INFLUENCES OF RIGOROUS WINTERS. 31 



cattle and other domestic stock, extremely rigorous 

 winters do not seem to place a bar upon the rapid 

 progress of a country, as the history of Canada, and 

 especially of Manitoba, conclusively shows. Neverthe- 

 less the slow progress of Russia proves the unfavour- 

 able influence which the sealing up of the great rivers 

 and ports by ice, for several months in each year, is 

 sure to exercise. Here we find a gigantic population, to- 

 gether with enormous resources, in their surplus products 

 of grain, horses, cattle, etc., etc. and an explanation, 

 in a nutshell, as it were, of the aggressive character 

 of Russian policy. Her statesmen are aware of this; 

 the weak point in the position of Russia is the inse- 

 curity of her lines of communication with the ocean: 

 and the consequence is, they are never at rest; but 

 are constantly endeavouring to break through this iron 

 girdle of frost, and of confined outlets to the open sea, 

 which is strangling the commercial prospects of their 

 country. Aggression against Turkey has thus always 

 formed part of the policy of Russia, in the hope of 

 obtaining command of the Bosphorus. It therefore 

 becomes a question whether public policy does not 

 point to the admission of Russia to the free navigation 

 of the seas, like other nations occupying more favour- 

 able geographical positions. 



It would be easy to go on to show, did time and 

 space admit of it, that the moral and intellectual progress 

 of nations is no less dependent upon climate, than is 

 the vegetation, and the produce of the soil. 



Man in his highest condition of mental and physical 

 advancement seems to be unfitted for continued resi- 

 dence under the influence of either excessive heat or 

 cold, without the vigour of the race being impaired. 



