ed a suitable instrument for carrying out the work of
reconstruction. The sphere of selection is limited. England and Russia,
as far as can at present be foreseen, appear to be the only two Powers
whose mission or interest seems likely to impel their influence
Eastwards. Any idea that England will ever deliberately enter upon the
possession of even a part of Chinese territory may at once be dismissed
as unworthy to be entertained. Although her vast trade and world-wide
associations are perpetually landing her in perplexing complications
with Eastern tribes, complications, too, which at times, in despite of
herself, end in conquest or annexation, still her modern policy is
anything but aggressive; and if there be one collision which the English
people would be less inclined to tolerate than another, it would be that
of a little war entered upon for the mere purpose of territorial
acquisition or philanthropic reform. China, moreover, is no mere petty
principality like Abyssinia, Ashantee, or Afghanistan, that she had need
be liable to the risk of annihilation or annexation, even should she
again unhappily venture to take up arms against England on account of a
mere trade dispute. But with Russia the case is materially different.
An acquisitive policy has been traditional with her ever since Peter the
Great, with prophetic foresight, laid down the lines by which her future
conduct was to be guided; and political interest has none the less urged
her on to extend her possessions Asia-wards, and to secure as much
seaboard in any direction as will suit her ambitious designs. Conquests
in Asia, moreover, provide a convenient safety-valve for adventurous,
discontented, or unscrupulous spirits, who might occasion mischief at
home, and who cannot otherwise be readily disposed of; whilst they at
the same time have the effect of furnishing that outlet for a through
trade which has always been the Russian merchant's dream. Russia has
already, as is well known, rectified her frontier on the north and west
of China, seriously to the diminution of the area not so long ago
comprised by the latter, and, by a well-directed combination of courage
and craft, she has within the last twenty years succeeded in conquering
or annexing extensive and fertile tracts of country in Central Asia.
What more likely, therefore, than that, octopus-like, she should
continue to stretch out her huge tentacles further and further, until
they embrace some of the