AX"D FREE LASTCE. " Let tliere be Light."

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 333, 25 April 1885, Page 12

AX"D FREE LASTCE. " Let tliere be Light."-

Satuiida.y, April 25, 1885

The moves in the great game of politics • are usually hard to follow on the part of

the bystanders. This is emphatically true of matters, in which one of the parties to the game is a member of the

Sclavonic race

It is to be remembered

that the Russian is, after all, but half * civilized. In his country there flourish traditions and beliefs discarded centuries ago by Western Europe. His government is an anachronism in this nineteenth century, and his politics carry us back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Thus it is no wonder if his ideas of statesmanship look strange in the light of the present generation of ideas to the rest of Europe. Because Russia is a European state, we are apt to fall into this error of supposing that it is a state with European modes of thought. Nothing can be further from the truth.

The ruling class in Russia indeed is „ largely a foreign class, but the .Russian peoj)le — noble and serf — are in political ideas, some centuries behind the other European countries. In the early part of the seventeenth century, in our own country, kings still thought that statesmanship was but an elaborate system of lying. Such was the j)olitical faith of the Stuart family, and in this direction what they believed they undoubtedly practiced. The events of the century were an emphatic protest against the system, and they were fortunately so emphatic as to destroy it for ever in Britain. Where England was in the reign of James or Charles 1., there or thereabouts, at the very best, the Russian Empire is now. This only applies to political ideas. It would be a libel on the England of the rebellion and the restoration to compare it on the whole to Prussia of to-day. In the ideas pertaining to politics alone does the resemblance hold good, but there it is remarkable. The art of politics as understood in Russia is the art of lying. The greatest politician is the most accomplished deceiver, and political success means triumphant falsehood. This was the recognized criterion of political skill in England two hundred and fifty years .ago, and it is still the recognized criterion in Russia to-day.

The mistake of forgetting these facts lias been the leading mistake of our poli-^ ticians for the last fifty years whenever they have had occasion to deal with the Russians. We have, as a rule, recognized the -insatiable greed of territory which possesses them. We have acknowledged •the sullen tenacity with which they cling •to the objects once set before them, but -we have never appreciated the semi-bar-barous facility for wholesale falsehood -which characterizes every Russian politician of the slightest note. Experience -we have had in plenty ; but experience has taught us little or nothing. Again ■and. again we have dealt with Russia as we would with France, Germany, or Italy, and again and again we *have found ourselves quietly deceived and overreached. Anger has been common enough at the time, but anger has not taught as wisdom. In the affairs of the |Dresent year — indeed .of the present moment, — Mr Gladstone's Government is being made the victim of the same indomitable spirit of lying which baffled us in 1854, and was in turn baffled by the policy of Lord Eeconsfield in 1877. The reluctance of the English Government to accept war

as inevitable is easily understood, and J within bounds it is worthy of all . respect and approval. If parleying with Russian statesmen held out any substantial hope of peace no one could object to it. The general impression, however, is that it does not do this. It is true that we are all the while preparing for a possible war, but while we do so Russia is engaged in what are only to be considered actual operations of warfare. While we mobilize troops in Hindostan, Russia attacks and demoralizes the troops that must be our allies in case of war. While we move troops to our own frontier line, Russia takes possession of important strategic positions in the very territory which must be the seat of war when a contest actually begins. Meanwhile official notes pass and repass between London and St. Petersburgh. False promises, false statements, and. false .accusations form the staple of what is received from Russia, vain efforts to bring about a fair settlement form the burden of those sent from England. The longer this interchange lasts it is evidently the better for Russia. Had the ultimatum of instant retirement from Penjdeh or war been sent ten days ago, by this time we should not only have known the worst, but we should have been ten days better off in respect of our preparations. And it seems nearly certain that such an ultimatum must shortly come. We know that the attack on the Afghans was unprovoked, and was meant to lead up to the occupation of Penjdeh just as well now as we shall when Sir Peter Lumsden's reply is received. We know that the occupation of Penjdeh is only a step to that of Herat — and that of Herat but a step to the passes of the Hindoo Koosh. On all these points the Russians have lied and will lie, and yet no one doubts the truth. Under the circumstances delays are not only dangerous, but disasti-oxis. War indeed is a terrible necessity, but war with every disadvantage on oar side would be a much more terrible necessity than war with a fair field and no favour.

he half -yearly meetings of the Bank o New Zealand have a wider interest than those of any other banking corporation to the people of New Zealand. To the shareholders in banking companies, the interest, of course, centres in the dividend declared, and the shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand have more reason to be congratulated on this than most people. But this particular Bank has attained the proportions of a national institution. - In fact, as well as in name, it is the Bank of this Colony. Its success is to a large extent our success ; its progress is both a cause and a consequence of that of New Zealand, and its continued prosperity is an evidence that, in spite of temporary dulness of trade and depression in some districts, the Colony as a whole is in a prosperous condition. Thus, while the shareholders do well to thank the management and officials of this Bank for their successful conduct of business, the public at large have something to thank them for also. Without sharing in the dividend declared, the general public of the colony have shared, and do share, in the prosperity which has been assisted by the Bank. It is true that they have in turn promoted the prosperity of the Bank. This is as it should be. An institution of this kind, conducted on sound principles, must, of course, obtain its profits from the public, but the return, it gives back in stability of trade and promotion of commerce is more than commensTirate with those profits. There has probably never been an instance of so great and so rapid a success as that which has attended the Bank of New Zealand in any part of the worlds Much of this has been owing, no doubt, to the vast resources of the colony. Much, too, has been due to the management of the institution. That these two causes may in the future act and react upon one another as in the past, should be the wish of every patriotic colonist, whether a customer of the Bank or not.

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