The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-04-15
ASToRIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY.
RUSSIA AS A CHAMPION.

frankly commercial. Inc peninsula ndu ucen AVI
ages under alien masters The Hindoos had paid but
little attention to the defensive arts and were over
run in turn by the stron ger races The Mahometan
conquest made by the descendants of Tamerlane, es
tablished the Mogul empire which the English over
threw Begun by the East India Company as COM
mercial enterprise entirely since the British gov
ernment took administration away from the company
it is believed that the English have been the best
masters that have ever ruled India. Anyway there
was no pretense of race championship philantho-
py about it and England had to stand criticisms
Of her methods from quite another point of view.
The Russian conquests that have at last crossed
Asia are equally commercial remarks the Call. They
are equally sordid in their motives and have been
are equally sordid in the rmotives and have been
pushed with equal or greater nhumanity toward the
weak peoples that have been ridden down by the Cos
sacks. There is no reason to believe that humanity
has had any more part in them than in the wars of
Genghis Khan and Tamerlane But now Russia as
sumes phanthropic attitude and desires to pose
the champion of the white race against the yellow,
and makes this appeal to race prejudice to cover al
declaration of war upon China To this end the nag
ging goes on
Our dispatches from Peking and st. Petersburg
give in detail the efrontery of the measures which
Russia proposes preliminary to the military annex
alton of China 1t is among the worlds moral emer
gencies. What has the yellow race done that calls
for white race champion against it? The yellow
races are not threatening white race territory with
conquest They are not in arms against the western
powers. They are recognized as members of the
family of nations and represented by ministers
to all the leading governments. They are in treaty
relations with the rest of the world and in Japan have
civilization higher and in all respects better than
that of Russia.
Races, nations and peoples need champion when
they are in peril when their rights are in danger and
their liberty is threatened None Of the white races
is in this condition 1t is impossible for the yellow
race to injure them. What the white race want is
that all of the yellow work out their civilized sal
vatlon as the japanese have done Then their prog
ress will begin their wants will increase as they rise
IN the scale and their trade will invite only the com
merclal competition of the white nations
Russia Is conducting in this country hot propa-
ganda for sympathy The incidents in the history of
our civil war are being made much Of One gentle
man remembers the czar told him that if England
had recognized the Confederacy he would Instantly
have declared war against Great Britain. That has
all the elements of fairy tale. But taking it for the
truth what is the precedent it establishes? English
recognition of the Confederacy would have been al
for the dcmam harm Of +bo
If the czar told the truth about the state policy of
Russia Russian declaration of war against China
now would be exactly what English recognition oil
the Confederacy would have been in 1862 As Eng
land is committed to the neutrality and integrity of
Chinese territory Great Britain would be justified on
the same grounds, in declaring war against Russia
1t may be safely said that the people of this coun
try do not want Russia as champion in anything
Nor do we believe that the western nations desire that
Russia be promoted to the mastery Of the world asI
will be the case if she annexes China. The RussanI
system of government is less desirable than the Chin
ese and still less desirable than the japanese If Chna
followed the civilized lead of Japan her reformers
and intelligent statesmen will take the lead and the
people will be trained in the operation of representa-
tive government and institutions But If China be-
come Russian the administration will be worse than
now Surely there is nothing in the government ofI
European Russia that the nations with parliamentsI
and systems of jurisprudence desire to copy.
Russian reform is out of the question The auto
eracy under the thumb Of the Holy Synod has stub
bornly withstood all pressure Of reform. The brains
of Russia represented by Tolsto are under the ban