Russia : Its People and Politics. 2 7 



or under Japanese jurisdiction, the outlets of the trans-Siberian 

 Railway would be theirs at the expense of Europe. The Mon- 

 golian Powers were geographically divided. Manchuria stood 

 between Japan and Corea and China. Manchuria in the hands of 

 Japan would remove this impediment, and a victorious Japan, 

 with all the power and prestige gained by war, would be in a 

 position to undertake the regeneration of the Mongolian people. 

 When the countless millions of China were brought under 

 economic and military organisation by Japan they might say good- 

 bye to European prospects, commercially or otherwise, in Asia. 



Agriculture was the main industry in most countries, but more 

 especially in Russia, where the peasants numbered 82 per cent, of 

 the entire population, a proportion somewhat similar to Ireland, 

 and the agrarian question there, as with us, was the most im- 

 portant question of internal politics. A character sketch of the 

 peasant serves as a sketch of the people. One thing which 

 impresses a stranger was the extreme devoutness displayed by the 

 people. A Holy Shrine was never passed without due reverence 

 being paid to it ; the churches were filled with kneeling, prostrate 

 forms. Naturally one asked the question — Was all this real? 

 Tolstoi said it was. On the other hand, a Russian historian 

 stated that the people were remarkable for a state of religious 

 indifference, as to be without parallel in the annals of Christian 

 nations. These opinions appeared conflicting, but if analysed 

 showed a harmony. The Russian peasant was undoubtedly in- 

 different to religion, as we term it, for the simple reason that he 

 did not understand it ; but apart from religious doctrines, he 

 carried with him into his everyday life the moral principles which 

 regulated the relations between himself and others. The want of 

 religious knowledge — of theology — was to be attributed to the 

 relations existing between the peasant and his priest, or pope, as 

 he was called. It was an extraordinary fact that the Russian 

 revered his church and despised his priest. There was un- 

 doubtedly no spiritual relation between the Moujik and his pope, 

 the latter had no influence, moral or otherwise, over the masses, 



