RUSSIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12565, 20 January 1903, Page 5

RUSSIA.

TO THE EDITOR. Sin,—ln your paper of this day are two (irticlcs in relation to tlio above country— viz., "From Paris to Peking by Rail" and " The Great Trans-Siberian Railway"—which show that although it is a despotio'government and its system of ruling the nation scorns arbitrary and tyrannical compared with our own mild government, nevertheless . it is otherwise wide-awake and up-to-date, and uses its enormous powers for the benefit of those under it 3 rule. . Iri connection therewith the following extract, published in 1860, will show that its aim in the past has becra the same: "Dr Wolff from thence made an excursion to tho settlement of the Coraito .Tows, who had been there from time immemorial. The place is called Jufutkala, tlio 'Castle of tho .Teivs,' iinon tho ! height of the town called Bakhtjeseray. The Empress Catharine was about to 'impose a tax upon them, when they sent in a petition, proving to* her satisfaction that they-were of that tribo of Jews who had had no fcandfrl the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Empress thereupon graciously freed them from the tribute; and it is most .remarkable that though proseljtism is prohibited. in Russia, those Coraites have converted, not by tljeir preaching, but by the integrity, upriglihioss, and honesty of their condjict, .many of the Russians to the Jewish religion. Let'us cease from talking about the tyranny and despotism of Russia. The 'Crimea, from the moment that it foil iiifo the hand of Russia prospered. Mighty cities were erected, the wandoring Nogay Tartars, who live in the Aral Mountains, and even around Bokhara, and feed on human flesh, settled down in mice cottagos iri the Cimea, and lived in harmony and peace with tlia Germans, tho Russians, and Greeks thore." —From "Travels and Adventures of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, D.D., LL.D."—I am, etc., J. Wtoiiypß Uatlis. Dtinedin, January 17.