Russian Life To-day

Just as Bismarck pleaded for friendliness with England and against naval expansion for his own country, so also he was quite alive to the possibilities of Russia and its “wonderful materials for making history if it could take the virility of Germany into its national character.” The Emperor William, however, differed with his great chancellor upon this as upon other policies he advocated, maintaining that the “Sclavonic peoples are not a nation but only soil out of which a nation with an historic mission may be grown.”

We in this country are not as alive to the magnificent opportunity which is now afforded us as are our countrymen in Russia who know its people and its potentialities. And all grades of Russian society, from the Emperor and his Court downwards, also know it, and all who are intelligent in their patriotism desire it. This is what a Russian14 wrote at the beginning of 1914, when no one was even dreaming of what the close of the year was to see: —

“All progressive Russia is united in desiring a rapprochement with England, because there is a universal belief that the influence of English constitutional ideas on Russian internal politics will be most beneficial to the interests of the people and to the general welfare of the country. Being one of the youngest constitutional countries, Russia is holding out a hand of friendship to the mother of all constitutions – England; and she hopes that good relations between them will bear much fruit. This, on the other hand, explains to us why all reactionaries in Russia are so up in arms against the Entente with England. There is also a widespread opinion all over Russia that English interests require Russia to be a strong and civilized country with a firmly established constitutional government. If England wishes to have an ally that ally should be a strong one, and Russia cannot be strong so long as reaction is in full swing. The Russian Liberals hope that constant intercourse between the two countries will lead to a better mutual understanding, and will ultimately improve the state of affairs now prevailing in Russia.”

France is Russia’s ally, and well and faithfully have they both kept the terms of their alliance. We are a new friend only, but it was the British flag the populace demanded, at the beginning of the war, in Petrograd. They went in vast numbers to the British Embassy, and asked for it; and our Ambassador (Sir George Buchanan), though he had only two, handed one of them down, asking them to take care of and return it. They received it with the utmost reverence, bent down and kissed it, as many as could get near, and then, in procession, went cheering and singing through the streets of the capital, the British flag carried high before them.

During the visit of the Fleet earlier in the year to Cronstadt a party of moujiks were in a boat within the harbour; and, in their excitement to get near and see all they could of a British warship, they upset their boat, and were thrown struggling into the water. Instantly some twenty of our bluejackets (officers and men) dived amongst them, and in the shortest possible time had them safe in their righted boat again. This made a great impression in Russia, and, though news travels slowly in that vast country, this story went everywhere, continually evoking the comment, “Then it’s true, all that we’ve been told about them – and their officers dived in to save the lives of poor peasant folk!” It is a tremendous link between us and them to feel, as they do, that, while claiming all the rights of rank and authority, we feel human ties to be supreme. And just as we read of the British officer early in the war lying wounded in both legs, but lifting himself up with difficulty and crying, “Now my bonny lads, shoot straight and let them have it!” so we read of the Russian officer who addresses his men under similar circumstances as “little pigeons” – a special Russian term of endearment. Thus, while there is leadership in the officers of both countries, yet towards their men there is, as boys would say, “no side.”

We have only now to read and watch the course of events to keep free from prejudice and suspicion, as we try and discern the signs of the times, and the forces already at work will quite naturally and normally bring the two peoples together in enduring friendship. It is a most significant thing, surely, that three writers so utterly different from each other in their whole outlook upon life as the great surgeon, the popular novelist, and the independent thinker15 should go to the Holy Land for totally different objects, and all find the Russians, above all other nationalities, get very close to their hearts, both for what they were themselves, and for what it was so evidently in them to become.

The most important link of all, however, and that which I have kept in mind in everything I have written, between ourselves and Russia, is that our two races are at heart deeply religious people. The difference between us is that the devout Russian shows his religion in every possible way, while the Englishman, with his characteristic reserve, seems to hide it or to speak about it with difficulty. When I was talking last year with a British officer in a specially responsible position, and religion came to be mentioned, he said very shyly and with hesitation, “Well, I have my bit, but I don’t talk much about it, though it’s everything to me, and I could not live without it.” It’s “everything” to us and to the Russians, though our public expressions of it are so entirely different. And in Russia once again, as, in former experiences in my episcopal work, I have found that the religious men – when they are the real thing – are all round the best men.

And thus I come to the end, hopefully confident about our relations with the Russians and our work in the world together. This book was asked of me, and pressed upon me at a specially busy and harassing time, and as it has had to be written amidst many distractions and interruptions its imperfections and deficiencies, as I well know, are many, yet it has been a most congenial task to write it. It has been written throughout with the one desire, while giving as true a description of Russia and its people’s life as I could, to lead my own countrymen to view them with a friendly eye and a kindly heart. This is essential if we are to have sound and stable relations with each other. Treaties and other diplomatic agreements are indeed mere “scraps of paper” without it, and when the Prime Minister addressed the deputies from the Russian Duma at a luncheon given them in the House of Commons in 1909, he truly and appropriately said that it is not enough to let governments sign treaties and agreements, but the nations themselves must have feelings of friendship for each other, without which all agreements and alliances are not worth the paper on which they are written. I believe – firmly and thankfully I believe it – that our feelings towards those of whom I have written are already those of sympathy and friendship. I am sure it is so in their feelings towards us, and that we are in consequence going to find in Russia not only a new ally but a very faithful one, and a loyal and true friend for many generations.

1

See end of this chapter, p. 45.

2

Just as I go to press Mr. Lloyd George has told the House of Commons that productivity is already increased 30 per cent. in Russia.

3

The Hon. Maurice Baring.

4

Wallace, Russia, vol. i, p. 129.

5

Russian Review for February, 1914.

6

Published by T. Fisher Unwin, Paternoster Square.

7

The Daily Mail correspondent at Petrograd, November 12, 1914.

8

Our New Ally.

9

Rothay Reynolds, My Russian Year.

10

Dr. E. J. Dillon.

11

The Hon. Maurice Baring.

12

“Anglitchanin” in The Contemporary Review, Nov., 1914.

13

Contemporary Review, November, 1914.

14

Boris Lebedev, in the February number of the Russian Review.

15

Sir Frederick Treves, Mr. Robert Hichens, and Mr. Stephen Graham.