THE HOME PRESS ON THE RESOURCES OF RUSSIA.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2593, 30 April 1877, Page 2

THE HOME PRESS ON THE RESOURCES OF RUSSIA.

Russia (writes the Whitehall Review) is on the eve of following the pernicious example of her nominally despised neighbor. The hopeless state of the finances of that vast and unwieldy Northern Empire is, unfortunately, but very faintly appreciated in this country, and we regret to know that thousands of our fellow-

citizens are still holders of worthless se-

curities and persist in crying peace where there is no peace. , ... , „ „, . ...Russia-i* to-cliiy in precisely the same predicament in which, Turkeyiound.jherself. towards the close of 1875—nay, she is far worse off, for a serious war is looming in th« future. Ignorant as the general public may be of the fiscal straits in which the Czar and the Imperial Treasury are inI rolved,loath as investors may be to part, with their 5 securities at a losv* anil obstinately blind as bondholders may* |>c to the indications of approaching.^disaster,- the - stubbbrn-Qact will Teryw:shortly stare r them;-ia ace that Russia is r : bankrupt. . . . Interest has hitherto beeo: paid by aj polltax levied onl thei.fre:,edmen»*n£l has only been,CQllected.=,wiith the utmost difficulty's especially in the.^northern provinces, where agriculture is. at such a low ebb; bus.if war,jensHejpf> aMithepfproerofithe Empire are mobilised, and if all the manhood of the country isdriren nolens volens ' from the plough tail to the cannon's mouth, from the desk to the bail^^eld, where is this, money to come.frpm^: Ojtt the out-- 4 break of St. Petersburg and Moscow exchequers will^io't only haveto pay t he, interest on' their 1 floating and. foreign debts (SOp.QOQ.qO)); but Iney^ilj^ar? to* defray the extraordinary expenie*■•'cfjf."a,^ formidable war. They will also b^Tejbb' pay the 5 per cent., guarantee...to^ theirr Own subjects^ The resources o pfi, ; tjij^e Empire .are totally ...unequal to .thel^ emergency, so that the Czar and his adyisers find themselves in this awkward dilemma: they must either repudiate their foreign indebtedness and incur similar obloquy to that which was freely heaped on the Sultan and his Grand Vizier fi/taen months ago, and .make up their minds hear a good deal of," Russian atrocities " from the Radical and City organs of a British press, or they would suspend payment of the guarantee at home, in which qase. a revolution is inevitable, and Alex-, andefr's reigii and life will be Lof - tery? |imited duration. The, choice. is not a Sleasant one: it is almost the'dagger and be bowl, but no one can doubt which line of action will be adopted; the foreign bondholders will go to the wall, and those stocks which'have now the audacity td quote themselves at 80 will be hard bar* gains at 35. . .., . ! Prince Bismarck, who is not a bad judge of affairs (says Vanity Pair) thinks that •' Russia has three alternatives before her ; she may either accept war And. , bankruptcy, or bankruptcy and rer'oluV tipn,,or aT Jbpi;li." . . . Russia's con- , solidated debt amounts to two hundred and sixty millions sterling, and her floating debt to about forty millions—about three hundred millions in all* -,To p*j the interest on this she has been forced to raise a new loan periodically, so that her creditors have been in reality paid their interest by money which they have lent to pay themselves h It is obvious that such a system much infallibly come to aitermination at a given day. But, besides this, Russia has a debt still more fatal

to her. When the measure called the emancipation of the serfs was carried out compensation was arranged for the landowners for lands now to be allotted to the peasants, amounting to one hundred and forty millions sterling at fire) per cent. This was to be paid by the peasants, but the Imperial Government guaranteed it. Now the peasants cannot pay it, and the lands are thrown out of cultivation more and more every day. The landlords must hare their interest, or'they aretuined. Russia's resources are becoming less and less every day. In corn she is undersold by the United States, and this is her great staple. Manufactures have not succeeded with her, nor are her mines asource of wealth that can be counted in. the balance-sheet of a great empire. The bondholders congratulate themselves on her having made railways, but these railway ci are but lines for military purposes, and if she had a whole network of rails, what good would it do her ?~ It would not make her beat the Americans in; the com - market; it would not make ' a sterile ' country fertile; it would not i make drunken, discontented peasants happy and industrious. Russia- has come to the length of her financial'tether. In peace she can only ,pay her way by borrowing, and everyone knows what that means. In War what could she do.?, Supposing there to be war, all the consequences of restricted exports, no markets, increased taxes, above all, increased conscription, even if she had command of the seaboard, - would increase her financial distress a hundred fold,, and, as she.-has not command of the seaboard, her position would be desperate indeed. - Conjectures (writes the Times) may be multiplied indefinitely, but a discussion, to be practical and satisfactory, must proceed on the assumption that the future will be determined by those conditions of the present which are now patent' to all. The Russian Emperor has declared that he. will obtain guarantees for the goo<J ; , government of the - Christians in , the Turkish provinces, and he has- advanced . a quarter of a million of men fo thel frontier. That is a fact which cannot be set „->-- aside by arguments as to the resources oi^y the Russian Empire, the temper of tbe^r people, or policy of neighboring Governments. "When enormous,, war preparations have been made and still . continue, it is .safest to conclude that ' Eussia has the strength to carry on what she has begun. ( < ,"' ,

Chacun, Potw Soi.«i-OLady'*:inaid£ &I?f beg pardon, ma'am; but your*'dress; ii>~ trailling--hadn't I better loop it up before v you go out?" Lady: ''No,; thinltti^ Parker, I prefer letting it trMli™isjit's~tKe■', fashion just now—--*-" Lady's-maidY'} " Yes, ma'am—but as the dress is to be '' t mine some day, I think I ought to' hare J some say ia the matter! " —Punch. _ll.„'„'. Popuiae Bkmedy.--The Texas, whisky ii considered a sovereign remedy for au ;, kinds of snake bites. And when' a iflan;;' in that state fell off a house the other day, breaking four ribs and raising a lump on " his head as large as a mock orange, he insisted for two hours after recovering consciousness that, he had been bitten by _. a rattlesnake.—Norristown Herald.

A woman in the West, under sentence of death for murder, has only one request to make. She wants the shades of her dress to match that of the rope. A " corded" silk would be appro* pnate.