MR. G. A. SALA'S LECTURE ON "RUSSIA."

Kumara Times, Issue 2839, 6 November 1885, Page 2

MR. G. A. SALA'S LECTURE ON "RUSSIA."

Mr George Augustus Sala, the eminent English journalist, leader-writer, art-critic, and special correspondent to the London Daily'Telegraph, delivered, as we have previously shortly noticed, his first and only lecture in Kumara, at the Theatre Royal, on Saturday evening last, on " Russia : what She is Like, aud what She Means." On his appearance on the stage, Mr Sala was greeted with applaase. He was in full evening costume; his manner at first stiff, artificial, and alcnost, we might say, sarcastic, as he folded his arms and took a general espial of bis audience. He had neither book nor notes with him, as is the custom with most lecturers, and he never once referred to any author either for enlargement of his topic, or in substantiation of anything he said. The fact is Mr Sala does not require this ; the difficulty, if any, with him is to compress in as few words as possible all he hns seen and his own impressions and opinions of things as they are ; and this he actually does in a way that you must follow him ; he so strings together his vast fund of information that the audience is drawn with his easy and appropriate gesture iDto hearty sympathy and approval. Mr Sala commenced by telling his audience that be should speak on Russia as an eye-wit-ness—as one who had studied the manners, the customs, and the policy of the people. It was at the instigation of the late Charles Dickens that he first visited Russia ; this was in 1856, just after the great struggle in the Crimea. The Czar had predicted that the two greatest generals the allied forces would have to contend with against Russia were " General January " and " Genera February," when the cold was so intense as to impede the operations of war. The Russian fleet was sunk in Sebastapol harbour, but nob destroyed,, aud only one side of the protective works arouud the great fortress could be said to have been destroyed, fie referred pathetically to the admirable devotedness during the Crimean war of Miss Florence Nightingale among the wounded soldiers in the hospital at Scutari—the "Lady of the Lamp," as they used to call her. When Mr Sala next visited Russia in 1876, its surface had been covered with a webb of railways, all built, however, for purposes military, not commercial. This was just before the war with Turkey, and his mission' was to see what she was up to, many rumors being current in London. But tbe perplexity of traveling on the Continent is, by reason of the many passports required, much heightened in Russia, where every stranger is suspected of being a Nihilist. Hence he had to resort to the mild equivocation of stating that he was traveling with the view of taking notes of the fine arts in Russia. The censorship of the foreign newspapers and periodicals was very great ; and, if anything derogatory to the Czar was published, it was rubbed onfc or obliterated before being forwarded. It was, however, pleasing to hira to have notified that some of the most fashionable places in the capital, St. Petersburg, bore English names—a relic of the days when warm ties of friendship united the two countries. Mr Sala depicted the dirty, half-starved, ignorant peasant; bat who, when caught, washed, shaved, and drilled, was an admirable "fighting machine." The Russian peasant did not think, couldn't think, but he could fight doggedly, obstinately, and bravely when inspired partly by rigorous drill, and partly by love for his " little father," as he calls the Czar; to die fighting for whom procures him the surest passport for Paradise, as surely in his opinion as in the Arab's who dies under the green banner of Islnm. The Imperial guard came in for enthusiastic praise, and indeed Mr Sala thinks highly of the Russian Army generally. It certainly boasts some curiosities among them a regiment, every private in which is pug-nosed. The non-commissioned officers' uoses are allowed to be merely snub, and those of higher grade are haughtily aquiline. These differences, however, might disappear under an improved system of promotion from the ranks. St. Petersburg contained man}' foreign colonies—French, German, and even Mahometan. The last-named were greatly valued as waiters; the genuine Russian waiter gets as drunk as Chloe whenever he has a chance, whereas the the Mahometans are always sober, the Koran forbidding wine. His description of the various classes into which Russian Society is divided were inf.c i?sting ; i hut which perhaps most amused 'Jin audience was the Russian d.'o-ihky driver and U e mentis the foreigner uses for direoiiug hira which

way to go—pulling the right ear when he wishes him to turn to the left, the left ear when it is desired to go to the right, and both ears, calling " Stoe!" (Stop !) when he is required so so do. But there was a shudder when he related how some murderous droshky drivers indemnified themselves for this occasional ill-treatment by conveying somnolent or unwary travelers to the Neva, breaking the ice and putting them underneath so that they might float away to the ocean, whilst ico quickly froze the hole up again. Although he believed St. Petersburg was the finest city in the world, yet it is built on a swamp, and he (Mr Sala) would not be surprised to see the town which Peter the Great founded some day carried away by a big flood. The streets are inundated whenever the Neva rises. The great street of the Nevski Prospect, five miles long; the fortress of St. Peter and St. Par,!, which is a palace, a church, nn arsenal, and a prison ; and the Winter Palace, which in splendour and richness surpasses all the other palaces, were graphically described. Mr Sala paid his third visit to Russia just after the assassination of Alexander 11., who it will be remembered, was so severely injured by a bomb thrown at him near his palace on the 13th March, 1881, that he died a few hours after; and he went to witness the pageantry of woe. The lecturer depicted the state of Russian society, honeycombed by Nihilism. He then described the conveyance of the body of the Emperor from the Winter Palace to the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul through the snowcovered streets, and i he lying in state, with itsstrange ceremonies. The passport system was carded to the grave. Just before the coffin was lowered, the Pa : triarch placed therein a passport, being a letter to the Apostle Peter, bespeaking for the dead potentate his kiudness and protection. Two years of mourning having elapsed, it became necessary to crown Alexander's successor, and once more, at the urgent request of the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, Mr Sala consented to go, if they would give bim the assistance of a companion. He had twice left that country hoping to return no more; but, the assistance he desired was readily accorded him, and, after writing an article on " the price of fish," he again sallied forth to witness the coronation of the present Emperor, which event took place in the great palace of the Kremlin at Moscow. The description of the two uniforms with which, under stress of court etiquette, his civilian companion and he provided themselves, and the means they employed to get their manuscript down to the telegraph office, and thus two and a half columns into the next morning's issue ' of -the Daily Telegraph ahead of all their competitors, were exceedingly interesting, and were concluded amid rounds of applause from the audience. It will he seen from the above sketch thai Mr Sala had abundance of materia' for his varied powers ; and that material he made use of with all the skill of air experienced literateur. Mr Sala looked at his watch and found he had been speaking for about two hours ; but he must not conclude without giving some of his opinions of what Russia means. He remarked that Peter the Great built St. Petersburg because, as he said, he. " wanted a'window to see into Europe," and now Russia appears to want a window to see into British India. He attributed the Russian desire for war, not to the people, who were peaceful enough, but to the military conspirators, the generals and statesmen who surrounded the Emperor, and forced his hand. These feared the Nihilism with which the country was honeycombed, and wished moreover for war, because they were in command of the big battalions, and wanted employment. These nobles were in perpetual fear of a revolution in which they might lose their ill-gotten estates, and these they wished to replace by others in Central Asia or perhaps in Hindustan. Till the Russian people had a voice in the government of the country, there would be always risk of war with England; and if it had to come Mr Sala would prefer it came sooner than later. Mr Sala concluded his interesting lecture with the greatest satisfaction of the audience ; indeed, it iv wonderful how much informaLion he condensed int'"> t.}H:-'i :■ : ':;■,;■. T'" lecture was a :i:odel <•{' *■■}'.-■■ ■• ] "<;t\<v.> should be instr'.'otivo. ;•:';":■%! lm. picturepqnr., >viij. ,].(<;. pmporMoris o': humour nv.r~> f, !oq i, .cir:-i'. l Th r -- ''-■: Charles Chirk lmd tha :\iu ■>! v---language and elocution ; !.■:.!*. Tvir ;-?':!b. gives one as much it.tforin--V.io!> ••{ interest in two houts und a q<j:ut:;r, as may be gathered from some three or four historical volumes in the course of £ week's reading. Mr Sala took his .hmoc- u :

Sunday morning for Gieymouth, where he lectured twice; then on to Reel'ton on Wednesday, where he lectured on " Dickens and Thackeray."