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RU3sSIA

UNDER THE

GREAT SHADOW

LUIGI VILLARI

LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

SANTA BARBARA

PRESENTED BY

ROBERT WESSON

RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

■k

SOME BOOKS ON RUSSIA.

The Story of Russia.

By W. R. MORFii.i., M.A., Professor of Russian and the other Slavonic Languages in the University of Oxford. With Map and many Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. (" The Story of the Nations ").

This special War Edition has been thoroughly revised, and New Chapters giving the latest in- formation have been added.

MAXIM GORKY'S WORKS.

Popular Editions. Crown 8vo, cloth. Is. net.

The Man who was Afraid (Foma Gordyeeff).

Three of Them.

The Outcasts, Waiting for the Ferry, and The Affair of the Clasps.

A STRIKING NOVEL OF UPPER-CLASS LIFE.

Three Dukes.

By G. YsTRiDDE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. (Red Cloth Library).

" There is much vigour and a sort of grim humour

in the l2.\e."~Ne7a Vor/: Outlook.

LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN.

"Till. I.AllM 1 HOM THE FkONT."

Ri:.\i)iN(; iHK \\'.\K Tklkgkams in the 1!azak.

Frontispiece.

RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

BY

LUIGI VILLARI

AUTHOR OF " GIOVANNI SEGAXTIXI," "ITALIAN LIFE IX TOWN AND COUNTRY, " ETC.

WITH EIGHTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE • MCMV

K

(All rights reserve J.)

PREFACE

WHILE the attention of the whole civiHzed world is riveted to the tremendous struggle in the Far East, and its various phases and aspects are followed day by day, it is interesting to watch the effects of the war on the conditions and development of the two belligerent States. Japan is being welded by the blood ordeal into a Power of the first rank, a Power that the oldest and mightiest of European and American nations may well be proud to call their equal. Russia, on the other hand, after having re- mained almost untouched by modern ideas, unaffected by the three great movements that have moulded European history during the last five centuries — the classical Renaissance, the Reformation, and the French Revolution — is at last awakening to the need for radical changes in consequence of this same war. What reforming Tzars, dreamy revolutionists, and insensate terrorists had been unable to achieve is beinor brought about on the stricken fields of the Manchurian plains. The masses of the Russian people, including the majority of the upper classes, were content to be governed by an iron autocracy and an oppressive clique of reactionary bureaucrats on old-time methods, which had been discarded by Western Europe because they believed that in this way

6 PREFACE

only they could enjoy an almost omnipotent military prestige. Autocracy gave them an armed power, of which the whole world stood in awe. The draw- backs and oppressive character of the regime were admitted and deplored, but the people, even the intelligent classes, were willing to submit to it as the price of a splendid international position. In this belief the Russians were not alone ; it was shared by many other more progressive nations. It was, to some extent, the creed of many Germans, including some of the highest personages in the land. Even the late Lord Salisbury stated in a speech on Army reorganization, delivered during the South African campaign, that a democracy was not a satis- factory form of government for war purposes, and many lesser lights have been deceived by what is apparently an obvious truism. In Russia, however, the idea was universal and unquestioned, save by an infinitesimal minority.

The course of the Russo-Japanese war has proved a rude and terrible awakening. The one justification of a military despotism is that it should be militarily efficient ; in the case of Russia it has been proved that it does not possess even this merit. Whatever the ultimate end of the present struggle may be, the unbroken series of defeats, the astounding exhibition of unpreparedness and of military inefficiency have shaken the nation's confidence in autocracy, and caused a widespread feeling of discontent among all classes, a feeling so deep and so general that it seems impossible that the bureaucracy can now hold out against it. The movement in favour of political

V

PREFACE 7

reform undoubtedly existed before the war, but it was limited to a small class, whereas now we see symptoms of discontent on all sides, and although as yet no radical alterations have been effected in the form of government, the mind of the people is very different, and the days of autocracy are numbered. It may last for some time yet, perhaps, but the state of ideas which made its indefinite continuance possible is no more. It was killed at Port Arthur, on the Yalu, at Liao-Yang, at Mukden.

But another effect of the war on Russian affairs is the serious economic crisis which it has brought about. In these days of costly armaments the financial con- sideration is of paramount importance, and not only the actual result of the struggle, but even the future position of the belligerent Powers is very largely dependent on their respective economic staying power. Economically as well as militarily Russia was not prepared for war, and although the Government had large reserve funds for emergencies, the nation was suffering from original poverty, enhanced by the mad fever of speculation and over-production of the last twenty years. Consequently, the war has proved most disastrous to its economic activities. Many factories had to shut down, all, or nearly all, were forced to work short time, and with a reduced staff, stocks accumulated through the absence of buyers, credit went, hundreds of thousands of men were thrown out of work, while a much larger number earned even less than the low wages to which they were accustomed in normal times. Moreover, vast quantities of men were drafted off to fight in a war

8 PREFACE

of which they did not understand the cause, which was profoundly unpopular, and of which they realized only too well the hardships and suffering. Their families, deprived of the bread-winners, were brought to starvation. All this served to increase the general discontent, especially among the business classes and the factory workers, who are coming to play an ever more important role in the country, and is extending to the peasantry. It has proved that, how- ever rich the State may be, although even on this point many authorities are sceptical, unless the nation is really prosperous a terribly expensive war like the present one cannot be undertaken without disastrous effects. The mad policy of indefinite expansion, which was the bread of life to the bureaucracy, has found its logical outcome in the Manchurian campaign, and it is now sapping the blood of the country with no adequate result. Russia, an immense country, rich in natural resources, inhabited by a people who, if primi- tive and ignorant, have many very fine qualities, strong, capable of the hardest toil, inured to the struggle with nature, brave, intelligent, and religious, has been kept out of the march of progress in a condition of semi- Asiatic barbarism for the sake of impossible schemes of universal dominion.

It has been my object in the course of many a stay of many months in Russia, during which I visited all the chief towns of the country, to examine these con- sequences of the war on the internal situation, both economic and political. F'or this purpose I consulted a number of people in all ranks of life, whom I thought could give me information — officials, foreign diplomats,

PREFACE 9

and consuls, university professors, and, above all, practical men of business and manufacturers, who are in closest touch with the real conditions of the nation. I have not attempted to write a general treatise on Russia, dealing with all the aspects of national exist- ence, both because there are so many excellent works of that character, beginning with Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace's masterpiece, and the exhaustive volume of M. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, and because to do so would require a much greater knowledge of the country than I could pretend to have acquired in the time. I do not profess to be in the confidence of Grand Dukes, Ministers of State, or Nihilist con- spirators. I have limited myself to recording a traveller's impressions of Russia during the war, giving especial prominence to the economic side of the subject — the present condition of Russian industry, the state of the peasantry, the development of an industrial population, the rise of a labour movement, and the reflection of the war on all these various elements and on public opinion generally. Here and there I have dealt with certain special aspects of Russian life, which, although not direcdy connected with the war, are yet interesting in themselves, and not very widely known to the ordinary reader.

Unless all the auguries should prove false, all the signs of the times deceptive, the war in the Far East should mark the transition of Russia from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, from the Eastern to the Western world, from barbarism to civilisation. All this is due to the general awakening of large classes of Russians, not to the work of mysterious secret

10 PREFACE

societies, about whose organization, funds, and plans, sensational writers on Russian affairs wax so eloquent. The task commenced by Peter the Great, and con- tinued by Catherine II. and Alexander II., is about to be completed, and we now see this vast mass of people, uneducated and elemental as yet, seething in the melt- ing-pot of political and social change, about to develop into something new and unknown. It is a profoundly interesting moment in the nation's history, in which new forces, new ideas, and new movements are beginning to take shape. But we must not expect to see the results immediately, and to find Russia settling down under a liberal constitution within six months. The English Revolution lasted from 1640 to 1689 ; that of France from 1789 to 181 5 — almost to 1871 ; that of Italy from 1821 to 1870. Russia, too, will probably have to go through a long period of turmoil and unrest before she can find lasting peace.

• • • • •

I take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to the many friends, both Russian and foreign, whose assistance was most invaluable to me in my attempt to gain some knowledge of Russia and Russian con- ditions.

I wish also to thank the editor of The Tunes for allowing me to reproduce certain parts of the articles on Russian affairs which I contributed to the columns of that paper.

L. VILLARI. May, 1905.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface ....... 5

CHAPTER I Sights and Sounds in St. Petersburg . . -15

CHAPTER II Moscow . . . . . . .42

CHAPTER III All the Russias at Nijni Novgorod . . .62

CHAPTER IV The Greatest River in Europe . . . .81

CHAPTER V Provincial Russia — Kharkoff, Ekaterinoslav, Yuzovo . 94

CHAPTER VI

The Black Sea Ports . . . . .116

11

12 CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII

rAGF.

In the Crimea . . , . . -135

CHAPTER VIII

A Russian Monastic City ..... 149

CHAPTER IX

On a Country Estate . . . . .162

CHAPTER X The Industrial Development of Russia . . . 192

CHAPTER XI

The Russian Working Classes . . . .220

CHAPTER XII The Effects of the War on the Economic Situ.\tion . 246

CHAPTER XIII Poland. . . . . . . .271

CHAPTER XIV The Effect of the War on Russian Public Opinion . 296

INDEX . . . . . .327

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"THE LATEST FROM THE FRONT,

THE BAZAR ......

MOSCOW. THE KREMLIN (see page 42) ....

THE DEPARTMENT OF POLICE, ST. PETERSBURG. RESIDENCE

OF THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR . ST. PETERSBURG. IN THE "THIEVES' MARKET" RUSSIAN WAR CARTOON. A NAVAL BATTLE IN THE FAR EAST KRASNOIE SELO. A MILITARY BAND ....

SOLDIERS AND SCHOOLBOY

CAVALRY SOLDIERS

MILITARY PRISON

SHOEING HORSES . . . .

soldiers' AMUSEMENTS — "GIANT STRIDES"

RUSSIAN WAR CARTOON. THE GHOST OF NAPOLEON WARNING

THE JAPANESE STRATEGISTS OF THE FATE OF THOSE

WHO INVADE RUSSIAN TERRITORY

RUSSIAN WAR CARTOON. THE JAPANESE GETTING MONEY FOR

THE WAR OUT OF JOHN BULL . RUSSIAN WAR CARTOON. THE JAPANESE GETTING MONEY FOR

THE WAR OUT OF UNCLE SAM MOSCOW. WALLS OF THE KITAI GOROD . ,, THE MOISHSKAYA PLOSHTCHAD

VOLGA TARTARS IN MOSCOW MOSCOW. LACE-MERCHANT IN THE BAZAR INTERIOR OF THE GOSTINNY DVOR, MOSCOW THE VARVARKA GATE, MOSCOW SHRINE OUTSIDE THE OLD WALLS, MOSCOW RUSSIAN GENDARME ....

THE LINIEIKA, A SORT OF OMNIBUS

A SLEEPING CAB-DRIVER

BOYS SELLING FRUIT, MOSCOW

MOSCOW. IBERIAN MADONNA ON TOUR

THE FAIR AT NIJNI NOVGOROD. THE SHIPPING

NIJNI NOVGOROD. THE MOSQUE

THE NIJNI FAIR. A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION

A STREET IN THE FAIR ....

THE SIBERIAN QUAY ....

AMONG THE WAREHOUSES

WINE BARRELS ....

BALES OF COTTON ....

WINE FROM THE CRIMEA .

THE NIJNI FAIR. A CART-LOAD OF IKONS

IRON AND STEEL ....

PERSIAN CARPET-MERCHANT

13

READING THE WAR TELEGRAMS IN

. Frontispiece . Facing p. 15

16 21

22 26 29 32 32 34 34

36

38

40 42 44 47 49 50 50 53 53 57 57 59 61

63

64 66 68

70 70 72 72

75

76

78 79

14

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE NIJNI FAIR. IN THE PERSIAN SHOPS

RED CROSS STEAMER WITH WOUNDED SOLDIERS

BARGES ON THE VOLGA

TARTARS AT KAZAN

A STREET IN KAZAN

PERSIAN TYPES FROM BAKU

PERSIAN JEWEL MERCHANT .

THE ALEXANDER II. VIADUCT AT BATRAKI ON THE VOLGA

KHARKOFF

LITTLE RUSSIAN PEASANTS

EKATERINOSLAV

THE FRUIT BAZAR AT SARATOFF

THE NEW RUSSIAN COMPANY'S IRON AND STEEL WORKS, YUZOVO

RUSSIAN SOLDIERS IN WINTER ATTIRE

TRYING TO SELL A MODEL STEAMER .

RUSSIAN SOLDIERS ON THEIR WAY TO MANCHURIA

ROSTOFF ON THE DON .....

THE CRIMEA. IMPERIAL VILLA AT ALUPKA

IN THE CRIMEA, TARTAR CART

TARTAR BOYS .....

BAKHTCHI SARAI. THE PALACE OF THE KHANS

TCHUFUT KALE. THE SYNAGOGUE OF THE KARAITS

RUINS OF TCHUFUT KALE. THE SOLITARY INHABITANT

YALTA. ON THE QUAY ....

THE CRIMEA. GURZUFF

THE LAVRA, CATHEDRAL OF THE ASSUMPTION, KIEV

TROITZA. AN ECCLESIASTIC

A MONK, TROITZA '.....

KIEV. CATHEDRAL OF SANTA SOFIA .

TROITZA. PILGRIMS. ....

KIEV. A FUNERAL ....

KIEV. PILGRIMS .....

KIEV. PILGRIMS ....

TROITZA. THE CATHEDRAL OF THE ASSUMPTION

,, A GROUP OF PILGRIMS

,, THE ENTRANCE TO THE MONASTERY .

A RUSSIAN PEASANT FAMILY AND COTTAGE . A CAPTIVE WOLF ......

PEASANTS COLLECTING BEETROOTS FOR THE SUGAR-MILLS TYPES OF RUSSIAN WORKMEN ....

ST. PETERSBURG FACTORY CHILDREN .

workmen's cottages at YUZOVO, GOVERNMENT OF

EKATERINOSLAV . IRON AND STEEL WORKERS YUZOVO. RUSSIAN IRONWORKERS ON A BLAST-FURNACE . IN THE CRIMEA. TARTAR TYPES ...

" GENTLEMEN IN KHAKI ORDERED EAST." RUSSIAN RE

SERVISTS BIDDING FAREWELL TO THEIR FAMILIES .

Facin.

314

T,

\1

J, ■■^a

si

CHAPTER I

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG

I SET sail for St. Petersburg from the Millwall Docks, on a very hot July night, on board the ss. Wologda, of the Lassmann Line. That vessel was very characteristic of Russian commercial con- ditions. Although flying the Russian flag, she was built at Dundee, her captain was an Englishman, and her owners, Messrs. Lassmann Brothers, of Moscow, are a firm of Baltic Province Germans. To be owned and worked by foreigners, or Russians of foreign origin, is the case of most Russian industrial undertakings. There were only eight passengers besides myself on board, most of them English, and connected in some capacity or other with the various cotton mills in Moscow or St. Petersburg. A pleasant run of thirty hours across the North Sea brings us to Brunsbuttel, at the entrance of the Kiel Canal, a commonplace German village consisting of one street of tidy houses, but it was the last bit of tidiness I was to see for many long months. The scenery along the banks of the canal is flat, and the canal itself absolutely straight for many miles ; there are not even woods to break the monotony. It is only at nightfall that it begins to look pretty, when one

15

16 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

by one the electric lights along the banks are turned on, and the canal becomes an avenue flanked by trees bearinor brio^ht g-olden balls for fruit. The next morning we were among the Baltic Islands — Riigen clearly visible to the south and glimpses of the blue lands of Denmark to the north. The sea was calm and clear, and it was pleasant to doze on the upper deck ; otherwise nothing to do, save desultory readings from the Russian grammar and languid attempts to master heart-breaking irregular verbs. Thus two more days passed. On the morning of the fifth we see a stretch of grey, low-lying coast far to the East : it is Holy Russia at last.

To enter a new country, whether by the land frontier or from the sea, is always rather an exciting sensation, even for a hardened traveller ; there is something weirdly mysterious in the fact that a strip of sea, a river, or even an invisible line, can divide the earth into two wholly different worlds speaking different languages, governed by entirely different institutions, and ready armed to fly at each other's throats. But entering Russia, like entering Turkey, is a still more thrilling experience, especially to those who do so for the first time. You arrive with your head full of passports, gendarmes, the Secret Police, Nihilist novels, and Siberia. You cannot help looking again and again at your papers, in the fear lest you should detect some irregularity which, however trifling, will close the doors of the Tzar's dominions in your face, or, worse still, lead to your immediate arrest. Visions of Russian prisons rise up before your eyes, searching examinations into

The Department of Police, Sr. Pktersblk<;. Residence ok the Minister of the Interior.

To face ]i«s(u 10.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 17

your past history by an all-knowing chief of police, and then — goodness knows what ! In my own case, although my passport was in perfect order, and I had no compromising literature about my person, I thought I had one cause for anxiety — I was travelling for a literary purpose, and the brotherhood of the pen are not usually looked upon with favour in Russia, while the particular paper for which I was writing was in exceptionally bad odour with the Russian authorities. I felt it to be quite possible that my character would be known, and that unpleasantness might follow. For, like most people who have never been to Russia, and a good many who have, I credited the Russian Secret Police with almost superhuman ingenuity and diabolical cunning, and imagined that it knew all about every one who entered the country even before he arrived. Moreover, I had been warned that the war had made the Russians doubly suspicious of all foreigners, and far from friendly. The censorship, I had been told, was exceptionally severe, and it was practically impossible to get any books at all into the country. So I had limited my library to the smallest possible dimensions, trusting to the St. Petersburg booksellers to make good the gaps. All day we had kept close inland, and at 2 p.m. the forts of Kronstadt appeared above the horizon. Low, wicked-looking casements, they appear most formid- able. After the forts the black hulls of ships appear ; they are the famous Baltic fleet, and soon we hear a sound of hammering as the last repairs are being hurried through. When will it sail, we were all wondering, and what would be its fate and destina- tion when it did ?

18 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

A little later the sionallino' begf-ins, and we are boarded by several parties of officials in many curious uniforms ; there are harbour officials, custom-house officers, sanitary inspectors, and sundry other mem- bers of the Russian bureaucracy. The hatches are battened down by the customs officers and sealed up with leaden seals. After a delay of an hour or two we move on slowly and carefully, for there are shoals and mines, into the canal between Kronstadt and St. Peters- burg. The pleasant wooded environs of the capital are now clearly visible, Peterhof, Oranienbaum, and others. In the distance there are tall factory chimneys interspersed with the gilded domes of churches — the old Russia and the new side by side. The ship- canal is flanked by marshy banks, and here and there are broad sheds and unfinished buildings. Then great, ugly, tin-roofed warehouses, gaunt open spaces, muddy flats, stretches of swamp, come into view. This is St. Petersburg.

As soon as the landing bridge is thrown across several men in smart blue uniforms, high boots, and clinking spurs, and armed with swords and huge portfolios come on board : they are the famous Russian gendarmes. The gendar7ne is a person of varied functions. There are mounted gendarmes who assist the town police to keep order in the streets ; others look after the railway stations, and others again act as the political police. At the frontiers, and on the arrival of steamers, they are very much to the fore, and their authority at those places is unlimited. Three of them take possession of the saloon, are regaled with vodka and cigarettes, and sit down at the

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 19

dining-table to make an exhaustive study of the passports. They probably know no foreign language, and they cannot read the many interesting things which those documents contain, and therefore fail to be impressed by the list of tides of the Marquis of Lansdowne on the English passports. But they recognize the stamp of the Russian Consulate-General in London, and the signature of the Consul-General, and that is the important point. Such of the data concerning the passengers as are given in their pass- ports and can be made out by the gendarmes are copied into a large register, to be afterwards trans- mitted to the police. A foreign passport is good in Russia for six months, after which a Russian passport, or permis de sejour, must be obtained even by foreigners. On going to a hotel you are at once asked for your passport, which is then sent to the police. But if you go to a private house this formality is not necessary, unless you are staying a long time. A peasant who does not move from his native village need not possess a passport, which amounts to an exemption from the passport tax ; but as soon as he moves he too must obtain one ; and, indeed, a traveller without a passport in Russia is not regarded as a real person at all. He is attached to his passport body and soul, and if he loses it he has hardly a right to exist. The passport system leads to a number of vexatious abuses, and is often a means of extortion on the part of the police. If a peasant or workman loses his passport, it takes him a long time and costs him a great deal of money and annoyance to get a new one. If the authorities wish to oblige a man

20 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

to remain fixed in one spot, all they have to do is to take away his passport, and then he cannot move until they see fit to give it back to him. In the case of foreigners, however, there is very seldom any trouble, and I must say that in all my travels through Russia I was never subjected to the least annoyance on the part of the authorities in connection with my passport or anything else. I found them invariably polite and obli^ino;. But I was careful not to lose it. One would think that with the existence of the pass- port system the detection of crime and the arrest of criminals would be almost automatic. But as a matter of fact dishonest persons usually have several passports, all in excellent order, and the manufacture of those articles is quite a recognized industry. The following anecdote, told me by a person who knew the parties concerned, illustrates how utterly futile the system is. A Russian family in Moscow had adopted an orphan girl, who was in bad health and suffered from lapses of memory. One day she went out alone and dis- appeared, leaving absolutely no trace. Her friends were very anxious, and made inquiries at the police- office, but could obtain no information. They enlisted the service of the secret police, whose special detectives can be employed for a fee in private cases. Inquiries were made throughout Russia, but the only informa- tion elicited after several weeks' search was the fact that the girl had passed through Tamboff four years before ! Finally, after a couple of months, her friends met her in the street in the company of strangers. Explanations were given, and it was discovered that the girl had been found wandering about aimlessly by these other

St Petersuukc. In tiii; " Thie\es' Market.

To Jace jioge 21.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 21

friends, had been taken home by them, and stayed with them the whole time, and as she had her pass- port in her pocket, it was taken to the poHce almost at once and registered in the Adressny Stol, or police address-book.

An hour and a half sufficed for the examination of our passports, and the next morning that of the luggage took place on land. The visit was the most cursory imaginable, and only lasted a few minutes. My few books were not even noticed, and I greatly regretted not having brought more. I might have had a whole boxful of revolutionary literature for all the customs officers knew. This was my first Russian disappointment. As a matter of fact the Russian custom-house is very erratic in its methods, and there is much difference between its theory and its practice. In theory, every book, newspaper, or printed matter of any kind, even including old news- papers used for wrapping up parcels, must be removed from the passenger's luggage and sent to the censor's office, whence in due course they will be returned to the owner if they do not contain anything deemed of a subversive character, in which case they are either confiscated or deprived of the objectionable passages by means of the scissors of the "caviare." But in practice all depends on the temper and inclinations of the particular customs officers.

It cannot be said that the first sight of the Russian capital is attractive. The neighbourhood of the docks is dreary, dirty, ill-kept, untidy, without being in the least picturesque. Long streets paved with cobbles, flanked by low houses of wood or plaster, usually painted

22 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

a nondescript yellow or brown, with here and there a larger building ; a gaunt, unkempt, pale-faced, blear- eyed population, whose most conspicuous articles of attire are their high boots; quantities of small carts of a primitive build, the shafts held together with an arched yoke, which is sometimes painted and ornamented. The central streets of St. Petersburg are naturally somewhat handsomer, but there is hardly anything that can be described as really fine or imposing. Even the famous Nevsky Prospekt is disappointing, in spite of its immense length and width. It is an endless street, nearly three miles long from the Admiralty to the convent of St. Alexander Nevsky, and save for one turn at the Znamenkaya Square, absolutely straight. There are some fine shops, and a few handsome buildings, which, however, are dwarfed by the width of the open spaces. The houses are painted in garish colours, and there is absolutely no architec- tural feature anywhere, save the Kazan Cathedral, which is an imitation of the St. Peter's in Rome, minus beauty of proportion. The group of palaces along the Neva and round the Admiralty are large and ugly ; the Winter Palace in its yellowish pink hideousness stands out even among royal palaces as a monument of monstrosity. The view of Neva quays is the only part of the town which can be described as impressive, for the huge expanse of water lends a dignity even to the uninteresting buildings along the quays. The bridges are not without grandeur, and the general view of the mighty stream with its ship- ping, its gigantic masses of timber rafts, and the piles of pseudo-classic architecture produce a momentary impression of a really great world-city.

<

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 23

As for the people in the streets, they are a curious collection of types, although less interesting and varied than those whom one sees in Moscow. A large number are in uniform, for the Russian capital is swarmino- with officials, and all Russian officials, and a great many other people too, wear uniforms. Officers of the army or the navy, employes of the ministries, clerks of every Government department, university students, and even schoolboys, all are in some kind of mundir (uniform). Here and there one sees men with small eyes, high cheek-bones, and shaven heads barely covered by tiny black velvet caps, attired in long frocks, black or grey, and loose trousers. These are Tartars from the Volga, of whom there are large num- bers scattered about all over Russia. In St. Petersburg many of them are employed as waiters in restaurants, owing to their Mohammedan sobriety and honesty, but they look very odd in swallow-tail coats and white ties. Others are wandering pedlars, who go about from house to house, buying up all kinds of cast-off clothing and second-hand goods, which they afterwards sell at the Alexandrovsky Rynok, of which more anon.

A great feature of the capital is the number of churches. At St. Petersburg one does not see Russian ecclesiastical architecture in its most characteristic aspects, as at Moscow or Kiev, but the churches in one respect are thoroughly typical of all those of the Orthodox faith — in their ostentation. The sacristan who takes the stranger round to inspect their curiosities has but two words with which to extol their beauty — "gold" and "silver." There are masses of gold or gilding, and silver, adorning huge iko7is, doors, and

24 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

screens, and many of the images are simply covered with jewels. Everythincr is of immense size — massive columns of granite, gigantic figures in mosaic, lofty domes, acres of marble, sheets of lapis lazuli, monstrous candelabra. A description of the contents of St, Isaac's cathedral calls to mind some account in the New York Herald of an American millionaire's wedding. And with all this splendour there is little really grand or imposing. There is a want of propor- tion or sobriety about these monuments of devotion, and their wealth and gorgeousness are so preposterous that, like the huge jewels exposed on the person of a nouvelle ricke, they seem hardly real. Yet the intense devotion of the worshippers, their unanimity of prayer, are an impressive sight not easily forgotten. St. Petersburg is not purely Russian, and a good deal of the misconception and ignorance of foreigners about Russia is due to their seeinQ^ so much of the capital and so little of the rest of the country. It certainly represents one aspect, one tendency, of Russia — the foreign element of its civilization. As a foreign writer puts it, the Russian capital is a town with a German name built on a Finnish swamp. Its incongruities, its modernity combined with discomfort, its unfinished appearance, its gaps and empty spaces, its mixed population of Russians, Tartars, Finns, Germans, and foreigners, and its general air of untidi- ness, are characteristic of the Russian Government which it embodies. But if lacking in beauty and real dignity, and in spite of its modern appearance and its imitation of Paris and Berlin, in spite of electric light and lifts, and patches of wood pavement, St.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 25

Petersburg is still the capital of Russia, and it has sights and sounds hidden away in remote corners that are as thoroughly Russian and Oriental as anything within the Tzar's dominions. One of these is the Alexandrovsky Rynok, or Alexander's Market, popu- larly known as the "Thieves' Bazaar." The bazaar still plays a very large part in the commercial life of Russia, and business is largely transacted in curious enclosures like rabbit-warrens, vividly recalling the markets of Stambul. St. Petersburg has several of these market-places, of which the most important is the Gostinny Dvor, a vast agglomeration of shops and warehouses opening on to the Nevsky Prospekt. Here business on a large scale is transacted, and the offices of some of the richest merchants of the city are interned in its courts and balconies. But the Alexan- drovsky Rynok is far more curious, and characteristic of the Land of Contrasts. It is approached from the Voznesensky Prospekt, and externally it presents a row of uninteresting shops under covered arcades, with large doorways at intervals. You enter one of these and find yourself in a perfect labyrinth of passages, courts, and corners. The side ways are covered in with glass ; but there is an open space in the middle. Architecturally the buildings have nothing remarkable about them : they are all two stories high, all plain, all more or less alike ; they are not even picturesque in their untidiness and squalor. But it is the contents of the shops and the crowds of buyers and sellers who throng them which constitute one of the most curious spectacles in the Russian capital. It is not an ordinary second-hand bazaar,

26 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

when you may occasionally pick up bric-a-brac amidst a great deal of rubbish ; here you can see every imaginable kind of goods on sale in vast quantities, and not all of them second-hand. There are beautiful furs obtained goodness knows how, and old boots all in holes ; there are fine pictures by the best masters, and priceless majolica, side by side with battered tin kettles and cracked kitchen crockery ; Limoges enamels and broken bicycles ; Circassian swords and guns incrusted with silver and gold, and gramophones that won't 'phone ; old Italian Renaissance furniture and broken straw-backed chairs ; English mezzotints for which Mr. Pierpont Morgan would give hundreds of guineas, and the most ghastly oleographs for which most people would give as many shillings to keep out of their sight. And the clothes ! It would take pages to describe a tithe of the different kinds of garments and such stuff as clothes are made of here exhibited. Beautiful silks and rich brocades that may have been part of a princess's trousseau, together with the cheapest and commonest of cotton prints ; exquisite Oriental embroideries that would not disorace a Sultan's palace and the costumes of fifth-rate caf6 concert artistes. Persian carpets of the choicest colours and rarest designs, possibly from the floors of a famous mosque, and gaudy rugs with representations of boys with hoops and smiling lions. There is enough in variety and in quantity here to furnish a Mayfair mansion, an Italian palace, or a cheap boarding- house. But there is a certain amount of method in this confusion. As in the bazaars of the real Orient,

KiJAsxoiK Ski.o. A MiijrAi;\ Hand.

To face page 26.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 27

certain streets or parts of streets are devoted to one class of goods, others to another. It is only in certain quarters that miscellaneous wares of every kind are muddled up together. As for the people, the arreat mass of them are Tartars, Tews, and a whole host of disreputable characters. The Tartars, hideous to look upon, in their long tunics, not unlike dilapidated frock-coats ; the Jews also in long caftans with greasy curls and crafty eyes ; among the others are Russians, Poles, Finns, Letts, Germans, but all of them the lowest of the low. The Tartars are usually the same whom you see wandering about from house to house, picking up everything they can buy, steal, or find, calling out ''Kalaah, kalatkaV as their tunic is called in which they carry their purchases. The Jews are the keenest bargainers, and vie with the shrill-voiced harridans in enticing the passers-by to purchase their wares. The denizens of the market are found at every auction, at every sale. When the last scion of a great house descended from Rurik, has spent the last hundred-rouble note he can squeeze out of a heavily mortgaged estate, on cards, champagne, and music- hall singers, and is finally sold up, these Tartars and Jews are there like crows after a battle, to see if they cannot strike a bargain, and go back to their foul- smelling booths at the Rynok, laden with miscellaneous bundles. They do not care what they buy, nor whence it comes, nor at what price they sell it, provided only they get a good deal more than they paid for it. Any one who has stolen goods on his conscience comes here to dispose of them. Hence it is some- times possible to pick up really valuable objects, and

28 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

many a prudent and experienced collector has had reason to be well satisfied with a morning spent in the Thieves' Market. These wild-eyed megerse and these dirty Tartars are quick to distinguish the different types who pass their way ; they can tell at a glance to whom to offer an enamelled gold watch or a piece of real old lace, and to whom a second-hand pair of trousers, baggy at the knees, is likely to prove acceptable. But you must be careful in making your purchases, not only from the fear of being swindled, or, incidentally, of having your pocket picked, but also because the vendors will not show their best treasures to the first comer ; you must go again and again, evincing a languid interest in painted tea- boards, odd parts of telephone apparatuses, and such- like treasures, until you have won the shopman's confidence ; then the really good picture or the hand- some old silver ornament will be drawn out of its receptacle and shown to you with many nods and becks and wreathed smiles ; and after two or three more days' bargaining you will go home a poorer but happier man.

In the middle of the market is a wide, open space surrounded by the usual shops : in the centre a church has been built, for even here religion must have its due, and in the galleries there are highly coloured pictures of flamboyant Madonnas and angels and alarming saints, which no good Russian passes without repeated signs of the cross. In the open square women and men of the Greek faith prostrate them- selves on the ground before the church, and especial thanksgiving prayers are offered up whenever a good

Krasnoik Sflo. Sol.nilCKS AND Scuooi.iiov.

To /lice yajc 29.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 29

bargain has been struck, or a guileless outsider handsomely "done in the eye." In this square there are quantities of hand-barrows and temporary booths, chiefly devoted to the sale of old boots, cheap lace, and common wearing apparel. Here the noise of the strident voices is deafening, and you are sometimes seized by half a dozen would-be sellers in their eagerness to make you look at their wares.

This place is like the end of all things, for it is here that the oroods of those who have sunk in the world finally drift. The Tartars avenge themselves for having been conquered, and the Jews for being perse- cuted and despised, by making profit out of their task- masters' misfortunes. The emancipation of the serfs, which deprived most of the landlords of a large part of their estates but gave them ready money instead, was the cause of ruin to many, who spent their newly acquired cash in the capital ; and once having acquired a taste for Court life, they could not resign themselves to returning to the country, but mortgaged what re- mained of their land until they went under altogether. The wild speculation of the last twenty-five years often produced a similar result, and money easily earned was as easily squandered, and after the crash it was neces- sary to sell everything. This made the fortune of the Thieves' Market, and turned many of the Old Clo' men into millionaires. This year doubtless the harvest of the Thieves' Market will be even greater than usual, for the war, with the distress and misery following in its train, will surely bring many valued treasures under the auctioneer's hammer. The collector from Western lands, if he has nothing better to do, might put in a

30 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

week at St. Petersburg, and see what he can pick up at the Alexandrovsky Rynok.

Those who are interested in Social problems should go to the Narodny Dom. It is one of those magnifi- cent examples of lavish Imperial charity so common in Russia, but like many similar efforts not altogether answering to the purpose for which it was intended. It is a huge building on the Peterburgsky Ostrov,* near the Zoological Gardens, given by the present Tzar to the Temperance Society with the object of providing the Russian working man with rational amusement un- accompanied by alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately the average Russian workman is seldom rational, he does not want to be amused, and he likes alcoholic beverages. The building itself is splendid, it has an immense well-lit and heated central hall, where concerts are given in winter ; a theatre ; large airy dining-rooms where, on a spotless paper tablecloth, which also serves as a bill of fare, you can have all manner of good food served up by smart waiting-maids at reasonable charges A clean, well-kept kitchen is open to all beholders, so that you can see how your food is being prepared. On the walls are notices, from which you may learn what you spend per annum in vodka if you drink ten kopeks a day, or twenty, or thirty ; two or three years of spirits make up quite an alarming total. Outside is a large garden, where you dine in summer, and listen to the band. All this luxury may be enjoyed for the modest entrance-fee of ten kopeks (2^d.), includ- ing concert, theatrical performance, which is usually of a spectacular and patriotic character, or variety show.

* The Petersburg Island, a quarter of the town.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 31

The food, which is simple and wholesome, is also very- moderate in price, and you can have quite a decent meal for thirty kopeks. But all this has not proved sufficiently attractive for the Russian workman. Even the cheap prices of the food are not quite cheap enough for him, especially if his family is with him. The Narodny Dom is a long way from many of the workmen's quarters and factories ; the tram costs money, and to walk is an effort ; and above all the workman can hardly conceive enjoyment without vodka. So he prefers to go to the nearest gardens or spirit-shop, or to stop at home. The Dom is certainly not empty, but the majority of its habituds are not workmen at all. There are shopkeepers, employds of the lower ranks, soldiers and non-com- missioned officers, and even a few officers, mostly with families. University students, and a crowd of miscellaneous persons of various classes. The " horny- handed sons of toil " are few and far between, and do not seem to be quite at their ease ; they feel themselves almost intruders in a building primarily designed for their benefit. In time doubtless it will become more popular, and perhaps if wages go up they will be able to patronize its restaurant, while education will teach them to appreciate vodka\^'=>^ joys ; but for the present it must rank to some extent among the wasted good intentions.

The building itself, a sort of crystal palace, was the exhibition building of the Nijni Novgorod Exhibition of 1896, which was pulled down, packed up, sent to St. Petersburg and rebuilt.

Wishing to see something of the Russian army,

32 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

I visited Krasnoie Selo (The Red Village), a vast military camp sixteen miles from the capital. This charming and peaceful spot, the scene of one of Peter the Great's victories over the Swedes, is now used as the summer training-ground for the St. Petersburg garrison. Every summer some forty thousand troops take up their quarters at Krasnoie Selo and spend several weeks there under canvas. I went by train on a bright July day, and the spectacle was really a very picturesque one. The handsome railway-station was crowded with officers and men in their smart summer uniforms, and on the sidings are long rows of vans labelled " Eastern Chinese Railway," for a depot was then being formed for the dispatch of troops and stores to Manchuria, although none of the St. Petersburg regiments were as yet actually going to the front.

The troops encamped are the Guards regiments, including the Emperor's bodyguard of Cossacks in their picturesque but somewhat theatrical uniforms. These various corps are the dite of the service, and their officers are mostly men of wealth and hiofh social standing. Each reo^iment is commanded not by a mere colonel, but by a full general ; one regiment, that of the Chevalier Gards, is com- manded by the Dowager Empress, and would only go into action if that exalted lady herself were to take the field. At the cavalry school at Krasnoie Selo there are officers from all parts of the Empire, who come for special training in riding, fencing, tactics, &c. There were wild-looking Circassians in strange costumes and small-eyed Mongols from Eastern Siberia hobnobbing with smart young Guardsmen,

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SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 33

Sheremetieffs, Yusupoffs, Dolgorukis, Galltzyns, the fine fieur of Russian aristocracy. The Russian Army has this good point — that race is no bar to a man's advancement (save in the case of Jews, who are not admitted as officers). A Mohammedan from Turke- stan has as much chance of attainins;' to the hiohest rank as any descendant of Rurik.

Let us take a stroll along the road skirting the wood, flanked by endless lines of white tents. As the camp is a permanent one, earthwork emplacements have been built up for the tents, which are also pro- vided with wooden flooring and doors. The Russian Tommy does not try to make himself at all comfort- able ; in fact very few Russians ever do. He lives au jour le jour, revelling in untidiness, everything thrown about on the floor — clothing, linen, cooking utensils — all in a heap. His life is a hard one ; his term of ser- vice is five years, which is longer than that of soldiers in any other Continental army. His food is bad, although the poverty of the peasants in their homes is so great that by contrast it is ample in quantity ; the treatment he receives at the hands of his officers is often brutal in the extreme. But he manages to keep up a certain sad cheerfulness, and beguiles the tedium of long, weary marches by singing those beautiful but terribly plaintive songs of the Russian people. To hear soldiers singing these weird and touching melodies makes one realize the sadness and sorrow of Russian life.

In another part of the camp we see him at play. He has nothing comparable to English games, but he is fond of gymnastics and "giant strides" — a

3

34 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

game played by swinging round a pole on a rope attached to it. He is very handy with his fingers, as indeed all Russian peasants are. The fniijik, shut up for months at a time in winter in his little cottage with nothing to do and only himself to depend on for most of his needs, develops great ingenuity in all sorts of ways, and learns to make baskets, furniture, saddlery, toys, household utensils, &c. This skill stands him in good stead in the army, and he can provide most of the things needed in camp without calling in outside assistance. These tall, stalwart men of war are more like jjreat children than grown men ; their ideais are utterly elemental, they are easily amused, and astonishingly ignorant. Military service, however, in spite of its many evils, certainly does shake them up, and gives them a wider outlook on life. It is said that a peasant or workman who has been in the army commands higher wages than one who has not.

An interesting feature of Russian military life is offered by the schools attached to certain regiments. They exist for the benefit of orphans and children whose parents are in poor circumstances. On the recommendation of some responsible person, the colonel admits boys to the regimental school from the age of seven or eight and to the number of thirty or forty. The pupils are maintained free of charge at the expense of the State, and given an education more or less on the lines of that of the ordinary elementary schools, but in addition they learn military drill, gymnastics, riding, &c., and they wear the uniform of the regiment, of which they are inordi-

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SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 35

nately proud. It was most amusing to see one tiny little fellow, only seven years old, standing up to be photographed with the greatest delight, trying to look at least seven feet his^h. After their schooHnof the boys are taught some trade ; they are permitted to perform their military service four years earlier than is usually done, and on leaving the army they are helped to obtain employment and launched into the world. These schools are not the only aspect of the general educational policy of the Russian Army, for the soldiers themselves are given a certain amount of elementary instruction, and are taught various handicrafts.

At St. Petersburg, in July, 1904, one expects to see signs of the war. But outwardly there is hardly any- thing to tell the stranger that he is in the capital of a country in the throes of a great struggle. The papers continue to report the news from the front, news of battle and of the death and mangling of tens of thousands of brave men, usually ending in the defeat of Russian arms. But the people go about their usual occupations, and apparently take very little interest in the matter. The war does not even form an important part of their private conversations, not because they are afraid of spies, for there is no fear of discussing the war as there is or rather was of discussing internal affairs, but because they do not care. The local papers at the beginning of the war were of a quite Byzantine servility, which would be comic if the circumstances were not so tragic. Nearly all the St. Petersburg papers appear only in the morning, and hardly ever publish later editions ; but war telegrams, issued by

36 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

the papers and the various press agencies, are sold at frequent intervals by small boys, who rush about shouting, '' Interesnaya telegramma General- A dyutanta KiLvopatkina I '' or '' Balshoie Morskoie Srajinie!'' (great naval battle), or " Dvadzat tisyatch Yapontzeff ubyty " (twenty thousand Japanese killed), and similar exciting statements. When examined, these sheets seldom contain anything but the news already pub- lished in the morning's journals. Consequently there is no great anxiety to purchase them. The official statements are often cryptic and incomplete, but usually not actually untruthful. The telegrams of the Russian correspondents and agencies, on the other hand, are extremely wild and fantastic. Sometimes official statements are issued in the course of the day, and posted up in various prominent places. There little groups of peasants or workmen will gather and painfully spell out the news ; but, however important these may be, there is never a sign of excitement on the faces of the readers.

There was, however, one curious manifestation of war feeling at the Zoological Gardens, which was symptomatic of the way St. Petersburghers look at the events in the Far East. The Zoological Garden is one of the favourite open-air resorts of the capital, and in summer-time there is a theatre where popular performances are given. Last summer the piece chosen was entitled "The Russo-Japanese War " — an ambitious subject, one would think — and it presented a very wonderful version of the events in the Far East as suited to Russian popular taste. The first act is a betrothal scene in a Russian village. A stalwart

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SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 37

young peasant is about to be married to the village beauty ; a naval officer, the son of a local magnate, is also present with his betrothed. The parents, both of the humble and the noble couple, are on the stage, and there is much feasting and merry-making. But these gay proceedings are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a soldier-messenger, who announces the nigrht attack on Port Arthur and the outbreak of hostilities. The Imperial manifesto is read aloud amidst an outburst of patriotic enthusiasm. The peasant bridegroom is called out as a reservist to go to the front, while the young nobleman is ordered to join his ship at Port Arthur. Their brides decide to accompany them as Red Cross nurses. Speeches, cheers, and curtain. The next scene transports us to the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg. Troops are drawn up in the square, and a colonel enters on horseback, treats his men to a patriotic harangue, and rides off at the head of the regiment. Then we witness a depar- ture scene at a wayside railway station. Troops are being entrained for the front, cardboard engines wander up and down the line aimlessly, and all is busy confusion. Comic relief is supplied by a soldier, who rushes about wildly, unable to find his carriage. At last there is a whistle, the third bell clangs,* and the train departs for the Far East amidst more cheering and patriotic enthusiasm of the crowd. Then follow a series of views of the Trans-Siberian railway and of

" On the Russian railways the first bell (one stroke) clangs about fifteen minutes before the train starts, the second (two strokes) five minutes before, the third (three strokes) just as the train moves off. At wayside stations the intervals are shorter.

38 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

the Manchurian line. We are introduced to the famous Khung-khuzes, who are trying to blow up the railway. They place dynamite under it, and go away, leaving only two of their party on the watch — a father and son. The former is a wicked Russophobe, whereas the latter is enamoured of Russian civilization. A longr discus- sion follows as to the ethics of the conflict, which ends in a duel, in which the son kills or wounds his papa and puts up the danger signal just in time to stop a Russian troop-train, which was hurrying on to its destruction. The first skirmish between Russians and Japanese now takes place with loud reports, ending, I need hardly say, with the victory of the Russians. The event is celebrated by a series of national dances, including those of the Jews and the Circassians, but the absence of Finnish and Polish dances was sur- prising. After the Manchurian line, Port Arthur. Here the betrothed peasants, who had lost sight of each other for some time, meet again, and a comic scene between soldier and Red Cross nurse arouses the hilarity of the public. Then we are carried back a few months (the chronological order of events is not strictly followed) to the battle of Chemulpo, and we assist at the destruction of the Varyag and the Koreyetz. Shells are flying about the stage with alarming frequency, and our ears are deafened by continual explosions. Finally the captain, in order to prevent the ship from falling into the hands of the enemy, fires his revolver into the powder-magazine and blows her up, and she is swallowed in the cardboard waves. This is certainly a new version of the affair, unknown to the Governments of

Russian War Cartoon. Thk Japanese gettin(; Mi.>ney fok the War out of John Bull.

To face imge 38.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 39

Japan and Russia and to the ubiquitous war corre- spondent.

The finest scene of all is yet to come. We are at Tokio, in the Imperial Palace. The Mikado is dis- cussing the situation with his Ministers, who tell him that it is as bad as possible. The Finance Minister suggestively explains the state of the national ex- chequer by turning his pockets inside out. There is not enough money even to pay for the modest evening meal of rice to which His Imperial Majesty has been reduced ! But a hopeful diversion is caused by the arrival of an English and an American financier. The Mikado at once embraces and decorates them, and the whole party join in a comic trio. Then they proceed to business. But the two financiers wish to under- stand the real economic situation of the country before advancing the required loan, as, indeed, is the habit of financiers. When the accounts are shown to them, they politely but firmly hint that it is not good enough. They are thereupon deprived of their decorations, and ignominiously kicked downstairs by the Mikado in person. The latter consoles himself by ordering a ballet, and a number of Geishas proceed to dance and sing to the tune of The Geisha (a play which was a great success in Russia, and was being performed regularly until the war put an end to its popularity). In the midst of these frivolous proceedings a cry is heard, "The Russians are coming!" Wild shrieks, confusion, and flight. The victorious Russians enter with shouts and cheers, and take possession of the palace. A Cossack dance, and the curtain falls. The performance ends with an apotheosis of Russia ; the

40 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

captains of the Varyag and the Koreyetz appear on a luminous pinnacle surrounded by Catharine wheels and other noisy fireworks, while below are groups of soldiers and sailors singing a triumphal chorus.

The audience, which had read accounts of new Russian defeats that very morning, was quite happy to gaze at Russian triumphs in the evening, but it took both with the same indifference, and seemed to be chiefly moved by the comic relief. It is an extra- ordinary indication of the popular mind that such a spectacle should be tolerated at all, whatever way one regards the war. Is it supreme confidence in the nation's destiny, or want of imagination ?

Another manifestation of Russian sentiment on the war is found in the curious coloured prints and cartoons sold all over the country, with a view to guiding the popular mind in the right direction.* They are highly coloured representations of events in the Far East, or symbolical scenes prophesying Russia's triumph and the iniquity of her enemies. In some we see wonderful versions of the battle of the Yalu, Kinchau, Liao-Yang, &c., and of the naval engage- ments, in which the Russians are invariably victorious, while the Japanese are being slaughtered by thou- sands, and almost drowned in torrents of blood. Others are symbolical, and teach the mujik how Great Britain and the United States are backing up

-'■ It has been stated that these cartoons were distributed by order of the authorities ; but I was unable to obtain any corroborative evidence on this point. More probably they were merely pro- duced by some enterprising printer or publisher who hoped to turn an honest penny in a manner not displeasing to the powers that be.

Russian War Cartoon, The Japanese getting INIoney for the War out of UncleI Sam.

To face page 40.

I

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN ST. PETERSBURG 41

Japan, and fighting Russia in an underhand way. But the Russian, in spite of these diaboHcal machina- tions, always comes out "top dog," to the discomfiture of Jap, John Bull, and Jonathan. There are over two hundred of these cartoons, and they are on sale all over Russia. You see them adorning the walls of peasant cottages, shops, low-class restaurants, but apparently their effect Is not very considerable, and they have succeeded in arousinor no enthusiasm for the war ; at most they may have excited a little hostility against the Ano^lo-Saxon.

Otherwise life was proceeding much as usual in St. Petersburg ; business was bad, and every one was poorer, but the mass of the Petersburghers continued in this almost Turkish indifference, careless of every- thing save the needs of the day. Even the murder of Plehve caused but a languid interest. A change, however, has come over the country, and throughout the summer and autumn the lesson of the Manchurian defeats has been penetrating deeper and deeper, and during my stay in the country I noticed that their effects were becoming daily more widely felt, until strikes, riots, and revolutions have at last awakened the country from its apathy.

CHAPTER II

MOSCOW

MOSCOW is one of those world cities which sum up the essence of a whole civilization or of many civilizations, which have a distinct spirit and character of their own, and are still living forces in the world. There are but few cities of this kind — Rome, Constantinople, Venice, London, Paris, Jeru- salem, and a few others. Other towns, however beauti- ful, however full of historical reminiscence, seem either lacking- in that feeling of universal importance, or they have ceased to live, or there is a break in their continuity. But Moscow is Russia, it shows us every aspect of Russian life, every phase of Russian history, and it is still seethintj with life.

It is certainly the most curious and interesting of Russian towns. I hardly know whether to call it a typical Russian town, for although it is the centre and heart of all things Russian, it is quaint and beautiful, while the great majority of the towns in the Tzar's dominions are monotonous, sordid, and ugly, without being in the least picturesque. They have the squalor and dirt of the East with none of its glamour or its harmonious colour. Even in Moscow a large part

42

MOSCOW 43

of the city has these same unattractive features, this same unlovely monotony. But then it has the Kremlin, which is truly a thing of beauty unlike any- thing else in the world, and the old Kitai Gorod, or Chinese town, which gives us a true glimpse of old Russia, the Russia of the early Tzars, of the Tartar invasion, of Ivan the Terrible — not the Russia of imitation which Peter the Great and others flattered themselves was Europe. With all its incongruities, its garish and strident colours, Moscow, and above all the Kremlin, is beautiful. Seen on a bright, sunny day from the Kamenny Bridge, the red walls, of a red that is almost Sienese, the sharp-pointed battlements, the towers with their glittering rich green tiles, the accumulated mass of pink palaces, white cathedrals, and golden domes, the verdant freshness of the hillside and the avenues, and the broad waters of the Moskva, form a wonderful picture, that may well arouse enthu- siasm in the heart of the traveller. The first time I saw it was late in the afternoon on a rainy day when the sky was grey and all was shrouded in gloom. Suddenly there was a break in the clouds and a ray of the setting sun struck the Kremlin : the domes seemed all at once to be aflame, the ugly and yellowish pink of the large palace became glowing orange, the red walls and the red tower over the Troitskiya Gate became Italian and splendid; the trees and the grass studded with emeralds. I realized then of what the Kremlin was capable.

On arriving at Moscow one is at first bewildered by the maze of crooked streets going up hill and down dale, the blind alleys, the passages, the curious build-

44 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

ings all askew, and the hopeless confusion of the streets, apparently not designed on any definite plan. To grasp its topography one must imagine Moscow as a wheel of many circles : the Kremlin is the axle, the main streets leading outwards, like the Nikit- skaya, Tverskaya, Petrovskskaya, Lubianka, Ilinka, and Varvarka, are the spokes ; the walls of the Chinese town form the first circle, the boulevards the middle circle, and the chain of monasteries, united by further boulevards, the outer circle. The series of circles had a defensive purpose, for they formed the various lines of fortifications. The monasteries — true embodiments of the Church Militant — were the first line of defence. The old walls of the city stood on the emplacement of the boulevards. Then there was the Chinese or inner town, more strongly defended, and finally the holy of holies, the home of the Tzars, the store-house of the most sacred relics and of the treasure — the Kremlin. If we bear this conformation in mind Moscow will begin to blossom out and expand into reasonable shape, and we need not fear to lose our way among its intricacies.

Moscow is in many ways a capital. If all the machinery of Government is centred in St. Peters- burg, where the Court, the Ministers, and diplo- matic corps reside, Moscow is none the less the real centre of Russian life, the holy city bound up with all the country's traditions and history, the stronghold of Orthodoxy and of Russian and Slavo- phil ideals. Even geographically it is the heart of Russia, and all the main lines of railways flow to and from the old capital, which has become the

MOSCOW 45

chief commercial and industrial centre of the Empire. St. Petersburg and Moscow divide the honours pretty- evenly, and each embodies a certain set of ideas. Moscow represents the old Muscovite views, con- servative, thoroughly Russian and old-fashioned, while St. Petersburg represents the tendency towards the West. Moscow sums up Russian history and Russian development, if not from the earliest times, at all events from the XII. century downwards. In the churches, with their Greek Byzantine forms exaggerated and made grotesque by rude and un- skilled hands, we see the earliest signs of Russian civilization, foreign in its origin and marred rather than developed by native elements. The palaces of the Kremlin in their barbaric gorgeousness are typical of Russian autocracy, while the very small number of old private palaces of the nobility show how utterly dependent on the Court the Russian dvorianstvo always has been. The very name dvorianin means courtier, for the nobles of Russia were never feuda- tories. They had no independent position, and could be made or destroyed by a smile or frown from the sovereign. The Tzar was everything ; the nobles, in spite of their privileges, nothing.

The strong defensive character of the architecture reminds us that Moscow was for many centuries under the shadow of the Tartar peril, and indeed more than once it was taken and sacked by Mongol hordes. The Tartars have strongly impregnated every side of Russian life, both by giving the people an Asiatic character and its Government the nature of an Oriental despotism, and by compelling it into the paths of

46 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

militarism, for they were constantly challenging Russia's very right to exist. National defence was the main- spring of Russian policy for many centuries. As for the Asiatic character of the Russians, I do not mean to say that they are Asiatics by blood. Although Russia contains an immense number of different races, belonging to almost every branch of the human family, the great majority of the Tzar's subjects are pure Slavs, and therefore Aryans. But they have been in contact with and governed by Orientals for many generations, and have imbibed their traditions and habits. Russia finally shook off the Tartars' domina- tion, and conquered them ; but their impress remains ; their actual descendants remain to this day, and in no town are the Tartars more conspicuous than in Moscow. You see them wandering about the town intent on their business, monopolizing certain trades, sober, serious, more or less honest, modest and un- assuming, destroyed as a people yet still the con- querors of the Russian spirit.

The Russia of Ivan the Terrible is represented in Moscow by the traditions of his awful cruelties, by the many buildings erected under his auspices, and above all by that strange church Vassili Blajenny,* one of the most curious architectural freaks in the world. Its architect is unknown, its style a mixture of many, its general character thoroughly typical of Russia in the XVI. century. It is certainly not beautiful — there is no proportion, no fine lines, no harmonious plan. It is simply a medley of architectural eccentricities —

* Blessed Basil, from the name of a half mad holy man who dwelt near this spot.

Voi.(;.\ Taijiak's in .Moscow.

To face jmge 47.

. MOSCOW 47

domes, cupolas, pinnacles, turrets, spires, arches, with incongruity of colour, thrown together regardless of plan or design. Many of the cupolas look like pantomime fruits, or animals, monstrous melons, pine- apples, onions. None of them are plain, in fact nothing about this church is simple or restful to the eye. It is not without a certain fascination which compels attention, but it is la beautd du diable, and reminds us of some monstrous orchid, priceless to the collector, but unlovely and repellant. It is worthy of Ivan the Terrible and his times, and is full of horrible suggestions of fiendish wickedness and nameless vice. Russian as it is, Moscow is also typical of another phase of Russian life — the foreign element. Through- out its history Russia has been largely made by men of non- Russian blood. To Moscow numbers of Enplish merchant adventurers flocked ever since 1553, when Richard Chancellor landed at Archangel. The early settlers were traders, or exercised handicrafts, some of which were first introduced by them into the country. Several churches and other buildings were erected by Englishmen, such as that of St. Catherine, and the famous tower built by John Villiers, whose name was corrupted into Ivan Veliky, or Great John; and the fine red Gothic towers over the Troitskiya and Spasskiya gates of the Kremlin, by Galloway. Besides English- men, there were numbers of Italian, German, and other foreign craftsmen and artists in Moscow during the XVI. and XVII. and XVIII. centuries, for the Tzars were anxious to enlist their services as instructors in civilization for the Russian people. Soldiers of fortune from England, Scotland, and other lands entered the

48 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

Tzar's armies too, and won many of Russia's most celebrated victories. To this day the foreign element is largely represented, especially in the commercial world, where foreigners abound, some of them descen- dants of old settlers, others only recently arrived and ready to return home as soon as they have " made their pile."

Nor is Moscow free from the new civilization which a succession of Tzars have tried to force on to an unwilling people. Moscow is now the most important manufacturing centre in Russia, and one of the greatest commercial emporia in Europe. Of late years banking has tended rather to make its headquarters in St. Petersburg, but in trade and manufactures Moscow takes the first place. Nearly every Russian industry is represented here — cotton spinning, weaving, and printing, silk spinning metallurgy, breweries, sugar re- fineries, manufactures of chemicals, engineering works, &c., while the Moscow merchants are the wealthiest and most important in the country. The railway system of Russia has its centre in Moscow, and the disposition of the various main lines recalls that of the streets of the town, for they shoot out like the spokes of a wheel. Here one enjoys a good general outlook over the conditions of Russian trade, for all the businesses of the country have their centre, or at least have important agencies, in Moscow. But Moscow trade is old-fashioned in its methods, in its system of long credits, in its way of still dealing largely in the goods in bulk rather than by samples, in the general happy-go-lucky rule of thumb by which business is transacted, even in the old Russian costume which

MOSCOW 49

many of the merchants still wear. Some of the places where wholesale business is carried on, such as the Stary Gostinny Dvor, or Old Court of the Strangers,* are almost as quaint as the bazaars of Stambul. There are curious courtyards surrounded by warehouses and shops two or three stories high, with vaulted loggie on the ground floor and broad wooden galleries or verandas along the upper stories. In the courtyards themselves carts are being piled up with mountains of curiously shaped boxes containing every variety of merchandize. Some of these passages are covered in with glass, and there are bridges across them and across the smaller courtyards. Side by side we see many strange contrasts in Moscow. There are monster hotels, blocks of flats decorated in the most decadent Art Nouveau style, palatial railway stations, electric light and tramways, smart restaurants, fine theatres, large modern shops where you can buy all the latest novelties from Europe — if you choose to pay two or three times their value. But, on the other hand, the streets are vilely paved with heart-breaking cobbles, there are filthy slums nestling in the most fashionable quarters, curious bazaars that would hardly be out of place in Macedonia, peasants of the most primitive type, driving in carts made entirely of wood without a piece of iron in their composition. The famous Red Square presents many curious incongruities — a vast space flanked on one side by the red walls of the Kremlin, with the Nikolskiya and the Spasskiya gates, typical of the Moscow of the Tzars and the Tartar

* The name is a survival of the days when merchants were nearly all foreigners.

4

50 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

wars and the churches ; on the other the imposing mass of the Ryady, or new commercial quarter, where many of the finest shops and important business houses are situated ; at one end the monstrous Vassili Blajenny, at the other the historic museum. In the middle are the monuments of Minin and Pojarsky, the heroes of the Russian national uprising against the Poles, and a little further on the Lobnoie Miesto, or place of execution, where Ivan the Terrible and many successors committed their orgies of blood — the most glorious and the most shameful remembrances of Russian history side by side.

The historical museum as such is not a very important collection. But it is interesting as repre- senting the peculiar nature of Russian national develop- ment. The object of the founders of the museum was that it should grow into something like the Germanic National Museum at Nuremberg, where the progress of German civilization can be traced step by step. But in Russia such an attempt could not prove successful, for the country has had no really continuous development. Thus we find several rooms full of early Russian objects — utterly barbarous and primitive, relics of the Stone Age and of various subsequent periods when the Russian people were still in the most elementary stages of civilization, here and there a few ikons, imitated from Greek models, and some early metal work, an industry which can claim to be both characteristically Russian and artistic. Then suddenly we come upon imitations of foreign models, German, French, or English, typical of the new Russia of Peter the Great and Catherine II.

Interior of the Gositnnv D\iik, Mustuw.

The Varvarka Gate, Moscow.

face -paQs 50.

MOSCOW 51

There is no progressive development — merely bar- barism followed by a foreign civilization.

Moscow is an extremely odd city in many ways, and is full of strange customs and survivals. There are numbers of bazaars for the sale of special goods, but indeed the town itself has not lost its character of one huge bazaar. Many streets and squares are filled with stalls and pedlars of all kinds. Fruit-stalls are the commonest, especially in the autumn, when the large consignments of fresh fruit from the Caucasus and the Crimea begin to arrive ; the Moisiskaia Ploshtchad, with its many stalls covered with white awnings, distantly recalls the Piazza delle Erbe at Verona. A characteristic Moscow type is the fruit- boy, kneeling on one knee with his basket of fruit on the other ; he sometimes remains for hours at a time in this posture. Other stalls cater for the thirsty, and in summer do a roaring trade in " fruit- waters." Among the special bazaars is the Sunday market at the Sukharova tower, where one may occasionally pick up genuine " finds " in the shape of old ikons or Russian enamel work ; but as a rule one is assailed with offers of blue glass vases, hammers, second-hand boots, stolen watches, and door-handles. Another bazaar is devoted to the sale of birds and dogs, another to samovars (tea urns).

One of the least pleasant features of Moscow life is the noise. The cobble-stones reverberate to the wheels and horses' hoofs, producing a most maddening din. It is impossible to hear yourself speak in the streets unless you shriek at the top of your voice. The traffic is most incompetendy regulated, and in spite

52 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

of the huge force of police, there is no attempt at keep- ing even a semblance of order. In wet weather every street is a river of mud and slush, and if a rubber- tyred cab passes close by you are liable to be splashed from top to bottom. In winter, of course, all this is changed, there is no noise, no mud, no cobbles ; all is covered with a thick carpet of snow, wheeled traffic ceases and is replaced by silent sleighs. The streets are full of movement, especially certain commercial thoroughfares like the Kuznetsky Most, the Petrovka, or the Varvarka, and one sees the most varied collection of human types — Jews, Tartars, Greeks, Armenians, Great Russians, Little Russians, White Russians, Poles, Finns, Circassians, Siberians, Georgians, Rumanians, Turks, Chinamen, Germans, Frenchmen, Englishmen, and goodness knows how many other races and nationalities.

Another dominant note of Moscow life is religion. The religion of the Russians is really a revelation of medi£eval devotion, and in the great ceremonies, the processions, the pilgrimages, and the ritual, we see a picture of what faith was in Western Europe at the time of Peter the Hermit. After Kiev, Moscow is the most holy city in Russia, and is said to contain over a thousand churches, besides shrines and chapels innumerable. The holy and miracle-working images are very numerous, and they are regarded with the deepest veneration by the people. The most famous of all is the celebrated Iberian Virgin {^Iverskaia Bozhemat), kept in a small chapel in the Voskres- senskaya Ploshtchad, between the two arches of the gate of the same name leading to the Red Square.

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MOSCOW 53

It is a copy, executed in 1648, of a much older image preserved in Mount Atlas. No good Orthodox Christian ever passes it without doffing his hat and crossing himself many times, and every day large numbers of people enter the chapel to pray before the holy picture. Whenever the Tzar comes to Moscow, before entering the Kremlin he visits this shrine and prays before it. One may see the most important people in the land doing homage here and kissing the ikon — generals in full uniform, councillors of State, nobles and noblewomen of the highest rank, rich merchants, not to mention masses of humbler folk. Many miracles are attributed to the Iberian Madonna, among others the conversion of an infidel, who on scratching the picture saw blood flow from the wound ; the scratch is visible to this day to bear witness to the truth of the story. The Virgin is adorned with a crown of brilliants and quantities of pearls and precious stones, including some of great size, and a network of pearls, and the robe covered with the usual silver plaques. Every day the image ! is taken from the chapel, placed in a large closed coach, drawn by six black horses, four abreast and two in front, one of the latter ridden by a boy postilion. Inside, opposite the image, sit two priests in full vestments. Priests, driver, footmen, and J postilion are always bareheaded whatever the ' weather. It is then carried to the houses of B people who are dangerously ill (provided they can pay the fee of 50 to 200 roubles), or to assist at family festivals, the inauguration of new buildings or shops, and other similar functions. In the case of

54 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

a new building a temporary shrine is erected in the courtyard, before which the priests hold a service. The belief in the image is so great that last year, when a certain night restaurant of somewhat doubtful respectability celebrated the twenty-fifty anniversary of its existence, the proprietor sent for the holy ikon to sanctify the proceedings. Whether any elevation of the tone of the establishment in question was noticeable afterwards we are not told. During its absence from home the image is replaced by a copy, to which great virtues are also attributed. When the coach drives past people prostrate themselves before it, touching the ground with their foreheads in abject humility. One day as the vehicle was rolling along and several passers-by were bowing low, I saw one of the priests put his head out of the window and spit into the street. The action was characteristic, and the fact that it was not resented shows what a wide gap there is in the eyes of the Orthodox between the Church he venerates and its ministers whom he despises. The image is a large source of income to the Church, not only from the fees which are paid when it is sent for, but also from the offerings which most of the wor- shippers leave when praying at the shrine itself.

An interesting feature of Moscow are the vehicles, of which there are many varieties. Ordinary carriages of the European type, such as victorias, landaus, broughams, &c., are comparatively rare, but there are many special Russian types. The ordinary cabs are called izvosktckiks* and of these there are some tens

* Izvoshtchik really means driven, but the word is equally applied to the cab.

MOSCOW 55

of thousands ; they are low, crazy, four-wheeled vehicles, drawn by one horse, with seats for two and a small box for the driver, who wears a long caftan and flat Russian cap. There is no tariff in Moscow, and the method of hiring a cab is characteristic of the happy-go-lucky Russian method of conducting business. The intending "fare" walks up to the first of a long row of Jehus on the stand, in a careless sort of way, so as to eschew the least suggestion of hurry, mentions his destination, and suggests a price — say thirty kopeks. Jehu No. i is aghast at the smallness of the sum, and asks sixty kopeks. You do not listen to his protestations, but pass on to No. 2, repeating the same offer. No. 2 will also probably refuse, but offer to convey you for fifty. No. 3 will ask forty, but you are as adamant ; then several, possibly includ- ing the first two or three, will begin bidding against each other for your custom, until your terms are reached. The first who agrees to thirty kopeks is your man. Acceptance is signified by the word pajaluista (please), and a gesture inviting you to take a seat. If only one cab is available and your terms are refused, you walk away, and it is ten to one that you will be followed and offered lower and lower terms until your price is reached. Another peculiarity of the Moscow cabby is that he often does not know how to drive. He is a believer in frontal attacks, and forges ahead in the direction of his destination, regardless of kerb-stones and other obstacles. Many do not even know their way, as they come up from the country for a few months, never having been in Moscow before. The next grade above the izvoshtchik

56 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

is the likkatck, which is superior and smarter in every way ; it has rubber tyres, a better and faster horse, and a driver padded out to an enormous size. Private carriages are Hke likkatcki, but still smarter, and their drivers still more padded out ; many have two or three horses abreast.

As for popular feelin^^, Moscow has always been regarded as the centre of Orthodoxy, Slavophilism, and Panslavism. The Moskovskiya Viedomosti, or Moscoiv Gazette, formerly edited by the famous Katkoff, was, and is still, the chief exponent of re- actionary ideas, and at one time wielded quite a power in Russia. Moscow represented the focus of all those who believed that Russia must work out her salvation on her own lines, rejecting European innovations and Western ideas, whereas St. Petersburg represented the Russia of Peter the Great and Catherine II. and Alexander II., the Russia that aspired to be European. Moscow was under the influence of clericalism and reaction, while St. Petersburg was the home of the progressive and somewhat sceptical aristocracy. But of late years the roles of the two cities have rather changed. St. Petersburg, being the political capital, has come to reflect the ideas of the govern- ing circles more and more, and to change from Conservative to Liberal and vice versa, according as the influences at Court tend in the one direction or the other. During the last two reigns, when the Government has been thoroughly reactionary, St. Petersburg has also taken the same view of public affairs. In Moscow, on the other hand, the com- mercial and industrial world has come to be more and

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more influential, and its tendencies are towards Liberalism. The old Moscow nobility is still very conservative and bigoted in the main, although many of its members are men of great enlightenment and intelligence. But the merchant class, represented by men of the Morozoff type, are now of a very different way of thinking, and the large number of factory hands has introduced a further element of unrest. If the Moskovskiya Viedomosti is still the organ of reaction par excellence, it has now become the lausfhine-stock of Russia, and no longer carries any weight ; whereas the Russkiya Viedomosti, also published in Moscow, is the most liberal, honest, and respectable paper in ^the country, and in the solidity and good sense of its articles, the moderation of its tone, and above all by the courage with which it advocated liberal ideas in the dark days of reaction, when suspension by the censor hung like a sword of Damocles over its head, it has deserved well of all Russian Liberals.

The Moscow University is also to some extent a centre of Liberalism, and professors and students are all more or less " tainted." The former, indeed, are among ■ the chief contributors to the Russkiya Viedomosti, the somewhat professorial tone of which is perhaps its chief defect as a newspaper, while the latter are frequently in trouble with the authorities for their political views. As a teaching body it cannot stand as high as the more celebrated universities of Western Europe, because it is frequently closed for months at- a time on account of political disturbances, and because the censorship hampers the students in their studies. In the university, as in the factory, we find

58 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

the same trouble — a superabundance of holidays — in fact, in the university there are far more than in the factory, because they are increased by the student riots. Russia, above all other countries, is cursed with an intellectual proletariate, for there are many thousands of students so poor that they can barely afford their college fees, and in bad weather cannot attend the courses as they have not sufficient clothes. Benevolent societies are formed to provide them with necessaries, and there is a large number of scholarships, each just sufficient to maintain a student in penury durinof his studies. These students and graduates overflow the offices and liberal professions, and become the most active agents of revolutionary propaganda. One finds, indeed, glaring contrasts among the Russian educated classes, between advanced and daring ideas and complete ignorance of matters which are common knowledge to the rest of Europe. Side by side with the most revolutionary doctrines that would shock the most advanced of English or French Radicals there are students, like one whom I met last autumn, who simply refuse to believe that such a thing as religious freedom exists in any country in the world. These incongruities are but the result of the system of re- pression of ideas which, while it succeeds admirably in destroying all independent thought among the stupid masses, drives others to the wildest extremes of revolu- tionary ideas in politics, literature, and philosophy. All this is hostile to really sound study, and leads men away from serious work into the paths of general and somewhat ill-balanced speculation. At present the university question is one of great concern, for owing

Bovs Selling Fruit. IMosc'iw,

To face page 59.

MOSCOW 59

to the part taken by the students in the recent dis- turbances higher education is almost at a standstill. Most of the universities and colleo-es are closed, and students, schoolboys, and even schoolgirls have in many cases been treated to generous doses of police brutality, which has provoked the resentment of all classes of the population.

As I shall show in another chapter, the economic effects of the war, aggravated by the strikes and the general disturbed state of the country, have been very seriously felt in Moscow, and the general situation is anything but satisfactory. Moscow was certainly not enthusiastically bellicose. The reactionary parties and their papers continued to connect religion and warlike patriotism from day to day, and tried to persuade themselves and the people that this war was like the war of 1877, t)^t without much success. The com- mercial classes who suffered from the disturbance of trade were bitterly opposed to it. The merchants and manufacturers at the beginning showed great generosity in giving money in aid of the sick and wounded, and huge sums were collected for the pur- pose. But the shameful scandals in the administra- tion of the Red Cross funds, which have lately come to light, so disgusted everybody that there has been a considerable falling off in the subscriptions. As an instance of the way the Red Cross is managed the following anecdote is characteristic. An ex-police master of Kronstadt, who had been dismissed from his post a few years ago for peculation, received an appointment, on the outbreak of the war, on the Red Cross, and was entrusted with a sum of 600,000

60 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

roubles to be expended for certain purposes in Man- churia. He went out to the Far East, and in a short time all the money had disappeared, no one knew how. Complaints were made at headquarters, and after much correspondence the ex-police master was recalled — and given another Red Cross appointment at St. Petersburg!* The Moscow merchants were quite ready to give more money for the purpose, but they organized hospital equipments of their own, so as to be certain that the funds were not misappropriated, for they no longer trusted the Red Cross. Not only the Moscow merchants, but other private persons as well, have fitted out hospitals of their own rather than entrust their money to the Red Cross. Russians are not so very particular about the dishonesty of Govern- ment officials, and even in other countries in war-time there is bound to be a great deal of dishonesty in connection with military stores, but these swindles on the Red Cross went rather beyond what even the Russian public was accustomed to, and have aroused widespread indignation. There may be a certain amount of exasfSferation in what one hears on this subject, but there is no doubt whatever that the dis- honesty has been astounding. There are few things in which Russians excel more than in their generosity towards charity, and the shameful scandals of the Red Cross have contributed not a little to make the Government unpopular. It is felt that by " bureau- cratizing " charity it has become subject to all the peculation and waste of a Government department.

* The above anecdote was told to me by a Russian gentleman who had organized one of the military hospitals.

Misciiu . Thk Ir.icKi.w Madonna "on Tduu."

To face piiije 61.

MOSCOW 61

In Moscow, moreover, there are not even the material advantages to be derived from the war which to some extent exist at St. Petersburg. The proportion of the manufacturers who are interested in the supply of war material is very small, while the others are all feeling the ill-consequences of the struggle. Nor are there so many financiers interested in Manchurian concessions, and the Moscow merchants are not very keen on the success of the Far Eastern speculations of St. Petersburg company promoters, with whom certain highly placed personages are popularly believed to be connected. In private con- versation one hears no good said of the war and of the policy which led to it, and the generals, admirals, and ministers are, with few exceptions, common sub- jects of vituperation and ridicule.

CHAPTER III

ALL THE RUSSIAS AT NIJNI NOVGOROD

EVERY Russian will tell you that you have not seen Russia if you have not been to the great fair of Nijni Novgorod, the Nijegorodskaya Yar- marka, as it is called,* and it is certainly one of the most curious spectacles in Europe. But it is well not to expect too much. It has not the picturesque- ness and brilliant costumes of a Turkish bazaar, nor the colour of Italy, nor historic associations of hoary antiquity. It is above all things thoroughly Russian. Many people, including Russians themselves, are fond of saying that Russia is an Asiatic country ; other Russians would like to say that it is European. As a matter of fact, it is both ; in Russia Europe and Asia meet and blend. At Nijni Novgorod this infusion can be seen in its most characteristic forms. In England and in the rest of Western Europe fairs have practically lost their importance. One connects them now with merry-go-rounds, cocoa-nut shies, cheap toys, and quack dentists. But two and three and four centuries ago the great fairs were events of the highest commercial importance ; they were gatherings where * A corruption of the German word Jahi-ynarkt.

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ALL THE RUSSIAS AT NIJNI NOVGOROD 63

tens and hundreds of thousands of people from all parts of the country and from foreign lands came to buy and sell. In the towns the permanent shops were few and the stock of goods small, and business on a large scale had to be transacted at the fairs, where dealers and farmers bought their supplies for many months or a year. Merchants would wander about from fair to fair until they had disposed of their stocks. To-day railways, machinery, and industrial development have radically altered the conditions of trade, and the fairs have sunk into insignificance.

But Russia is a land still far behind others in civilization, where old methods of trade still continue to flourish, and fairs play a very important part in the common life of the country. Modern conditions are but slowly making their way into Russia, and they are at best external conditions, the real character of the people remaining unchanged. All over the country there are great annual fairs — at Nijni Novgorod, at Kiev, at Kharkoff, at Irbit in Siberia, and in a host of minor markets. But while the others are all declining rapidly, and are but shadows of their former selves, that of Nijni, although not as important as it was once, still holds its own. The creation of this fair of St. Peter and St. Paul is due to the jealousy which the princes of Moscow felt at the great trade of the Tartar Khans of Kazan ; the Khans held their annual fair at Arsk on the Volga. Ivan III. (h^^S^ 1505) set up a rival fair at Vassilsursk, also on the Volga. After the fall of the khanate of Kazan the fair was transferred to the convent of Makariev, on the same river, where it continued for a long time.

64 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

But in 1816 the warehouses were burnt down, and it was then transferred to Nijni Novgorod, where it has been held ever since. At one time its im- portance was enormous, and most of the business of this part of Russia was transacted there, as well as a large part of that of the rest of the Empire, of Central Asia, Persia, Turkey, and the Far East. In Russia, as in Mediaeval Europe, owing to the small buying power of the people and the scarcity of towns, there were few permanent stores. Most of the merchants who catered for the needs of the peasantry were wandering pedlars. The great fairs succeeded each other so that the goods unsold at one could be disposed of at the next. Thus the Nijni fair was held in the summer, that of Kharkoff in the autumn, and those of Kiev and Irbit in winter. Some of these gatherings were not held near great towns ; Irbit is a village of five thousand inhabitants, and at Vassilsursk there was a little more than a monastery. Communica- tions in Russia were difficult, and trade tended to concentrate in certain spots and at certain seasons of the year. Moreover the custom prevailed, as it still does to some extent to this day, of dealing not by means of samples, but by goods in the bulk. A merchant does not care to order a large supply of cloth or cotton prints on a specimen ; he prefers to see all the goods he is buying spread out before him. This is partly due to the want of confidence which Russian traders have in each other, and partly to traditions of a more primitive age.

Gradually, however, communications are improving,

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ALL THE RUSSIAS AT NIJNI NOVGOROD 65

railways are being built, and modern conditions and methods are being introduced into Russia ; hence the decline of the great fairs. If that of Nijni still main- tains itself it is partly on account of its favourable position and partly because the conquest of Asiatic provinces, whose inhabitants are still more uncivilized and Oriental than the Russians, has given it a new lease of life.

Nijni Novgorod is situated in the middle of Russia, at the junction of the Volga and the Oka, and at a point where the forest region of the North and the agricultural black-mould zone of the South meet. It is also in close proximity to the industries of Central Russia, to the cotton mills of Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, and Tver, while the Ural ironworks are comparatively not far distant. The great rivers Volga, Oka, and Kama, serve as ways of communica- tion from a large part of European Russia, from the Caspian lands, and, to some extent, from Siberia. For the whole of Siberia and Central Asia Nijni is the nearest European centre of distribution to which to send their products. Here Siberian furs and Chinese silks and tea would be exchanged for cotton prints, calicoes, and iron goods from Russian or Western European furnaces.

But during the course of the XIX. century the character of Nijni's trade has changed. Exchange with distant countries has decreased. China, Japan (even before the war), and the rest of Asia no longer send goods to Nijni. The so-called Russian tea, which is supposed to come overland from China, now comes chiefly by sea to Odessa. Moscow is

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66 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

absorbine the oreneral trade of Russia more and more, owine to its beincr the centre of a network of railways communicating with all parts of the Empire and with the rest of Europe, including the Siberian railway, which has completely ousted the caravan route from the East, the river traffic alone maintaining itself for part of the year.

But the internal trade still remains important at Nijni. Provincial storekeepers and peasants still come to the Yarmarka to buy their supplies for the year, and manufacturers find it a convenient mode of distributing industrial products all over Russia. A considerable amount of Siberian busi- ness is done at Nijni, and traders from Khiva, Bokhara, Samarkand, and other parts of Russian Central Asia are in the habit of visiting it with their goods. The only foreign country which is largely represented is Persia, for numbers of Per- sians come across the Caspian and up the Volga to the fair. A small number of Turks, Afghans, British Indians, and an occasional Chinaman may be seen. But, as I said before, the fair is mainly an All- Russian gathering.

Nijni Novgorod, or " Lower New-Town," is really two towns, or rather three. It is divided into two parts by the River Oka at the point of its junction with the Volga. On the right bank of the Oka is Nijni Novgorod proper, itself divided into the Nijni Bazaar, or lower town, and Vierchny Bazaar, or upper town, on a high, precipitous ridge. On the left bank is the fair, covering a wide extent of plain. The two are connected by two bridges, and an electric tramway

The NijM Faik. A Relic.ious Pkoi i-ssiox.

To face jingc 66.

ALL THE RUSSIAS AT NIJNI NOVGOROD 67

runs between Nijni Bazaar and the station, which is on the outskirts of the fair. The town of Nijni Novgorod is in an extremely picturesque situation on a wooded hill, crowned with massive stone walls, round towers, and large churches adorned with glittering gilt domes. Its whole aspect, as seen from the fair or the river, is very pleasing and attractive, and reminds one distantly of some quaint old town of the Rhineland. But the Volga is a far greater river than the Rhine, and at this point espe- cially it is really a splendid mass of water. Unlike the enormous majority of Russian towns, Nijni has a distinct character of its own and a real history. Apart from the fair, it is historically one of the most interest- ing spots in the country. It is in the North only that one realizes that Russia was not born yesterday, and here at Nijni we have some idea of the Russia of the XIV. century. The town was founded in 12 12 by Prince Yury Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, one of the independent lords of Muscovy, as a bulwark against the invasions of the Volgars and other Mongol tribes, for then the Volga was the extreme limit of Europe. It became independent in 1350, and the residence of a prince. It was captured and burnt by the Tartars in 1377, and was incorporated in the principality of Moscow in 1392. Early in the XVII. century, when Russia was under the yoke of Poland, Nijni became a rallying-point for the war of independence. A local butcher named Kosma Minin raised the townsfolk, and, assisted by volunteers from the banks of the Volga and other parts of the country, formed an army of deliverance, which he placed under the command of

68 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

Prince Pojarsky. In 1612 this Volga army defeated the Poles before Moscow, and Russia became a nation once more. At Moscow, in the Red Square before the Kremlin, is the double monument of the two national heroes — Minin is placing a sword in the hand of Pojarsky.

Of the old town there are considerable remains. The streets are of the usual Russian type — dirty, ill- paved, and worse kept, flanked by two-storied houses ; but there is the Kremlin, surrounded by a wall sixty to ninety feet high, with eleven of its thirteen towers still intact. Like the Kremlin at Moscow it is a broad enclosure and contains not only a fortress, but the Cathedral of the Transfiguration and several other churches and public buildings. There is a mass of religious relics and patriotic monuments, including the tomb of Minin and an altar to the Virgin of Kazan, in memory of the liberation of Russia from the Poles. But to examine these build- ings too closely is to court disappointment — it generally is in Russia — for it is only the mass of white wall and gilt dome that is imposing.

The sights of Nijni are soon exhausted, and the fair is the real centre of interest. We walk across a dreary square, desolate and grass grown, flanked on one side by the huge building of the Cadet School, and enter a funicular railway. This takes us to the main street of the lower town, where an electric car is wait- ing-. We take our seat in this modern means of communication, and are whisked down the main street and across the bridge into the thick of the fair. But it is well to get out at the bridge and watch the

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ALL THE RUSSIAS AT NIJNI NOVGOROD 69

stream of people passing up and down. It is only on the bridge of Galata at Constantinople that I have seen a more miscellaneous crowd of strange peoples than on this bridge of Nijni. There is a ceaseless procession of those carts which are so characteristic a feature of Russian life. There are also many cabs and carriages, drawn by large-limbed, fairly swift steeds, harnessed with a d2iga, or yoke. But they are of varied degrees of smartness, from the elegant rubber-tyred likhatch of the local official or rich merchant to the broken-down izvoshtchik that plies for hire. The people one meets here and in the fair are of many nations and races. The prevailing type is the Russian — the Russian provincial dealer in long, black caftan, flat cap, and high boots, with long hair and beard, a good-natured smile, and an infinite capacity for vodka, who has come to restock his store ; the Russian mujik, also long-haired and bearded, m a red cotton shirt, worn outside his trousers, and long boots, who comes to buy such simple implements as he may need for his farm. Then come the Tartars, similar to those one sees in St. Petersburg or Moscow, with their small fezzes, black or dark blue, sometimes embroidered, or Astrakhan fur caps ; they are mostly from the banks of the Volga, where there is still a numerous Tartar popula- tion. There are Persians, swarthy and villainous- looking, with black hair and thick moustache, dressed in dark clothes — caftan, baggy trousers, and tall black fez, dignified, but not brilliant ; they are mostly Russian subjects from Astrakhan, Baku, and various parts of the Caucasus, but some are from Persia

70 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

itself. There are Armenians, also from the Caucasus, cunning traffickers and great travellers in many lands, often possessed of great wealth, in type a cross between Persians and Jews. The Jews themselves are very numerous, and of many different kinds, from the dirty Polish Jew, with greasy curls, dressed in long coats, thin and threadbare, ill-fitting trousers and broken boots, to the smart, flashy, rich Jew attired in the latest fashion of the day, only more so, his fingers plentifully adorned with jewelled rings. Half-way between the two is the quiet, un- assuming Jew from Western lands, where fair treatment have made him a man like other men. Scattered about are men of stranger type from the Caucasus and Central Asia — Bokhariots in red caftans and gorgeous turbans, Circassians in black robes all a-c{litter with cartrido^e-belts, metal buttons, and silver- mounted knives. There are Greeks, Turks, Bulgarians, and many others. Here and there one sees a yet more unusual type — a pig-tailed Chinaman, possibly a Kkun^-Khztz in disQ^uise, seekino; for a brido-e or a rail- way which he may destroy, more probably a simple- hearted trader with no thought but of spoiling the Egyptian. Whatever his intentions, he is the observed of all observers, for the Russian cannot quite realize the difference between the Jap and the Heathen Chinee. Even the Hindu subject of the British Raj is there, although not very conspicuous. From the other side one may meet an occasional " European " from the West, and every now and then one hears a few words of German, French, and even English or American. The prevailing type, however, is the

The SiiiEKiAN Quay.

Among the Ware-Houses.

To face puijc ', 0.

ALL THE RUSSIAS AT NIJNI NOVGOROD 71

Russian type, the predominant language the Russian language. This is apt to cause some disappointment to those who expected to be plunged into a thoroughly- Oriental world, all ablaze with the gorgeous colour of Constantinople, Cairo, or Samarkand. But if we study the fair closely we shall find much to interest us, much to recall past ways of carrying on trade, past conditions of existence.

The zenith of the Nijni fair was in the early 'eighties, when its business amounted to an annual average of 215,500,000 r. Since then it has been declining, and the amount of goods brought to Nijni now is valued at 160,000,000 r. to 200,000,000 r., the business transacted at about 150,000,000 r. to 185,000,000 r. per annum, while the number of persons visiting it each year is close on 400,000. The largest amount of business is in textiles, which are the chief product of Russian industry, especially in this part of the country. Only a very small amount of these goods are imported from Central Asia as was formerly the case, for the improved Russian fabrics have cut out the rougher Asiatic kinds. " The metal spindle has beaten the practised hand of the Asiatic spinner even in her own home." * Raw cotton from Central Asia is, however, becoming every year more important as the plantations in the Russian colonies are developing, and the opening of the new Tashkent-Orenburg line will probably increase this business. Russian textiles are poured into Asiatic Russia, but only a very small quantity enter China, where they cannot withstand

* Von Schultze-Gavemitz, VolkswirtschaftHche Studien aus Russland, p. 68.

72 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

foreign competition. Persia, too, take a large quantity of Russian goods of all kinds.* After textiles the next most important trade is iron and steel, from the Urals, South Russia, and, to some extent, from Europe. Of late years articles de luxe have come to play a large part in the fair, and the wealthy provincial merchant or landowner comes to buy gramophones, kodaks, clocks with elaborate arrange- ments, and other expensive toys with which to dpater his less fortunate and more stay-at-home neighbours. Grain and food-stuffs are not dealt with in laro-e quantities, but there is a brisk trade in dried fruit from Persia and wines from the Caucasus and the Crimea ; the Moscow and St. Petersburg wine merchants and manufacturers purchase large supplies of these vintages, which with a little ingenuity can be converted into clarets and burgundies at three and four roubles a botde.

The principal items of business transacted at the fair are : Cotton goods, 60,000,000 to 70,000,000 r. ; iron goods, 25,000,000 ; tea, 20,000,000 ; furs, 15,000,000; hides, 7,000,000; spices, 3,000,000; wine, 2,000,000.

But although there is much that is modern in the fair, and the dernier cri of Paris production is to be found, the methods are still Eastern. There Is a bourse where prices are quoted, and many travellers now deal in samples; but the chief business is still done in the bulk, and nothing is bought without a lot of preliminary bargaining. The Asiatic, and even the Russian, has

* Russian trade with Persia amounts to nearly ;^4, 000,000 per annum, the exports being about one-fifth larger than the imports.

Wine Barrels.

face Vfiije 72.

Bales of Cotton.

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ALL THE RUSSIAS AT NIJNI NOVGOROD 73

an idea that he has been cheated unless the price has been agreed upon only after hours of discussion. Payments, too, are made on long credits, usually by bills on the next year's fair.

Along the quays, especially those where the steamers with Siberian and Eastern goods are moored, one sees mountains of merchandise covering vast spaces. Since the Fiscal Question has been rampant in this country we know all about exports and imports (or at least we ought to), but our know- ledge is based on mere figures and diagrams, such as are set forth in the columns of the more serious daily newspapers. But at Nijni we see Blue-books in con- crete form. We can inspect and touch half a million's worth of iron rails and pig-iron if so minded, and toy with a nation's supply of dried fruit for a whole year. It is certainly not a case of "invisible" exports or imports.

The fair consists of a larsfe number of buildingrs of all sizes, partly of brick and stone and partly of timber, forming a series of straight streets crossing each other at right angles, on the lines of an American city. The buildings of the outer fair are somewhat less regular, and there most of the whole- sale business is carried on. The warehouses and shops are usually two stories high, and in many parts the upper floor is overhanging, so as to form a covered footway. The largest of the buildings is an elabo- rately designed structure of red and yellow bricks called the Glavny Dom (chief mansion). Here are located the offices of the Governor of Nijni Novgorod while the fair lasts, the local branch of the Imperial

74 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

Bank, which plays an important role in the business transactions by discounting bills, the post-office, the police-station, and other public offices. The ground- floor is occupied by a number of the smarter shops opening into a glass-covered court, where the band plays in the afternoon during the promenade. The morning promenade is along the Boulevard opposite the Glavny Dom.

Among the crowds there is a very large sprinkling of the inevitable and ubiquitous police, both mounted and on foot. During the fair Nijni Novgorod is placed in state of siege, and the Governor and police enjoy an authority even more absolute than is usually the case in Russia, which is saying a good deal. The present Governor, Baron Unterberger, seems to be a capable and moderate man, and manages to maintain order among this vast concourse of people from the uttermost ends of the Empire, including not a few doubtful characters, without exercising undue severity. At one time many of the outlying parts of the fair were very unsafe after dark, and one was apt to have unpleasant encounters with disreputable Orientals armed with lonof knives. But that is almost a thinor of the past, and both robbery and murder are now extremely rare.

A greater danger is that of fire, but this is to a large extent obviated by the rigidly enforced prohibition against smoking. Those who disregard it are liable to arrest and fines up to five hundred roubles (over £2^. As, however, the Russian is essentially a smoking animal, his needs are provided for by means of little wooden huts placed at intervals along the

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roads, in which smoking is allowed. There one may see the Russian or Oriental trader who, unable to restrain himself any longer, suspends his sales and purchases for a few minutes and retires into one of these havens of refuge to indulge in the soothinof weed.

Let us wander among the shops and warehouses. Here one may purchase anything from a packet of tea to a gramophone, from a piece of soap to a ton of steel. The different classes of goods are distributed in different quarters so that, save for the miscellaneous shops in the Glavny Do7n, everything is arranged in a sort of geographical distribution. One of the most interesting sights is the so-called Siberian quay (Sibirskaya Pristan), which is the centre of the whole- sale trade. Here are moored the laro^e steamers and barges which have come up the Volga from Astrakhan, or down the Kama which joins the Volga near Kazan, tapping many towns which are in railway communica- tion with Siberia. Thus the goods have to be shipped and unshipped many times before reaching Nijni. By the quays are rows of huge warehouses, in which quantities of bales of merchandise are stored. They are by no means all Siberian goods, and the products of Persia, Russian Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the whole Volga basin are brought here, while the railway carries goods from the West as well. Skins and furs from Siberia form an important and valuable item, and are bought up chiefly by German merchants to be tanned at Leip- zig ; there are mountains of cotton in bales from Turkestan ; all day long more cargoes are being

76 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

unloaded from the constantly arriving steamers or from railway waggons which come clown to the quays. Nearly everything is borne on men's shoulders or rolled along the ground, for steam cranes are not in much use. The goods are either packed in canvas and matting or in wooden boxes. The latter is usual in the case of the more expensive and delicate articles, such as the ikons or religious pictures, of which hundreds of thousands are produced every year. These ikons are designed according to rigid pre- established models, for the Eastern Church allows no deviations from what it once has fixed, but there is room for considerable variety In the elaboration of the ornaments. The colours are of great brilliancy, and the peasant families, who from time immemorial have painted them, jealously preserve the secret of their composition.

From the Siberian port we go on to the tea stores, which also offer a curious spectacle. Russia is one of the greatest tea-consuming countries of the world, for tea Is the staple drink of the people. The tea is in huge piles covered with tarpaulin, behind which the sellers live in little huts. It is classified according to the different forms in which it comes ; there is the " Leather " tea, which is sent overland via Klakhta in boxes sewn up in hides with the hair on the inside ; tea which comes by sea via Odessa is called " Cane " tea. The commonest kind is the unsavoury "brick" tea, which arrives in the form of hard bricks.

Another quarter of the fair Is devoted to Persian goods, and one passes rows upon rows of shops where rice, dried and fresh fruit, nuts, hides, cottons, spices,

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stuffs, and beautiful carpets are sold by the dark, sinister-lookingr orentlemen in tall fezzes. In one street there is nothing but leather goods, from the cheapest and simplest pair of slippers to the most elaborate stamped leather cushions. In another there is a large collection of felt foot-gear, which is much worn by Russians, especially in winter, when they are the best protection against cold. A little further on we find a series of shops devoted to soap of an inferior quality, chiefly manufactured at Kazan.

Near the Cathedral is a street of shops where there is nothing but painted boxes for the transport of valuable goods. These are sometimes simply painted green with a plain design in white ; others are covered with tin plating of the most brilliant hues, and a variety of metal bosses. When the goods which they contain have been disposed of, the boxes themselves are also sold, sometimes for quite large sums. Their manufacture is almost a monopoly of certain districts of Russia, and they are found throughout the East from Bosnia to Manchuria. In another quarter we come upon a large selection of bells exposed for sale, so as to provide for the needs of the churches. Again we may wander among the booths devoted to popular amusements, and here we see the usual merry-go-rounds, switchbacks, flying boats, short giants, tall dwarfs, and other monstrosities. There is also a theatre, where performances are given by second-rate artistes, and quite a number of music-halls. The immense crowds of visitors to the fair are chiefly lodged in the many inns which are opened especially for this purpose close to the

78 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

fair. They are called Notnera (literally, numbers), which is the Russian word for unpretentious hotels. Those at Nijni are as a rule dirty, noisy, uncom- fortable, disreputable, and expensive out of all pro- portion to the accommodation offered. Some of them, especially those where the Tartars, Arme- nians, and other Orientals lodge, are the filthiest dens imaginable, swarming with vermin of every description. At night there is dancing and music until 2 or 3 a.m. The best inns are in the upper town, although even those leave much to be desired and are very exorbitant.

This year Nijni too was under the shadow, and from all sides one heard complaints of the slackness of business, of accumulation of stocks, and of absence of buyers. In the first place the Siberians were less numerous than they have ever been before, and the Siberian Far-Eastern trade was greatly reduced, for with the military in occupation of the line there was no means of transporting any but the least bulky goods, and those only as far as Irkutsk, by parcel- post. At the same time there was much less production in Siberia owing to the want of confidence and the disorganization of trade. Certain kinds of hides had dropped from 1,400,000 in 1903 to 500,000 in 1904. Siberia manufactures practically nothing, for there is so small a market to supply that local manufacturers cannot produce as cheaply as the Russians and Poles, who have the whole Empire for their market. There is, consequently, a great export of ready-made clothes, cotton goods, and prepared furs from Russia to Siberia, the business being usually negotiated at

I.

Prksian C.\ui'i:r' Mekchant.

To face pntje 79.

ALL THE RUSSIAS AT NIJNI NOVGOROD 79

Nfjni. But this year all trade has been greatly re- duced. The Siberians were given no credit, and they are even more in the habit of dealing on credit than the European Russian. The Chinese trade, such as it was, including the import of tea overland, has fallen off very considerably. In 1903 the prices of furs were exceptionally high, but in 1904 a change of fashion and the war has reduced them far below their normal level ; but even so the Germans would not buy at first, hoping for a further drop. Hides and wool from Bokhara also came in smaller quantities, because in 1903 prices were bad. Litde was done in the iron trade, for its one pros- perous side — the provision of war material — is practi- cally unrepresented at Nijni. Cotton importers from Bokhara fared rather better. On the whole, according to the most optimistic reports, the amount of business done was about 20 or 25 per cent, below the average, and litde more than half what it had been in 1903, which was a good year. The reduction in the number of visitors, according to the testimony of the station officials, was somewhat similar.

Nijni, in spite of its relatively declining importance, is still regarded as a sort of rough barometer of Russian trade— at all events of that of Central, Eastern, and Asiatic Russia. Consequendy the diminution of business, which at the close of the fair was calculated at about 20 or 25 per cent, may be taken as corresponding to the general restriction from which that part of the country was suffering at the time. If we consider Poland and the South as well, the average reduction is even greater, and

80 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

since the closing of the fair (September loth), when this estimate was made, the situation has become considerably worse.

But to a stranger who had never been to Nijni before, the spectacle offered by the fair is still wonder- fully curious and interesting. As a piece of Mediaeval Europe and unchanging Asia with an infusion of modernity, it is unequalled even in this land of glaring contrasts.

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CHAPTER IV

THE GREATEST RIVER IN EUROPE

RUSSIA is essentially a land of rivers, and is covered with a network of great waterways, which have always played a most important part in the development and activity of the country and the people. Every land has one or more typical rivers intimately associated with its history, customs, and commerce ; in England it is the Thames, in Germany the Rhine, the Tiber in Italy, in Austria- Hungary the Danube. In Russia the rivers mean far more than they do elsewhere, for they constitute the chief, often the only, ways of communication in summer-time, and a whole phase of Russian life is closely bound up with them. Of all the Russian rivers the Volga is the greatest ; the Russian has a deep affection for this vast stream, and speaks of it in endearing terms as Matushka Volga, or " Litde Mother Volga." It is indeed a mighty river, 3,458 versts in length (about 2,200 miles), forming a basin three times as large as the whole area of France. Its greatest width in a general way is at Saratoff, where it is 2,000 yards across in the dry season and nearly 5,000 in the spring ; but at Nijni Novgorod, where it is usually only 750 yards

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82 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

wide, it extends to 19,000 yards during the spring floods, when it covers all the quarter of the town where the fair is held.

For the greater part of its course the Volga is navigable ; large steamers go as far up-stream as Tver, although in the height of the summer they cannot usually go above Nijni Novgorod. There are about 1,200 steamers of all sizes on the Volga, from the large and handsomely appointed passenger vessels of the " Kavkaz i Merkurii " Company, to the small tugs and launches, not to mention whole fleets of barges, timber-rafts, and fishing-boats. Besides the Volga itself, some of its aflluents, such as the Oka and the Kama, are navigable even for large steamers. On the banks of these three rivers many important towns have arisen, whose chief means of communication is by water. Between Nijni Novgorod and the Caspian Sea, the railway reaches the Volga at seven points only, and for the length of 2,231 versts (1,400 miles) from the sea there is only one bridge across it. There is no railway following the banks of the Volga, but only branch lines to the various towns situated on the river, such as Kazan, Samara, Saratoff, Tzaritzyn, &c. Russian roads are notoriously bad, so that the rivers are invaluable arteries of commerce, and, like Egypt with regard to the Nile, an immense tract of Russian country is " the gift of the Volga." But for four or five months of the year this and the other waterways are frozen over, and useless for navigation, so that all traffic is diverted to the sleigh routes.

A voyage down the Volga is pleasant, full of interest, and gives one an insight into many aspects

Barges on the ^'oLGA.

Ked Cross Steamer with Wounded Soldiers.

To face page 82.

THE GREATEST RIVER IN EUROPE 83

of Russian life and ways. As regards scenery, its banks cannot, of course, be compared to those of the Rhine or the Danube, nor is it as rich in historical associations as those great rivers, but it shows many varieties of Russian landscape — the great forests of the North, the "black mould" and agricultural area of the centre, the illimitable steppes and salt-plains of the South, while at one or two points there are even quite picturesque hills. But it is rather in the types of humanity whom one meets, both on the banks and on the steamers, that its chief interest lies. There are certain tribes dwelling by the Volga who have distinct racial characteristics of their own, forgotten fragments of the Asiatic hordes who flooded Europe in the Middle Ages. They are chiefly of the Mongolian or the Ural-Altai stock — Tartars, Mordvas, Cheremisses, Bashkirs, Tchuvashes, and many others. Besides these stranofe races, one comes across other Russians of all classes, and many Persians and Armenians.

The journey is one which can be made with a very fair degree of comfort. The passenger steamers are large, clean, well-built paddle boats, similar to those in use on the American rivers, with good cabins and decent food. They sail daily, so that the journey can be interrupted if one wishes to stop en route, and con- tinued the next day. In the late summer, before the autumn rains, the river is apt to be shallow in parts, and steamers are sometimes stranded for several hours on sand-banks. But the traveller who is in a hurry should not go to Russia, nor, indeed, to any place East of Budapest. In going down-stream it is often im- possible for the vessel to steer towards one bank of

84 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

the river owing to the currents, and if another steamer is sighted coming up stream a white flag is waved by day and a lantern exposed by night, to indicate on which side it is possible to pass. In the shallow reaches a man constantly takes soundings with a long pole, and call out the depth to the officer on the bridge. Starting on board the good ship I mperatritza Mariya Feodorovna from Nijni Novgorod, when the annual fair was at its height, the quays covered with huge piles of merchandise, we thread our way carefully among the crowds of steamers of every shape and size, and steer out into mid-stream, whence a good view of the picturesque old town is obtained. We next pass a few suburbs and villages, and then get into an abso- lutely deserted country, with no sign of human habi- tation for many miles. The right bank is scarped and hilly ; the left consists of sandy flats extending to an immense forest-clad plain. Villages of primitive wooden cottages appear at rare intervals, and there are hardly any isolated houses along the banks. But if the shore is deserted, it is otherwise with the stream itself. Craft of every kind are constantly passing by ; great rafts of logs crawling down the Volga to feed the timberless South, processions of clumsy-looking barges laden with goods for the Nijni fair or for the other towns up the stream, drawn by fussy steam tugs, passenger steamers, and many varieties of fishing- boats ; the Volga is very rich in fish of many varieties, the most delicious of the edible kinds being the sterlet, a Russian speciality.

The first point of interest reached is the monastery of Makariev, a white-walled and battlemented en-

Takians Ai Kazan.

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THE GREATEST RIVER IN EUROPE 85

closure orlistenino- with golden domes, when the fair now transferred to Nijni Novgorod was formerly held. Makariev is now without importance, but it is a typical Russian monastery, built as much for purposes of defence against the wild pagan and Mohammedan hordes constantly threatening the realm of Muscovy as for religious devotion. Hour after hour the steamer pursues the even tenor of her way, when suddenly signs of excitement appear among the passengers, and binoculars are levelled at another vessel coming in the opposite direction. Like ours, she is a paddle-wheeled passenger boat, but she is not carrying ordinary travellers ; the Red Cross flag is flying at her stern, while bandaged men are seen lying about the deck, and a number of Sisters of Mercy are hurrying to and fro attending to their needs. It is a hospital ship full of wounded soldiers from the seat of the war. The Government were sending the sick and wounded back to Russia during the summer as far as possible by water, both because the journey was thus more com- fortable for them and because the railway was con- gested with military traffic hurrying Eastward. One would wish to go on board and hear what tales these men have to tell of the awful days on the Yalu, at Kinchau, or on board the Port Arthur fleet ; but we do not stop, and in a few minutes the steamer is hidden by a bend of the river, and its wounded are conveyed away to be distributed among the hospitals of the large towns or sent back to their homes.

The first town we reach is Kazan. We arrive here in the early morning and stop two hours, so that there is time for a hasty visit. The muddy landing-

86 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

stage is crowded with peasants in picturesque attire, gendarmes, and officials ; among the throng are many Tartars, for Kazan is the headquarters of the Tartar tribes of the Volga. The town is several miles from the river, with which it is connected by an electric tramway — a somewhat incongruous means of com- munication in the former capital of the great Tartar Empire, where in past times the hordes would con- gregate to invade Russia and even Western Europe, spreading terror and destruction along their path. From a distance Kazan, with its walled Kremlin and many towers, looks picturesque and even imposing. But on coming closer the illusion is spoilt. Like most Russian provincial towns, it covers an immense area, and is divided up into long, dreary cobble -paved streets cutting each other at right angles, flanked by ill-built, unattractive houses painted in garish colours. Apart from the electric trams and light, the place has an unfinished, dirty, and God-forsaken air. Here and there are open spaces left unbuilt on for no obvious reason, adorned with a litter of empty tin cans, broken packing-cases and crockery, and all manner of refuse. The Kremlin, or Citadel, contains several churches, one of which, the Cathedral of the Annunciation, was just then the subject of much talk, a miraculous ikon of the famous Virgin of Kazan having lately been stolen from it. For a people as devout as the Russians, this was an unparalleled and irretrievable misfortune, far worse than a military defeat. Close by is the Governor's palace and offices, and a high brick tower, called the Suyumbeka, built by the Tartars. According to the legend, a Tartar princess.

THE GREATEST RIVER IN EUROPE 87

driven to despair at the ruin of her nation when the Russians conquered Kazan in 1552, committed suicide by throwing herself from its summit.

From Kazan we continue our voyage past a few wretched villages and small towns to the mouth of the Kama, the chief affluent of the Volga, by which the towns of Perm and Ufa in the Ural region may be reached. This w^as formerly the route by which exiles were sent to Siberia. Simbirsk is next reached, also a semi-Tartar town, picturesquely situated on a hill above the Volga, but containing nothing of interest. There is something terribly depressing about these ungainly Russian cities, vast in extent though comparatively small in population, and more like overgrown villages than real towns. There are very many of them scattered about over the length and breadth of the Empire, both in Europe and Asia, all very much alike, all dirty and uncomfortable, untidy, and, with a few exceptions, utterly devoid of anything worth seeing. They have numbers of large, ugly churches adorned with graceless excrescences in the way of domes and pinnacles ; there are large public buildings — the Governor's palace, the barracks, the hospital, in some a university or academy, and schools of different kinds. But hardly ever does one come across any edifice that can claim even moderate architectural pretensions. The country is rich un- doubtedly, but everything seems to wither under the blight of the bureaucracy. There is certainly nothing to suggest cheerfulness in the appearance of the in- habitants. Every one seems oppressed by the un- utterable dreariness and monotony of life, by the

88 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

squalor and the sordid poverty, especially in wet weather, when the filthy streets become rivers of mud, and the cabs have only just enough life in them to bespatter luckless foot-passengers from top to toe.

At a small riverside station we see our steamer taking in fuel. The Volga steamers all used liquid fuel, i.e., naphtha, which is poured into the vessel's side, a sluggish mass of dark fluid. The possession of a large supply of naphtha, and other kindred sub- stances, is one of Russia's most valuable commercial assets, and has been used for the development of many industries In the place of coal.

Early in the morning, after passing the picturesque Zhigulievsky hills shooting up like sugar-cones, and the great curve of the river beyond, we reach Samara. It Is raining, and the quays are almost impassable with slush. There is nevertheless a o^ood deal of activity, for Samara Is a commercial town of some importance, and a station on the Siberian railway, and the junction for the branch line to Orenburg, now extended to Tashkent. Samara is also the centre of a large agricultural district, and one sees long caravans of camels laden with produce coming in from across the plains, led by Tartars. At present there Is more movement than usual, for a great concentration camp has been established here, where troops are collected from all parts of European Russia by rail or river to be forwarded to the seat of the war.

From Samara we continue down-stream, and some hours later we reach the great Alexander II. viaduct across the Volga at Batraki, consisting of thirteen arches and over 1,400 yards in length. This bridge

THE GREATEST RIVER IN EUROPE 89

is the only one across the Volga below Rybinsk, and is consequently of enormous importance during the war. It was said that soon after the outbreak of hostilities the Japanese made an attempt to blow it up. It is carefully guarded by troops stationed at each end of it and in boats on the river. A few minutes later a long troop-train is seen passing along the bank, hurrying Eastward with reinforcements for General Kuropatkin. Each train consists of about forty cars, with twenty to forty men in each. They travel as a rule for three days on end, and then stop for a day's rest. During the period when reinforcements were being forwarded most actively, I believe that an average of a little over a thousand men per day were dispatched to Manchuria, or about 35,000 a month. But later there seem to have been several inter- ruptions, as the Siberian railway, which had been originally lightly and badly laid, could not stand the constant strain of heavy traffic, and was constantly breaking down. Prince Khilkoff, the Minister of Ways of Communication, has done wonders with the line, devoting himself with untiring energy to his task. Trained on the American railways, where he began by serving in the humblest capacities, he has acquired a good deal of Yankee grit. Soon after the outbreak of the war he fixed his headquarters at Irkutsk, and constantly travelled up and down the line to see that everything was in order, personally superintending the minutest details. He had a number of new sidings and stations built, and on one occasion, while travelling over a section of the line to inspect the works, he asked one of the officials why his train had not passed

90 RUSSIA UNDER TPIE GREAT SHADOW

a certain new station which he had ordered, paid for, and, he was told, had been built. "Oh, your Ex- cellency," was the reply, *'we passed it in the night." The Prince consulted his time schedule, and, not being satisfied that this could have been the case, he had the train stopped and returned on his tracks ; but no station was visible at the spot where it should have stood. The feelings of the responsible officials are more easily imagined than described, but afterwards that station was built. By energy and persistence of this kind the management of the Siberian railway constituted the one bright spot in the chaos of incom- petence and confusion which has characterised Russian military organisation during the war. Every one con- fidently predicted the breakdown of the line, but it certainly held out wonderfully for a long time, even if it is now beginning to give way under the terrible strain. Russia owes more to Prince KhilkofT than to any of her generals.

At the next stopping-place, Syzran, we witnessed a siorht which brouQ^ht us once as^ain into contact with the war. A number of reservists who have been ordered to the front are taking leave of their families ; great bearded khaki-clad men of about forty years of age were crying like children at parting from those whom they were perhaps never to see again. They had been called away from their fields or their trades in some remote village and ordered to fio^ht for Tzar and country. In many cases they were the sole support of the family, and once they are away the field lies untilled, the harvest ungathered, and the wife and children suffer hunger. While these ofoodbves are

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being said on the quay, a Russian lady of high rank on the first-class deck is watching the scene with intense interest and emotion. She too has a son serving in Manchuria, from whom she has had no news for many weeks, and is desperately anxious. The war has placed rich and poor, prince and peasant, on an equal footing ; both feel equal anxiety, even if the material hardship is greatest among the humbler classes. All are united in deploring the war as a ter- rible evil ; only an irascible retired Colonel of Cossacks is without sympathy, and bursts into a passion at the sight of soldiers in tears. He is with difficulty re- strained from ordering them to be placed under arrest at once for not beins: cheerful and lieht-hearted !

Among the passengers one hears many opinions on the war. The company on board is a fairly repre- sentative collection of Russian types ; there is an aristocratic family on their way to the mineral baths of the Caucasus, a Juge cP htstructio7i on an official tour, a dealer in rubber goods returning from Nijni, a young man from Kazan who has just completed his university studies abroad and is returning home full of German philosophy and revolutionary ideas, and a number of students in the ungainly uniforms which a plus quam paternal Government obliges them to wear. Among the third-class passengers are Russian peasants on their way to or from the market, Persians and Armenians going home to their native wilds after the Nijni Novgorod fair, and many other nondescript characters. PVom these various individuals one may hear different opinions on the war and, though ex- pressed with more caution, on Russian internal affairs.

92 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

No one regards the campaign with enthusiasm, and many speak contemptuously of the Russian com- manders' strategic ability, while the value of the ad- vantages which may possibly accrue to Russia from it, even if the outcome is eventually successful, are looked upon as more than problematical. Occasionally one will hear surprising opinions as to its probable duration ; one man, an inferior Government official, expressed the view (this was in August) that it would end in three months with the complete triumph of Russia ! Concerning internal affairs one is warned to be cautious, for who knows whether the friendly soap-boiler from Samara who waxes wroth on the iniquities of the late M. von Plehve, or the voluble old lady who expresses an enthusiastic wish to see a democratic constitution proclaimed in Russia at once, may not be agents of the Secret Police who will report all that you say in reply, and a good deal that you have not, to the chiefs of that celebrated body? At least this is what I was warned against, but I am pretty well con- vinced, as I have said elsewhere, that the cleverness and fiendish ingenuity of the Russian Secret Service is entirely overrated; the police organization is oppressive and far-reaching, no doubt, but as to its skill in detecting offences, political or otherwise, that is another story.

Sixteen hours after Syzran comes Saratoff, where I left the steamer to pursue its placid course through the monotonous Caspian salt-plain to Astrakhan, the home of caviare. Saratoff is a town of some 140,000 inhabitants, very like any other Russian provincial town in most respects, but somewhat more prosper- ous in appearance, a little more busy-looking than

The Ai.exaxder II. Viaduct ap P.athaki o;\ the Volga. The only Bridi;e across the great Rhek i;ei.o\v Rvbinsiv-.

To face paye 92,

THE GREATEST RIVER IN EUROPE 93

many others, probably on account of the large German population settled here since the days of Catherine II. A considerable number of troops were being con- centrated here from various mobilized districts in Southern Russia, together with a quantity of new field batteries. Their object was to reinforce the army in the Far East, but it was whispered throughout Russia that at all events a part of them were going to Central Asia and the Afghan frontier. For what purpose? It is believed in many quarters that an immense concentration has been effected in that part of the world with a view to a possible war with England. According to others this military activity is due to the fear of a revolution among the fanatical Mohammedans of Bokhara and Khiva, where the news of Russian defeats has made a deep impression. Another explanation which I have heard on good authority, and believe to be the most probable, is that troops were collected in Central Asia just before the war and soon after it had begun, when it was still believed in Russia that the campaign would be a walk-over. England, the Russian Government thought, might wish to intervene to save her ally from the consequences of defeat, and then Russia, with a large army in Central Asia, could make demon- strations and menaces on the Afghan frontier, so as to counteract any possible British action in the Far East. As the result has turned out so differently, the send- ing of troops to Central Asia was reduced, but a large army is always stationed there even in normal times, and it may possibly have been strengthened during the war from the fear of a native rising.

CHAPTER V

PROVINCIAL RUSSIA — KHARKOFF, EKATERINOSLAV,

YUZOVO

ST. PETERSBURG and Moscowshowus Russia in its most active and living stage, in its extreme form, but they are not typical of the greater part of the country. Apart from the vast rural districts where 85 per-cent. of the population dwell, the two capitals give us an incomplete idea even of Russian urban life, of which in the provincial towns we see an entirely different aspect. One of the most characteristic features of the country, in which it differs so greatly from Western Europe, is the absence of antiquity. If we exclude Moscow, Kiev, Nijni Novgorod, Great Novgorod, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Rostoff, and one or two other places, where a few Byzantine churches, or the remains of walled Kremlins still survive from Mediaeval times, the Russian towns are entirely new. I do not speak of the subject lands like the Baltic provinces, the Caucasus, or Central Asia, which are rich in monu- ments of ancient civilization, but of Russia proper. We may visit town after town, scattered over an

immense area, and never see a building more than a

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PROVINCIAL RUSSIA 95

hundred years old, no Mediaeval churches, built up by the toil of generations of devout hands, no old chateaux of the nobility, no palaces rich in pictures, no splendid villas, no town halls round which city life seethed and surged ; it is all one dead-level of monotony and unprogressive modernity. This is largely due to the fact that if we take away the inde- pendent republics of Pskoff, Novgorod, and Vyatka, Russia has no local history. There was the Court where the Tzar held state surrounded by his boyars, and the plains which fed the population and provided soldiers for the wars. The towns were simply centres for the neighbouring agricultural districts, where the peasants congregated on market days to sell their pro- duce or buy stores. The great majority of them were and are still overgrown villages. All the activity of Russian life was absorbed and concentrated by the State and by agriculture, which left no room for local development. There is hardly any local patriotism. You seldom find a Russian proud of being a citizen of Simbirsk or of Elisavetgrad, and indeed it would be difficult to conceive of such a thino; — when one has seen Simbirsk and Elisavetgrad.

Every building was erected with a view to temporary needs alone, generally of wood, easy to build, easy to pull down and rebuild, and easiest of all to burn. In the South and East the Tartars were continually pressing forward for many centuries, and then slowly driven back. Southern Russia only began to be conquered by Peter the Great, and the conquest was completed by Catherine II. The country then was a vast desert, but she and her

96 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

minister Patiomkin founded a number of new cities like Ekaterinoslav and Odessa, and created "New Russia" as it is rightly called, an immense and precious addition to the dominions of the Muscovite Tzars.

In more recent times the industrial movement of South Russia has given fresh life to some of these towns and created others still, for larsfe ag-orlomerations of people have grown up around important iron works — as, for instance, round the New Russia Company's establishment at Yuzovo, where a town of 37,000 inhabitants has sprung up in thirty-four years.

To the tourist in search of the picturesque, accus- tomed to the variety and beauty of Tuscan hill-towns, to Rhine eyries, or to the glowing splendour of the East, Russian provincial towns would be the abomina- tion of desolation. But from the point of view of social and political development, they have many features of interest. They are isolated from each other, sepa- rated by enormous distances and imperfect communi- cations; their inhabitants are utterly ignorant of what is going on elsewhere, while provincial affairs are almost unknown in the capital, for the censorship of the press is in nothing so severe (until the last few months) as in connection with these matters. The provincial journals, with few exceptions, are all sub- mitted to the preventive censorship,* and in many large towns there is no local newspaper at all save the Official Gazette, or Gubiernskiya Viedomosti, which is edited by an official, limits itself to official announcements, and appears usually once to three

'^ I.e., Every article or paragraph must receive the approval of the censor before it can be published.

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times a week. The arbitrary acts of a Governor, the corruption of an official, the brutahty of the gen- darmes or Cossacks, are never mentioned, and remain unknown to all save those who have heard of them by word of mouth, or from a revolutionary news- sheet ; the local papers are forbidden even to allude to such events occurring in their own town. In this they bear some resemblance to the Turkish journals, regaling their readers with essays on Irish Home Rule, anecdotes of the Dowager-Empress of China, or accounts of the habits of the natives of the Mosquito Coast, but not publishing a line on what interests the province itself. Now the censorship has been greatly relaxed in the two capitals, but it is still maintained in the provinces. Here, for instance, is a list of subjects which the papers of one large provincial town are for- bidden to mention : descriptions of love scenes, criticisms on reactionary journals, the mention of trade unions, criticisms of the acts of police officials, the mention of the name of Gorky, accounts of the religion of the Japanese, praises of Tolstoy, the word "bureaucracy," the names of certain diseases, the enumeration of elementary schools, facts concerning the bad organiza- tion of the local hospital and the barracks, criticisms of the articles by Krushevan (the instigator of the Kishinieff massacres).

The power of a provincial Governor is enormous. In St. Petersburg and Moscow there is a faint shadow of public opinion, and there is European opinion, of which the rulers of Russia are sometimes really afraid. But in the provinces a Governor is absolute master, with practically unlimited authority.

7

98 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

Yet in spite of these restrictions some of the provincial towns have become noted as centres of disaffection and disturbance, giving great trouble to the Satraps sent to govern them, and causing much annoyance and many sleepless nights to the Ministers of State in St. Petersburg-. The towns of the Southern and South-Western of Russia above all others have acquired a reputation for turbulence, possibly on account of the mixture of the population, which is principally Little Russian and Jewish ; the Little Russians seem to be more energetic and hard-working, and at the same time more independent than the somewhat shiftless Great Russians, while the Jewish element has been driven by persecution to revolt. The industrial move- ment, which has concentrated large bodies of workmen in certain towns, has provided a further element of disorder, and the Socialist agitators have done much to rouse them against the Government. The present war has provoked exceptional discontent in many of the provincial towns, and indeed it is there that the mobilisation riots first began and were most severe.

Long, broad, dusty streets, ill-paved and not over clean, flanked by houses of a nondescript architecture, usually two stories high, in which blue, red, yellow, or magenta stucco is predominant, some fairly well-stocked shops, huge signboards, the glittering domes of large flamboyant Orthodox churches, a couple of handsome theatres, three forlorn and desolate-looking cafes, and a smelly canal — that is Kharkoff, a provincial town of 200,000 inhabitants, eighteen hours to the South of Moscow. The suburbs consist of wooden hovels, the public gardens are untidy and bedraggled ; the dis-

<^c

Kharkoff.

'i'o face page 98.

PROVINCIAL RUSSIA 99

tances, owing to the smallness of the houses, are enormous, so that one makes large use of the tiny cabs or the wretched one-horse trams, of whose rails the cabs use as a protection against the cobble-stones. There is a fine station, which for a wonder is not far from the town, and an excellent hotel whose French proprietor is well known to all the got^rmets of Russia, and has a special monopoly of a certain vintage down Bordeaux way.

Kharkoffs importance is due to the fact that it is the centre of a rich agricultural district and to its being the official headquarters of the South Russian industrial area. It is on the border-line between the Tckei^noziom, or "black-mould" zone, and the steppes of the South, the surrounding country among the most fertile parts of Russia. The peasantry of the Kharkoff Government are fairly progressive ; a large proportion of them are now using iron ploughs, and beginning to adopt modern agricultural methods. There are several bazaars of the typical Russian character, where crowds of peasants in the brilliant costumes of Little Russia congregate on market days, and the whole area is filled with carts laden with fruit, vegetables, grain, and bread. On a fine autumn day the spectacle is sunny and picturesque, and the atmosphere is even more Eastern than in the bazaars of Moscow.

Industrially Kharkoff has lost a good deal of its importance as a manufacturing centre. There is a large locomotive factory, a sugar refinery, a brewery, and a few smaller works. But the real centre of South-Russian industry has now shifted to Ekate- rinoslav, and Kharkoff only retains its position as the

100 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

centre of the business of industry. Various Govern- ment offices connected with manufactures, such as the factory inspection for South Russia, and the agencies of all the chief South-Russian industrial firms, and of many of those of the North and Centre, are at Kharkoff, where metallurgical and engineering congresses are held every year. There are five annual fairs, which formerly monopolized the trade of this part of the country, but the same causes which are bringing about the decline of Nijni Novgorod are operating here also, even more rapidly, and they have now lost all save their local importance. The wool merchants alone used to buy 700,000 poods of wool at the June fair twenty or thirty years ago ; now they buy little more than one-tenth of that quantity.

The population of the Kharkoff Government is somewhat mixed ; in the town itself two-thirds of the inhabitants are Little Russians. Of the other third a certain number are Jews, for although by law Kharkoff is outside the Jewish pale, and only those Jews who are either merchants of the First Guild, handicraftsmen, or university graduates are allowed to reside here, many others find means of "squaring" the authorities, as indeed happens all over Russia. Kharkoff possesses a university, founded in 1805, a technological institute, and a veterinary college, with a total of over three thousand students. Its mixed population, its industrial connections, and the large body of students have contributed to make it one of the most active storm-centres of Russia. The university is closed more often than any other in the country in consequence of student dis-

PROVINCIAL RUSSIA 101

turbances. Unlike similar occurrences in other lands, the trouble is not between students and pro- fessors, for the latter are often in passive sympathy with the former in their discontent with the exist- ing order of things. The university inspection is the chief cause of trouble, for the students can hardly be satisfied with an arrangement by which an outsider is appointed, nominally to inspect their morals, in reality to watch over their political views and otherwise act as a police spy. The Jewish ques- tion is also a cause of trouble in the university, and at Kharkoff it is sometimes very acute. The proportion of Jewish students is unusually large, and as they hold together very closely disturbances of an anti-Semitic character are of not infrequent occurrence — the one kind of riot which the authorities do not view with disfavour.

The Kharkoff zejnstvo is one of the most active in Russia, and although it is composed of Liberals and Conservatives in about equal proportions, its general tendency is decidedly progressive. Like all the other zemstvos it has an uphill fight against restriction and opposition on the part of the autho- rities. One of its chief spheres of activity is educa- tion, and the zemstvo schools are universally admitted to be better than both those of the Ministry of Education and of the Holy Synod. It also fulfils an important function by insuring the peasants against fire at a lower premium than any insur- ance company could afford. It keeps up bridges and certain roads ; it provides village doctors, who are obliged to attend the peasantry gratis, and

102 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

veterinary surgeons. It promotes agriculture by pur- chasing machinery and hiring it out to the peasants for a small sum, and it maintains an agronome, or agricultural specialist and adviser, for their benefit. It also subsidises several social institutions, such as the well-known Kharkoff Obshtchestvo Gromotnosti, or reading society for the advancement of culture. Other functions which the zemstvo formerly undertook, such as relief work in times of famine, have now been placed under Government control ; but the results do not seem to justify the change, and a return to the old method is regarded as desirable and not improbable. The collection of local statis- tics for the purposes of land survey, which the ze7nstvos had undertaken, was stopped two years ago, because the Government feared that the per- sons employed for the purpose were all more or less revolutionists and would spread disaffection. Reactionaries, indeed, are wont to attribute the peasant risings in the Governments of Kharkoff and Poltava in 1902 to the action of the zemstvo statisticians, most of whom were students or graduates, male and female. A Government college of statistics was created, where officials of this description would be trained in an atmosphere untainted with "sub- versive " ideas. But in the meanwhile no local statistics are obtainable, and the general cadastral survey has yet to be accomplished, an omission which causes great inconvenience to everybody concerned, and it will be long- before a sufficient staff of the new officials will be of anv use.

As regards the economic effects of the war in

PROVINCIAL RUSSIA 103

Kharkoff town and Government, they may be seen in a general reduction of business activity, a restric- tion of credit, and the disorganization of industry through the mobilisation. Kharkoff, like the rest of South Russia, had been suffering from the in- dustrial crisis of 1 899-1 902, and the various enter- prises started when Kharkoff seemed about to become an important centre of manufactures were over-capitalised and ill-managed, and came to an untimely end. Business was beginning to recover when the war broke out and set everything back.

A night's run from Kharkoff — it seems impossible to find any two towns of Russia less than twelve hours apart — brings us to Ekaterinoslav, "the Glory of Catherine," a city which of late years has acquired great industrial prominence and is the fifth manu- facturing centre of the Empire. Ekaterinoslav pro- duces a very different impression to that of most other Russian towns, even including the industrial centres. As a rule industrialism appears rather incongruous in Russia ; the workmen are still to a considerable extent half peasants, and even those who are really permanent artisans have still a somewhat rustic aspect. Amidst the Oriental surroundings, the general air of carelessness, and the apparently temporary nature of all the buildings, modern factories seem out of place. But at Ekaterinoslav one feels one- self at once in a really go-ahead industrial city. The town, in fact, has no other raison deh-e than industry. Founded by Catherine II. in 1787, it was for some time the residence of her favourite, Patiomkin, whose villa and park still exist ; for

104 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

many years it was nothing more than a third-rate provincial town, enh'vened by occasional fairs and cattle markets. But since coal was discovered in the Donietz valley and iron in the Krivoi Rog district the town has risen rapidly in population, which has now reached 160,000, and has had quite a remarkable economic development. As the train crosses the fine bridge across the Dniepr rows upon rows of tall chimneys rise up, belching forth columns of smoke, black, red, brown, and grey, along both banks of the river, and the quays are heaped up for a great distance with piles of iron goods, which are being shipped on to barges and steamers. A continual rumbling and whirring sound of machinery fills one's ears, a heavy pall hangs over the town, and the atmosphere is thick with coal smuts. Throughout the city are mountains of coal, and stacks of iron rails piled high in courtyards and other open spaces, and processions of carts laden with metalware are constantly clattering along the streets. There is no beauty and no picturesque- ness in Ekaterinoslav, but there is an air of grenuine activity and business which is very unusual in the Tzar's dominions. It is a town which may already stand comparison with some of the great industrial centres of Germany or England ; it is a business town existing solely for business. We are in the real " New Russia," the Russia that will some day occupy an assured place among the modern and in- dustrial countries of Europe. Having ousted Kharkoff as an industrial city, it has become the real centre of the South-Russian metallurgical trades. Situated

Ln Ti.E Russian Peasants.

ElvATEKINOSLAV.

T" facf page lOi.

i

PROVINCIAL RUSSIA 105

on the Dniepr and having direct railway commu- nication with all parts of the Empire, half-way between the coal pits and the iron mines, both of which are to a great extent within the borders of the Ekaterinoslav Government, it is most favourably placed for industrial development. There are now some thirty factories, all of them producing iron and steel goods, at Ekaterinoslav and in the suburb of Amur on the left bank of the river ; five or six of them are very large, employing several thousands of artisans each. The enormous majority of the popu- lation are directly dependent on these industries.

The town consists of one immensely long boule- vard with an avenue of trees in the middle, and tram lines on either side going from the station to the Patiomkin Park, where all the business offices and the best shops are situated, with a few side and parallel streets of less importance to the right and left of it. The houses are of the usual Russian type, low, garishly coloured, and florid ; there are some passable hotels of somewhat doubtful reputa- tion, a couple of theatres and music-halls, where modest performances are given — modest only as regards the histrionic talents of the performers — some poor cafds, and two or three bazaars. The town is lighted by electricity, which, by the way, is in Russia a much commoner method of liehtino- than gas ; but, as usual, the streets are vilely paved, in summer several inches deep in dust, in wet weather impassable owing to the mud. Beyond and around the town are the iron works.

The inhabitants of Ekaterinoslav are mostly Litde

106 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

Russians, but there is a strong admixture of Jews, for we are now within the pale. A good many of the inhabitants, of course, are natives of other parts of Russia, and have settled here on account of the in- dustries, but the majority are from this neighbourhood. The industries are among those which suffered most from the crisis of 1899, for it was, as I shall show in another chapter, among the Southern iron and steel works that speculation and over-production were most conspicuous. Some of the most striking instances of industrial fever, mismanagement, peculation, and failure are to be found in Ekaterinoslav, and it is here that the French and Belgian capitalists carried on many of their most important operations. There is a considerable foreign colony, mostly belonging to those two nationalities, and vast quantities of foreign capital has been sunk in Ekaterinoslav under- takings. Some of the works are well managed and fairly flourishing, and likely, at all events after the war, to make great progress. But others are only just holding on from day to day and from hand to mouth, waiting, like Mr. Micawber, for "something to turn up," which something may take the form either of bankruptcy proceedings or Government administra- tion, should the Government be willing to extend its already vast sphere of industrial activity. At Ekate- rinoslav there is a good opportunity of comparing the methods of management adopted by Russians and by foreigners. One factory of which a foreigner was manager, although some of his assistants and all his workmen were Russians, was in apple-pie order, every- thing proceeded like clockwork, and there was a general

PROVINCIAL RUSSIA 107

atmosphere of serious business about the establish- ment. I may add that the dividends of the company were most satisfactory. The manager was a great believer in the industrial future of Russia, and was convinced that the destiny of the country was to be one of the chief industrial nations of the world. The military aspect of modern Russia was, in his opinion, the worst, and the one soonest destined to disappear, while the many good qualities, intelligence, and capacity of the people would lead the Empire up to the highest degree of civilization. Few foreigners whom I met in Russia, however, were as sanguine and optimistic. As a proof of the capacity of the Russian work he showed me some rolled iron, which he said had astounded even Enoflish iron- masters for the excellence and fineness of their work- manship. But, as usual, the cost of production was very much higher than it would be in Western Europe, in spite of the very low wages.

At another much larger establishment, which was under purely Russian control, things were proceed- ing very differently. On entering the works I was received by the manager, attired in the uniform of the ofraduates of the St. Petersburo- engrineerinor academy — that alone gives the note of what purely Russian industrialism is like, weighted down with the burden of bureaucracy. Confusion and carelessness were conspicuous in every department, and although many of the engineers were men of great ability, matters were allowed to go on as best they might, and extravagance and disorder were patent even to the uninitiated layman. The story of this undertaking.

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which is one of the largest in South Russia, is highly instructive. It was originally founded with French capital, and started with the rosiest prospects of success. But there were a certain number of Russian shareholders who, somehow or other, managed to obtain control over the business, and elected a Russian board of directors. The affairs of the company were still apparently most prosperous, and large dividends were being paid. But every year the directors informed the shareholders that the exiofencies of modern in- dustry and the extension of business required a further increase of capital ; new shares were therefore issued time after time, until the capitalization of the concern became most extraordinarily inflated. But as a matter of fact the dividends had not been earned at all ; they had been paid out of the capital obtained by the new issues. This naturally plunged the company into ever deeper difficulties, until finally the shareholders became alarmed and refused to authorize further issues. Then those wonderful dividends ceased. This did not tend to allay anxiety or suspicion, and it seemed advisable that a new board of directors and new management should be chosen. A general meetinor was held in St. PetersburQ^ to decide on the question. The PVench shareholders owned a vast majority of the shares, so that the control of the com- pany should by right have been in their hands, the Russian shareholders, who alone supported the exist- ing board, being in a small minority. But at the last moment the Government came forward with a large loan which orave the Russian element the control once more, and the old board was re-elected ; the foreign

PROVINCIAL RUSSIA 109

shareholders protested angrily against this arrangement, but the directors called in the police and had the room cleared by violence, which was the only satisfaction the Frenchmen obtained. The concern continues to do bad business, the shares now merely serve as playthings on the Stock Exchanges of Paris and St. Petersburg, and it is doubtful whether the shareholders will ever see any of their money again. The population of permanent artisans at Ekate- rinoslav is increasing, as the nature of the particular industries which are practised here necessitates long experience, but there is still a fairly large number of temporary workers, although the managers do all they can to tempt them to settle. The iron- workers of South Russia are beginning to form a distinct and intelligent class of men, who are becoming more and more conscious of their rights and duties. Two years ago the first peaceful strike occurred, the men behaving in an exemplary fashion. Wages are low on the whole, ranging from 70 kopeks a day (about is. 6d.), no lodging or food being pro- vided, and the large number of holidays reduce the monthly and yearly averages still further. But the skilled foremen and workmen are paid much more highly, sometimes to an extent which might seem almost exaoraerated if we did not reflect on the diffi- culty of obtaining such labour. In the same way the managers and engineers, especially foreigners, often receive very large salaries, much higher than they would even in England, ^1,000 a year being quite a usual amount for men who are far from being at the top of their profession.

110 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

The effects of the war in Ekaterinoslav were felt as usual in the ofeneral stao-nation of business, the can- celling of orders, and the absence of activity. A few establishments were executinor orders for the Govern- ment, but the bulk of the contracts which kept the Ekaterinoslav mills going were for peace purposes, and these were all suspended or reduced. Several of the managers with whom I discussed the subject hoped that Russia would have a great industrial revival after the war, but they pinned their faith on Government orders — the second track for the Siberian railway, further railway extensions, armaments, and public works of all kinds. They seem to have lost hope in the ordinary public market, which is hardly surprising under the circumstances, but it is not an encouraging symptom, and one cannot yet believe in the genuineness of an industrial revival unless it is based on real and general needs.

As for opinion on the war, it excited no more enthusiasm here than it did in other parts of Russia, if anything rather less. The working men read the papers and war telegrams, or listened to others reading them, but their chief preoccupation was to avoid being called out to serve at the front. The mobilization at the time of my visit had already led to several disturbances, and the levies of turbulent Ekaterinoslav recruits had to be escorted by other less recalcitrant regiments. On some occasions the disturbances had ended in outbursts of anti-Semitism, and the reservists had pillaged Jewish shops and houses ; others were not so discriminating, and simply broke out into disorders of a general character, as a protest against

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the mobilization. There are a great many revolu- tionary elements among the industrial population of Ekaterinoslav, and the Socialist propaganda is making rapid progress.

The Government of Ekaterinoslav contains a number of other industrial centres, besides the capital, some of them towns which have grown up round one large factory. The whole of this part of Russia is studded with coal-pits and iron and steel works ; from the train, especially at night, one sees blazing furnaces glaring up on all sides, a spectacle reminding one of a journey through the English " Black Country."

Through the kindness of the management of the New Russia Company I was able to visit their large works at Yuzovo, which is the oldest and most important of the South- Russian metallurgical establish- ments. Although this cannot be regarded as a typically Russian establishment, for capital, management, and the general character of the undertaking are wholly English, still, as most of the South-Russian works are under foreign influence of some sort, Yuzovo may be taken as a specimen of what can be done in this country by foreign capital and organization combined with native labour. Before the first furnace was erected there was hardly a house or an inhabitant on the spot, and railway communication was non- existent. It has now developed into a vast establish- ment, employing close on 12,000 hands, and producing 200,000 tons of steel, and 300,000 tons of pig-iron a year. It possesses its own coal-pits on the estate, its iron-mines in the Krivoi Rog, and its own railway

112 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

connectinof Yuzovo with the trovernment Hnes. Round the works a town has grown up, which, including the employes and their famihes, has now some 37,000 inhabitants. Yuzovo is certainly not a beautiful spot ; with its grimy atmosphere, its furnaces belching forth columns of flame and smoke, its vast ungainly mills, its dirty streets of blackened mud, and its rows of workmen's cottages, it bears a certain resemblance to the dreary vistas of a South London suburb. But its economic and social conditions present many features deserving attention. The combination of British capital and brains with Russian labour has certainly worked wonders ; Russia has the natural resources, and the labour necessary for great industries, but lacks the organizing power, which hitherto only the foreigner has been able to supply. When the works were first started the artisans were, to a large extent, Englishmen ; but in the course of time an increasing proportion of Russians came to be employed to supply the places of the Englishmen who died or went away, and to meet the increasing requirements of the works ; at present they form the overwhelming majority, and under capable direction they prove efficient and hardworking. Their relations with the management are good, and there have never been any strikes worth recording since the works were opened until this year, when disturbances are breaking out everywhere. One of the great diffi- culties in the way of industrial development in Russia is the scantiness of the permanent industrial population. Here at Yuzovo the first Russian workmen were obtained from all parts of the country, as there were

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practically no inhabitants on the spot ; but the majority of them came only for the winter months, returning to their fields in the summer. Even of these only a certain proportion returned to the works regu- larly every year, so that the personnel was constantly shifting. But a permanent working class has been slowly growing up here as in other parts of Russia, and now a large number of the men are altogether attached to the works, and have settled down at Yuzovo with their wives and families for good. This is to some extent due to the fact that cot- tages are provided for the workmen, who can thus form a home, instead of being obliged to live in the usual barrack dormitories. The workman who has a home near his work gradually gets emancipated from his tiny piece of land in a distant Government, casts off the coil of the peasant communal proprietor, and becomes a factory hand in the European sense of the term. Wages at Yuzovo for the lowest class of workmen, of whom there are, however, only about 400, are 60 k. in winter, and 80 in summer ; they are as high as 3 and 4 roubles for the bar mill men, who are specialists ; the daily earnings of the average workman may be set down at i to 3 r. a day, earned almost exclusively on piece-work. The number of working days is 224 in the year; the men in the coal-pits work an even smaller number of days, as they celebrate every holiday, whereas those in the blast furnaces work practically every day, merely taking an annual holiday of ten days or a fortnight on end. There is a colony of cottages erected by the company close to the works, and in addition to their

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earnings a large proportion of the hands are lodged free of charge ; others pay a low rent — 4 r. a month for two rooms and a kitchen, or 8 r. for four rooms. This state of things compares very favourably with the conditions obtaining in the establishments of St. Petersburg and Moscow. There is also much less overcrowding, and it is rare to find more than two or three persons sleeping in one room. Those workmen for whom there is no room in the colony are obliged to find what accommodation they can in the village, and there the conditions of life are naturally less good. In the company's cottages there is a cleanliness and tidiness, and an appearance of prosperity such as I have never seen in the dwellings of any other Russian workmen.

With regard to education, the company maintains several Russian schools with 850 pupils, and one English one with 27. The number of Russian pupils is still far below the total of the children of school age, but the proportion is increasing. The teaching is of course according to the programme of the Russian Government, for school and teachers are under the control of the authorities, although the company pays for everything. A want is felt for some form of higher education, as the children leave school now at twelve, but cannot be employed in the works until they reach the age of fifteen. In the interval there is of course plenty of time and oppor- tunity for them to get into mischief. There is a workmen's club at Yuzovo, but membership is limited to the English workmen and a few of the Russian foremen. A club for Russian workmen would be

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difficult to organize, owing to the unfriendly atti- tude of the authorities to all institutions of the kind, in which they see the beginnings of a political association, and also to the fact that Russians have not the same taste for clubs as Ensrlishmen. In the same way, while the Englishmen go in for games, boating, fishing, &c., the Russians show little inclina- tion for these exercises, and find more attractions in the vodka shop. Englishmen and Russians at Yuzovo live on fairly good terms with each other, and it certainly seems as though the English managers and foremen treated their Russian employees with much more consideration than some of the other foreiofners living in Russia do. They all have a high opinion of the skill and working powers of the m2ijik, although in other respects — sobriety, morality, education, and honesty — they regard him as far inferior to the artisan of Western Europe. There is not much social con- tact between the English foremen and workman and the Russians, the former rather looking down upon the latter. The contrast offered by English and Russian artisans living side by side is very curious. You see one cottage, which might be a bit of England, inhabited by an English family, talking with a broad North-country accent, while the next, in spite of being fairly clean and tidy, as compared with other workmen's dwellings, is unmistakably Russian. Establishments of this kind, besides adding to the wealth of Russia, undoubtedly exercise an educating influence on the people, and are helping to convert primitive and ignorant peasants into more or less civilized human beings.

CHAPTER VI

THE BLACK SEA PORTS

THE shores of the Black Sea undoubtedly are one of the most fertile regions of the world. Throughout the ages the political and commercial dominion of these lands has been an object of rivalry between many great Powers. Empires have grown up and disappeared in the struggle for them. The Greeks were the first to establish a civilization there, and we find traces of Hellenic influence in the Crimea, at Olbia, at Trebizond, along the coasts of the Caucasus. Flourishing Greek colonies arose by the waters of the Euxine, and reached a very high degree of w^ealth and culture. On the southern coasts im- portant kingdoms were founded, while to the North there were numerous active commercial settlements, which had very little political history. But their prosperity must have been considerable, to judge by the splendid remains unearthed at Chersonnese, Kertch, and other spots, and by the magnificent collec- tions of gold ornaments of the very best Greek period, which have been sent to the Hermitage Museum at St. Petersburg.

The Romans succeeded the Greeks as rulers of

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these lands ; throughout the Middle Ages, first under Byzantine supremacy and later when Genoese settle- ments were established along the northern coast, they prospered and progressed, and were the cause of hostility between different Powers. An active trade between the East and the West was opened up by way of the Black Sea, and the northern ports became the emporia for the export of produce from that vast and mysterious hinterland known by the generic name of Scythia. But the barbarians at last began to swoop down on the land from two quarters, and shed a blight over this civilization from which it has not yet by any means fully recovered. The Turks in the South, and the Tartars in the North, devastated the Euxine lands and arrested all commercial and cultural development. The great highways of trade were interrupted, and the land was cut off from all further contact with European civilization. Finally, in the XVII. century, the Russians commenced to press southwards (they had begun indeed with Ivan the Terrible), and slowly drove back Tartar and Turk, until, at the time of the death of Catherine II., all the northern coast was brought under their rule. Catherine's successors added further conquests both East and West — Bessarabia and the Caucasus — so that now all the northern and eastern coasts are Russian territory. The southern shores are still under Turkish rule, and the western shores are divided between Turkey, Bulgaria, and Rumania. The XIX. century has witnessed a revival of the Black Sea trade, and the Russians have spared no efforts to develop their great southern region, and

118 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

especially its ports, and have attempted to re-establish the old Greek- Byzantine-Genoese commercial high- way from East to West via the Euxine. If the whole of the Black Sea lands were under a really civilized Government, they would speedily assume enormous economic development. But as long as Asia Minor is under the curse of Turkish maladministration and fanaticism it can never become prosperous ; while so long as the opposite shores are under the incubus of Russian bureaucracy, although it constitutes an un- doubted improvement on Ottoman rule, they too cannot really reach the degree of civilization and wealth to which their natural resources would entitle them. There is actually little to choose between Turkish and Russian methods of government, save for the fact that the latter are capable of correction, while the former are not, and that the Russian people are certainly more capable of improvement than the Turks, although up to the present they have been forcibly retained in a state of ignorance and semi-barbarism.

Southern Russia is indeed a splendid heritage for the Empire, and one worthy of a great people. There are the vast grain-producing areas of the Black Mould and the Steppe, which debouch on to the Black Sea ; there are the wine-producing districts of the Crimea and Bessarabia ; there are the iron -mines of the Krivoi Rog and other districts, and the immense coal- beds of the Donietz valley ; there is the Caucasus, rich in every kind of metal, in mineral oil, in grain, in wine, even in cotton and tea, although, with the exception of mineral oil, it is developed only to a very limited extent. Then there is the series of fine ports

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— Odessa, Nikolaieff, Sevastopol, Feodosia, Rostoff, Novorosslisk, and Batum — where the produce of the hinterland can be shipped and exported. A further advantage is that many of the great trade routes from Central Asia and from Persia pass through Russian territory, so that the commerce of those lands, once they are fully opened up, might be easily so directed as to redound to the profit of Russia. Finally, there is a large, growing, and by no means unintelligent population, capable of the hardest toil and of great intellectual and material development.

And yet there seems to be an ill fate which pursues the Russians and prevents them from enjoying to the full the heritage which should be theirs. The Russians have done a great deal for civilization in various parts of their Empire ; they have executed many public works which cannot but arouse the admira- tion of all impartial outsiders, and they have built up commercial enterprise ; but there is always a certain lack of completeness in what they do, something want- ing to crown the edifice which, to a great extent, stultifies the rest of their achievements. This is partly due, I think, to the fact that, while there remains as the basis of the nation the mass of mujiks and of those who have grown up in purely Russian surroundings filled with old Russian ideas, the new civilization sud- denly and forcibly grafted on to them by Peter the Great and his successors is really foreign to their nature, and not yet acclimatized ; consequently there are wide gaps where the two separate orders of ideas fail to meet. The paralyzing effect of Russian bureau- cratic methods is also very largely responsible for these

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failures. But they are also due to some extent to the ill-luck which on many occasions has dogged the steps of Russia. I will exemplify the success and the failure of Russian commercial and political enterprise in an account of some of her southern sea-coast towns. In dealino- with Russian affairs we must remember that Russia, even in Europe, is a colonizing power. We are so accustomed to regard a colony as an over- seas possession of a European State in another continent, and as something quite separate from the mother-country, under a different regime, inhabited to a large extent by a different race, that we are apt to overlook the fact that Russia has colonial possessions in Europe itself. In Russia the expres- sion " over-seas colony " has no meaning at all. The original Russia was the Principality of Moscow, and ever since the overthrow of the Tartar power the State has been expanding South and East, and even West. The mother-country and the colonies merge imperceptibly into each other, and what was the territory of a foreign Power or of a savage tribe yesterday, is a colony to-day, and will become to- morrow an integral part of Russia proper. The whole of Southern Russia was until quite recently a regular colony, as much as Turkestan or the Amur region are now, and to this day it still has a certain colonial character. The form of government, too, tends to confuse colony and mother-country, for with the exception of Turkestan and a few other provinces under a purely military rdgime, the methods of ad- ministration, and the rights of the citizens, or rather their absence, are the same throughout the Empire.

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This is at once the strength and the weakness of Russia, and were a Constitution to be granted to- morrow the question of the relative rights of natives of St. Petersburg and natives of Erivan might assume a serious aspect. One can quite well imagine a Russian House of Commons where the representa- tives of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Smolensk, &c., should meet together ; but the question of admitting "honourable members" for Daghestan or Kaketia might well lead to difficulties.

On leaving Ekaterinoslav I pushed southwards to Odessa — a journey of twenty-four hours through a fertile but absolutely uninteresting country, passing a number of towns, all God-forsaken, all deadly, such as Elisavetgrad, Znamenka, Piatikhatka — towns with- out a history, without traditions, without anything to distinguish them from hundreds of others. Odessa is different. New, ugly, without any strikingly beautiful features, it has nevertheless a certain distinction and stateliness which place it above most of its sister cities. Its growth and progress, moreover, are a fact of which Russians may well be proud : it constitutes one of those phenomena for which we are accustomed to look to the New World rather than to the Old. It has only existed since 1794, when that energetic woman, Catherine II., declared that a city should arise on this particular spot of the Black Sea coast where no city was before ; Odessa arose, and in little more than a century its population has grown from nothing at all to about 450,000. It must be admitted, however, that Odessa has very little that is really Muscovite in its appearance. There is an

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air of solidity and wealth about it which is non- Russian ; it is better built, its houses are loftier and more imposing, and its streets and boulevards, although not up to West-European standards, are cleaner and better kept than those even of Moscow or St. Petersburg, not to speak of the provincial towns, while the promenade in the upper town, over- looking the sea, is quite worthy of a great capital. The strong foreign and Jewish elements of the popu- lation are in great part responsible for this condition of things ; one-third of the inhabitants are Jews, and there are large German, Greek, Italian, French, and English colonies. But justice must be done to the Russians in the mere fact that such a city can have been created and grown up to its present importance in so short a space of time under their auspices and government.

Odessa's position is undoubtedly a most favourable one. It is the largest and best harbour in the Black Sea, and constitutes the principal outlet for the grain- producing Black Mould zone. It is the largest city in the Government of Kherson, which together with those of Bessarabia and Ekaterinoslav provide the chief part of the grain exported from Russia to Europe. The port is large, safe, and in direct rail- way communication with all parts of Russia. Until quite recently Odessa was without rivals in the export grain trade, of which it is even now by far and away the chief emporium.

The principal customers for the foodstuffs shipped at Odessa are Germany, Holland, the United King- dom, and Italy. The total amount exported in 1903

THE BLACK SEA PORTS 123

was 140,000,000 poods ; but besides this staple product, on which the prosperity of Odessa chiefly depends and is the basis of operations on its Botirse, there is also a valuable commerce in vegetables, in timber (which amounts to 10,000,000 poods), and other raw materials, while the import trade is fairly pros- perous, its chief item being coal and iron and machinery to feed the South Russian industries. Of late years another important branch of commercial activity has been opened up, with its headquarters at Odessa, viz., Russia's maritime trade with the Far East. Until the outbreak of the war the Volunteer Fleet steamers, of which we heard so much last summer, plied regularly between Odessa and Vladivostok, Port Arthur, and other Far Eastern ports. The Siberian railway, of course, competed with Odessa's Far Eastern trade, but not to any very great extent, as freights by sea are bound to be lower than by land, and bulky goods, especially from South Russia, would naturally follow the cheaper route. The value of this commerce, from a Russian point of view, was further increased by the fact that according to Russian law trade between the Black Sea and Russian ports in the Far East is treated as cabotage, or coastwise traffic, and therefore open to Russian vessels only.

But in spite of its many advantages the prosperity of Odessa does not show that tendency to expand which one would expect, and in fact the grain trade is actually declining. This state of affairs is due to a variety of causes, some of which are not altogether clear. In the first place the arrangements for shipping- grain are very imperfect and call for improvements.

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The grain trade is in itself naturally subject to great fluctuations, for it is dependent on the result of the harvest, which in Russia differs from year to year more than in any other country, and the trade is bound to be a very uncertain quantity. Then, of course, it is affected by the state of the harvest elsewhere, which determines the amount of grain required from Russia. America is a very serious competitor, as in that country farmers are far more scientific and intelligent. But, apart from these external circumstances, the manner in which the grain trade itself is conducted is tending to become more and more speculative. Business in Odessa is now chiefly in the hands of the Jews, not of the larger Jewish firms, but of the smaller and more speculative ones, which, supported by certain banks, manage to outbid the more important and substantial houses. The small Jewish dealer goes up country himself to purchase grain, beating down the peasant's price as low as possible, and then speculates on the rise and fall. This system has so seriously affected the business of the large houses that there are very few of them now left, and trade is becoming more and more of a gamble among second-rate firms.

Odessa is also suffering from competition nearer home. Nikolaieff and, even to a slight extent, Kherson are tending to become her rivals. Nikolaieff is more easily accessible by railway to a larger agri- cultural area than Odessa. Kherson is as yet only in its infancy, but nevertheless a few steamers go to Kherson for the grain, which they formerly would have shipped at Odessa. Another cause which arrests the growth of the trade is the imperfect organization of the

THE BLACK SEA PORTS 125

Russian railways, which every year seem to be taken by surprise when the harvest season taxes their resources. Endless vans of grain are waiting in the sidings for weeks and months at a time, until the bewildered rail- way officials are able to cope with them ; at every harvest season the newspapers are full of complaints about these delays, and wherever I went I heard bitter criticism on the management of the lines. Consequently it is very difficult for foreign buyers to count on obtain- ing the promised consignments by any definite date.

Odessa possesses a few miscellaneous industries — sugar refineries, bottle and glass works, rope and twine factories, &c. — some of them on a large scale. But they, too, have been suffering from the general depres- sion of most South-Russian industries, being to some extent the creation of the industrial fever of twenty years ago ; at present they are, with few exceptions, in very low water. The town is not well situated for industrial development, as coal, iron, and naphtha can only be obtained from a great distance, either by a roundabout railway route or by a combination of rail- way and steamship transport, which, of course, means heavy transshipment expenses.

If we try to examine the effects of the war on the trade of Odessa, we find it difficult to disentangle them from the other above-mentioned causes of decline. On one point, however, there is no ambiguity — Odessa's Far Eastern traffic has ceased completely. Several firms dealing exclusively with this branch of business have failed, and all the others have suffered severe loss. On the whole, the trade with the Far East may be set down at from 1 5 to 20 per-cent. of the business of the

126 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

port, and it largely affects the industries, which have thus again been hard hit. Business men as usual were hoping for a great revival of trade after the war, but everything will depend on what the Empire's future position will then be in the Far East, for under present conditions Russian trade can only flourish where it enjoys special facilities and favours. The grain trade has been affected indirectly by the war, in the fact that transport is more hampered than usual ; and although the harvest on the whole has been an average one, in those provinces whence the Odessa shipments are principally drawn — Bessarabia, Kherson, and Ekaterinoslav — it has been very bad.

Taken altogether, therefore, the business activity of Odessa has been greatly reduced owing to the com- bination of the crisis, the war, and the bad harvests. I found the same restriction of credit, the same attempts to shirk the meeting of obligations through necessity or otherwise, and the same reluctance to embark on new enterprises as in other business centres.

Politically Odessa presents some interesting problems, which have been accentuated by the struggle in the Far East. Owing to its peculiar conditions, it is governed under a special administrative arrangement by a Gra- donachabtik, or Prcsfectus Urbis, who is under direct dependence from the central Government.* The same arranofement obtains in certain other towns of Russia. The dominant feature of the political situation is the large Jewish element, forming nearly a third of the population. Although there are some wealthy business

* Some other towns are under a similar r^gitne — Moscow, Sevastopol, Nikolaieff, Kertch, and Rostoff-on-the-Don.

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men among them, the great majority are extremely poor, and engaged in various handicrafts and small trades. One of their chief grievances lies in the obstacles placed in the way of the education of their children. Not more than lo per-cent. of the pupils of a gymnasium or of the students in the university may be Jews, but, as a matter of practice, this rule is usually relaxed in favour of those candidates to the university who have been waiting two or three years for admission, so that the actual proportion of Jews is about 12 or 13 per cent. But this disability has produced here, as in other Russian universities, one very unexpected and, from the Orthodox point of view, undesirable result. As so small a proportion of Jews are admitted to the gymnasia and university, only the very best pupils are chosen, and the examiners are purposely more severe on the Jews than on the Christians. Practically no Jews are admitted to the university who have not obtained the gold medal on leaving the gymnasium. Thus the Jewish students are literally the chosen among the chosen, and they immediately emerge from among their companions and distinguish themselves in every branch of study and activity. They are not infrequently elected by their fellow-students as presi- dents of the literary and scientific societies in the university. At the end of their course they generally come out with the highest honours, and those who do not go into business become doctors or lawyers (the only liberal professions open to them), and rapidly acquire all the best practices. The result, of course, only helps to accentuate the bitterness

128 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

against them on the part of the Christians. Owing to the various persecutions and disabiHties to which they have been subjected, they are naturally not a very loyal community, and many of them side openly with the various revolutionary groups, or are members of the Jewish secret political society, the Bund. ' Their influence is considerable, and in spite of their dis- advantages they have succeeded in obtaining by far the largest share of the city's business.

The causes of the unpopularity of the Jews are various, and economic questions are doubtless largely responsible for it. The Jewish grain dealer from Odessa goes up-country in springtime and has a look at a certain field ; he works out a rough estimate of what the harvest may be worth, and then makes the peasant an offer for it. The peasant is only too delighted to get the money down at once, and accepts, though doubtless not before a great deal of bargaining. The price is fixed, let us say, at a hundred roubles. The Jew then takes on himself the whole of the risks, which are many ; the harvest may be bad, or it may even fail altogether, or be destroyed by frost, rain, or drought ; he must look after it to see that the grain is not stolen ; while the peasant is free from all responsi- bility. When the crops are gathered in, the Jew makes his deal with the Odessa exporter, to whom he sells the grain perhaps for five hundred roubles. The peasant hears of this, doubtless believes that the price is higher still, and considers himself cheated out of the whole difference. As a matter of fact, apart from the risks which he would have to run, he is incapable of dealing with the Odessa merchant himself

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THE BLACK SEA PORTS 129

or of getting anything like such a price for his grain. But he does not argue all this out ; he simply considers the difference between what he receives and what the Jew receives, and calls the Jew a dog of a swindler. There can be no doubt that, in spite of their many undesirable qualities, the Russian Jews are absolutely indispensable to the welfare of the country. Without them there would be no trade at all in many districts, money would not circulate, and economic activity would be paralyzed ; and even if they make larger profits than, with regard to the strict laws of morality and political economy, they ought to do, the Christian community has only itself to thank for not having developed a greater business aptitude. I have also been told by Christian merchants that the peasant has got so much accustomed to selling to Jews that he will not sell to a Christian, whom he mistrusts.

The presence of a large number of dock labourers and artisans, added to the Jews, contributes to the somewhat turbulent character of Odessa, which has been very conspicuous during the recent mobiliza- tion of troops for the Far East. It was not easy to obtain definite information on the subject, but there seems to be no doubt that there were very violent scenes on the departure of the reservists. A number of women who had come to bid farewell to their relatives ordered off to the front — chiefly Jews — • attempted to prevent the departure of the trains by throwing themselves on to the rails in front of the engines, shrieking and wailing in most blood- curdling manner. The reservists, who at best were far from anxious to go to the front, broke out into

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130 RUSSIA UNDER THE GREAT SHADOW

riots, and a large force