THE FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5331, 29 April 1878, Page 3

THE FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF RUSSIA.

j ‘ (From-an Exchange,)- ■ ' i 'Standing as the nation does on the threshold of events which may prove to be of the utmost gravity, it may not be inopportune to inquire into the financial resources and the internal condition, of .the great military power with which we'may be presently brought into conflict {-and- our object-will be hbVtb-depreciate, that power, or to assume, that England and her ally or allies, would,obtain an easy .victory ever Russia,' but to show what are tho -elements of weakness which are fermenting, in the'bosqm of that enormous umpire, and which must not be overlooked in any, calculations respecting; the future. - . ' . At the commencement ;of the.Crimean. jnrac,. the ""natibnSl' debt' of . Russia was only £100,000,000 sterling. . In the month of September, 1875, The Times stated it to be no leas than £484,000,000. This was ‘ irrespective of the floating debt, represented: by - issues of paper money amounting at the. close of last year to £120,000,000 Sterling.’, A poi’tion .of the national debt has been incurred for .the construction of railways," but" these , have been planned and; executed, 1 and are maintained in good l working' order, for strategic purposes. Two of these are carried ,on at a loss, and twelve of them barely yield enough to “defray; the,working expenses. The 1 national revenue last year, including railway receipts, did hotexceed > '£76,000,00.0/, of which 7 at least, £20,000,000 are absorbed by the interest of the* debt.- 40 per cent, ofthe taxes is contributed by the poorest classes of the community, who pay £26,000,000 pur annum on tho apiriiituusliquors they consume,' £3,300,000 in the shape of duties'bn‘ salt'‘and 1 ' tobacco ; ‘afid a poll tax, very lloavlly on the tower strata of society, u AVbat’the debt ’may .be at this, mb), raent, it would be hard to say; but this at leasts certain, 'that a war carried on upon a scale of such magnitude, and at so groat a distance fram'the ' base' of supplies, the" whole of the transport' haying to be effected by.land, carriage' i only, must "’havei been enormously costly; while a renewal- of hostilities against a fresh and wealthy 'enemy) with the fleets of England holding the Black Sea and those of Austria' guarding the Mediterranean, would .necessarily entail great pecuniary sacrifices upon Russia.' 1 ■ 1 ■ t We come in the next place to the inquiry,, what is the internal condition of that country ( According to the report of an Imperial Commission; presided over ' by the Minister of Domainspand presented to the Russian Government in 1873, the. nation since 1862 has been literally "drunk with' vodka (obrii-brandy). The consumption of that ' liquor' must be kept up for'the sake of the revenue'it affords p because,‘unless the people drink to excess, the State cannot pay ‘ the interest on the national debt; ! The Russian' clergy not only do not check, but positively encourage drunkenness, by setting the example to their flocks. This is expressly stated'rin 1 the” report referred to, •which‘mentions that the priests aro frequently “not sober when performing the offices' of religion while it is for their interest to, have as many holidays as possible ; and it is. on these that'the peasant, after attending 'church, gives himself tip to'debauchery. In one province: we are' told that “ robbery ,is Bo . developed ‘that a wife robs, her husband,/the children their parents, and the' stolen goods ara carried to the dram-shop.” In another, “ The population’ may..,.be/ divided into those who sell drink and those, who consume it. , Entire, anarchy reigns. Everything is" done for vodka and by vodka.” In another, “The,peasant does .not drink ‘vodka! every day, but'when he does drink, he indulges until he becomes unconscious. For drink he’spends his last copeck, pawns every-, thing ho possesses, ■ and then gets into debt. When accused of a delinquency, he pleads insensibility from drink.”- In! another, “ Theft is developed to an alarming extent, No redress is to be bad from the: magistrates.” An ’apologist for the .vices and crimes of the’Russian peasantry asks, “ From-whence are they to acquire a. respect for the property of others ? ' It is easier,to,use than not to use the’property of others, especially ~as Godl-knows to what Condition the dram-shops have brought the peasantry. , Sexual morality seems l to have sunk' to tho'same point as, social"morality.” The. physical penalty on , licentiousness prevails throughout Russia. There "are many villages in’which no man, woman, or child has escaped .its.effects. Jn tho province of Foltavn alohe 10Q;000 persona were suffering from it in one form or another.”,

And the, political aspect ,of Russia ' Is ‘as ominous as its moral condition. The information brought to, light.at- the trial of the'l93 State conspirators in Sti Petersburg, a few weeks ago, exposed. the wide-spread- ramifications of Nihilism,, which aims at thh' overthrow of Imperialism, bureaucracy, - armed force, religion, marriage, and property, and numbers its adherents by-hundreds of-thou-sands ; penetrating not merely the ignorant masses, but .the administration; the army, the universities, the schools, and the mercantile Classes. “ Whenever,” . writes an American newspaper -correspondent - from Kieff,; in -November last, “ the controlling feeling of loyalty ceases to exist, the prospect before'the-now powerful empire will; be, truly appalling. A rising of the Eussian people led by its ' Nihilist . nobles, - and unchecked by a 1 disaffected military, would bo a catastrophe so terrible as to make the bloody reminiscences, of Prance's reign of terror pale into insignificance. ] Nomatter.how.shrowdly planned or how resolute the leader- at its bead, a revolution of such magnitude, and made up ; of such elements, would soon he beyond all control. At present thp.Eraperoris the State. Nihilism must do away with the Emperor, and as it cannot; cohsistently with its own doctrines, sot up any other authority, in his place, the only, logical conclusion ■ to arrive., at is that Eussia as a-Power must cease to - exist on that day." ■ - In Professor Bryce's recently published “Transcaucasia aud.i Ararat,”- he tolls- us that every territorial,- acquisition- by Eussia 'is Of source of weakness to her ;.-and that the’more - she., annexes-: the sooner- -will she break up. Ho compares her to a man who is borrowing money- at -seven per cent,, with which to purchase land which will bring him in nothing ; and ho says that ;! 1 for modern warfare, which is above all things a matter of money and science, she is probably loss strong

than the weakest of the three other great military States of the Continent. And for the administration of semi-civilised territories she is still more unfitted, having no stock of able Wg-Vroua men, with well-trained minds, as we send every year to India.” . The considerations suggested by facts like these, - while they should not induce us to undervalue the efforts which Russia may put forth!in a great emergency, may very well have tho effect of regu atiug and qualifying the judgments we may form as to events which are now imminent.'