332 The National Geographic Magazine 



Now there has come a temporary hush. 

 For a time the gaze is diverted to that 

 forlorn squadron plowing its uncertain 

 way through unknown and treacherous 

 waters. One signal victory of Rodjest- 

 vensky's fleet may reverse all that has 

 gone before, retrieve all the battles lost, 

 redeem autocracy and the Tsar. In the 

 anguish of suspense the autocrat and 

 the nation listen and wait. 



THE PRESENT TSAR 



Upon a train some days ago I sat near 

 two gentlemen engaged in earnest con- 

 versation. They were talking about a 

 third, apparently a friend of their youth. 

 They seemed to be summing up his life 

 and character. Said one, " He was al- 

 ways hampered by his inheritance." 

 Said the other, ' ' Well, I think he blun- 

 dered along just as well as he knew 

 how, ' ' Then I caught another sentence, 

 " He never knew whom he was able to 

 trust. ' ' Their conversation ended with, 

 ' ' He would have been a great deal hap- 

 pier if he had been a clerk in New 

 York." Despite the distance in race 

 and rank, those random remarks epito- 

 mize the life story of Nicolas II. 



Far happier for him a simple house 

 in Yonkers or Harlem than the sumptu- 

 ous halls of the Winter Palace. Better 

 fitted is he for the routine of an office 

 and a desk than for the perils and re- 

 sponsibilities of a crown. Then, when 

 the day's work is done, what joy to reach 

 his home and toss his children in his 

 arms, and picnic on a holiday or a Sun- 

 day in the suburbs with his family. 

 Such, they tell us, is the gentle, homely, 



wife loving nature of the present Tsar. 

 Whatever the destiny of the autocrat 

 and of the autocracy, the Russian peo- 

 ple remain. Rudyard Kipling, in ' ' The 

 Man Who Was" — perhaps the most 

 powerful story Kipling ever wrote — 

 puts upon the lips of Dirkovitch the 

 prophecy of that for which the centuries 

 have been waiting : " The Czar ! Posh! 

 I snap my fingers — I snap my fingers at 

 him. Do I believe in him ? No ! But 

 the Slav who has done nothing, him I be- 

 lieve. Seventy — how much ? — millions 

 that have done nothing — not one thing. 

 Napoleon was an episode ! 

 Hear you, old peoples, we have done 

 nothing in the world — out here. All 

 our work is to do : and it shall be done, 

 old peoples. Get away ! Sevent}^ mil- 

 lions — get away, you old people ! " * 



*Some good books on Russia are : 



"Greater Russia." Wirt Gerrare. Mac- 

 millan Co. 1904. Several chapters deal with 

 Russia, but the larger portion of the work re- 

 lates to Siberia and the Amur territory. $3.00. 



"All the Russias." Henry Norman. Charles 

 Scribner's Sons. 1902. A very satisfactory 

 account of the resources and general adminis- 

 tration of Russia. $4.00. 



"The Great Siberian Railway." M. M. 

 Shoemaker. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1903. 



"Russia." Sir D. M. Wallace. Henry 

 Holt. $2.00. The best general account of 

 Russia in'the English language. 



" Russia in Asia, 1558-1899." A. S. Krausse. 

 Henry Holt. 1899. $4.00. A history of Rus- 

 sian advance across Asia. 



"Story of Russia." W. R. Morfill. G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons. 1890. (Story of Nations' 

 series.) $1.50. 



"The Russian Advance." A. J. Beveridge. 

 Harper Bros. 1903. $2.50. A graphic por- 

 trayal of the causes of the sweep of Russia 

 across Asia. 



