ristian brethren
of Russia for protection.

It is so essential to the advancing civilization of Russia that she
should possess a maritime port which may give her access to commerce,
that it is not easy for us to withhold our sympathies from her in her
endeavor to open a gateway to and from her vast territories through
the Dardanelles. When France, England and Turkey combined to batter
down Sevastopol and burn the Russian fleet, that Russia might still be
barred up in her northern wilds by Turkish forts, there was an
instinct in the American heart which caused the sympathies of this
country to flow in favor of Russia, notwithstanding all the eloquent
pleadings of the French and English press.

The cabinet of St. James regards these encroachments of Russia with
great apprehension. The view England takes of the subject may be seen
in the following extracts from the _Quarterly Review_:

"The possession of the Dardanelles would give to Russia the means of
creating and organizing an almost unlimited marine. It would enable
her to prepare in the Black Sea an armament of any extent, without its
being possible for any power in Europe to interrupt her proceedings,
or even to watch or discover her designs. Our naval officers, of the
highest authority, have declared that an effective blockade of the
Dardanelles can not be maintained throughout the year. Even supposing
we could maintain permanently in those seas a fleet capable of
encountering that of Russia, it is obvious that, in the event of a
war, it would be in the power of Russia to throw the whole weight of
her disposable forces on any point in the Mediterranean, without any
probability of our being able to prevent it, and that the power of
thus issuing forth with an overwhelming force, at any moment, would
enable her to command the Mediterranean Sea for a limited time
whenever it might please her so to do. Her whole southern empire would
be defended by a single impregnable fortress. The road to India would
then be open to her, with all Asia at her back. The finest materials
in the world for an army destined to serve in the East would be at her
disposal. Our power to overawe her in Europe would be gone, and by
even a demonstration against India she could augment our national
expenditure by many millions annually, and render the government of
that country difficult beyond all calculation."

Such is the view which England takes of this subject. The statesmen
of England and