The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1909. THE WEAKNESS OF RUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14132, 6 August 1909, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRI DAY, AUGUST 6, 1909. THE WEAKNESS OF RUSSIA.

Starting from the hypothesis that Russia is inherently the strongest of World-Powers, critics are accustomed to regard any understanding between a Western .nation and; the Government of St. Petersburg as an

exhibition of Western weakness. This has been asserted __ over and over again in comment upon the Franco-Russian > Alliance, and will certainly be felt by many conservative Englishmen if the present amicable relations between England, and I Russia—emphasised by the visit of the Tsarshould develop into a tacit I or definite agreement. For the. in- j dignation of sober-minded British i citizens at the rabid and stupid declamations of irresponsible persons \ like Mr. Keir Hardie—who are never j happier than when encouraging sedition in India or when harassing the j Imperial policy of British states- j men—does not arise from any ad- j miration of the Tsarocracy or from \ any sympathy with Muscovite rule. i In spite of national rivalries, the French are. incomparably more | closely akin to the Germans than j they are to the Russians, for both France and Germany are members i of that great Western civilisation, ! which has common principles, com- j mon conceptions," and common liberties, though it has not a common tongue. Yet France has allied her.self with Russia, because of the French suspicion *of Germany; and j it must be acknowledged that the British Government is similarly | drawn towards the Russian by an I instinctive desire to maintain the.j "balance of power," which is felt to be threatened by Germany, our near • Continental cousin. The Norse and the Dane are not more closely related to the " Teutonic" British than are the Dutch and Saxons of the Lower Rhine and of the Elbe; our English is an offshoot of the Low Dutch; our institutions grew, and are still growing, from primitive political, legal, and social customs carried across the North Sea by the land-hungry invaders who followed closely uponjthe rear-guard of the retiring legions of Roman Britain; we are all monarchist, even in our democracies ; we have much the same vices and much the same virtues; we follow the same trades, inherit the same ambitions, and kneel at the same altar. With the Russian we have so little in common that we are not even nationally jealous. Russia is Asia. Her methods are Asiatic. ' Her institutions are Asiatic. That she covers over 10,000,000 square miles means no more to us than that China has a population of over 400,000,000 souls. We are, very naturally jealous, of our German cousins; while we are only actively hostile to Russia when we think of her as extending her Asiatic tyranny over free states of Western Europe, and as disturbing by her intrigues those Indian dependencies : which she would so easily rid of babu agitation. That France and England should both be prepared to use Russia as a curb upon Germany is in no way inconsistent with their innate hostility to the one and, to their jealous kinship with the other. It is a mere phase of worldpolitics, though a phase which will become less frequent as the states of Western Civilisation organise more closely together.

If we examine the situation in the light of recent history, it will be seen that the hypothesis of Russia's inherent strength is not wholly justified by the known fact. Russia was strongest when she was practically independent of trade and commerce, and when constant expansion afforded relief from all internal problems. But she-has now begun to depend largely upon trade and manufacturing,' and has. reached limits on every hand which cannot be passed without extraordinary efforts. Her attempt upon Manchuria and Corea taught her the risk of adventure 3 in the Furthest East. From China to : the Black Sea she ' has come into, touch with the buffer states built up by British policy and backed by British- treaty. From the Black Sea to Austria she faces the Balkan nations created.' by the genius of Beaconsfield, now.,.trained to fight, and weaponed to-a man. - While, along her' main western frontier she confronts Austria and Germany,

">■: j .-•■■ "■':■:"■'€ J ".-'•":" -.'.V '' who convinced her only ' recently that a proclamation of war would reverse the ancient practice and bring a 1 tide of invasion ■ eastward, not westward. And though Russia has stamped out rebellion with the accustomed Russian indifference to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, her growing cities still swarm with malcontents, and her I eastern marches still reek with ! hatred to the Tsars. When Napoi leon entered Moscow, Russia burned !it over his ears; but if the Germans I entered Warsaw and the Austrians Odessa there would be no illumination to-day, unless it were of rejoicing. As was inevitable, the policy I of Russia—that huge tyranny, which I has devoured so many petty tyrannies, until it has left no independent state between the Baltic Sea and Behring Straits—has clashpd. at last I against political barriers, which canI not be casually swept '-side. The Teutonic" nations have built their j " wall of steel" against her in Ceni tral Europe. Japan has pushed her I back in Eastern Asia. British diplomacy has checked her in Central Asia.' With all this she is giving hostages to fortune in every factory she builds, in every increase of I trade, in every new commercial de- ; velopment. The Manchurian' affair L showed that Russia was not invincible, ,the Bosnian affair that Russia was afraid of attack. Of late years Russia has notoriously sought alliances more than alliances have sought her, and this may well be regarded as evidence that her rulers are conscious of this serious weakness and are anxious to strengthen themselves by joining 1 that European group • which comes least into contact with their frontier and is consequently less to be feared,' and , more to be trusted than closer neighbours. It will probably be found that the weakness of Russia rather than the weakness of Britain lies behind the Anglo-Russian cordialities. - ---