The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-04
A Russian Appeal for American Good
Will.

| who is introduced to American readers by
Prince f. OoKHToMsKY. the editor Of the
| 81 Petersburg Viedonosn The purpose OF
the article is to avert an Anglo-American
| combination. and to revive the cordial I'M
derstanding which has existed since the
beginning Of our national life between the
| United States and Russia The writer I'M
| dertakes to show that this understanding,
| in spite OF temporary mistakes made by
| diplomatists on one side or the other, Is
| destined to endure because these two coun-
tries alone among the great powers Of the
earth pursue divergent paths and need
never be made inimical to one another by
the clash Of irreconcilable interests The
| argument Is q cogent one and would be
conclusive II the writer could convince US
that Russia's attitude to China is calculated
to favor instead OF checking the develop
ment Of our trade in the Far East.
1t is true, as Mr.. HoLMsTRBM points out
that the position Of Russia with respect to
Asia corresponds from at least one point Of
view to that which the United States oc-
cupy in the Western hemisphere. Both ma
lions are self-eupporting communities, with
destiny apparently imposed upon them
by the conspicuous place which each holds
in It's own sphere. Their expansion in
their respective continents has been nat
ural movement; 1t has been peaceful on the
whole, and has brought enlightenment and
a higher civilization in itS train. 1t is
true, also, OF Russia and the United States
that each country is, in It's own sphere, a
world a universe, wherein various races and
creeds are brought together. In neither
country p1th0nph Ia
tocracy and the other federal democracy,
is there now any such thing as an olgarchy,
or privileged class; all the subjects Of the
Car, like all American citizens. are equal
before the law. The Carbon Of Russia
rests on a democratic foundation; the Car
is the Gar Of the commons. Of the common
people whom he has freed from serfdom.
Mr. HoLMSTREM regards the Nihiists as
maniacs with good intentions, correspond
ing to the Anarchists of Western civiliza-
ton; as are the latter, 30 are the former,
expressions OF some unhealthy symptom in
the life Of the nation.
In what sense can the interests Of the two
countries be looked upon as identical? Mr..
HoLMsTREM finds the identity in their COM
mon need of being left undisturbed by out
siders in the pursuit Of their respective
destinies, which are, on the one hand, the
absorption of Asia, and, on the other, the
ultimate absorption of the New World.
Again they have, according to Mr.. HOLM
SIREN, a common enemy, to wit, England
which confronts Russia on the Bosporus,
and will confront her at the southeastern
angle OF the Mediterranean, in Persia, in
Central Asia, and in China; and which blocks
the pathway OF the United States in British
North America, the British West Indies.
British Honduras, and British Guiana. II
England can maintain the Clayton-Bulwer
Treaty, and share the control OF the Mica
ragua Canal, its power to obstruct our
southwark drift will be greater than that
which the Canadian Pacific Railway has
given her to bar our progress northward.
That is why Mr.. HoLMsTREM says that we
have common foes bent on mischief, as
Americans will soon realize on their own
continent" and that is why, he thinks, sit
would be we'll for us to reach one another q
helping hand, where needed"
This is not Of course, the first time that
a curious correspondence between the dest-
MES of Russia and the United States has been
noted. DE TOCoUEvILLE drew attention to
lll' SOluc lluIlS-HNh years ago
in passage which Mr.. HoLMsTREM quotes
in French, and which we reproduce in Eng
glsh: Here is a fact entirely new in the
history OF the world, fact the ultimate
significance OF which even the imagination
cannot grasp There are to-day upon the
earth two great peoples, which, having
started from different points, seem to be
advancing toward the same goal; these are
the Russians and the Americans. Both
have grown great in obscurity, and, while
the eyes of mankind were fixed elsewhere,
they have placed themselves all at once in
the first rank Of nations; and the world,
almost at one and the same time, has learned
of their birth and Of their grandeur. All
other peoples seem to have attained very
nearly the limits traced for them by nature
and to have nothing more to do but to keep
what they have; these two, on the contrary,
are still growing. All the others have
stopped, or advance only with exhausting
labor these two alone go forward with an
easy and quick step In career the end
OF which the eye is unable to discern"
Tho cooperation which Mr. HoLMsTREM
thinks should be the logical outcome Of
corresponding positions and unconfiicting
interests has been, as a matter OF fact,
forthcoming on several occasions Of i'm
portancc in the history Of the two nations.
1t was forthcoming during our war for in
dependence, when CATHERINE Ii. joined tho
League of Neutrals. which turned the
scale, and forced England to make peace in
17S3; it was ALEXANDER l. S refusal to shut
American vessels out of Russian harbors
that provoked the French invasion of
Russia and caused NAPoLEoN's downfall,
and it was largely through the same Cars
influence that the Peace OF Client was
brought about at time before JACKsoN's
victory at New Orleans) when the seditious
attitude Of New England caused our Fed
eral Government great anxiety. Once more
was Russas good will manifested toward
US during our civil war, when the position
taken by the British Government and by
the ruling classes in Great Britain was, to
say the least, unfriendly. Nor will any one
who recalls the value of the seal fur trade