The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-05-14

with all its Importance. Would the
extension OF Russian power he the
enlargement Of the area of free in
stitutions, the bettering of the con-
dition of millions of the human
family, and an increase of momen-
tum to the worlds progress?! Or
would the lessening of British in
fluence in Turkey and Afghanistan
and the curtailmcnt Of her supre-
macy in India be the emancipation
of now unwillingly dependent and
subject races? The principles of the
British constitution are well known
and need not be stated. Her foreign
and colonial policy the past twenty
five or thirty years are before the
civilized world. A glance at Russia
will show what elements of beauty
appear in her features to command
our admiration. Her government is
an unlimited monarchy; all power,
civil and ecclesiastical, is vested in
the Emperor and in him alone. The
subject knows no rights that are
not at the mercy of the monarch.
His sentiments, be they political,
social or religious, must be no more
than the echo of his sovereign's pleas
urc. A free .press, directing and
moulding public opinion, is a thing
unknown for two reasons: first, there
is no freedom of the press, and
second, there is no public opinion.
Popular grievances can be aired
only when they acquire sufficient
force to explode in dynamite bombs
otherwise, there is but one remedy,
abiect submission. State affairs are
administered by council and senate,
the members of which are the crea-
lures of the Gar. They arc honora-
BILE and distinguished, not for their
constitutional powers, but rather for
the high functions they dare not
exercise. A free representative of q
free and intelligent electorate exists
only in the dreams of the Russian
patriot, and to him alone who can
dream without talking in his sleep.
There is quasi toleration in matters
of faith; that is, provided the be-
lever has the wrong faith at the
start, he is allowed to hold it fast to
the end; but if he happens to be
born under the orthodox flag,
which, according to law, is that
of the Greek church, he is not per-
mitted, sink or swim, to get aboard
any other ship. Liberty, under
Russian rule, means little more than
the doubtful privilege of existence
under q ubiquitous system of es-
pionage and censorship. The much
laudcd emancipation, in 1861, of
2O,000,000 serfs was little more than
legal definition by which the sale
of land ceased to involve the sale of
the occupiers. 1t was left to the
genius of Russian monarch to fur
nish future historians with that
wonderful feat of royal clemency-
emancipating a nation without max
ing a bondman free. When Western
Europe was emerging from medic.
valism, and adopting representative
institutions, Peter the Great was or.
ganizing new power and arrayina
it in the cast-off habiliments of the
defunct despotisms. Absolutism
consolidation and expansion are tho
watchwords of Russian progress
And for two centuries the goal o:
her ambition has been the posses
sion of the Mediterranean seaboard
The war with Turkey in 1896, th'
Crimean war of 1S54-5, the war O
1877, and the now famous "advanc,
on Penjdeh" are but separate act
in the great programme of Russian
policy. After shattering Britisl
power in Hindostan, the overtime,
of British influence on the Mediterra
mean would be comparatively cas-,
task. The consummation of he
projects, is, however, as uncertai
as it is undesirable. Her success
would be the rolling back of tn
wheels of civilization. Human free
dom would experience contractio
=