Mo the Editor of the Nori-CHINA Darty News Sin,—As your columns would appear to be thrown open to an amaz~ ing discussion as to which regime Russian was preferable, the sarist" or the Bolshevik, I would your permission to insert the following as a reply to Gaza's letter 'f the 10th instant on this subject.
mentioning Count Tolstoy's name, "Gaza" gives a point to his opponents—amongst whom I most certainly am included—of which it in impossible that they should not take advantage in comparing the "cruel and barbaric" government of with the present "blood-'Throughout the greater portion of his long life Tolstoy po ed as a prophet of anti-government and anti-law, His life was spent in the Russia of those cruel Tsars whose system he so eloquently. and persistently denounced, but he was never once molested by that barbaric government and ended his days as he had lived them, peacefully and sunder the protection of his "enemy ies." Compare this with the certain of anyone in the Russia of the int time who would dare so judi as to mention even casually and among his acquaintances, any critiism of his enlightened rulers, Comparison between the treatment that Count L, Tolstoy received as a pro-Wile anti-government author and a parallel eave under the Soviet is out of the question,—Anti-Government books are not printed in the Russia of to-day. The Soviet sees very effectively to that, 'As to. Tolstoy's leadership—he was emphatically not a leader in the sense of being a leader of mon. His genius in writing is, of course, unquestionable, but his' philosophy was poor, and he was guilty (as indeed the majority of them are) of hypo-ensy in not practising what he prea ched, His serfs had to wait common with the sorts throughout Russia, for the Imperial Edict to gain their freedom, he was not above collecting his rents, He hunted; household servants were numero\ and included footman in all their "servile" livery,, including white gloves, Was ita quality of "lea dership" to preach selfsaerifice and live go—to preach the courageous violation of law and remain law. abiding himself while his converts suffered for the putting into prac: tice of his sermons? To profess vegetarianism (as he did) in public and indulge the healthy appetite of normal man in secret?
What I say is-not mere mud. slinging. I never met (nor have I regretted it) the Count personally, Dut he was well acquainted with members of my family, and a lady, 'a near relative of mine, shared a oom in Moscow with his daughter, Tatiana Lvovna, after the glorious volution when the rulers of a berated" proletariat had confis-ented the property of their prophet an plunged his fail into poverty.
jue more small correction—Lenin was not a member of our aristocracy, but was the son of a small Jand-owner of the "gentry" class. T am, etc., A Waite Russtan, i, Nov. 11, 1927. the Editor of the NontH-CHINA Dalny News." "in—T ask the, "indulgence yur readers for the unavoidable! delay in my reply to "Sanat" and the rest of my critics concerning' my contribution to the correspon-dance which has appeared in your columns on the subject of Tearat Russia, here is nothing: more, frightful than energetic stupidity." These words of Goethe seem to me to be especially applicable to those of your correspondents in this cone troversy who adopt the pen of "Sanat," "Mars only for their wi of historical accuracy and the venom shown in their letters in a fra endeavour to make out a good case.
will des Sanat" first.
In his letter pul of October 25, y ssys—"Now then, I see Captain tal. Tam glad of this for I wish him well." To this I reply—but tut! And to} the question contained in his words mut why does he not employ his and energy in a. better "my answer to this is—tut tut, also! The bluff is wasted on and, very frankly, I do not] reciprocate the sentiments express. ed by "Sanat," for his welfare is no concern of mine: I am not aware that I know him and neither do want to. However, to cut the cackle and get to the horses.
Sanat" states:—"No matter what Burke said, history has conclusively proven that subjects. become unprincipled rebels when rulers are unprincipled tyrants." And T reply that as in the French] Revolution so. in the Russian Revolution—the criminals accuse] the victims. For a century, since 1825—when the accession Nicholas was gratuitously greeted by the attempt of the Dekabrists to establish "the Revolution" and "constitution" in Russia—each sue-antagonism with subjects, desperately bent realizing a "constitutional" scheme totally unsuited to the Russian State, and fatal to its existence. So, despite "Sanat's" distortion of Burke's famous adage, that necessarily happened, accordingly, which] such' a situation implies—"Kings become tyrants, from policy, when subjects are rebels on principle." Tt is fatal: they must, for they cannot help. it sand! Burke' aphorism, which is as certain as anything' in mathematics, sums up the cause of Russia's" incurable disease for the past hundred years—Liberalism, that discredited caput} mortem; a'word which to-day is without a meaning. Like the dear little boy in the soap advertisement the Liverals would not be happy till they got their own way: they got' it and with it, came their own annihilation. The Bolsheviks set-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.