CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 49, 26 February 1878, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

RUSSIA.

To the Editor of the 'Evening Mail.' Sir,— At the present moment anything i relating to that Power, which afc one of the councils in Peter's timo said, " Let us conger the world," and, within these twenty years, declared in writing through Prince Gortschakoff that shortly treaties would not be " signed at London, or Paris, or Vienna, but at Calcutta," must be interesting to the British public, I foi ward you the following extract from a speech delivered in the House of Lords by Lord Lyndhurst, June 12, 1854; — " But in the case of Russia in particular, and in negotiations with that Government, nothing but the extreme of blindness and credulity could lead from a departure of these principles. The whole series of her history from the earliest period to the present day has been one long continued course of fraud andjperfidy, of stealthy encroachment or open and unblushing violence— a course characteristic of a barbarous race, and, whether at St. Peterburg or Tobolsk, marking its Asiatic origin. To go back to the Empress Catherine, we find her policy in one striking particular corresponding with that of the present Emperor, and which policy may in truth be traced back to the Czar Peter. She ostentatiously proclaimed herself the Protector of the Greek Church in Poland, fomented religious discussions among that people, and nnder pretence of putting an end to disorders which she had herself created, sent a large military force into the country, and gradually stripped it of some of its fairest possessions. I need not add a word as to the ultimate and disastrous issue of these intrigues— the impression they created is strong, and will be lasting. With a like policy in the Crimea, the independence of which country had been settled by treaty, she. set up a prince whom she afterwards deposed, and, amidst the confusion thus caused, entered the country with an army under the command of one of the most brutal and sanguinary of her commanders, slaughtered all who opposed her, and annexed this important district permanently to the Russian Empire. While these proceedings were going on she prevented, by means of her fleet, all communication with Constantinople, being at peace with the Sultan, with whom she was at that time negotiating a treaty of commerce.* I pass over the extensive conspiracy in which Russia was engaged with Persia and other powers in the East in 1834 and 1835 against this country, while she professed to be on terms of the closest friendship with us. I cannot forbear adverting to the designs of Russia upon Khiva— an inconsiderable place in the desert east of the Caspian. She sacrificed two armies in endeavoring to reach this remote place. Eor what purpose? Not with a view to any beneficial trade, but as a convenient centre from which to form combinations and carry on intrigues for the disturbance of our Eastern Empire while she was in apparent friendship with our government. As to Turkey, it is now known from recent disclosures that while the Emperor Nicholas was amusing the Sultan with smooth words, and expressing the strongest desire to maintain his independence, he was secretly plotting her destruction and the partition of her Empire. After this review of the deceptive policy of Russia, and these instances of her total disregard of national faith, instances which might have been carried to a much greater extent, I ask with confidence what reliance can be placed upon any engagements or guarantee into which she may enter. * * To rely upon a mere paper guarantee— a mere pledge of his imperial word, would be the «xtreme of folly and weakness. If this overgrown and monstrous power should coil itself round the Eastern and Southern possessions of Austria, she must yield to its movements, or be crushed in its folds. Prince Lieven, in a despatch to Count Nesselrode, says:— 'Europe contemplates with awe this colossus, whose gigantic armies wait only the signal to pour like a torrent upon her kingdoms and states.' If this semi-barbarous people, with a government of the same character disguised under the thin cover of a showy but spurious refinement—a government opposed to all beneficial improvement, and which {prohibits by law the education of the great body of its subjects— a despotism the most coarse and degrading that ever afflicted mankind— if this power with such attributes should establish itself in the heart of Europe (which may Heaven in ita mercy avert!) it would be the heaviest and most fatal calamity that could fall on the civilised world." Since the above was uttered by the blind but eloquent man Russia has grasped the greater part of Central Asia-established another Sebastapol on the Amoor— and crushed the brave Circassians, the possession of which country Lord Ponsonby declared would give her complete command of the Turkish Empire. All this has been done within the last twenty-one years, and in the name of civilization forsooth 1 I am, &c, E. Tocker. t JJ^ e ",j r ?, tal^ a sanguinary " Suwarrow slaueh. tared in cold blood 30,0J0 men, women and children.-