30 Mr. John Horner on 



people who would prefer to see Asia ruled by Russia to Asia 

 dominated by ideas and sentiments such as they had seen put to 

 the test in the case of Japan. He had been very much interested 

 in the latter part of the paper, in which Mr. Horner had described 

 to them so vividly and accurately the internal economy of Russia ; 

 and, although many of them differed from the lecturer, they were 

 indebted to him for the mass of information he had placed before 

 them, and for the pains he had taken to give it to them in a 

 manner so succinct and interesting. 



Mr. William Armstrong asked if it was not the case that the 

 import duty in Russia was heavier than in Japan. 



Mr. Seaton F. Milligan said Mr. Horner had not dealt with a 

 subject which he expected to gain some information upon ; that 

 was as to the system of bribery and corruption which was so 

 flagrant in Russia. He believed the Japanese would be a 

 Christian nation before the end of this generation, and that the 

 danger of the yellow peril referred to by Mr. Horner was not so 

 great as he represented. 



The Chairman regretted that Mr. Horner's paper had not 

 excited keener discussion. One would have thought it was only 

 necessary to mention the name of politics in this town to provoke 

 very keen discussion, and apparently they had fallen upon very 

 peaceful days. 



In replying, Mr. Horner said he had purposely made the paper 

 pro-Russian to evoke discussion. There was a feeling of an- 

 tagonism to Russia which he honestly believed was not a true one. 

 There was no question, he thought, that the Mongols despised the 

 European races. They had a religion, a philosophy, of their own 

 which was far older than theirs, and they looked upon it with so 

 much reverence that he very much feared that the next generation 

 would not see the Mongol races Christianised. Even the 

 civilisation which Japan had copied showed that that country was 

 open to adopt what she might consider right for her best interests, 

 but she had not copied their philosophy or religion. Mr. Arm- 

 strong had asked regarding the duty versus Russia and Japan. 



