Hawke's Bay Herald. MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1885. RUSSIA AND INDIA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7147, 27 April 1885, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1885. RUSSIA AND INDIA.

Amongst the many reviews of the present " position " that have appeared of late in the English magazines there are few of more interest than a contribution to the Nineteenth Century by Mr Arminius Vambery. He heads his paper with the question " Will Russia conquer India ? " — a proposition which he deems himself all the more capable of examining impartially because, being neither Russian nor English, he is not amenable to the charge of prejudice. "At the most," he remarks, " the interest I feel is that of a spectator of a great and remarkable event from the standpoint of humanity and the spreading of European culture in Asia." Mr Vambery may be impartial in his judgment of the tendency of occurrences, but he evidently regards the unflagging encroachments of Russia with much admiration. "There has been no standstill in the Russian State," he observes, "from its infancy to this day. The influence of ancient Rome in revolutionising the ethnical relations of Europe can alone be compared to a certain degree with the Russianising influence of the Russian State in Europe— with this differ-

ence, however, that the results attending the process of transformation under [Russian agencies, whilst they are not more rapid in developing than in the case of Borne, are far more intense in their effect." After glancing at the fate which befell first Bokhara and then Khiva, Mr Vambery traces the gradual spread of Russian influence in Central Asia — " Russianising Asiatic barbarians," he terms it, as if the Russian were not equally barbarous with the Asiatic. " .First appear on the stage the merchant and the Coaaack ; they are followed by the Popa with his superstition and worship of images, and the rear is brought up by the I Vodki, the Tchinovnik (officials), with their train of Russian peculiarities. They all manage very soon, with due regard to local circumstances, to insinuate themselves into the good graces of the natives, an achievement which but seldom meets with any resistance, owing to the prevailing characteristics of Russian society. In due course of time the natives, continually imposed upon in their dealings with the crafty Russian merchant,' : fall rictims to pauperism ; the holy water sprinkle and the brandy flask inaugurate the progress of denationalisation, a process which is hastened by the cleverly inserted wedges of Cossack colonies, and half a century of Russian reign has proved sufficient to turn Ural-Altaians of the purest Asiatic stock into Aryan Russians. The physical characteristics alone survive for a while, like ruins of the former ethnical structure ; but even these last mementos become obliterated by the crossing of races which results from inter-marriage, and we meet to-day genuine Russians in countries where in the last century no traces of them could have been found." This process, Mr Vambery points out, has been going on incessantly, district after district being absorbed without satisfying Russia's greed for new lands or staying its onward martcL "If the State of Russia," points out Mr Vambery, " whilst raising itself from the modest position of the Grand Duchy of Moscow to the exalted one of autocratic empire over more than half of Asia, was able to swallow and safely digest the most varied and heterogeneous ethnic elements, who will dare make the asssertion that Russia will in future cease her activity in this direction 1 .... In scattering many millions of money over the sand steppes of Asia the gentlemen in St. Petersburg had most assuredly larger views in their minds than the mere wish to bestow the blessings of culture upon the almond-eyed inhabitants of Turkestan, and proposed to themselves higher aims than the advancement of the problematical interests of commerce in the interior of Asia." Mr Vambery considers that Russia's desire to conquer India is indisputable. The design of dominating that country and "absorbing" it into the Russian Empire has been the idea in the Russian mind for a very long time, every step Russia has taken in. Central Asia has been a movement in furtherance of that idea, the only question is her power to realise it. Our space will not allow our reproducing the whole train of reasoning by which. Mr Vambery arrives at the conI elusion that Russia has the power to accomplish her object, though it may be delayed for a more or less considerable time. The great advantage Russia has, Mr Vambery thinks, is the prestige which has continued unimpaired for centuries, and has always spread fear and terror. "This prestige," he continues, "preceded the army of Ivan the Terrible at the conquest of Khazan, and in the course of succeeding centuries it was almost always this fame and terror of the rude and mighty Rusa which made the blood freeze in the veins of even the boldest Tartar, Kirghis, Kalmuk, and Bashkir, long before the Russ himself had made his appearance. The diversion which the Uzbeg hero, Sheihani, made against Astrakhan towards the end of the fifteenth century was looked upon as a feat of special gallantry on his part. The princes of Central Asia trembled before the neighbor in the North even before he had crossed the barrier of the belt of the steppe, and Makhdumkuli, the Turkoman | bard, predicted to his countrymen in the last century that the world would in the end succumb to the overwhelming power of Russia. This legend of the immense power of Russia has continued to be current to this day, not only amongst the ' nations of Central Asia, but amongst . those of China, India, Persia, and Turkey ; ' and well may the Asiatics have faith in it, for Russia has known how to make herself respected, and never allowed hereslf to be guided by sentimental regards of humanity, but in all her dealings has started from the principle which is quite correct as to Asia, 'He who fears me will respect me, and he who respects me must love me.' .... Such a fame is in itself worth several armies, and will work wonders in the future as it has done in the past."

Our Auckland correspondent's letter will be found on the fourth page. If the news be true that M. De Giers, the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, will shortly resign, the information has more significance than appears at first sight. The change of a Eussian Minister generally concerns us in these colonies as much as a change in the monarchy of Timbuctoo, but in this instance the reverse is the case. M. De Giers is one of the leaders of the "peace party" in Russia, and is strongly opposed to aggressive war 3. If, therefore, he intends to resign, it is not a far-fetched supposition to suppose that he has arrived at that determination because he finds his peaceful counsels disregarded and overborne by the more bellicose members of the Government. His resignation would in all probability be the prelude to war. We have received £2 from Mr D. Gollan on account of the Franklin relief fund. Mr Fuller desires us to say that he will feel obliged if subscribers to the Franklin fund will send in the amounts they have promised as soon as possible, as the fund will be closed on the 30th instant. We are requested to draw attention to an alteration in the list of the P. and O. , steamers in our advertising columns. It . will be observed that the Massiliais with- , drawn from the list, the Thames taking -j up the Massilia's running, the Thibat J } taking the place of the Thames. \ T,hehospitalcommitteearelosing notime in having a portion of the old barracks i fitted up as a fever ward. Since the Government authorised the work four apartments in the barracks, adjoining the i present old men's refuge, have been re- i paired, cleaned, and partially distem- t pered. It is expected that the whole of the distempering will be completed this 1 week, when the necessary bedding and i furniture will be placed ia the ward. B ]

At the Eesident Magistrate's Court on Saturday, before Mr E. Lyndon, J.P., George Frederick Holmes was charged upon the information of Constable Harvey with using abusive language calculated to cause a breach of the peace. Defendant pleaded guilty, and was fined £1 and costs, or 48 hours' hard labor in default. — The same defendant was further charged with wilful damage to property, and pleaded guilty. A fine of 5s and costs was imposed, with the alternative of 48 hours' hard labor. A private letter from the Thames to a gentleman in Napier speaks in very satirical terms of the quartz sent up from this district for test crushing. The letter states that it is wasting time and money to send such stuff to the batteries, and that if the quartz obtained is the result of prospecting, the prospectors do not know their business, and that a pestle and mortar test on the spot, in the hands of a man who knows anything of the matter, is always sufficient to determine whether stone will pay to crush. Lovers of genuine amusement are reminded that Mr Fleming Norton will open at the Theatre Royal this evening, in his mimical and musical entertainment. Mr Norton is no new aspirant to stage honors, but has won the most favorable verdicts from critical London audiences, and his English career as a public entertainer has been a most successful one. He has on more than one occasion had the honor of being commanded to appear before the Royal Family, and London Press notices speak of him as the most refined and successful mimic of this century. This verdict has been endorsed by all the leading Victorian and New Zealand journals, and judging by their utterances we feel justified in recommending all who love a hearty laugh, and who appreciate artistic character impersonations, to pay a visit to Mr Norton's entertainment. He has just concluded a highly successful season in Wellington, where he was honored with the special and personal patronage of the Governor, and was afterwards favored with the presence at the theatre of a large and select party from Government House. When in Sydney also, in response to a speoial invitation from Lady Loftus, Mr Norton gave his entertainment at Government House to 300 of the leading residents of the colony. His stay in Napier is limited to three nights. A full report on the quartz from the Kaimanawha ranges, sent up to the Thames for stringent test crushing, was received on Saturday by the committee of the promoters' company. The stone was crushed in six parcels, at two different batteries. In no case was any amalgam perceptible, but to make assurance doubly sure the whole of the tailings and refuse \ were again ground in burdans. The best result was one pennyweight and 22 grains from ten bags of quartz, averaging about 1001 b each, or at the rate of nearly 20 grains to the ton. The report, however, goes on to state that the small quantity of gold obtained is believed by the battery manager not to have come from the stone sent up, but from amalgam left from crushings of gold-bearing stone, it being impossible to so thoroughly cleanse a battery in which auriferoua stone has been crushed as to entirely remove all particles of amalgam. Further tests were made, however, as the Napier promoters had expressed the desire to have the stone thoroughly tested, and portions of the tailings from each crushing were assayed at the bank, the highest result being six pennyweights and 12 grains per ton of tailings. One ton of tailings is calculated in the report as equal to four tons of quartz, so that the ' above result must be divided by four to give the yield per ton of stone. The report, in stating that this result was due to amalgam previously in the batteries, goes on to say that the quartz contained indications of the other minerals which, are found in gold-bearing stone. The gist of the whole report ia that the stone is j absolutely worthless.