Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1901 — Russia Never Wavers. [ARTICLE]

Russia Never Wavers.

At present, with disavowals by Russia as to any intention of permanent occupation of Manchuria, It 1s somewhat difficult to understand just why there should be all this bother about the Manchurian convention, which China, backed by Japan, refuses to sign. A little light, however, may be thrown upon the subject by considering Russa’s general policy in the extension of her Asiatic empire. When that is considered, it will be seen that her final absorption of Manchuria and Liaotung and the establishment at least of a protectorate over the whole of Mongolia, Sungaria and eastern Turkestan —in other words, of nearly half the Chinese empire—seems a forethis consummation, and Russian diplomacy for years has been advancing to this consummation, and Russian diplomats, once determined upon a course of policy, sever waver. They may be temporarily repulsed, but they bide their time, and, in the end, generally succeed. An instance in point was the request some years ago to establish a consulate at Bombay. England, not desiring to give Russia such a vantage point for secret intelligence as to her Indian empire, refused as courteously as she could on the grounds that Russian trade did not require such a concession. This, however, was not the end of the matter. Year after year, whenever circumstances seemed to favor, the request was renewed, and recently it has been granted and Russia has won her point.