Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-10-07
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Progress OF RussIa.

says some late writer, was the Introduction
of Russia among the powers of Europe. But
far less remarkable was its recognition by
other nations in continental politics, than the
progress which it has since made in all that
constitutes the greatness of people.
Success has marked its career for two hnn-
dred years. No sooner had its struggles with
Lithuanians and Tartars ceased, and it
emerged from the obscure cloud in which it
had been, up to that period, enveloped. than
it began to be felt by all the Western States.
The conquest of the Azof, the overthrow If
the Swedish monarch on the field of Pull
iowa, the bloody wars with Turkey leading
on to the triumph of OckZakow, of Ismail,
and of Adrianople-the seizure of Georgia,
the acquisition of Wallachia and Moldavia.
the partition of Poland, the subjugatiOn of
Lithuania and Finland, and that brilliant
campaign, terminating in the occupation of
the French capital, have stamped its policy
in indelble characters on the history of the
world. Every continental conflict has led to
an extension of territory. and added TO its
trophies, and it now stretches its sceptre far
over the Caucasus, sweeps down to the foot
of Mount Ararat. and begins to look out from
the east of Asia upon the Pacific.
From the time of Peter the Great it has
retraced no step. made no modification of it's
early policy Steadily, under successive
rulers. it has advanced; as with single pur-
pose bringing the wild tribes of the great
Asiatic plateaus under its control, pushing its
southern boundary towards the Danube,
building fleets and disciplining armies,
opening communications between distant
provinces; and developing its vast resources
of the field, the forest and the mine.
A war with the combined forces of the
West neither brought exhaustion nor weak
ness While England and France, amid the
blaze of burning Chinese villages, slowly
made their way To an audience of the EN-
peror of the Flowery Kingdom" Russia
quietly annexes the fertile region between
the Jablonnai Mountains and the Amoor, and,
placingits outposts within three days march
of Pekin, is enabled to whisper its mandates
in the very ear of tie Chin ,se Court.
The whole of this gigantic empire now ex
hibits the most energetic activity. Railroads
on a scale of magnitude equal to that re-
quired to connect the Mississippi and the
Pacific; Notifications on the Baltic, the
Black, the Caspian, and the Pacific coasts,
unsurpassed in strength and magnitude; canals
connecting navgable streams in all parts OF
the nation; architectural adornments of its
principal cities that have not been eXcellcd
since the Caesars welded the tribute of the
world for the establishment of Rome; and, at
the same time. the working out of a social
problem that would have convulsed any other
people with revolution, are few of the signs
of its present yigor and its astonishing pro-
gress.
The wilds of Siberia, regarded by the out
side world as an icy solitude where the mer-
CHESS dcspOtism of the Gar intiicts unheard
of cruelties on his refractory subjects, has
lately given up some of it's secrets; and men
are astonished to learn that it is the abode of
much civilization, of well constituted govern
ment. of enterprise, and of individual pros
peritv: that its mountains are ribbed with
precious metals and its plains inexhuastless
in fertility: that, in the far interior, on the
waters of the Bailed aud the borders of the
Chinese Empire, are extensive factories for
the manufacture of arms and gunpOwder, of
linens and wOOlens, and yards for the building
of ships, and schools where even the English
language is taught; that the telegraph sends
its swift message from the far East to st.
Petersburg, so that for weeks before news is
heard in Parliament House from China, what
the Gar is willing TO communicate, is flashed
from his capital to London.
He who reads the record of the past, and
knows the indomitable energy of the Russ,
will acknowledge that this nation cannot long
be shut out from the Pacific. Sixty miles
south of her newly acquired Asiatic bounda-
ry, lies one of the finest ports in the world.
This Russia will soon occupy, in spite of Eng
lsh and French diplomacy or armed inter-
vention, and a commerce, rich beyond present
will be developed in the Pacific,
from the opening of the valleys of the
Amoor and the territories of China and of
Japan.
The possession of San Francisco by the
United States gave the first impulse to Pacific
trade. The appearance of Russia as great
naval and commercial power, through the
Channel of Tartary and the Japan Sea,
will make the prophecy of Hertzen, that
between the shores of Asia and North Amer
lea the ocean would ere long teen with the
ships of the world, splendid
reality.
The bitterness with which the London
Times acknowledged the receipt of China
news through St. Petersburg, and its pre-
tended surprise scarcely COncealing its indig-
nation, on learning the dangerous advantages
acquired by the near approach of Russian
to the capital of that multitude
nuOs people, indicates that vision of the
future of Russia, as unexpected as unwel
come has been revealed. 1t finds the giant
Of the North, no less now than years ago,
marching onward, as with the solemn tread
IF destiny, to the accomplishment of its
great mission.
The extension of Russian dominion over
The valleys of the AMOR will prove great
benefit to the Uuited States. That Govern
nent has ever shown spirit of good fellow
ship towards the American people. One en-
terprise and commerce are invited to enter its
territories. How rich a field is about to be
opened that has hitherto been closed even to
individual exploration, the brief memoir of
Mr.. Collins on the resources, capacities and
wealth of Eastern Siberia, has revealed.
The Russians, and the offshoot of the Eng
ish race, beginning to exert most
potent influence on the world. Despotism
md freedom, antagOnstic elements, yet hap
PLY adapted to the different theatres in which
hey operate, are rapidly extending their
boundaries. The ons-representatives of
these two elements-grOw, while other peo-
Piles have reached their natural boundaries.
They are proceeding with ease and celebrity
along path to which the human eye can
assign no limit. The one is moving towards
the Pacific, eastward; the other, westward,
rom the limit of the north temperate to the
regions towards the opposite |
shores of the same great ocean. The starting |
points are different and their courses opposite,
yet each seems destined by Providence to |
sway the destiny of half the globe.
When they stand face to face, and the in |
Ierests of the one conflict with the other,
what will be the result?-N o. Pioaysfne
In hanna and