THE COST OF TO RUSSIA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 146, 26 May 1885, Page 2

THE COST OF TO RUSSIA.

! The BtbM^'&fritib^^ says:~The' which war would entail jupon England would be very great, ibut ~"it wb'uid'be^efifdld" greater m ■the case of Russia. It seems to ihave escaped the attention of philoj ßussians, m discussing the elements jof this crisis, that such a : would not be confined to the hillS ;of Afghanistan. Whilst H.ussia was engaged m concentrating troops j befqre the Robat Pass, it would become j. her -fluty to proVi'd^ Vfor a cqun^er|^.!Brrtis^ .naval denionstra : I tfbn m Europe? -What wbuM %at . demonstration . mean ? It would |{ mean th^bl^ckading .b^Baltic ports, •and polsi^le "seizure' of Batoum and {other Russian ports m the Black Sea, and the concurrent and consejquent paralysing of the maritime j commerce of Russia. Has Russia ; weighed these contingencies ? Doubti less she has not wholly allowed ;them to escape neticje. But can • she presume for a moment to look upon them with the equanimity of "consc'ous superiority to ? the dangers .which they biftail ? - What! is Rusisia's position on the seas? She ; has no position. Her ironclad fleet ■ is poor, and could be disposed of by : three or four of our ironclads; She /certainly could not hope to give : us I battle successfully. Jt is true that" ?sh'e possesses- a few fast cruisers which might harass our commerce, but here again we possess m .our mercantile fleet the' elements of an easily convertible squadron of cargo arid passenger carrying ships into" ships of war* The Russian cruisers would be swept- as easily from the seas as we should, secure the complete investment of every port which Knssia possesses. It is not easy, therefore, to see what Russia would gain from: war, but is easy to see what she would lose by it. As far as, we are, concerned m the Kuropean share ofi the struggle, we should l|e, masters of the situation.