RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11, 4 May 1914, Page 8

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

ONE SIDE OF THE QUE&TiON. j (By T. Boyle.') Sixteen months ago, while 1 was spending my summer holidays in Auck-| land, ! met a .Russian gentleman, who was lodging where 1 was staving. He I t. o • *= I was an uncommon person, for lie was i touring tive world not in pursuit oi j that form of sentient pleasure which tiie majority of leisured people arei seeking. He was of a philosophic turn i of mind, deeply and widely read, audi familiar with the works and achievements of an unusually large number I of distinguished men and women both i past and present. His English was! fairlygood, and his enthusiasm hi the! future destiny of ids people had a | charm that forced attention and interest beyond that which one usually I iinds when conversing .with foreigners, j ;)ne evening tin’s Russian and 1 strolled along Princes Street to a vantage point beneath which lay in matchless, beauty one of the most beautiful harbours in this wide, wide world. W ill l j i.ho quickness of an eagle, he picked j out in the harbour the outlines of two | Japanese ships of war, and turning to me with his face expressive of hatred and anger he said: “Those ships came here this morning; one of them belongs-Jo the Russians, it was stolen when my country-men were fighting so far away from home.” These ships which were to him a blemish on the onchantinent lent to our extended view by the lovely harbour, drew forth a long, interesting and to me instructive conversation. He told me that j die war with Japan had been a humiliating blow to Russian prestige, and bad considerably weakened the popu-i !ar belief in her universal destiny, but :hat this calamity was not due to Japa-| lose superiority, but rather to the distance Russia lies from the seat of; war. “Now,” said lie, “my country is going to drive the Japanese from the main land of Asia, and our statesmen have been working for this end since the closing scenes of the war, and we) ire determined to have most of the I ■oast line of eastern Asia from Port' \rthur to tiie Behring Strait.” Wej balked about tiie Russian Army which j be said had reached as high a j standard of efficiency as -any j Army in Europej and was j competent r o improve, a crushing! defeat on the Japanese at any time. ; I pointed out that the finances of j his country had been in a deplorable I condition since its defeat, and that! ipparcntly there was little hope of)

restoring them to'a condition equal to ,he undertaking of driving the hated ; foe back to their island homes. He) conceded I was relatively right, but' that there was going on a steady improvement-, and within a short time ;is country would be in a position: o hear the awful strain of renewing! ,bo war which closed so ignobly to i Russia a few years ago. The transSiberian railway and the huge sums j being spent to fit it to cope with the j vonderful developments of northern ■ Asia, and the conduct of another

war, became our next topic: it was j v real delight to hear this enthusiast, j is he, stop by step, unfolded the j rrcat possibilities of Russia’s eastern< possession and described the railway j icvelopmonts taking place to meet j :lie growing needs of these fertile, plains. From Siberia we turned toi Tolstoy, some of whose, books I had j •cad. As he went on to enlarge onj die immeasurable ability and iullu-j nice of this genius, whose life was I -pent in the service of the downtrodden masses, he fairly captivated, uy attention, and I learned more ini twenty minutes about this ' remark- j ible man than I had gathered from j i a 1 it’ a dozen of his books which I iiad read. Tlic evening passed quickly as wo .■hanged ffom subject to subject; among those which we conversed upm were the unhappy Czar who is a acre puppet in the hands of the ruing classes; the revolutionary party; social conditions; the manufacture and consumption of vodka; agriculure; education, and others. 1 was! ,o struck by this gentleman’s hatred j if the Japanese and his professions of j Russia’s fixed determination to sweep! diem off the main-land of Asia that j i determined to get on hoard one of I he warships and, if possible, discuss .lie question with an officer or other | utelligent member of the crew. On die following Saturday afternoon I was enabled to get on board through me of the ships being thrown open to the public. I was fortunate enough | _o meet one of the engineers who j poke English. I fully expected that' when I introduced the subject of these! gathering troubles I would be request-j >d to mind my own business, but to | iiy astonishment the very opposite j iccnrred and ! will with your permis-1 don) relate in a few days what 1 was ! Mien told. ~ i