The Welshman

THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.1 I The hold the Eastern Question has taken of the popular mind is shown by the number of papers which constantly appear in those maga- zines which do not usually reflect the popular feeling. In the highly philosophical West- minster there are three articles dealing with the su bject, one being literary, a second social, and the third political; but while the Eastern Question properly so called thus receives due attention, there are two more articles upon topics which doubtless derive point and signifi- cancy just now from the troubled state of Eastern Europe. These are An Indian District," and "Popular Buddhism according to the Chinese Canon." This last is so deeply interesting in itself that we propose to deal with it first. Of late years the attention excited by the Tractarian Movement in the Anglican section of Christianity has extended itself to the other great religions of the world, and of these none have taken so strong a hold of scholars and divines as the Buddhist, which numbers in its adherents, it is computed, not less than 450,000,000, or nearly a third of the popula- tion of the world. The first quotation we give will strike those who have followed with any attention the promulgation, by the late Pope, of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception." The birth of Buddha is veiled in a myth, the outward objective expression of the inner subjective idea, which is the ethical centre of his religion Unbounded self- sacrifice and tenderest compassion for mankind. The scriptures say that Buddha, having by the Law of I Evolution passed through the various stages of exist- ence, at length attained the perfection of being in the highest of the heavens. It was not necessary for him to be again re-born; he was prepared to pass into the rest and repose of Nirvana. Nevertheless, he was 80 moved by the wretched condition of mankind and all sentient creatures, that by the force of his exceeding love" he took upon him the form of man once more, in order that he might save the world" by teaching them the way to escape from their wretchedness, and attain that perfection to which he had attained, and enjoy the rest and repose of Nirvana. I am now," he said, about to assume a body, to descend and be horn among them, to give peace and rest to all flesh, and to remove all sorrows and grief from the world." He chose as his earthly mother the wife of the king of Kapilavastu, named Maya, who was henceforth known as the Holy Mother Maya." He washer first and only son. In an account of his incarnation contained in a Chinese translation made in the year 194 A.D., this event is literally translated: The Holy Ghost descended into the womb." The purity of Maya is described in a very beautiful sutra As the lotus springs unsullied from the water, So was thy body pure and spotless in the womb. What joy and delight was it to thy mother, Desiring no carnal joys, but rejoicing only in the law, "Walking in perfect purity, with no stain of sin, &c., &e. The Incarnation Scene" is frequently met with in the Buddhist sculptures at SanChi and Amravati, which are about the date of the Christian era. Around this myth there have gathered a string of legends which bear a striking resemblance, and a no less striking difference, both to the Gospel history and the apocryphal Gospels. On the day of the child's birth the heavens shone with divine light, and the earth shook withal, while angelic hosts sang, "To-day Buddha is born on earth, to give joy and peace, to give light to those in darkness, and sight to the eyes of the blind." The light shone because Buddha should here- after enlighten the darkness of men's minds, the earth ahook withal because be should shake the powers of evil which afflict the world. An aged hermit of the Himalayas is divinely guided to the spot where the young child lay in the arms of Maya, his mother, and placing his venerable head under the tmy feet of the infant, spoke of him as the Deliverer of sin, and lorrow, and death." Weeping, he repeated the follow- ing canticle: Alas, I am old and stricken in years The time of my departure is at hand; I rejoice and yet I am sad. The misery and the wretchedness of man shall disappear, And at his bidding peace and joy shall everywhere flourish. And he added Alas while others shall find deliver- ance for their sins, and arrive at perfect wisdom through the preaching of this child, I shall not be found among them." The princes of the tribe of Sakya brought rare and costly gifts and presented thsm to the child but the brightness of his person outshone the lustre of the jewels, and a voice from heaven prociaimed In comparison with the fulness of true religion The brightness of gems is as nothing. The neighbouring king of Maghadha is advised to send an army to destroy the child who is to become a universal monarch; but he answers, "Not so, if the child become a holy man and wield a righteous sceptre, then it is fitting for me to reverence and obey him, and we shall enjoy peace and safety under his rule. If he become a Buddha, and his love and compassion leads him to save and deliver all flesh, then we ought to listen to his teaching, and become his disciples." He astonished his teachers when he entered the schools of letters and of arms they said, Surely this is the instructor of gods and men, who condescends to seek for a master!" He simply said, "It is well; I am self-taught." This is the only record of his youth until his twenty-ninth year, when he was converted. In addition to this we may quote St. Jerome, who says, "It is handed down as a tradition among the Gymnosophists of India that Buddha, the founder of their system, was brought forth by a virgin from her side." The article gives a very touching sketch of the life of Buddha, and brings into great and deserved prominence the sacrifices he made for what he thought the truth. The fundamental points of his teaching are to be found in the following Buddha, having attained this enlightenment, shrank at first from the task of proclaiming it to the world. Men, weighed down by sorrow, oppressed by false teaching, would not be able to understand this law of enlightenment; had he not better remain a solitary hermit? As be thought thus, the divine voice of his better nature spoke, Oh, do not act thus be not silent, but, for the sake of man sunk in sin, declare thy law Let thy love constrain thee to do so, let thy compassionate heart move thee to declare thy law for though the world be wicked, yet are there many pre- pared to receive this message ofjlove and to be converted, many who would otherwise perish. Let the World- honoured One, therefore, resolve to preach the law for the good of others." Then by the power of his wisdom he beheld the various conditions of men, in ignorance and in knowledge like the lotus flowers in a tank, some emerging from the mud but not yet above the water, others above the water but not yet expanded, others just opening, waiting for his word to complete their development. Then his resolution was formed, and he said, I am willing now to open the gate of immor- tality. If any will listen, let them come gladly; let them hearken as I declare the tidings of this law." The first persons to whom he preached the kingdom of righteousness, or "turned the wheel of the law," were the five hermits who bad been with him in the time of his penance, and who now dwelt in the Deer Park near Benares. Afterwards he went to preach in the city. An acquaintance met him on the road, and inquired whither he was going. I am going to Benares," he answered, to establish a kingdom of righteousness, by giving light to those who are shrouded in darkness, and by opening to all men the gate of immortality." At Kapilavastu, he offered salvation to his father My father, when a man has found a treasure, it is his duty to offer the most precious of his jewels to his father first. Do not delay let me share with you the treasure I have found." His wife had fasted and wept during his absence; he went to her, for he said, "She is exceeding sorrowful. Unless her sorrow be allowed to take its course, her heart will break. She may embrace me. Do not stop her." But I when she saw him enter, no longer the husband she i :remembered, but a recluse with shaven bead and face, and in the yellow robe, she fell at his feet, and held [ them, watering them with her tears. Then, feeling how great was the distance, between them, she rose and stood on one side. So they parted either from other, and in after years she became a Buddhist nun. His Ion came and asked for his inheritance. The boy asks for an earthly inheritance which evaileth nothing. I will give him a spiritual inheritance which fadeth not away. Let him be admitted among us." He preached to high and low, and drew his diiciples from all ranks. For one class he made special provision, and these were hermits. The .tmonastic vows of celibacy and poverty, by his system, did not bring merit, but were only helps to the men and women who took them in at- taining a higher standard of perfection than they .could otherwise attain. The Buddhist monastic System is of older date than the Christian, for the 250 monastic rules were translated into Chinese from the Sanscrit about the year 70, A.D. How long they had existed in Sanscrit there is nothing to show, but as they were at the time of their translation fully elaborated, it is probable that they were much older. The number of inmates in some of the monasteries at the present day is enormous. Hue and Gabet found 4000 at Kounboun. When Father Bury saw the .Chinese bonze tonsured, using the rosary, praying in an 1 The Westminster Review (new series). April, 1878. No. cvi. London: Trubner 6;. Co., Ludgate Hill. nnknown tongue, and kneeling before images, he said, There ia not a piece of dress, not a sacerdotal function, not a ceremony of the court of Rome, which the devil has not copied in this country and the young De Beauvoir says, What struck me was the outward resemblance of the religious ceremonies of the temples to those of our own religion. A bonze, surrounded with clouds of incense, and dresaed in a chasuble of red silk, officiated with great pomp." The rock-cut Buddhist temples of India, which date 200 years before onr era, have a nave, side aisles, and an apse round which the aisle is carried, resembling in form the early Christian churches. The rock-cut monasteries are also earlier in date than the Christian there are between 700 and 800 in India, dating from 200 B.C. to 500 A.D. The wife of Buddha and their son were among the first admissions into the conventional orders others quickly followed. We read of a young man whom Buddha called: "Follow me, Yasa." The youth passed on; but by night he returned secretly, and was so won over by the loving character of the Master, that he became his disciple. He ordained fifty-four of Yasa's friends with the formula, Follow me." One day a rich young man came to Buddha clothed in costly garments and riding in a sumptuous chariot; he wished to become a disciple. Buddha, looking on him, bid him return home and selling all that he had, bestow his wealth in charity, so as to fit himself to become a disciple. Buddha, however, was not content with in- fluencing those only with whom he was brought into immediate contact. He was the first who conceived the thought of sending mission- aries out into the world. The salvation of all men was a new thought in the world. It necessitated another thought equally new, viz., the duty of preaching the way of salvation to the • world. The spirit of the true missionary inspired the soul of Buddha. As soon as he had sixty disciples, he said to them, There is laid on us, who know the truth and who have been thereby made free, the duty of giving mankind the priceless blessing of salvation go ye and visit the towns and villages throughout the land, preach the excellent law, and teach men to believe in the triple gem, Buddha, the law, and the church. Go ye, prepare the way for my coming; I will retire for a time into solitude." Two by two" he sent them forth, and bid them take only one robe, and one alms-bowl," for they were vowed to poverty. Poverty was their bride, Charity their sister. As an earlier Buddha, Wassabhu Tatbagata, had said, As the butterfly alights on the flower and destrovs not its form or its sweetness, but sipping forthwith departs, so the mendi- cant follower of Buddha takes not nor hurts another's possessions." When he was left alone Buddha reflected, These disciples of mine are gone to convert the world Delivered from sin and at peace, they can now deliver others." I will not die until this holy religion becomes known to many people. and is grown great, and is universally published among men." He then went into the solitudes of Uravilva, and prepared himself by fasting and meditation for the conversion of the fire- worshipper Kasyapa and his brothers. This missionary plan he carried out every year. In the rainy season he gathered round him his disciples for instruction, and in the dry season he sent them forth to preach the way of salvation and to make disciples. But it is the Eastern Question which will pro- bably attract most attention, and the tone of the article Russian aggression and the duty of Europe" may be gathered from the title. To us it has always appeared strange that the Con- servatives should have taken up the part of opposition to Russia, still more so that the Liberals should have taken her part; that three such men as Mr Gladstone, Mr Freeman, and the Rev M. M'Coll should so warmly defend Russia, the country of all others in Europe where liberty is least known, and where every vice of despotism flourishes most abundantly, is puzzling in the extreme. So far as Mr Gladstone is concerned the part he has taken in the matter he has explained is a personal dislike and distrust of Lord Beaconsfield, and it has been with the view of thwarting him that he has written and spoken of Russia and Turkey in the way he has. Perhaps not the most creditable of motives, still one that is capable of being understood. While those three gentlemen and a very large part of the Liberal Press have thus constituted themselves the defenders of despotism when it assumes to act in a Christian character, the Westminster is true to its Liberal instincts, and it vigorously assails Russia for her duplicity, ferocity, and greed for Turkish territory. For the Westminster Turkey is far preferable as a Power than Russia, and although the writer does not attempt to palliate or condone the so-called "Bulgarian atrocities," he vehemently insists that the Russians are always and in all places savagely ferocious. Turkish administration, since the days of the Crimean War, has no doubt been marked by gross abuses. Still they were scarcely grosser than those from which im- partial travellers have, within the last few year. been able to partly lift the veil in the Czar's own dominions. Any attempt at the recovery of self-government, or even any defence of national independence, on the part of tribes not yet. quite subjugated, has alwavs been beaten down in the most merciless manner. On such occasions the days of Tamerlan seemed to have come back. Cruelties were practised, by the Divine Figure from the North," in the Caucasus, in Poland, and in r Turkestan, which have scarcely their like in modern history. You are not to spare either sex or age. Kill all of them!" was the official order of one who is loaded with the favours of Alexander II. We seem to hear Charles IX. of France, when, maddened with bigotry against the Huguenots, be exclaimed Tue! tueV A short-lived sanguinary frensy has ever and anon characterised the doings of Bashi-Bozuks or Cir- cassians when they were surrounded by attempts at insurrection which Russian agents bad fostered. It was reserved to the army leaders and governors of the Czar coolly to put the Gospel of Extermination into a governmental system. Officers were ordered to kill them all," without regard to sex or age, in Circassian style"-that is. not in the fashion of the Circassians, but in the style formerly used against the heroic mountain tribes when they bravely defended their own homes and hearths. Gross as the abuses of Turkish administration have been, it cannot be denied that some of the provinces under the sway of the Potte had of late years made considerable progress, at least in material prosperity. The Russian soldiers and officers, when coming into Bulgaria, were amazed at the wealth of the simple peasantry. The mujik in the Czar'a uniform envied his oppressed Bulgarian brother"- nay, declared at last that the whole outcry against Ottoman exactions had been a fraud. The cor- respondent of the Daily News found that the condition of the agricultural labourer in this country was not by far to be compared to the much better condition of the peasant in down-trodden Bulgaria. Mr Archibald Forbes thought the lot of the latter was one for which a British philanthropist would gladly see a con- siderable section of his countrymen exchange their own." He added that the Russian soldier, who was driven to slaughter in order to free the Bulgarian, "feels, with a stolid bewildered envy that he would begladindeed to have half his complaint. Even a Russian journal printed this: The economic condition of the Bulgarians is so good that we Russians can only envy them. Not un- frequently I have heard sighs of envy among our Cossacks and soldiers at the sight of the plenty which exists in the Bulgarian villages. There is land in abundance. The majority of the peasants have such a quantity of grain that they can never reap and store jt all in time. Labourers cannot be obtained, even at a high price. Bulgarian peasant almost never goes elsewhere to seek work. All remain at home, and find plenty of occupa- tion. Being exempt from the military conscription, all the labouring population can be employed. The stack- yards are filled with wheat and barley. Indian corn is grown in enormous quantities. Each one has his own vineyard. The gardens are stocked with pears, plums, peaches, cherries, walnuts, and apricots. Melons and water-melons are the most common fruits. Masses of mulberry trees give the raw materials for silk. The flocks and herds are innumerable. Around each village you meet with thousands of sheep, pigs, long-horned cattle, buffaloes, and horses. Barndoor fowls and game exist in great quantities. In the villages there are such hosts of geese and ducks that sometimes in the morning they prevent one from sleeping. Living is wonderfully cheap. At the sight of all this our sceptics often ask, I Where is the oppression and duvastation about which so much was written P' Those who hold that Mr Gladstone can do no wrong, are fond of saying that "if this country t h goes to war with Russia, we cannot see what for, are simply illustrating the old proverb, None so blind as those who won't see." To such it is useless that we should recommend a perusal of this paper in the Westminster, but to those who wish to see what a true Liberal writer can say in support of war, we say "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest." The following quotations sum up very clearly some reasons why Russia should not be allowed to have it all her own way in settling with Turkey:— The Liberal and Democratic parties all over the Continent still hold firmly to the anti-Russian creed. They feel the perils which threaten the popular cause from the semi-barbarian empire. The duty of Europe is thus clearly marked out; it may, in one word, be summed up as the duty of resistance against the spread of Czarism. No new vassal state of Northern Auto- I cracy must be allowed to be set up between the Danube and the iEgean. Only a few days ago a Russian paper, the Novoe Vremya, said with refreshing frankness in I regard to Bulgaria:—"Ics administration will be or- ganised after the Russian model. The Principality will be divided into governments and circles, and the Prince will be chosen from among the Bulgars by an assembly of the representatives of the Bulgarian people which will be shortly convoked at Tirnova. The Bulgarian army will also be framed after the Russian pattern, and not a few Russian officers and sub-officers will enter it. It is easy to see that the Bulgarian Principality, though it re- mains according to the written law, a dependency of Tur- key, will actually, and by moral right, be <losely bound up by with Rusda." Against such aims have reso- lutely to set oar face. Whatever the ultimate rwcon- struction of these nationalities may be, under all circumstances we are convinced that no Wlrse agency could be selected for solving the complicate! problems of the East than the despotic Power which-onfessedly aspires to dominion in that quarter, and yhich is a standing threat to Europe at large. Hencewe believe that shotted guns and revolvers" are ery much rpquired when parleying with Russia aftfr the con- clusion of a sauguinary war which the voicof Europe had condemned. It is with the object, not of delivering nationalities, but of coming nearer to the pr^ession of Constantinople, that an unreformed tyrannous Power has made war upon Turkey at the very miment she began reforming herself. Only amiable enhusiasts, who would deluge the world with blood for tie sake of a crotchet, can ignore such a fact, which ma; become decisive for the security, the freedom, and ths culture of Europe. Statesmen worthy of the name wll not be so easily deceived, bat, whilst discussing with the ambitious invader of Turkey, will firmly k<ep their hands on the hilt of the sword ready for action The writer also discusses in very trenchant style the assertion that the Russians were actuated by sympathy with the Christian subjects of the Porte. Hear what he says :— If it is a well-established fact that the triumph of nationality is not the aim of Russian monarchs, it cannot be asserted with better reason that they are, or ever were, moved by religious sympathies with oppressed populations in their repeated invasions of the Balkan peninsula. The history of a thousand years proves the contrary. From the very day when the Russian Empire was formed, in the ninth century, there have been repeated attacks upon Constantinople by RusSan despots. They made these attacks, as heathen rulers, upon the Christian empire of Bvztntium. They con- tinued them upon Christian Byzantium, when thty themselves became converted to Christianity. They resumed their attacks when the subsequent Ottoman rule had become somewhat weakened at Stambul, They would again resume them if a Christian, but non- Russian, government were set up at Constantinople. Meanwhile they distinctly declare—witness the sayings of Alexander I., of Nicholas, and of Alexander II.— that they will not allow any other Power to establish itself at the Bosphorus. Not even Greece—in spite of her old glorious traditions and of her present religious affinity with Russia! Altogether, the espousal of religious grievances comes strangely from a Govern- ment which in our days has enacted, against the Greek Uuiates, cruelties as fiendish as any committed under the Holy Inquisition. Under the Turkish rate there has always been toleration, even if it was of the con- temptuous sort, towards the adherents of other creeds. On the other hand, the history of Russia, from the sixteenth century, is full of the most diabolical bar- barities, practised against Christian dissenters from the Orthodox Church, as well as against Lutherans, Catholics, and Jews. There are pages in the older Russian chronicles from whose revolting details the eye turns away in disgust. Yet, when we look into the official documents sent, by Lieutenant- Colonel Mansfield and Lord Loftus, we find that religious toleration has grown not a whit better in Russia since then. The Cossack whip and the bludgeon applied to men, women, and children, on account of difference of creed—the order given to the Cossacks to hunt down these dis- senters like wild beasts—the driving of the sufferers through half-frozen rivers, through which they had to wade with the water up to their waists—the camping out of the persecuted people in the wintry forests, where many died from cold-is not this a apectacle to move a heart of stone P The heart of Alexander II., the Magnanimous, was not moved. And Mr Gladstone exclaimed at Blackheath, in reference to this cruel despotism :—" In the name of God, go on and prosper!" And again —"The time has come to emulate Russia by sharing in her good deeds." Mr Robert Lowe, on his part. said of Russia with unusual warmth and gushing sentimentality :—" She is the refuge of the afflicted, the protector of the unprotected, and the father of the fatherless 1" The mind stands aghast at the acts of savagery perpetrated in Russia. Yet, it is for the extension of the influence of such a Government, which has placed itself outside the pale of humanity, and, by its aggressiveness, has become hostis humani generis, that we have been told this country should even sacrifice her Indian dependency rather than oppose the mild and generous Czar. We need scarcely say that we refer to Mr E. A. Freeman. Seeing, however, that he has repeatedly denied having made use of the expression "Perish India!" we gladly give him the benefit of a full quotation, so that the reader may judge for him- self. We have before us the Report of Proceedings of the National Conference at 3t. James's HaH, pub- lished by direction of the committee." According to it. Mr E. A. Freeman said —"But we are told that the interests of England demand that we should withstand the advance of Russia. We are told that our dominion in India will be imperilled, that the civilised world will fall into atoms, if a Russian ship should be seen in the Mediterranean. I answer If it be so, duty must come first, and interest second. (Cheers.) Perish the interests of England, perish our dominion in India, rather than that we should strike one blow or speak one word on behalf of the wrong against the right (eheers)." What else does this practically mean than that the interests of England and her dominion in India should perish rather than that the advance of Russia should be stayed ? For Mr Freeman, Russia simply means the right." To oppose her, constitutes, in his opinion, the wrong." Mr Freeman has so often posed as a Crusader—he has so little scrupled to describe the unspeakable Turk a hundred times as a wild beast that must be dragged down by the chain and whipped-be has so fiercely declared that, for the greater glory of the Cross, there must be killing, killing, killing —he has throughout his agitation placed Russia so in- variably before everything else—that we may really wonder at his denial of the use of language which, to any intelligent hearer or reader, can bear but one construction. Need we show up the intentional fallacy which lurks in Mr Freeman's would-be ironical expression that we are told that our dominion in India will be imperilled, that the civilised world will fall into atoms, if a Russian ship should be seen in the Mediterranean p" We say the fallacy is an intentional one, because the historian Mr Freeman knows as well as we do that there is no bar against the üppearance of Russian ships of commerce in the Mediterranean. Russian merchantmen have free egress from, and access to, the Black Sea. For every- thing relating to peaceful progress, not the slightest impediment is put upon Russia. The clause referring to her man-of-war is the necessary result, partly of the situation of the Turkish capital, partly of the restless ambition of Russia, which never ceases to threaten Czargrad. And again, upon the subject of nationality, the writer is no less forcible than true, for a Bulgarian no more becomes a Slav" because he speaks Slav" than Frenchmen or Spaniards become Romans because they speak a Latin dialect. No doubt, even as we are wont to speak of a Teutonic stock, so we may also speak of a Slav stock, from the point of view of ethnology. In politics, however, we have to keep account of differences in historical develop- ment and in language. It would be an impossible scheme, on the face of it, to unite all the members of the Teutonic race in a single nationality and political organization. As to the Slavs," we need only bring to recollection that when the delegates of the variou8 I Slavonian countries met at Prague in 1848, they quickly found it impossible to understand each other's tongue. Thence, by a strange irony of fate, they had to fall back upon the German language as a means of carrying on the business of their "Slav" Congress! European Russia herself is, in race-origin, not Slav, but mainly Finnic and Tartar. The same Slavonian nucleus which, at the dawn of history, existed in the western part of what we now call Russia, has but slowly spread in the course of centuries. Even now the process of Russifi- cation is far from being complete. IE anything is thoroughly proved, it is the fact of the vast territory between the Ural range and the Vistula having originally been inhabited by Ugrian, Finnic, Tatar, ay, by Turk and other Turanian races. At one time, the Gothic nation pushed itself in, extending its sway from the Baltic to the Black Sea. But then fresh Tataric tribes, Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Khazars came in. The latter, belonging to the Turkish stock, and being in creed partly Jewish, partly Mahommedan, ruled over what is now Southern Russia from the eighth to the eleventh century. Meanwhile, in the north, the Warangians, a Germanic warrior-tribe, founded a Finno-Slav kingdom under Rurik. But from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, nearly whole Russia fell under the rule of Golden Horde, and thus became doubly Tatarised through nearly the whole length and breadth of the land. At present, a large fringe of populations in the notth, east, and south of European Russia is still far from being Russified. We will not go so far as the learned Polish writer F. H. Duchinski, who only makes out a little more than 21,000,000 Slavonians in European Russia, including even Poland, whilst he attributes upwards of 35,500,000 Uralians" (Finns ani Finno-Turks), and a little more than 3,000,000 of sundry nationalities (Germans, Swedes, &c.), to the remainder of the Empire on this side of the Ural. But at all events, the "Slavonian" character of Russia Proper is of the most doubtful and mixed kind. A Serb, a Bulgar, a Croat, a Czech, a Pole, are at least as different from a Russ in speech (not to mention historical or religious differences) as an Englishman is from an Icelander, from a Swede, from a Dane, from a Dutch- ¡ man, and from a German. Yet, under the pretence of a common nationality, Russian Panslavists aim at the absorption of all pooulations that can be ranged under the 'Slav" name. The intermediate nationalities, such as Roumans and Magyars, are, in the opinion of these Panslavists, simply to be crushed out of existence. The Russian language is, in this process of annexation or assimilation with other Slav tribes, to be violently enforced-as it has been ia Poland as it is attempted in the Baltic provinces; as it is proposed even for Bulgaria. And whilst constituted nations are to be torn to pieces for the sake of getting the scattered branches of the Slav race into the fold of the Czar's Empire, Russia herself is to keep Finlanders, Germans, Esthonians, Letts, Lithuanians, the unwilling Poles, Tatars, and a host of discordant nationalities ic Europe and Asia, under her despotic sceptre The Panslavism is merely a mask for the aggrandisement of Russia, whose rulers otherwise are the very destroyers of all nationality. But while the writer advocates war with Russia upon the broadest grounds, he does not pass over as wholly beyond consideration those British interests" which Liberals are fond of sneeringly speaking of, if advocated by a Conservative government. They would fondly keep such interests" for their own advocacy, and though they cynically taunt the Conservatives with singing— Let laws and learning, trade and commerce die, But leave us still our old nobility. They are perplexed and troubled to find these same Conservatives keeping a watchful eye upon the trade and commerce of the country. We commend the following to their consideration as worth attention:— The loss of India, so long as the overgrown Muscovite Empire is not broken up, would be tantamount, for England, to the loss of her position as a great Power. Commercially speaking, the loss of India would work ruin in many a humble English home. The yearly export to the Asiatic dependencies of this country amounts to about £ 30,000,000 sterling. Other markets in Europe and America have, through competition, or through a return to protective duties, or through both, become considerably restricted. Is it, under such cir- cumstances, advisable to pronounce with a light heart the phrase Perish the interests of England I perish our dominion in India I" in favour of the policy of an Empire which certainly cannot be described as a humanitarian agency, but which rather follows the practices of Gengis Khan and Tamerlan ? These Mongol rulers also had at their courts a superficial veneer of culture; perhaps, comparatively speaking, even more so than the Russian Court. For all that, the doings of Gengis Khan and Tamerlan were a curse, not a blessing, to mankind. The same holds good of Czardom for it is only the continuation of the govern- mental usages of that Golden Horde which swayed Russia for two centuries and a half, and which has imprinted its spirit on Russian policy to this hour. If the day were to come which would bring danger to English rule in India, how many of those who now talk contemptuously and unconcernedly about these British interests" would stand aghast at the result of their light-hearted, bare-brained folly What a chotus of condemnation would arise from their midst against statesmen that had not been able to make better pro- vision What different views and arguments we would then hear put forth from those to which public opinion had been treated during the Atrocity agitation True statesmen, therefore, will cast aside all petty, time- serving considerations, and act up to the dictates of their conscience and their knowledge of what is really ad. vantageous to the country and to the larger interests of mankind. And true need they have to be watchful and active betimes; for warning is already given them. In the Memorandum of a confidential conversation of Count Schuvaloff with Lord Derby" (June 8, 1877)- that is, before Russia had achieved any victories-we find the following England appears to fear lest the spreading or consequences of the war should lead us to threaten Bassorah and the Persian Gulf. It is not at all our interest to trouble) England in her present pos- sessions, or, consequently, in her communications with them. The war which is actually going on does not demand it, for its object is clearly defined, and matters would be complicated rather than simplified by so vast an extension of the struggle." So the present war does not demand the troubling of England in her Indian possessions That will come afterwards in due time. Russian diplomacy has always been great in such leer- ing, ironical, and yet highly polite, covert threats. Those who cannot read and interpret them are naturally marked out as their victims.