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102 PROBLEMS CONFRONTING RUSSIA
Holy Russia in which we believe. Verily, we cannot cherish
our homeland without our holy faith.’ Outside the Christian
faith there is no salvation for the Russian people. As of
old, Russia will be saved and restored by men of this belief."
The future of Russia is not uncertain. The revolutionary
gang, who are at present playing at ruling the State, have
a fair opportunity of putting their political and socialistic
creed to a practical test. If they prove successful, Russia
is bound to resuscitate ; if not, and sufficient rope be given,
the end will be the complete ruin of the country ; then the
necessity for authority will arise stronger than ever, and,
under the guidance of the Church as the only remaining
power, a new and permanent order of things will be created.
Whenever a national centre, with a stable government
worthy of the name, is established, be it at Petrograd,
Moscow, Kieff, or in Siberia, the other parts of the former
empire will crystallise around it, as, sooner or later, weaker
units are bound to sink all antagonism and co-operate with
the stronger Power, and for the special reasons enumerated
above. The right of self-determination will soon prove to
be a nudum jus in all cases where nations unable to maintain
themselves against foreign aggression have to join a State
capable of defending them. It is only a matter of time when
Russia again comes into her own, not only as " a united
race," but also as a powerful State organism.
The hypercriticism which has been meted out to unhappy
Russia has not spared the fallen and murdered monarch.
The mismanagement at the festivities on the Khodinka Pole
in Moscow, which occasioned the death of over 3000 people
at his coronation on May 18, 1896, has inspired a critic to
the statement : " Nero fiddled while Rome burnt, and
Nicholas danced while the Khodinka victims were dying."
Now, what are the facts of the case. It can hardly be
doubted that the terrible accident at the coronation festivities
greatly impressed the mind of the sensitive and
impressionable Tsar, but the joyful solemnity of the coronation
arrangements, attended by millions, and watched in its progress
from near and far by the whole nation, could not be clouded
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