Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-03-04

them, and they occasionally resent
| their industrial demands, but they
| greatly respect the audacity which in
sists on their submission, whatever
the numerical odds may be; they are
aware that justice is intended if it is
not always done, and they are seldom,
almost never, so provided as to feel
that emancipation would be worth the
| terrible struggle through which alone
il could be obtained
The war of the dark people against
the British is never, therefore, war
to the death, and of massive resistance
there is exceedingly little. The truth
Of this statement has been manifested
throughout British history in India,
native leaders, however, successful,
never succeeding in rousing the real
people, while province after province,
often equal in area and population to
a great state, after trying the ordeal
by battle once, or, in the cases of My
sore and the Sikh kingdom, twice,
has sunk back half-sullen haIf-content-
ed, but for all political and social
purposes acQuiescent. Il has been
shown in Egypt, where, if Europe"
would leave things alone, we could
govern the valley of the Nile from
Alexandria to Khartum with 5000
white regulars a small force IF mobile
artillery, and 10000 black troops, who
would be just as trustworthy as the
soldiers from Great Britain. So strong
is this disposition among dark men
that the greatest difficulty Of the
khalifa arises from the fact that MS
subjects as distinguished from his
followers, hail the British invaders as
deliverers, and that Sir Herbert KitCh-
eners is actually able to enlist the
black "dervish" soldiery, and use them,
almost without pause for drill,
against their former masters. They
enlist as readily as Pathans have al
ways done after being beaten by the
white invaders.
While, however, we eXult in this
power, which is purely moral, and of
itself a high qualification for leader
ship in Asia and Africa, it is vain TO
deny that the Russians possess it TOO
Their conquered people submit as
rule quite as readily as ours do. Be-
come 'loyal' and enlist even more
readily, because the Russians are less
timid than ourselves about granting
them commands. Order, especially
commercial order, soon appears in
conquered Russian province, and
though it is less perfect and less free
than with us, it is an enormous m
provement upon any system which the
conquered have previously known.
Slavery, though it does not cease, is
ameliorated, and the Russian officials,
though oppressive on occasion and
often very corrupt, strike the people
as an immense improvement upon
their former administrators. The
Russians interfere with social life al
most as little as we do, and COntine
their prosecutions to Christian diss9n-
tiers, leaving both Mussulmans and pa
gans to believe or disbelieve as seems
to themselves most reasonable. 1t is
vain to deny that the Russians have
a certain charm for the races they con
Guer. Whether II is the childlike
element in the Slavs, or their tolerance
and power Of mutual comprehension,
which exists between the-I@alves and
the Asiatics, they do succeed more
than we do in breaking down the in
visible crystal wall which divides all
Englishmen from all Asiatics and
Africans. Of the Europeans in India,
perhaps one in a thousand really I'M
derstand Indians, while one in a hun
dred of Indians understand the Eng
lishman with whom he is in contact
but if India belongs to Russia, one in
ten officials would understand pretty
thoroughly by large najOrity.-Lon-
don Spectator,