ART. II. THE WAR IN THE EAST.

Ir has long been evident that the aggressive force of Mohammedanism is spent, and that in offensive war the individual bravery and tumultuous attacks of its followers can no longer make head against the military science and discipline of modern Europe. For years the Turk has been regarded as a "sick man," on the bed of death; and it is a common belief that the slow process of dissolution has been unduly prolonged by the anxious care of those who think less of the fate of the invalid than of the disposition to be made of the ample possessions of the intestate. When Mohammed II. captured Constantinople, the spirit of the Crusades had disappeared, and the strength of Europe was so far away, and so fully occupied with other affairs, that no effectual and combined resistance was opposed to the victorious progress of the Osmanli. When Sobieski routed the army of Cara Mustapha under the walls of Vienna, the tide turned, and, although occasionally illuminated by brilliant victories, the path of the Turk has since then been backward towards the Bosphorus. Early in the eighteenth century a new Power appeared upon the stage. Soon after the battle of Pultawa Russia became involved in a war with Turkey, the result of which was not favorable to the former. A few years later war again broke out, and from that time forth wars succeeded each other in rapid succession, the result being a gradual, but quite constant extension of the Russian territory towards Constantinople.

Finally, at the close of the war of 1828 and 1829, Russia had extended her frontier to the Pruth and Lower Danube, and had gained the entire northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea, as far as Fort St. Nicholas, not many miles north of the mouth of the Tschorock. The main results of the Crimean War were to throw back her frontier from the Lower Danube, and the destruction of her naval power on the Black Sea. Within a century Russia has advanced her frontiers some four hundred and fifty miles towards Constantinople, about eight hundred and fifty miles towards Ber

lin and Vienna, and about a thousand miles nearer to India and Persia.

Amidst the vicissitudes through which Europe has passed since the fall of the first Napoleon the attention of her statesmen has been turned towards the East with ever-increasing anxiety and apprehension. Through the mists of diplomacy and the smoke of battles there has loomed upon the gaze of Western Europe the form of a mighty colossus on her eastern borders. The terse prophecy of the Great Napoleon, that in fifty years Europe would be either Republican or Cossack, has seldom been absent from the thoughts of those who governed her. The existence and growth of the Cossack colossus were evident enough; the question has been, "Are its feet of clay or of brass?" It is probable that prior to the war of 1828 the strength of Russia was overrated, while there was certainly a full appreciation of the baneful effects of her possible preponderance in the family of nations. Since the treaty of Adrianople the tendency of public opinion appears to have been to underrate Russia's force; and since the treaty of Paris, not to give sufficient weight to the internal changes which are modifying the whole law of her being, and must eventually alter her relations with the rest of the world.

The Russian troops of to-day differ widely in number and efficiency from those who crossed the Balkan with Diebitsch, or assaulted Akhaltzik under Paskévitch, or even from those who fought in the Crimea. Of late years every effort has been made to raise the tone and increase the efficiency of the Russian army with what result we shall soon know. The emancipation of serfs and the introduction of universal liability to milita are immense strides in the path of progress; and h measure the power or predict the influence of

quarter must now take into account these

with all their direct and indirect results

ality of action, etc. It may still be
Republican or Cossack; but it is no
time of Napoleon who has chang
well, and from the ignorant a
becoming an intelligent ar
and surely advancing 1

Those who dread and those who desire the growth of Russian influence must alike remember that the Russia of the future will be a very different nation from the Russia of the past or of to-day. Even when under the sternest despotism, Russia has always possessed some germs of free institutions and of representative government; as, for example, in the government of villages in civil life. and in that singular military institution known as the Artel. So, also, in the well-known words of one of her nobles, who, drawing a poniard from his belt, exclaimed, " This is the constitution of Russia!" she has ever had a constitution, such as it was. It is clear enough that, as the children of the former serfs become educated and civilized by contact with the world, a real constitution — in the true sense of the word-must erelong be given to or seized by them. The serfs were not of an inferior race, but were capable of improvement and civilization, and the doubt is not as to whether Russia will eventually receive a constitutional government, but only as to the means by which that end is to be reached, whether by quiet and gradual methods, or through violence, and the horrible upheavals of socialism and communism. Should the successors of the present Emperor display the same excellent qualities that he has, there can be little doubt that the great end will be reached without convulsion.

There are vast differences between the inhabitants of the three great divisions of the Old World. The habits, intellect, religious sentiments, the civilization of Europe are totally unlike those of Asia, while the Africans are entirely different from and vastly inferior to both the others. As in nature sharp lines of demarcation are rarely found, but widely differing objects are usually connected by intermediate types, blending into each other by imperceptible degrees, so it happens that Russia is the connecting link between Europe and Asia. Possessing many of the qualities of Europeans, and an aptitude for their civilization, the Russians have at the same time many Asiatic characteristics, and possess a peculiar facility for conquering and assimilating to themselves the purely Asiatic countries. They have much of that Asiatic mystery and finesse which prompts them to veil their movements and designs in a secrecy which stimulates the curiosity of interested observers, while it often leads them to exaggerated conclusions as to the power and designs of this modern sphinx.