372 E^SUM]^. 



in every way that necessarily they must get the best 

 of the day in any question that may arise to disturb 

 peaceful relations. China is only now, and very 

 slowly, beginning to break the skin of her chrysalis ; 

 when developed, it will be very different. The 

 very idea of their numbers is astonishing. A nation 

 mustering three hundred million, all of pigtail renown, 

 is a serious thought. Combined and well governed, 

 and taught rightly the art of war, Kussia's constant 

 encroachments would be heard of no more. Since I 

 have known the East, Eussia has gained two extensive 

 acquisitions to her territory ; from the Amoor she has 

 come down to the forty-second parallel, representing a 

 coast line of five hundred mUes, with a width of one . 

 hundred and twenty. The forty-second parallel brings 

 her to the borders of Korea. Along this extensive 

 stretch of coast there are excellent harbours, but not 

 one which is free from ice during the winter ; the most 

 southern, Vladivostok, is not open to navigation until 

 the end of April. Then she has also acquii'ed the 

 remaining southern half of Saghalien, the northern part 

 of the island having previously been in her possession, 

 but here again there is no harbour. It is unlikely, 

 almost impossible, as I have elsewhere said, for her to 

 stop adding, by hook or by crook, to her already great 



