1875.]

Despatches on St. Petersburg Conference. [285

CHAPTER V.

RUSSIA.-Notes about St. Petersburg Conference-Expedition in Central AsiaAnnexation of Khokand-Saghalien-Russian Ironclads-Church MovementUniversities-Socialism-Dr. Strousberg's Bankruptcy-Eastern Question-Suez Canal-Emperor's speech.

PERSIA. Unprosperous Condition of Country.

CHINA.-Death of Emperor-Embroilment with British Government.

JAPAN.-Reforms.

UNITED STATES.-Louisiana State conflict-Action of Congress-Rejection of CanadaReciprocity Treaty-President Grant on Specie Payments-Civil Rights Bill and Force Bill-End of Forty-third Congress-Preparations for next Presidential Election-Autumn State Election-Governor Tilden-" Canal" and "Whisky" Rings-" Boss Tweed"-W. Ralston of San Francisco-Bunker's Hill Centenary-Deaths of ex-President Johnson and Vice-President Wilson-Opening of Forty-fourth Congress -President's Message Church Question - Currency Question-Summary of Year's Events.

MEXICO.-Disturbances.

SOUTH AMERICA.-Earthquakes.

BRAZIL.-Emperor's Speech-Religious Warfare.

ECUADOR.-Assassination of President.

MISCELLANEOUS SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS.

RUSSIA.

THE proposal of the Russian Government to the other nations of Europe to follow up the tentative Conference of 1874 at Brussels on the usages of war, by a formal Conference at St. Petersburg for the purpose of ruling practice on the points at issue, met with a decided refusal from England; Lord Derby, in a despatch of the 20th of January 1875, declining to enter into any agreement which might facilitate aggressive wars, and be an obstacle to the patriotic resistance of the parties attacked. The position which England thus took up in face of Russia, and especially of the Emperor Alexander, the real initiator and energetic promoter of the scheme, caused no little sensation at St. Petersburg. From the beginning Russia had protested against this interpretation, as if her object was anything else but to further a work of humanity; while England now declared, in tolerably plain language, that the projected Code of War was likely to favour the strongest party, and to facilitate aggressive wars. The Cologne Gazette observed that England had thereby placed herself at the head of the second-rate Powers, which looked with mistrust on the Russian proposal. "She fears," added the Gazette," that the great military Powers, which as a rule would be the aggressors, wish to weaken the defensive forces of the smaller States by the understanding to be arrived at; but we think that this mistrust is carried too far. It is known that the philanthropic Emperor Alexander II. has started this question. He wishes to

diminish the horrors of war by obtaining a recognition of certain fixed rules for the guidance of belligerents. The mistrust above referred to might be justifiable if it were really intended to introduce new regulations. But what is chiefly aimed at is a codification of the practices which are already in use among civilized nations, and there can hardly, therefore, be any ground for the suspicion that Russia and the other great Powers of the Continent have any hidden political motive in continuing the negotiations. Germany and Austria have the strongest desire to meet the wishes of Russia in this matter, and if not much will be attained, it is to be hoped that something at least will be done in the cause of humanity. No one would wish to deny that England is free to decide whether she will give her concurrence to the ultimate results of the Conference or not; but her refusal to participate in it shows that she is ill-disposed towards it. It cannot be said that England's conduct is entirely devoid of fear; and, moreover, she seems to be secretly anxious lest naval warfare, which at the first Conference was expressly excluded from the deliberations, should on this occasion be included among the subjects of discussion, and be regulated in a manner which might be disagreeable to a Power that formerly ruled the seas."

The smaller States, at all events, were willing enough to follow the lead of England, in this matter, and for the present the scheme of the St. Petersburg Conference had to be postponed. Prince Gortschakoff's reply to Lord Derby's despatch was couched in moderate terms; it will be found at full length in our Appendix. On the 20th of May, however, he issued a fresh Circular, stating that the object of the Conference would not be the conclusion of a formal treaty, and that the invitations would be sent out as soon as all the Governments should have replied to the Note of the previous September.

The tidings of an expedition which started in May from Krasnovodsk, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, for the purpose of exploring the old bed of the Oxus from that point to the Khivan frontier, caused some uneasiness in the breasts of British Russophobists. The expedition was accompanied by a band of scientific men, but its objects were undoubtedly in the main political, and had in view to ascertain whether a waterway could be made between the Caspian Sea and the sea of Aral, as well as to secure the occupation of Merv which is within a few days' march of the Afghan frontier, and only a few days more of Herat, sometimes called the "key of India." The expedition, which was under the command of General Lamakine, did not, however, prove successful, and eventually had to turn round and retrace its steps towards the Caspian.

A warlike campaign in Khokand had better results. There a rebellion of the Mussulmans broke out in the summer against the Khan, who had been reduced to being practically a vassal of Russia, and he had to fly his dominions. Yakoob Khan, the

Ameer of Kashgar, helped to stir up the revolt. The Russian troops marched to the disturbed districts, and for a time tranquillity seemed to be restored, but a few weeks afterwards the disturbance broke out again. General Kaufmann, who commanded the Russian forces, gained a signal victory, and formal annexation to the Muscovite Empire of all Khok and north of the Sir Darya was the result. Khokand south of the Sir Darya was still left nominally, but only nominally, independent.

In another direction the borders of the Russian dominion were slightly altered. In the autumn a courier arrived at St. Petersburg from Japan with the news that the treaty for the cession to Russia of the island of Saghalien, in exchange for the Kurile islands, had been signed at Yokohama by the Russian and Japanese plenipotentiaries. Immediately after the ratification of the treaty, a RussoJapanese Commission proceeded to Saghalien on board the Russian ship-of-war "Wsadnik," and another to the Kurile islands on board the Japanese steamer "Hokio-Matchi," in order to place the two States in possession of their new territories. The negotiations between Russia and Japan in regard to this exchange had been going on for some time, and the delay was attributed at St. Petersburg to English intrigue. Russia will convert her new possession, it is said, into a great naval station, and make penal settlements in the interior which are to take the place of those now in Siberia; while Japan, by the acquisition of the Kurile islands, rounds off her territory on the north and obtains in the rich fisheries of the neighbouring waters an inexhaustible supply of the chief article of food consumed by her population.

The new Russian circular ironclads, two of which have lately been completed and launched, have attracted great attention among students of naval affairs. The English Member of Parliament, Mr. E. J. Reid, who witnessed the launch of one of these from St. Petersburg, says of them :-"The second circular ironclad was launched to-day at noon with great success. She was named the Admiral Popoff,' after her distinguished designer, by the express and spontaneous desire of His Majesty the Czar, which is in itself a significant indication of the manner in which naval design and naval effort are fostered by the Crown in this country. The Novgorod' is 101 feet in diameter and of 2,491 tons; the 'Admiral Popoff' is 120 feet in diameter and of 3,550 tons. The armour of the Novgorod' is about equivalent to 13-inch plating; that of the Admiral Popoff' to about 18 inches. The horsepower of the former vessel is 480 nominal, and of the latter 640. Each has six screw propellers, but in the latter vessel two of them are of much larger diameter than the others, and have their shafts situated lower down, so that in deep water these screws will sweep through the water much below the bottom of the vessel, while in shallow water they will be kept at rest in a position which keeps them above the keels. The deck is on each ship plated with 2-inch armour and has great curvature, so that although the

nominal freeboard is in each case not more than about eighteen inches to the top of the side armour, the actual surplus buoyancy is far greater than this would indicate. This is the first armourplated ship afloat carrying armour of eighteen inches, and intended for guns of forty tons (more exactly, of forty-one and a half tons)."

Sunday, the 24th of January, witnessed a curious event in the Ecclesiastical annals of Russia. At Sedletz, in Poland, the ceremony was performed of admitting 50,000 "United Greeks," or as they called themselves, Catholics of the Oriental rite, from the Communion of the Church of Rome into that of the RussianGreek Church.

The Government acted at first with considerable reserve and circumspection in the matter. They gave no encouragement to the first petitions sent in to them, and strict orders seem to have been issued to the officials to take as little notice as possible of the agitation. It was also necessary to watch with care the effect this movement might have had on the Roman Catholic part of the population of Poland. The latter, however, remained perfectly quiet; and when the Government became convinced that the movement was entirely spontaneous, steps were taken to accede to the wishes expressed in the petitions. The Emperor accordingly authorized the Governor-General of Warsaw to acquaint the petitioners that their admission into the Russian Church had been approved by him.

The intended foundation of a University at Tomsk, one of the chief towns of Siberia, is one of the signs of progress in the Russian Empire. The new establishment is to have only two faculties, one of law and the other of medicine. The want of doctors in Siberia may be inferred from the fact that there are only fifty-five of them in a country which is as large as the whole of Europe, and whose population amounts to more than 6,000,000 inhabitants. The Minister of Finance has granted a credit of 40,000l. on the revenue of the State for the new establishment, which will raise the number of Russian Universities to eight, seven others being already in existence-viz., St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiew, Kazan, Kharkow, Odessa, Warsaw, besides two foreign Universities-a German one in Dorpat and a Swedish one in Helsingfors. A new University is also to be established in Vilna.

The Socialists and Nihilists of Russia gave some uneasiness to Government. It was reported early in the year that numerous arrests were being made; that in Lithuania 180 persons accused of Socialistic opinions had been imprisoned, the number including a large proportion of Jews, who were said to have assisted in circulating Socialist and Nihilist proclamations and pamphlets. All over the Empire the Socialist propaganda, instigated by the Russian emigrants abroad, was said to be largely on the increase. An Imperial rescript had been issued to the nobility, calling attention to the prevalence of these dangerous ideas, stating "the entire

empire to be sapped by Socialism," and exhorting the nobles to come to the Government's assistance in its struggle with the revolutionary party. Moreover, Count Pahlen, the Minister of Justice, issued an official proclamation dealing with the same subject, in which he stated that, notwithstanding this department had brought the fullest rigour of the law to bear upon Socialists and Communists wherever they had been found, still the "most criminal propaganda, threatening alike religion, morality, and property," had struck such deep root in the population that legal measures alone no longer sufficed for its eradication. Even persons of official station, the Minister said, whose first duty should be to combat the dangerous creed, had secretly adopted it. He consequently called upon "all well-disposed social elements" to unite in determined resistance to this dangerous foe.

A few weeks later the Minister of Public Instruction issued a circular to the heads of universities and schools, directing their attention to the evil within their walls. Communistic propaganda, he said, was being actively carried on among the students and pupils of the various schools throughout the Russian Empire. He stated that the movement had extended to more than thirty-seven Russian provinces, and that judicial inquiry had led to the discovery that in several provinces parents were the principal instigators. He quoted the following passage from a Note addressed to him by the Minister of Justice :-"The rapid progress of the propaganda may be attributed, first, to the fact that the activity of the agitators did not meet with any sufficient check from society, which, without realizing the importance and aim of these criminal tendencies, regarded them with apathy and sometimes even with sympathy; and secondly, that the young persons who constitute the main body of the propagandists do not meet with any resistance from the men among whom they live and grow." The Government received information from the police that the fires which were now of such frequent occurrence in Russia were the work of the revolutionary party. Several arrests took place at Minsk, as the result of this discovery.

The bankruptcy of the great railway contractor, Dr. or M. Strousberg, on the 25th of October, shook the money market severely, not only at St. Petersburg, but in most of the capitals of Europe. Strousberg, who was of Jewish origin, "had risen so fast" (to use the words of a contemporary journalist), "and speculated so audaciously, that he had never been a particular favourite in a country where fortunes are slowly made, and wealth is the result of the accumulated industry of successive generations rather than the reward of temerity and intelligence combined. The unfavourable feeling increased in proportion to the embarrassments of the spirited adventurer. As we now know, from the report officially returned by the administrator of his estate, Strousberg was grievously shaken by the war of 1870. With a large fortune rapidly amassed, the war found him engaged in

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