Wirnovr endorsing every word that is contained in the Saturday Review's article on 'Russia in Farther Asia,' there cun be little doubt that so full and outspoken an utterance is entitled to much grateful recognition at the present moment. The writer proceeds on the safe ground that an attempt has recently been made by Russia to ace quire Protectorate over Coren, and that, the attempt having proved a {nilare, owing to its having been exposed svaner than was intended, it has been explained away into a mere bargain to secure certain comm vantages, he step-by-step monte of Russia during the past ten years are sketched with accuracy and point, and there is no question that the policy which has dictated them is singularly complete and. fur-ranching in object, but even this is only ancillary to the entire domination of the waters which, to quote the writer we have referred to, lead to the capital of China on one side and wash the const of Tapan on the other.
The hostile suspicion with which the machinations of Russia have at length come to be regarded by other Powers having a etnke in the Par Enst is also justified in terms to which no exception need be taken, Ihere some nations the extension of wh fluence carries With it the extension of those enlightening and refining agencies that result in civilisation in the best and highest sense, But Russi is not one of thes Phe condition of the Russian people from many points of view little less than deplorable, Ignorant and euperstitious to a degree, they are ground under the iron heel of @ tyranny us mischievous in its results as it is cruel operation. It is true in a very real and practical sense that in Russia darkness covers the land and gross darkness the people, A country where the most innocent, instructive, and elementary books of physical and mental science are ruthlessly confiscated at the frantic where free thought is a crime: where suspicion goes far to usurp the place of jurisprudence: and where ible of antocrnoy is atill in the zenith of ite power, is scarcely the country one cares to see undertaking the work of political propaganda in Par Enstorn waters, The watchwords of hor domestic legislation are Tyranny and Suppression; those of her foreign policy, Acquisition and Aunibilation, It is a mistake to suppose that the real Nihilists of Russia are those whose bold though often misdirected efforts to rid their country of the incubus which crushes it have so often brought odium upon a righteous cause. The impersonation of Nihilism is to be found in the Russian governmental system itself; a system which seeks to anuililate all i ality of purpose or conviction, all independent theories, all tendency towards intellectual advaucement, all freedom in whatsoever form it may present itself. We have the heartiest sympathy with those who seek overturn the couspirney of might which now unhappily in Russia, and we trust they may eventually succeed; without bloodshed if possible, but at any rate succeed, And this very principle, 80 fotui to national prosperity, is to be traced in the foreign policy of the Rassian Government—if, indeed, 80 cynical and lawless a scheme of plauder deserves the name of policy. The re~ marks of the Saturday reviewer are here just and to the point, The objects for which Buglishmen contend in the Far Enst ure not objects which involve any loss or damage to Oriental States, while the objects for which Ri contend are dis tly such as do volve both loss and damage. is a fact which is almost truisti but it can be proved and should not be lost sight of. "Russia," save the re. viewer, "has little or no foreign trade, and she is not within centuries of pretending to command of the sens, Her design is the acquisition of territory, the dethronement or reduction to puppet dom of native dynasties, and the turning of all Asiamiiterally all—into Rassian continent." This greed of gai mile to mile and district to district, is o passion wholly an-beautified by n single redeeming fea. ture, such as a wish to develop terri. torial resources, or improve the condition of the robbed peoples; and it is the ruling passion of Russia, considered as a political Power, Therefore, we say, let the three Powers of the Far East, one of which is almost at its mercy, stand well upon their guard, China is wot only threatened with but has already been forced to sub: nit to enoronchments upon her Manchurian and Ceutralusian frontiers.
Japan, before she had out her wisdom. teeth, was foolish enough to barter away the island of Saghalien for a worthless group, and has since bad cause to regret it, And now a comparatively overt attempt has been made upon the integrity of a country which, situated as will always provide a dominant position for whatever Power role it—a position dominating the coasts of both Japan and China, and ing both at the mercy of th The petty troubles which have arisen between these two countries from the helpless condition of Corea and, their own conflicting jealousies }are as nothing and less than nothing in comparison with the grave disasters which are bound to follow from the assumption of power i Corea on the part of an invader whose interests and policy are inimical to those of all three. It has for long been almost a catchword with publicists in the East to write of the Russo-
Corean Question as in a "critical" stage. But the stage is critical, in that the crisis is bound to come sooner or later, and that every year supplies us with fresh evidence of steps taken towards the inevitable result, It is therefore satisfactory in the highest degree that Japan and China have come to an understanding upon this question of Corea, and that that understanding is likely to work for the security not only of Coren itself but of both the Empires of the Far East from the designs of Rassin, The statesmen of both China and Japan can scarcely form too close an alliance against the insidious foe, or attach too much weight to the warnirtge that are now reaching them from many quarters. To turn all Asia—literally all—into a Russian continent; that is the big robber-scheme of the Czar and his adviser "It is for this," adds the Saturday, " that Russin intrigues and bribes and explores and advances from the Cuucasus to the Sea of Japan.
ritorial absorption and national obliteration are her sole objects." A Power thut ie actuated by principles of justice and humanity does not seek aggraudisement by seizing or purloining the property of other Powers, A Governmoutthat is wise, bonevolent, andeulightened dace not crush out every spark of intellectual freedom that manifests itself among the people, and keep them fast bound in the chains of political and mental slavery, A sovereign who is himself progressive and humane, and who represents a Government equally progressive and humane in both pri ciples and practice, has no need to bury himself in the recesses of his palace, to fear the presence of assi among his very servants, and to keep strict guard at every hour of the day and night lest be be blown or smashed into shower of atoms, Yet itis a country 80 ignorant and downtrodden, a Government so despotic, a sovereign so hopes lessly the victim of his own it or fatuity, by whom the of Enstern Asia a1 time: and it is for these nations to take warning from the example of those who have gone before them—"The question simply is, Do they wish to be eaten up or not? If they do not want to be eaten up it is difficult to think what other reason they oxn have for favouring the designs of Russia, which has obs Intely wathing to offer them except the exercise of her teeth at their expense."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.