Page:Phelps - Essays on Russian Novelists.djvu/38

Rh Mr. Turgenev came straight up to me at once. 'I was so sorry that I could not come and see you,' he said, ' so very sorry, but I was prevented. Look at my thumbs! ' and he held up both his hands with the palms outwards. I looked at his thumbs, but I could not understand. 'See how small they are,' he went on; 'people with such little thumbs can never do what they intend to do, they always let themselves be prevented;' and he laughed so kindly that I felt as if his visit had been paid all the time and quite understood the validity of the excuse."

It is seldom that the national characteristic reveals itself so playfully; it is more likely to lead to tragedy. This cardinal fact may militate greatly against Russia's position as a world-power in the future, as it has in the past. Her capacity for passive resistance is enormous--Napoleon learned that, and so did Frederick. A remarkable illustration of it was afforded by the late Japanese war, when Port Arthur held out long after the possible date assigned by many military experts. For positive aggressive tactics Russia is just as weak nationally as her men are individually. What a case in point is the Duma, of which so much was expected ! Were a majority of that Duma Anglo-Saxons, we should all see something happen, and it would not happen against Finland. One has only