RUSSIA'S WEAKNESS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1788, 13 March 1888, Page 2

RUSSIA'S WEAKNESS

Th^ " Broad Arrow " eaya r-Officaraof fcho B it'ah army m*y look, and do look, with complacency upon « possible war between Au&tro-Gsrm\ny asd Russia. We may cite as on ex:\raplrt tha wrrds of aa offiojr of high rank, who, spankiog, In the oouraa of an iutarviaw, laid great itroßß upon «hafc he called '* ituasia'a suicide. *'TheCz;r," he says, " live* m n foil's pa^adiaa. Ho {3 not a anldier, ;*Uhcu k h he coinnaanded an army to the a*)ld. Ho ia ail bat igaorait of the eftarae'er of the Imperial forcer, notwithstanding that ho is 3m per or, and their tiiula? heid, Tha RuaaiiiQ Army ia with* out Bclantifio eqa<prnß!it or org mißitloD, aad it id prscioally without a general coaipet&nt to direct its operations m a great war." Piooeeding thu gallant critic aaid, " I do not balicva there will ba a vrur of the kind whici ia frightening the Bjuraea, ant bewildjiln.j Lord Salisbury. But if it oanifl we mi^ht well rt j >ice. liusaia would ba worsted, her i;r;nlj3 shattered, and hor iiuiits slnagely coavartod to hit disadvantage. Poland. aad Bulgaria would ba torn from her influence ; for the first tiau fop eoatarlea !\'most there would ba no Eastern qqesMon, wich tha Sultan qmking ia hrn alippara ; cad tiaaily, and uf aoatliteroat to va in England, thaco would oom ■to ab and, cortaiuly for a generation— p^rhapa for t v 't — to the poriorfioal ooare ovar tho Afghan frontier, and the inva*i»n of Russia." Thars is no doubt that ft disastrous JKuaaian campaign wonld seriously affect Rcsaiaa dealgna m Central Aai.», if indeed it did nit lead to » 186* cjssfd rerolt of the khanate*