The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-04-30
RusslA's LATEST COUP.

-# o000bS y In 60 SS06s .a.
Long ago the world learned that
whenever Russia sets II to accom-
plish a certain purpose !. may be TAX
en- for granted that ''the bear who
walks like a man. is successful,
whether he has to employ force or re-
sort to the use of strategy and cum
ming. History shows that it is more
often by the application of the latter
than by resorting to the former that
the Muscovite has been enabled to
succeed almost every time he has en-
tered into some project calculated to
give him a certain advantage over the
rest of the European nations.
Months g the cars government
conceived the idea that it wanted to
add to it's already large slice of Chi
nese territory, acquired years ago
exactly honorable, and since then it
has been working and scheming with
that n object in view. When the
time seemed ripe to do soitmade a pre-
tense of force and announced that it
had made up it's mind it wanted Man
churia. The United States and other
powers entered a vigorous protest and
when mere protesting seemed about
to fail Japan stepped into the breach
and by a determined and ag-
gressiye show of force compelled Rus
STA to make a p%retense of receding
from its position. 1t announced that
it had decided not to hold Manchuria
permanently and would withdraw it's
army from the province as soon as
the situation there made it warrant
able to do SO and peace and order
could be still relied upon to prevail.
This satisfied the powers-they haG
to be satisfied-and then Russia took
talk which had the effect of putting
the little brown mar into a more
amiable frame of mind. All the time,
however, the Cossack was planning
and scheming how to successfully ac-
complish his purpose of retaining the
coveted province. The cable will tell
you how well he has succeeded. He
had to take a partner into the bust
ness, it is true, but the latter will
probably have only little to say con-
corning the final disposition of the
firms assets and when the time comes
that the car thinks he wants to make
it a close corporation of one, he will
find some way of dissolving the CO.
partnership and play a lone hand.
The game which the Russian is now
playing is a simple one, but one which
he has in the past found to succeed
wnen all others failed. He is going
to advance the money to China with
which to meet the indemnities the
other powers will demand, holding a
sort of mortgage on the whole empire
as security for payment Of the loan.
Not having the money himself, he has
made a bargain with the Frenchman
by which the latter will see to it that
the funds will be forthcoming at the
right time. With their claims paid
the other powers will bother them
selves but little with China or things
pertaining to China and the Cossack
will be left practically master OF the
entire field, to do as he pleases. What
his pleasure will be can be easily AS
certained by taking a look at some old
map Of Russia and China and then
comparing the boundaries of those
two countries as they appeared, say
forty years ago. and as they are now
marked on the more modern map.
The Russian was simply baked for
a short time, but he was never any
where neal defeat, and no n knows
it better than he did himself, although
he was perfectly willing that the other
fellows should think he believed Inn
self done up.