ABSTRACT
The Slavs, a branch of the Indo-European family, form by far the largest and most important ingredient. The relation between the Slavs and the Asiatic Russians is in general exceedingly friendly. It is, indeed, hardly accurate to speak of the predominant race as Slavs at all; from the earliest days of their settlements on the Volkhov and the Dnieper they married with the Asian Finns and Turks, and from that time to this their blood has been largely Europasian—they are not Slavs, but Russians. In their social intercourse the Russians are equally broad-minded. The rulers of the peoples absorbed or conquered by Russia habitually became Russian Princes; their sons were educated in the best schools and Universities of Petersburg and Moscow; they rose to high positions in the Army and in society. Thus the great influences that formed the Russian spirit were the civilizations of Byzantium and of the Mongols; and the result was Moscow.
