A RUSSIAN BOGY.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 818, 13 September 1877, Page 3

A RUSSIAN BOGY.

A good many, Englishmen will be astonished to heaiv.on the authority of Mr Vernadsky, a Russian writer on politioal economy, that tjje English power constitutes a danger to all Europe. We have been so much accustomed to hear of England's interests being imperilled by the ambition of other States, that tbe notion of England . herself being a menace to her neighbours has a certain freshness . ajbtiut it. It takes one by surpiisel But Mr Vernadsky seems to mean what he says. ,His volume is entitled" "The European Equilibrium and England ;" the profits from its sale are to be devoted to the benefit of the Soutb Sclavonians. and its object is to show that England, with peace on her lips, has war m ber heart, that m some part of the world she is always fighting, that she made her Empire by a free use of the sword, and that having created it unjustly, so she governs it unjustly, and solely with a view to the interests of Englishmen. The true emblem of England is, says Mr Vernadpky, the spider ; a^d feer colons $$ foreign psgeg*

sions have been caughtasin a spider's web. . _' TlsmV, Si»^- Xh^beginiiiisg of .the 18th century, she has taken Gibr&tar frbm Spain, danada and many islands in.the West Indies and, territories m the East Indies from France, Heligoland from thevJDanes, and. so on ; she has acquired Malta, her' Australian colonies, her Afrjcan settlements, and an Empire m India iVhabifed*by 150 thillions, ' or twice the; population of Russia, and four limes that of France. As regards 'jjere extent of territory the jßritish -Empire, is greater than the Empire of Russia ; and Mr Vernadsky takes i great, pains to show that the number of subjects not of English - race who are governed by Englishmen is un* reasonably great. "In Russia,", says Mr .Vernadsky, " less than a quarter of the population belong to the conquered races. Even m Austria the dominant race includes two-thirds of the. population, but m the British Empire the proportion of subject races to the ruling race is only half what at is m Austria , so that one hundred and ninety-six millions of various nationalities find themselves obliged to bear a foreign yoke m favour of nineteen millions vtf" elect. "What other Power," asks Mr Vernadsky, "can present so long a iist Of races bent beneath its domination ? Celts, Germans, Greeks, Turks, Butch, Negroes, Chinese,", &c, every shade of the human skin, is }x> be found among the subjects Of Queen Victoria. In her possessions the sun never sets, and the whole world m arms against her inspires her with no fear. What more can she want?" Mr Vernadsky thinks that England ought to be destroyed, and that, m the first place, it would be a good idea to take her Australian colonies from he*. This, however, 'would not inflict upon her any irreparable harm, the English Empire having been so put together that a piece of it, here and there, may be lost without much injuring the parent, country. England hersejf, then, ought to be c attacked, by means of a Continental blockade such as .Napoleon X established, by. diplomatic combinations, and by direct war; Mr Vernadsky's volume is attracting some attention;, and it deserves notice, if only as an indication of the kind of sentiments -which the Sclavonians profess towards England,