THE RUSSO-CHINESE WAR.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 164, 18 September 1880, Page 3

THE RUSSO-CHINESE WAR.

[Si/dii*!/ -'/"/', Jithi 10.1 One of the must important events of! . the week is the announcement that actual hostilities have commenced between Russia! I ami China. Two engagements have hron . fought, saiil tu lie severe, ami hoth re-' , suiting in Muscovite defeats. The Chinese , troops are reported to lie in occupation of. the border province of Kuldju, a recent Kussian aeipiisilion in Central Asia, containing about 2~/>9U .-ipiaiv miles r.f i territory ami l'.'O.Oi)!) inhabitants. To •J.snrprNe u provinee so sparsely peopled | and nrol.al.lv ill-garrisoned was Hot a | iliilicult task': hut it is something new in | moileni warfare to hear of an Kuropean j force retreating with detent and disaster: I before an attacking Chinese nriiiv, how-! ever great might bo the disparity of; numbers. In a few weeks some further light will he thrown upon the e military; proceeding*. Russian reinforcements nr>hurrying to the spot under the coiniua:: '. il is said, of the veteran 'fodleho::, «'■■■■- engineering skill protracted tin <■'■■■ ■ ■.,' Seli.-islop<ilsu!»ngH<;aiii>* tiva': ■■. ::,;.• of England nod t'rau ■•;. ! v !, .. ■ .■..;• of the recent Ottoman ..varw.. i m.Mn.N'.e.i laurels,aii honour w oo'i I'm R i-.-'. u . • ■.• rals can claim to share. I'.'it il. >■■ ; '.<■: :: wav from St. Petersburg to Kuhlji : an ! even the Cossacks of Uenhurg and the Kirghiz of tho Steppes, upon whom the hunleil of the war will fail, may I'm.l tile ; hardships of travel and exposure a more formidable foe than the Chinese army. The war between these two immense j empires must be regarded as. part of the | great Central Asian question which h-i- j lii'tfti forcing itself upon the attention o( Europe, and, more especially. England for the hist half-Centurr. With sleepless vigilance an.) the most dogged ,|otermination, li'ussja inn been forcing her sovereignty upon the wild Kirghiz and Turcomans on her 1 older*. She has successively coiinncivd and uiincxed and the gii ati r portion of the terri- • lories of lUharn. Iter (hi- new wave-I over the amieiit emporium of Oriental I trade, the citv founded l.v Alexander on ; ids wav to lli.- Indie-, nnd still railed by ; his name. From Saiualcand to till) gates j of India it is the boast nf Russian olllcers that the distance is short, and once through those gate.-, thev hold that compiest is sure. > ■ From the table land- of CVntr.il Asia, the, Mahoiniiindaucompierorßof India emerge.l centuries ago, and that is accepted as an : ' omen favourable to a Northern invasion ' now. In that belief they are. mistaken, j for the new invaders would have llrttish troops to fight with, not merely a down- • trochlea nnd indigent peasantry. lint still Russian couipicsts go on. Cashgar wus attempted, after the death of the famous Yakoub Khan, and at the same time Persia was asked to cede the vast province of Khorassan on the south of • the Caspian, and the Ameer of Afghani- ' .stau was tempted into an embarrassing alliance. At last England began to move ! for the defence (if her threatened lndiau Umpire—whether prematurely or wisely ' remains vet to be seen. Kill' the present, Russia has been chick mated in Afghanistan, disappointed ill Persia, defeated by ; the Turkomans in the newly-annexed territory over which she claims sway. repulsed from Knshgar, and prevented from approaching either Halkh or Xlerv on her wav to Herat. To crown tho list; J of her disasters, the Chinese, whoso pro. vincci «he has long been preying upon j I with impunity, have risen in anus ami,' carried tho war into her own borders.] Whether I'okin in bisinu set in luoliou j from Calcutta does not appeal ; but ; British diplomacy in India Is ant t >' defend itiult' from attack >|' ''■'■• nutitlv ami cileotniilly in "'■"" , '''" diplomacy at St, IVtu.-hmg, . .thouirli with less iiiundftcily. Whether the war now kindled bctw «eu two such vast but unwieldy I'owen is likely to beco an historical one or tint ; can scaivciv be safi4y predkud un in the

strength of what is yet known. Rusaii i« a great military Power, with all tli resource of modern science at her emu umiiil ; !i .; she is exhausted bv war am' internal INs-n I, u „,l | wr {.'„,,., a ,„ SM : '' ■'• a -Jig way from the seem ;• -■ill'.'.': • him, l, a - hitherto liul n< '■ ;,: ->.' : l:ati •:.- .'. ii s:ie lias ail '7" :i ' : •' 1'0: rati -.- capable ,t imitating '"',''"'".''"". V: " : '•'•''"'l : f«! ituickness in j ; : : ■■■■ ••■ iu-.iri.-il arts, and pmh.-ibly aUn | iii ..i- art of war. Siie is acquiring swift : gunboats, chid in iron armour ami fur- : nislied with the. st powerful guns. Her troops are. .said to be instrueie'd l.v European officers, ai.d t.i he capable of discipline, bravery, ami endurance. Her , territory contains exhauslless stores of I coal, ami probably other mineral treasures, j Oiiee let her wake up from that lons sleep which h : ;s Instill ever since the j • lawn of modern civilization, ami Kuropenn nations will 1 )0 able In hill,, with her no longer. I'm our own part, wej ; believe that awakening will come, lint! .that it will also he a work of eentuiies.! ami thai the lOn.OOO.Oill) „f (.'hiiu-;u wili timln llitint: pln.-e in i :,•• world - pi-.,._0v.,s as last as tiiej lieeome tmnlitied to iu-ip il on.