Chinese 

 or the .Moiie:ol». .KnA when a multitude like this which dif- 

 fers fc^m savages only in a slight degree, is roused to mad- 

 ness, the results of their rising in arms may be ttemendous. 



Of the whole nation, he says : — 



Their moral sense is distorted. Hence rapine, arson, 

 aesaasination. and mass murders by bomb-throwing are of 

 9very-dav occurrence, and the only expression of public 

 opinion which they evoke is regret that the criminals 

 should be bronght to punishment. "Patriotism, not crim- 

 inal inat.inct, inspired them." 



Blood will flow profusely. Socialists, revolutionaries ana 

 reactionaries desire it, demand it. The organ of the 

 extreme radica's writes: "From the interior of the Em- 

 pire, cilm, level-headed observers, who are well acquainted 



with what goes on among the peasants, ai&rm that a vsrit- 

 ;ibl6 Jacquerie is approacliing. There is so much electricity 

 in the air that the le-'.st thing may draw it out." 



JAPAN SINCE THE WAR. 



Mr. Jacob H. Schiff contributes to the Norih 

 America)! Reviav for August an interesting accouni 

 of his observations upon Japan and the Japanese as 

 he has observed them since the war. In the eariy 

 months of this year ht- visited Japan and travell.-d 

 extensively through tht^ Islands and in Korea. H ■ 

 says : — 



Japan's lirst care bas been to safeguard permaneutly he:- 

 coi.trol over Korea. She has tjegun this work by cutting urt 

 Korea's diplomatic intercourse with foreign nations, and, 

 as already stilted, she has with a firm hand ^aken under 

 her own control tl:e administration of the country. Her 

 lieople are now occupied in a unitel misrhty effort to sscuro 

 compensation in the avocations of re:ice for the great sac- 

 I ifices which tliey were called upon to make. Anung no> 

 other people can be found a greater tliirst for learning; 

 pnhlic .icliools are many and of every e-rade; attendance 

 i-i compulsory and education is entirely free. Toki:) Tin - 

 versity. Waseda University, Kyoto University and other 

 advanced seats of learning compare favourably with tbe 

 best American Colleges and Uni\er8itie8. as to fixed appa- 

 ratus as well as to quality of the faculties. 



If one were to char;icterise the people of Japan, a peojdo 

 generally believed, and no doubt properlj- so. to be full of 

 sentiment, one would have tJJ sav that they are a sober 

 people. Men wiio have been the founders of New Japai.— 

 men like Marquis Ito. Count Okuma. Count Matsukata, 

 Count Innouye and others—are thoroughly alive to the 

 Hangers which lie behind the glitter of a strong militiiry 

 administration. 



The first struggle bt;t\veen them and Marsha! 

 Vamagata turned upon the proposed acquisition i^t 

 the railways by the Government. The Marshal 

 triumphed, but Mr. Schiff does not think this in !i- 

 eates the defeat of the Peace party. The real war- 

 fare of the future will be industrial : — 



<.tnlv when the new markets now being o[>ened in ISj^i^tx 

 ;ind Maiicliuria hove become more fully established la the 

 true strength of Jai>an. as an industrial nation of great 

 producing capacitj. Ukely to show itself and to become ap- 

 preciated by the other nations, who base such high boi>es 

 upon the promise of the " open door " — hopes which are 

 likely to be doomed to considerable disappointment, be- 

 cause of the industrial possibilities of Japan and the ad- 

 vantage of her position in legitimate competition with l:er 

 rivala. 



It is well that the fact has become recognised in Ear i)e 

 and in the United States that Japan means to be, and i? 

 to be. the dominant factor in the Far East, and that a ly 

 commercial or other advantages in the distant Orient, wlu"li 

 Burooe and America desire to secure, can be obtained only 

 by the same legitimate methods these nations employ iu 

 their dealings with each other. 



Mr. Schiff at the beginning of his article lays 

 great stre.ss upon the fact that Japan would havtr 

 l)een beaten by Russia but for the help she drew 

 from the English-speaking world: — 



Not very generally is it realised, however, what Anglo- 

 Aniericm friendship and support, moral and financial, meant 

 to tho Island Empire; liow without these, the gallantry of 

 its people, their readiness to sacrifice their all to maintain 

 the supremacy of their country against the aggression of 

 The Northern Colossus, would have been of no avail. Had 

 America not willtnglv iomed hands with England in the 

 spring of 19W. when Japan made the first attempt to secure 

 foreign loans for the purposes of the war— an appeal which, 

 until America showed its willingness, even eagerness, to co- 

 operate, was met in England not over-enthustastically; 

 bad the two nation* not so readily opened their money 

 markets to every succeeding Japanese war loan, nothing 

 r-nuld have averted the financial and economic ruin or 

 Japan at a comparatively early stage of the struggle. 



