OUR COUNTRYMEN IN THE EMPIRE
"There are no two powers in the world--and there have been no other two
in history--_more_ distinct in character, _less_ conflicting in
interests, and more naturally _adapted_ for mutual agreement and support
than are Britain and Russia."
It is in the full endorsement of these carefully-weighed statements,
from a most experienced authority, that I wish to write this last
chapter. Looking back upon the past to the days of Ivan the Terrible and
Queen Elizabeth, and reviewing the situation in the Russian Empire
to-day, and, above all, looking forward to our immediate future, it
seems to me that our countrymen in Russia have had a real mission to
fulfil, and have done it worthily and well.
They have, from the first, prepared the ground for what has come up for
a great decision to-day, our splendid opportunity of having Russia for a
friend. And they have not done it by working and planning, still less by
scheming for it, but, just as we should wish our countrymen to extend
our influence the world over, by being honestly and consistently true to
their own nationality, and worthily representing British traditions and
ideals.
There is one testimony, if I may venture without undue complacency to
give it, to the estimation in which our nationality is held, which does
not suggest that we are really considered, even by those who have of
late so often glibly said it, to be degenerate and decadent and not fit
to hold the possessions we have, or shape the destinies of the many
peoples who own our rule. I have never met any one yet, of another
nationality, who did not think it a compliment to be mistaken for an
Englishman. It is not often that one can make such a mistake, but I have
met Dutchmen and Germans, and Russians also, who just for a moment or
two, from dress, expression, or speech have made one feel that they were
fellow countrymen. Young Russians especially, though different in
physique, for often they are built on huge lines and are enormously
strong, after receiving an English education from a very early age,
wearing English dress, being pleased to meet us, may easily be
considered to be English; and I doubt if there are amongst them any who
would not feel it a compliment to be so considered, while they would
resent the same mistake being made with regard to any other nationality.
Englishmen, therefore, it will be admitted, have kept up the standard in
Russia, and not let down the good name of their own country. When I was
visiting the Troitsk Gold Mine, in 1912--a little short of three days'
and three nights' journey, on the other side of Moscow--to spend Sunday
and give them their first English services, the surveyor, when showing
me over the mine and its workings on the Monday, told me that those
large illustrated almanacks which we have, with a picture in the middle
and information about Church and parish round the sides, and which are
so often seen on the walls of the houses of our own working-classes, are
also very popular amongst their own work-people.
"They are got up in the Russian style, of course," he said, "with a
Russian illustration, and so on; but you will be interested to hear that
a great part of the paragraphs round it is given up to describing
English ways and ideas, societies and arrangements, and always with
appreciation and approval."
It must ever be remembered that people who cannot leave their own
country must judge largely of other countries by what they see of those
who come from them. If English ideas, manners, and customs are held in
favour and esteem in Russia and Siberia it can only be, therefore,
because English men and women have worthily represented them there in
business and commerce, by upright and moral conduct.
It does not usually fall to the lot of a bishop in these days,
many-sided as are his sympathies, and various as are the claims made
upon his time and attention, to see much of actual business and
commercial life, nor have I seen much of the working of factories and
workshops in the other countries in our jurisdiction; but in Russia and
Siberia one of the most important parts of a visitation has been the
going amongst the members of a staff while they were actually at work so
as to get to really know them and their daily lives.
Outside Moscow, for instance, are nearly twenty mills and manufactories;
in and outside Petrograd are some of the largest and best-managed cotton
and thread-mills in the world; at Schlusselberg, on the Neva, there is a
large and splendidly equipped print-works for Asiatic trade; at Narva, a
day's journey from Petrograd, is a huge factory employing some 70,000
people; and in Siberia are the great mining enterprises, some of them
employing from 18,000 to 20,000 people of both sexes. And in all these
places the staff is composed of our own countrymen, and numbers,
sometimes as many as sixty.
I have always, in these places, stayed with the manager, and have had
opportunities of meeting the staff socially and for services, going into
every department in the mill, factory, or mine, and, as these visits
were not short, making friends and learning their experiences, seeing
their outlook and often acquiring the history of the enterprise, with
all its ups and downs, and successes and failures, from the very first.
Then I am a guest always at the Embassy in Petrograd, and am asked to
meet all who can be brought together by kind and courteous host and
hostess. It is the same with the Consul and his wife in other cities.
And above all is it so when I am the guest of the chaplain, who takes
care that I meet every one in the community who cares about it. I get
thus into close touch with all sorts and conditions of men, and am
compelled to come to the conclusion that very few can have anything like
the opportunity of really knowing, in a general way, his own countrymen
in Russia as the bishop who goes amongst them. It seems to me,
therefore, to be a very real duty to give my tribute to what they have
done to make England well spoken of and well thought of throughout the
empire.
Englishmen have succeeded amongst the Russians for precisely the same
reason that they have succeeded in building up vast colonies and a huge
empire. They have developed, and not exploited. There is a way of
becoming rich by exploiting resources at the expense of those employed.
Instances will occur to the reader at once, and probably are not far to
seek. I myself have seen this degrading process conducted on a fairly
large scale in another hemisphere, while the most terrible and sinister
instance of all is that of the Congo, out of which King Leopold and his
agents amassed an immense fortune in a few years, while the natives
engaged in collecting the rubber were reduced from twenty millions to a
little over seven. No more deadly and wicked _exploitation_ was ever
known.
True _development_, on the other hand, is cultivating and bringing into
use the resources of a country and improving the conditions of life for
those who produce them at the same time. We have been accused again and
again, even by writers of our own, of exploiting India, and of being
indifferent to the true interests of its people. No one has ever known,
for the Hindoo temperament is vastly different from our own, whether
its people did not think so too. But the war has declared it. When India
rose as one man and asked only to be allowed to give all for those who
had ruled them, then we all knew that we had been understood all over
that vast dependency of ours as being there not only to get but to give,
not to exploit but to develop.
Is it not true of Egypt also, where the _fellaheen_ along the Nile are
of the same race in general habits and employments as their ancestors of
thousands of years ago, though different ruling races have come and
gone, that in all those ages they have never enjoyed true liberty, and
never reaped the fruit of their labours and toil without oppression
until they came under British rule? It need not weigh at all with us
that this is not known or acknowledged, as it ought to be in Egypt. We
are not given, fortunately, to worrying as to what other people think
about us. Perhaps it might be better for us sometimes if we were. But we
know that in time Egypt will learn, as India has learnt, that we are
amongst them not to exploit them, but to develop their resources and to
improve in every way that is possible their own character and condition.
Thus has it been also in Russia; and I felt a very thankful man, proud
of my country and nationality, when, a year ago, I could say to the
Emperor of Russia, "My countrymen are in Siberia, sir, not to exploit
but to help to develop Russia's resources and its people."
"I know it," he quietly said. And I gave him the following instance to
show him how rapidly and on what a large scale this is being done.
Some distance to the left of the Orenburg line which runs down from
Samara to Tashkend in Turkestan, and not far from Orenburg itself, only
reached at present by motor-car and camel, is a place called Tanalyk, an
English property. Not much more than a year ago there were there a
British engineer, surveyor, and assistants, with a little handful of
nomads, Kirghiz I should think, looking on and giving their labour. They
were engaged in prospecting, and drilling for copper. Now, even in this
short time, the preliminary work of a great mine has been begun, and
there are from eighteen to twenty thousand Russians engaged in it.
Accommodation has been provided, schools are going up, their church and
priest are there, medical and surgical treatment is within the reach of
all. There are stores where they can buy everything they need in the way
of food, dress, appliances, all sorts of conveniences and comforts that
they have never seen before, at prices which give no profit to the
company. Those who used to taste meat perhaps once a fortnight can have
it daily, for they have good wages. They are becoming more handy as
workmen and improved in physique, and the next generation will be better
still. Education and the amenities of life are increasing their
self-respect. The determination of the staff not to overlook bad work,
their wish to see them improve in character, to set them an example in
their own family life, are all having their effect. "Is it possible," I
asked, "to put too high a value on such good work as this which adds to
Russia's enterprise, wealth, and resources, and makes all those
thousands of men, women, and children better subjects of your Majesty
and the empire?"
The managing director of the Russo-Asiatic Corporation, which began its
development with Tanalyk, and has gone on to other and more important
developments still, told me that when local option was granted, two
years ago, he himself was given the sole right of deciding whether those
thousands of Russians should have _vodka_ or not, although it was at
that time a government monopoly, and important as a source of revenue.
He decided that _vodka_ should not be sold, but that a very light and
harmless beer might be provided for those who wished to have it. It was
only to be sold by one man, however, and if an instance of
drunkenness occurred he was to lose his right to sell. The amount paid
for rent has been spent on a People's House for the recreation of all
employed at the mine.
[Illustration: _Camels at Work--Summer._]
Another manager friend of mine told me that he had helped his people to
become more sober by selling _vodka_ at his own stores at a lower price
than that of the government. It sounds a strange way of doing it, no
doubt, but the sale was restricted to Wednesdays and Saturdays. When,
therefore, on the other days there came would-be purchasers anxious to
have _vodka_, with the plea that there was a wedding or a christening or
some other domestic festivity at which it would be needed just to
complete the enjoyment, they were always told that they could not have
it except on the stated days. This was not hardship, for the government
shop was open, though the higher price was demanded there. This they
would not pay and so went without it, and yet the christening or wedding
passed off no less happily--perhaps even more happily; and thus,
gradually, amongst the Russian staff, and through them the work-people,
there grew up the idea that the results of _vodka_ were to be avoided.
Nothing could be more encouraging than the experience of the management
of this particular mine in trying, by example and discipline, to lift
their foremen and subordinates of the staff out of what used to be
thought a perfectly natural and pardonable weakness, but now throughout
the empire is being acknowledged as a national sin.
It will surely and easily be seen by any thinking reader that this
initiative on the one hand, and responsiveness on the other, promise
well for our future relations with each other, and explains, perhaps,
how the Russian _Entente_ has passed quite naturally into an Alliance,
which some of us hope and believe will be permanent and stable for many
generations.
Our _Entente_ with France has been indeed an _Entente Cordiale_, and it
is now more cordial and friendly than ever; but it is not easy to
conceive of anything in the future beyond an _Entente_ and Alliance. We
can be real and staunch and faithful friends as becomes those who are
near neighbours, but little else opens out before us. Is it possible to
think of anything between ourselves and Germany, even when the war is
over and many years have passed, except the gradual removal of sadly
embittered feelings and outraged convictions and beliefs? Our ideas of
what can rightly be called world-power and world-forces are so
diametrically opposed that it passes the imagination of man to conceive
what great world-purpose we and they could undertake together, for some
time.
But directly we think of ourselves and Russia as side by side, and with
confidence in each other, there is no limit to what we and they may hope
to accomplish together for our own peoples, for humanity, and for GOD.
Not only have we constitutional and religious ideals in common, but our
own countrymen are already at work all over the richest and most
promising part of their vast empire, and upon the only right lines any
one can adopt if the object in view is to increase the resources,
character, and ability of a people at the same time.
The Englishman of the ordinary and normal type cannot be content to look
upon the man he employs as merely a wage-earner. He wants, as he would
put it, "to give him a leg-up" besides, and our countrymen in Siberia
have sought just to give that "leg-up" to their employs, to better their
conditions of life and educate their children; by precept and example to
give them wholesome recreations; to help them to see that there is
nothing laughable but everything that is disgusting in such a vice as
drunkenness; and to help them in every way they can to manly
self-respect.
This is tremendously far-reaching in its results. The Christian paradox
is fulfilled here also. "To lose is to save, to save is to lose." To try
and get all one can out of work-people and give as little, is to have
little enough to show by way of good results. To think not of the work
alone which the wages claim, but of the man who is to do it; to try
one's utmost to make him more of a man for his being employed and to
lift up his self-respect, is straightway to increase the value of
everything he does, and of the work for which his wages are paid.
The explanation of "dividend or no dividend" is far simpler than it
seems, and the New Testament contributes to it. If only a little
additional value is placed upon the manhood and womanhood of those
employed, and a little increase given to self-respect, responsibility,
and conscientiousness where hundreds and thousands are employed, then it
requires no great powers of insight to see how rapidly what has hitherto
been a failure may become a great commercial success. I attach the
greatest importance to the fact that our countrymen in Siberia whom it
has been my great privilege to know and make my friends are conducting
their great enterprises as honourable and chivalrous men, and have, with
public-spirited Russians, like-minded with themselves, laid the
foundations of a true Anglo-Russian friendship and agreement. In this I
think we are extremely fortunate in the opportunity which world events
have brought us, and through no effort of our own. Our own people at
home, for the most part, are probably not yet convinced that this is our
GOD-given opportunity. I have already freely owned my former prejudices
and misconceptions, and explained how quickly they passed away, and I
know that others must feel and think as I used to do myself, and that
they have had comparatively little as yet to clear their minds, though I
trust what is written in these pages may be a help in that direction.
But this opportunity which has come to us was possible for Russia's
great neighbour at one time, as she was told by one of the most
far-seeing men of Europe, but it was carelessly and even contemptuously
refused. Great opportunities for great nations never return.
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 Russian[14]
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."
[Illustration: _Camels at Work--Winter._]
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 thinker[15] 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.
FOOTNOTES:
[14] Boris Lebedev, in the February number of the _Russian Review_.
[15] Sir Frederick Treves, Mr. Robert Hichens, and Mr. Stephen Graham.
INDEX
Archangel, 210, 221.
Berlin, Social conditions in, 202-03.
Catharine the Great, 27.
Cleanliness of Russians, 59-60.
Climate of Russia, 31-32;
of Siberia, 179-81.
Convict Labour, 149.
Duma, The, 25, 160, 226, 267.
Ekaterinburg, 40, 222, 223, 244;
Convent at, 83;
Bishop of, 80, 83.
Elizabeth, The Grand Duchess, 81, 133, 134-37.
English Church, position of in Russia, 1-2, 205-10;
relations with Russian Church, 90-93, 210-13, 226-27;
work of in Russia, 89-91, 175-79, 221-24;
relations with the Jews, 228 sqq.
Germany, contrasted with Russia, 201.
_Ikons_, Ubiquity of, 21-24, 54, 100, 121;
at the Kremlin, 29;
"worship of" by peasants, 57;
in churches, 87, 104;
the blessing of, 82.
Jews in Russia, 26;
religious work among, 218, 228 sqq.;
persecution of, 234-35, 240;
as soldiers, 241-42, 246.
Kirghiz, The, 8, 37, 53, 89, 164 sqq., 255.
Kremlin, The, 29, 31.
Language, The Russian, 7-11.
Libau, 7, 36, 219-20.
Magdalena, Abbess, 83.
Moscow, 7, 8, 12, 28, 31, 33, 138, 175, 192, 250, 251;
the Archbishop of, 78-83;
English Church at, 218.
Neva, The, 14, 251;
the blessing of, 112-13.
Nicholas II, 2, 113, 118, 122 sqq., 156-57, 254-56.
Nicholas, The Grand Duke, 113, 132.
Orthodox Church in Russia, relations with the State, 71-74;
clergy of, 74 sqq.;
their relations with the people,92-94;
services, 91-94, 101-05;
arrangement of churches, 102-05.
Passport system, The, 16-18.
Peter the Great, 27, 72.
Petrograd, 27, 31, 83, 101, 112, 125, 157, 168, 175, 190, 192, 195, 199,
212, 251, 252, 263;
English Church at, 216.
Poles, relations with Russia, 25, 42-44, 241.
Riga, 7, 30, 83, 220.
_Samovar_, The, 36, 171.
Siberia, 7, 12, 17, 19, 40, 52, 89, 110, 123, 124, 152, 159, 168 sqq.,
244, 251, 259;
the prisons in, 141-51.
Steppes, The, 8, 162 sqq.
Students, Problem of, 192 sqq.;
numbers of, 192;
at Geneva and elsewhere, 194-95.
Tea, how drunk in Russia, 37.
Tiumen, Abbot of, 87-89.
Travelling in Russia, 11-14;
by sledge, 32;
on the Steppes, 170-75.
Tsarevitch, The, 125-26.
_Vodka_, Prohibition of, 41, 42, 51, 155;
attraction of, 65, 256-57.
Volga, The, 14, 16-17, 44.
Warsaw, 10, 29, 31, 228 sqq.;
Archbishop of, 75-78.
Wolves, 179, 181-83.
[Illustration: _MAP ILLUSTRATING THE AUTHOR'S JOURNEYS IN RUSSIA_]
PRINTED BY A. R. MOWBRAY & CO. LTD.
LONDON AND OXFORD
TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES
Page viii: In the list of illustrations, page for the Convent at
Ekaterinburg corrected from 87 to 78
Page 43, 239: Spelling of Russification/Russifaction as in original
Page 81: intercommunion standardised to inter-communion
Page 82: anteroom standardised to ante-room
Page 112: out-door standardised to outdoor
Page 175: tarntass corrected to tarantass
Page 180: Tolstoy's standardised to Tolstoi's
End of Project Gutenberg's Russian Life To-day, by Right Rev. Herbert Bury