248 HEIIEDITY. 



the Bosphorus. But I am willing to admit that the 

 commercial front of Asia and of Europe may ulti- 

 mately take up its position, not on the coasts of 

 China or India, not on the shores of France or Eng- 

 land, but on the waters of Constantinople. 



The lesser is becoming a greater question of the 

 East. Whatever may be thought of details in the 

 Eastern problem, no one can deny that it is likely 

 to assume Asiatic proportions. Finally the bounda- 

 ries of the English and the Russian possessions in 

 Asia will touch each other. The petty states be- 

 tween British India and the great Russian Empire 

 will melt away. There is now between the two 

 nothing that deserves to be called an independent 

 territory. Already Russia is occupying a Chinese 

 province on pretext that the Celestial Empire can- 

 not keep order, and prevent her citizens from outra- 

 ging Russians. She has occupied Saghalien close to 

 Japan, and once belonging to the Japanese Empire. 

 She appears to be outwitting England at this moment 

 [applause] in one of the boldest games ever played 

 in history for the possession of a position which she 

 covets more than any other on the planet. [Ap- 

 plause.] 



Americans are by no means outside the range of 

 complications that may arise in Asia. Who is there 

 here that is not proud of our American colleges at 

 Beirut and on the Bosphorus ? Who does not know 

 that if the tide of influence be turned from Europe 

 toward Asia, instead of from Asia toward Europe, 

 inside the domain of what has been called Turkey, 



