Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVI. Russia in the east. The yellow question
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
RUSSIA IN THE EAST
351
underestimated her neighbour across the sea on the
east. Japan had grown into a great Power ; not
merely an equal opponent, but by her purposeful ad
vance a threatening danger, greater perhaps than any
yet encountered by Russia. This in itself has entirely
changed the situation—and nevertheless other events
have occurred which to an attentive observer may be
fraught with even more important consequences in the
future—I allude to the recent revolutionary changes
in China. The modernization of that immense Empire,
which has now been accelerated by the revolution
and by the transformation of the empire into a nominal
republic, or in any case into a more modern form of
government—all this appears to involve far-reaching
possibilities in foreign politics ; China has abandoned
her former almost indifferent passiveness for a more
active rule, which in the future will certainly pursue
a more definite policy towards Europeans. Should
this be the case, and should China seriously embark
upon European methods of warfare in support of this
policy, like Japan, and perhaps in concert with her—
then no European Power, not even a Russia, will be
able to resist the Celestial Empire, with its hundreds
of millions of efficient inhabitants.
Great changes have thus tåken place in East Asia
since, over fifty years ago, Russia succeeded in ac
quiring her eastern provinces—the whole Amiir Dis
trict and the Ussiiri province as far as the border of
Korea—without striking a blow, merely by diplomatic
negotiations. A few sailors håving hoisted the Russian
flag at the mouth of the Amiir, the Tsar Nicholas was
able to confirm the incorporation of this territory
in his Empire in the words : " Where the Russian flag
has once waved, it shall never be hauled down again."
And to the new naval station and base of Russian power
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
