THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. SATURDAY NOVEMBER 30, 1901.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 135, 30 November 1901, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. SATURDAY NOVEMBER 30, 1901.

In our lust issue was published a cable stating that a number ot Brttish commercial representatives will visit Russia in January to ascertain the progress of agriculture and the prospects of a meat supply- No doubt when these business men return we shall hear s great deal about the yet undeveloped resources of this great empire. It is strange to note the prevailing ignorance width exists in these colonies about Russia, its customs and its people. Probably distance in our case lends the reverse of enchantment to the view, 'but certain it is that the very name of Russi i conjures up visions of snow and ice, wolves and galloping sleigh horses, fur-robed police dragging miserable convicts to Siberia,and the knout, the whole governed and dominated by a monster in human form called the Czar. Of course these things ’exist (save the Czar of fiction, the reality being a mild, progressive man unable to advance on account of a corrupt officialdom), but they do not constitute the whole of the country, and would be recognised by but few Russians as forming any important part of it. Their European territory extends from the northern ice to semi-tropical Turkey,' and of course such a vaiied climate embraces all sorts and conditions of Russians. An English writer recently describing the Russian people finds that the mass of the people, although possessing many traitsof character as yet improperly cultivated, may w. 11 be the most resigned in Europe, for they are not the least fieoorthe least cheerful. They are very robust and healthy and, men and women alike, marked by an air of quiet strength, simplicity, frank honesty, and profound and unfailing good nature. There is no hint of servitude in their expression, and still less of any pining for freedom. The country is not, he says, free for the man who thinks for himself, but there are not many there who really think for themselves, and the ordinary Russian can exert himself freely within the circle of his own activities without meeting with any social or departmental fetters. After a fairly exhaustive treatise on the people, this writer proceeds to touch upon Russia’s political future, laying down as the first statement that the Russians have a special mission of civilisation — but in the East only. Russia has not yet attained the high standard of either Eastern or Western civilisation, but the elements of barbarism in her own life and ways, as well as the powerful Asiatic strain in her blood, mark her out for the task which naturally falls to her, and enable Russians to blend harmoniously with conquered peoples from whom British conquerors would bavtfbeen held aloof by disdain. The sphere of Russian influence and power must necessarily extend from Constantinople to the Pacific, ai\d from the Arctic to Afghanistan. At present she holds Asia in her hands, and ere the close of the present centuiy she will be universally acknowledged as the supreme Asiatic power. It is, however, scarcely likely that she will extend westward beyond Constantinople. Thus for Europeans the only direct route to the New World of the future is through Russia, and all our chief interests'in the New World will inevitably be placed in Russia’s hands, or else divided with the United States. And with the gradual development of the resources of this vast territory the storehouses of the world will bo more evenly distributed.