Russia and the Far East.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 8228, 8 June 1895, Page 3

Russia and the Far East.

A St. Petersburg correspondent of the Standard telegraphed as follows to that paper two months agoA gentleman whose studies and position entitle his views to some respect, has expressed himself to me as follows on the situation in the Far East: —

“ Russia,” says he, “ has neglected too long the advice of Prjevalsky to ‘ annex China, because she is powerless to resist,’ and she now suddenly finds herself face to face with another great power, with nearly forty million inhabitants, concentrated geographically, homogeneous in race, industrious, intelligent, and educated almost to a man. Russia, with her scattered heterogeneous population, unequal to the Japanese in all the afore-said respects, would be no natch for her if she lay across the Ural. But here distance is decisive. The Colonists of the Ussori are deficient in all the qualities which make their opponents strong, and are transplanted and kept there only at an enormous pecuniary sacrifice on the part of the Russian Government, Yaldivostock is even now dependent for bread upon the cargoes brought by the Volunteer Fleet, and for meat upon the butchers of Corea. As for the c&st of transporting a large force to the Far East, and keeping it there, on active campaign, many thousands of miles away from its base,in conflict with a Japanese territorial army fighting within easy reach of its own frontier, anybody can reckon it up approximately within a few million roubles. “ Every Russian soldier would come to as much as a Japanese company. Nor is it altogether likely Japan would stand alone. By lending her the best military instructors and organisers, Germany has created a weapon, either to be used indirectly by herself or else quite capable of striking alone, a weapon whose efficiency she quite foresaw. In the events of any European rupture, a friendly force in Russia’s rear would exercise much the same leverage in checking a Russian advance in Europe, or frustrating a Franco-Russian co-operation, as Russia has always employed against England hithei’to by the maintenance of her troops on the Indian frontier. A Japanese invasion of Amuria would thrill through Eastern Siberia and Central Asia, and rouse the spirit of the Mongol and Tartar tribes quite as effectually as the passage of Russian troops through the northern defiles might tiy the allegiance of England’s Indian subjects. “ Let Japan assume the Protectorate of Corea and the tutelage of China. Will either country, the vassal or the suzerain, be the worse for the change of masters ? Will Europe lose by having to deal with a civilised Power, with civilised interests, ties, and obligations, in common with herself, in place of a barbarous Power which practically refuses to acknowledge her existence ? In such case Japan would, on the other hand, have every ieason to avoid unduly straining the resources of China, and, taught by the result of Germany’s financial blunder with France, would prefer to be China’s standing creditor rather than the recipient of a colossal indemnity. On the other hand, her best interests would prompt good neighbourship with the Powers of Europe. If Europe is not yet prepared for the Cossack regime predicted by Napoleon, she should welcome a solution of the Far Eastern Question which will establish for years to come a balance between two forces which will effectively neutralise the danger to be anticipated from either alone, and especially from the Western force should it obtain complete mastery over the Eastern.

“ Russia wishes to safeguard her Eastern Asiatic possessions from alarm and possibly from menace. She also wishes to secure to her Siberian Railway the monopoly of trade.between China, Central Asia, and India, and to close a gap in the world’s railway system. This is a laudable aim, but for anybody else concerned a preferable solution would be a line under Japanese management, removed many degrees of latitude from the bleak and uninhabited tundras and forests of Eastern Siberia, and passing through, or close to, densely populated districts teeming with the relics of ancient art, civilisation, and commerce,”