The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-21

the Ural, and in Southwestern Siberia.
The armies of the Empress Elizabeth
conquered Southern Finland-a terri
tory important as shielding the capital
against the Swedes. Then came kath-
crime the Great, i'm the second half of the
eighteenth century, the friend OF Vol
taire and Diderot, and the heroine OF a
canto OF Don Juan. She won the whole
frontier region from the Baltic to the
Black sea, which had belonged to the
Lithuanians and Poles in the middle
ages, when Russia was the victim Of
their incessant raids. She also won the
whole of the North coast of the Black
sea. a region on the Caspian, and a
province beyond the Ural mountains
Her son Paul conquered he central re-
giOn of the Caucasus. with Tifis. the
capital. Alexander the First, as first
ally, then enemy. of Napoleon, added
to the ominions of Russia the re-
mainder of Finland, up TO the Norwe-
gian frontier, Poland, a province on the
Turkish frontier. w important dis
tricts Of the Caucasus East and West
OF Itfiis. the region between the Cas-
plan and Ural, and a second region fur
Their to the East. reaching to the shores
of Lake Balkash. These are the most
important additions made under IN
one monarch; the boundaries Of Euro
pean Russia have remained where
Alexander the First left them. except
ing a small district on the Roumanian
frontier, coded after the last Russo
Turkish war. Nicholas the First gain
ed two regions from the Tartars and
Turks, one on the Eastern shore of the
Black sea, the other on the Persian
frontier. Alexander the Second. liberia
tor of the serfs and victim of the nj
hilists. added immense territories to the
Russian crown, including certain re-
gions in Northern Caucasus, for which
Russia had been fighting for 100 years;
the whole of Russian Central Asia, in
Guiding Turkestan, Tashkent and Sa-
markand, and, finally, an immense ter
ritory on the Pacific. which brought
the Russian empire to the frontiers of
Corea. This was the last great conquest
of Russia, except the ~unimportant oasis
of Merry. won for Alexander the Third,
against his express commands, by Gen
eral Komaroff.
The Pacific province of Amooria, of
which we speak, is larger than France,
and in resources equally wealthy, hav-
ing a rich soil, aluable forests, gold
mines n mineral deposits in Sakhalin
island. It's capital is V~aldivostock.
with only some so, 1000 inhabitants so far.
on a fine harbor, which is partly frozen
for a month or six weeks every year.
1t will take a century or more for
II 90 ~ DtNpillt 'NNH ~ SIdlE flN
populated as European Russia, Which
has only 40 inhabitants to the square
mile, as against 500 in England. If the
Russian empire was as thickly peopled
as England, we may note in passing.
the tsar would be lord of 1000, 900, 900
subjects, almost thrice the total of the
human race. The European Russians
are multiplying with enormous rapid
ity, but hat is an ideal which must
long remain beyond their utmost ef-
forts.
Meanwhile, the Russian empire
grows with the inevitable and irresist-
able might of some huge natural power.
This il the true reason that all Rus
sia's demands as regards Port Arthur
and the railway thither We're so
promptly and completely granted; this
is the reason why no resistance was.
or will be, offered by Japan: this is the
reason why the menac of England
have once more proved futile. Russia
will not absorb China; but the destiny
of China will be dominated by the
genius of the Russian race.
CHARLES JOHNSTON.