Untitled

RIVALRY OF THE EASTERN AND WESTERN RACES. 9
valley as far as the reindeer pastures of the Northern Tunguses. At present all the
region along the left bank, larger than the whole of France, forms an integral part
of Siberia. Lastly, the Mauchurian seaboard as far as the Corean frontier has
become Russian, and its southern ports, distant two days by steam from Japan,
stand on waters now known as the Gulf of Peter the Great, as if to remind the world
that the empire of the Czars is as aggressive in the east as in the west. At the
slightest diplomatic imbroglio, or whenever the dignity of Russia may require her
to make a military promenade in the Chinese waters, she may easily seize the most
convenient port on the Corean coast, and here found a naval arsenal still
more formidable than that of Vladivostok, commanding at once the entry to the Sea
of Japan, the mouth of the Yang-tze, and the inland Japanese waters. Notwith-
standing the financial embarrassment of the Government, the periodical famine and
droughts, and the abject misery of the masses, the resources of the State are still
disposed in such a way as to give her great power for aggressive purposes. Her
military strength, even 5,000 miles from the capital, is superior to that of
China and Japan in their own domain. In spite of its stockades and forts armed
with steel guns, I'ekin is probably as much at the mercy of Russia as it recently
was of the English and French allies. Its position is extremely exposed. So long
as it had nothing to fear except from Mongolian inroads or Ipcal revolts it held an
excellent strategical position near the fortified ranges protecting it from the north,
not far from the Great Canal whence it drew its supplies, and at no great distance
from the Manchu tribes, ever ready at the first signal to hasten to the succour of
their threatened fellow-countrymen. But the security of the empire may now be
menaced by far more formidable enemies than Mongolian nomads or Ta'iping
fanatics, and in case of a Russo-Chinese war the troops of the Czar would no doubt
land near the capital. Notwithstanding the recent military equipments and
improved discipline, the army of the " brave and ever victorious " could scarcely
hope for success so long as the State refuses to place a railway system at its service.
But this innovation may soon be introduced, while a change of system and well-
chosen alliances might also bring about a shifting of equilibrium in the respective
forces of the two empires.
RIVALRY OF THE EASTERN- AXD WESTERN RACES.
But whatever be the political and military destinies of China and Japan, the
concert of the Eastern and Western nations is henceforth an accomplished fact.
Through the interchange of produce, the travels of Europeans in the Mongolian
world, of Chinese and Japanese in Europe and America, and permanent migrations,
the various civilisations have been brought into mutual contact. What arms have
failed to do is being far more efficaciously accomplished by free commercial inter-
course; nor can further advances be any longer prevented by political frontiers,
diversity of speech, traditions, laws, and customs. While European quarters are
springing up in the cities of China and Japan, Chinese villages are appearing
in the l.'nited States, Peru, and Australia; and Chinese counting-houses have