THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 138, 15 February 1859, Page 3

THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA

If a man ofa^k-Ticc were gifted for a day with the w'islung-cji}) of Fovtunatusj, his first desire would probably !>e to witness some of those gigantic transform;! ious of nature of which by patient investigation and research, he has succeeded in foi'ming cerhiin but incomplete conceptions. To see the priinasyal rocks boiling up from, their submarine caldrons —to see in a moment of time the process by which, through countless centuries, the formations he has so eagerly studied have been agglomerated and compacted—to view with his own eyes the firm crust of the earth emerging from the chaotic waters of the deluge—this would be to realise the vision which he has believed without having seen. Hardly less would be the boon to the student of science and philosophy, if some of these great changes in the social and political annals of the human race which he has been forced to trace through the dim twilight of centuries could be enacted within the range of his own personal experience, so that he might behold at a glance the process by which whole societies pass from darkness into light, and from barbarism into civilisation. Yet at this moment, and within the limits of Europe, a tiansformation is in progress not less interesting or less instructive than these to which we have adverted/ The history of the revolutions by which the stratification of modern society was moulded and compacted is half biii;ied in the ruins of the chaos out of which it has struggled. We must burrow through the mould .of the Middle Ages to acquire a vory imperfect^ conception of the process by which the feudal villain passed into the English laborer, or of the manner in which the English Parliament grew out of the ■Council of the King's tenants. But we need no "longer have recourse'to the pages of Hallaiu in order to picture to ourselves the image of nascent civilisation. Within the circle of European society there is going on a revolution as interesting ancfextraoruinary as any to be found in history. IC- is singular enough that, in days when whole columns of our newspapers are devoted to such subjects as Cherbourg fetes and Imperial progresses, so little attention should be bestowed on the great spectacle which is being pLayed out in the Russian empire. The history of that great section of the human race has been for generations a closed book, but all excuse for ignorance or inattention is now removed. From one end of Russia to the other thought and speech are as free, and the means of knowledge almost as accessible, as in the most civilised regions of Europe. Some very interesting letters, from the pen of a " Recent Traveller," which have appeared in the Continental Review, give us an intelligible glimpse of the great events which are as yet only in their concealment. That which, in most countries, has for the most part been elaborated by slow degrees, and brought about by accidental causes, is here the deliberate aim of a regular and well conceived plan. The whole of a degraded and enslaved class is about to pass from a condition of abject servitude into a state of comparative freedom. Of all the evc»nts which have occurred within the memory of living men, the emancipation of the Russian serfs is among the most extraordinary and the most worthy "of attentive study. The change which it will effect will be move complete and more striking oven than the shock of the French Revolution, inasmuch as the peasant of the days of Louis XVI. was a freeman compared with the ascripti glebce of the Russian soil. And further, the great revolution which is taking place before our eyes has a greater promise of stability in the fact that the aims of its author are definite and intelligible, and that the movement, instead of originating in a rebellion against all authority and Government, is the work of the supreme power itself.

Never, perhaps, did a single, man undertake a more gigantic and noble work than that to which the Emperor Alexander has set his hand. It is hardly possible for us to estimate the moral and physical obstacles which he must have had to encounter in grasping so daring a project. The long traditions of a policy of violence and repression were to be cast aside; the vague danger of first disorganising, nnd then'"remodelling", a whole society was to be faced; arid most terrible of all, the hostility and vengeance of a nobility which had sacrificed even the lives of the Czars to its fears, was to be braved. Yet all this the Emperor Alexander lias met with a calmness and a resolution alike heroic and extraordinary. The epithet "great" is attributed to monarchs in diverse senses, according to the moral standard of those who employ it; but those who deem that it properly belongs to men who dare everything in the . accomplishment of lofty ends will not hesitate to bestow it on the ruler who shall accomplish such a work in such a spirit. From the moment that the act o? emancipation was resolved upon, the Enperor has exhibited equal resolution and prudence. He has endeavored in all cases to make the nobility participate in devising- and executing the necessary measures. Deputations from all the provinces have been invited to discuss and regulate the method of operation. Sjnnptoms were not wanting at first of a disposition to question the fundamental principles of the scheme; but the Emperor, with great firmness, intimated that, though the manner of proceeding was a point on which he was prepared to take the advice of his nobles, the policy of emancipation was one which was irrevocably determined. Their resistance, as might have been expected, has been obstinate and vehement; and perhaps nothing but the conviction of the enormous hold which he has acquired on the popular affections, preserves him from the fate with which so many of his ancestors have been visited on far less provocation. Several speeches addressed by Alexander to the nobles iv various provinces of the Empire have been lately published, which, in their earnest simplicity, are singularly touehiug and impressive. To the nobility of Twer he says:

—" You know how near your prosperity liesto my heart, and I am persuaded the interests of the peasants are no less dear to you. I feel therefore convinced that you will use every effort to arrange the matter so as to injure neither yourselves nor the peasantry. It is impossible for our actions not to agree, our common aim being one and the same —the public welfare of Russia. I leave you, perfectly persuaded that you will justify my expectations and my confidence—-that you will cooperate with me, but not intrigue against me." At Nishni Novgored he says:—" You know that ray aim is the'comrrion weliare of the Empire, arid I tell you that it belongs to you to balance puWic with private interests in this weighty affair. But I hear with regret of a spirit of selfishness having sprung up among you. Selfishness is the destruction of all things. It is a pity such should be the case. Away with your egotism. I trust there will be no more of these selfish views, and then our common affairs will progress." To the nobles of Ivloscow, who seem to have offered a more active opposition to his beneficent scheme, the Emperor addressed a sterner language :—" Gentlemen, I am always happy at being, able to address thanks to the nobility; out it is not in my nature to speak'ag'ainst my conscience. 1 always speak the truth, andj to my great regret, this day I cannot thank you. You may remember, two years ago, in this halJ, I spoke to you of the necessity of proceeding sooner or later to the reform of those laws which regulate servitude—a reform that must come from above, that it may not come from below. My words have been ill-understood. *■ n- # * * i ] mve fj xe( j f Ol . y Oll the basis o f tho reform, and 1 shall never swerve from it. I love the nobility. I regard it as the great support of the throne. v I desire the welfare of the people, but have no intention that it should be effected to your detriment; but you yourselves, in your own interests, ought to endeavor to improve tho interests of the peasants. Remember that all Russia has its eyes fixed on the Government of Moscow. I am always ready to do for you all that lies in my power to do ; give me, then, the possibility of espousing your interests." It is impossible not to contrast the manly simplicity and. truthfulness which pervade these speeches with those ,ela.bo.rate compositions of Machiavellian art; to'"which;we'are habituated on the other side of the channel. The difference is neither more nor less than that which distinguishes the Sovereign from the conspirator. In Russia we see an empire dawning which,\vp may really believe to be peace, not on deceptive assurances "uttered on the morrow of successful treason, but on

the word of a monarch who gives an earnest of his sincerity in a straUghtforwfirdiaji^ enlightened policy. It was said of the Duke Top* Wellington, who: was born in the same year as Bonaparte, that "Nature owed iis compensation;" and a similar! reflection is irresistibly suggested by the-fact that the light of civilization, which seemed to be hopelessly fading from the West of Europe, in the foul atmosphere of the Lower Empire, should have broken out like the northern lights in winter sky, and that freedom, having perished in the valleys of France, should have come to light again on the steppes of Russia. It seems to reverse the astronomy of Virgil, .

Nos übi primus equis orie'ns afOavit anhslis,

lih'c sera rubons accsndefc lumina Vesper

It is of the first importance that the English mind should be instructed as to the true nature of the revolution which is taking place in tlie internal policy of Russia, and which must in the end, without doubt, govern the conduct of her foreign relations. It is highly desirable that we should begin to disabuse ourselves of prejudices belonging to a state of things which no longer exists. There never .yet was a sovereign who better deserved to attract the interests and sympathy of a free country than does the Emperor Alexander in the great work in which he is now engaged. The very nature of the task he has undertaken will inevitably cause the policy of his empire" to approximate more and more to the cause of liberty rather than that of despotism ; and perhaps we may not be too bold in hazarding the conjecture tliat England, hated of tyrants, may one day find in emancipated Russia an ally against the Absolutist conspiracy of Europe I:— Saturday, Review, October 16. ~:'\

Brnrfix Societies.—There is a financial world of which city capitalists know little. Yet it reckons its funds by millions, while the total of persons interested in it comprises more than a third of the entire population of England. According to the annual report just issued' by .the Registrar of Friendly Societies, the number of these associations now in existence in England and Wales, is about 20,000, with funds exceeding ,£9,000,000. The number of members is more than 2,000,000, and if each member could be taken to represent an, average family of five, we should thus have 10,000,000 of "persons directly or indirectly connected, with such undertakings. For relief in sickness alone they distribute annually £1,000,000. The general statistics with regard to them are vague, because the registrar can merely get returns from those who arc willing to make them, and although there is a disposition generally to comply with his requirements, both from a desire to do what is right, and also probably to advert the distrust that would result in cases where 'publicity is avoided, the secretaries in many cases are uneducated men, and find even the filling up of the simplest form a matter of some difficulty. The information thus tar obtained is net very encouraging as to the general sys tern of management, but upon the whole, perhaps, the results of the investments of the poor thus shewn are not worse than those which noMenipn, members of parliament, merchants, professed nnancers, and speculators have contrived to attain in the management of railways, joint-stock bankß, and enterprises of all kinds. As honesty is the great essential, this is not surprising, since there is reason to hope that the ordinary population of the country have greater moral stamina than the class whose tone was not only developed during the commercial crisis, but is still made painfully apparent at almost every meeting of great companies. One danger that besets iViendljr societies is the tendency to drinking and feasting. In the returns of expenditure charges of this kind have constituted a constant item. But there has been a satisfactory disposition to yield to remonstrance on the subject, The registrar last year sent out about 500 circulars pointing out that such application of the funds was not in harmony -with the legitimate purposes of a friendly society, and from the replies it appears that in most instances a meeting of the members was called, and that, after the point had been discussed, the necessary reforms were made.' '" The tenor of the letters shews," it is added, " that the majority of the members were thankful for having had their attention called to the subject." Another source of difficulty arises from the frequency of injudicious investments from over-confidence being reposed in persons in the business world. Thus it has been found that a large amount of money has been placed in the hands of the societies' treasurers, of private banks, of brewers and manufacturers, on notes of band, in building and loan societies, &c. In the accounts of an estate recently thrown into the Bankruptcy Court, where the partners carried on business as bankers, tanners, shoe manufacturers and brewers, it was stated that the unsecured creditors included no less than 86 friendly societies for a total of £3196, At a meeting of a large firm, of brewers held a short time back it also turned out that 44 societies had their funds invested with the firm, and' the same has happened with several late bankrupts cies. According to the Act regulating friendly societies, the trustees are restricted to investments in the public funds or savings-banks, or in advances to members on life policies, accompanied by satisfactory personal securities; 700 letters re-^ cently sent out to give warning to that effect are believed to have wrought a considerable amount of good "by causing the withdrawal of the funds from many insecure and illegal investments." One of the inquiries issued by the registrar related to the length of time the respective societies have been established, but only 3073 answers were obtaiued. From these ifc appears there are 230 societies that have existed between 50 and 100 years, and 20 whose date extends over a century. The average seems to be about 20 years. About 32, years is stated by the registrar to be a sufficient time fqv a society to arrive at its maxirfiiivi liability, and it -> appears that 10 per cent: of tj'ie existing societies are in the condition of !iav(ng safely passed this point. Among the societies which have the largest number of members are several bodies called "'Orders." Thus, the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows, boasts of 276,254; the Ancient Order of Foresters, 135,000; and the Grand United Order of Odd. Fellows, 37,000. One of the most successful examples is the Royal Stan- , dard Benefit Society. It has existed 30 years, has distributed £97,363 in sickness, superannuation, - and other allowances, and has a capital of ,£40,623 in Government .securities. Its creditable career is attributed "mAjnly to the honest and careful superintendendS^u'oughout the whole period of Mr. Hunter, it^secretaiy and manager. A class of societies variously termed sharing, dividend, Birmingham, or Tontine Societies, which divide . annually nearly all th&ir receipts, are shewn to be . conducted on fallaci©f|.';principles, and to have no elements of pcrma|§jtlce^.qOut of fifty established in London during^tj^gf last 20 years only twelve are now in exislencelpsf,of the aggregate £9,000,000 belonging to friendly societies, .£1,431,543 is in the English and Welsh savings bank?, and £1,944,991 in the hauds of the Commissioners for the reduction of the National Deßt, making the total thus invested £3,376,534. With regard to the winding up of these societies, the registrar is frequently consulted as to the proper mode, and he details a ' painful case—that of the Mutual Insurance Benefit Institution, with about 1000 members, established forty years ago, in- which, although the original tables were certified by well-known .actuaries, it . was ultimately found that an expenditure "of £7926 for sickness allowances, &c, had been taken out of premiums received for annuities, for sums , payable at death, and for endowmentof children, the greater part of which will be lost to the contributors.

Medioal LiFE.-^-Lisfranc, says the Medical limes, passed a most atistere existence during the first years of his medical life.- Though devoted to sports of the field, he never indulged his fancies until he had acquired a fixed reputation. Ths is the advice he gave to a young doctor, starting in life •__« When once you have chosen your residence, and taken up 3'our abode their, never stir from it if .you want patients to come. There must be neither Sjunday nor fete days for you j shun dinner-parties, soirees, and country parties. Absent yourself as little as possible from your - house, and never quit Paris. During your absence the client will corae, and if he do not find you hq "-, y? ill go elsewhere."