Future of Russia | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 4, 1883

Future of Russia.

THIS Turko-Egyptian embroilment is backed up by a history which must be understood in order to comprehend the significance of events and acts. Russia has not yet for one day taken her eye from St. Sophia and the Bosphorus. She means one day to have Constantinople for her winter capital. Nature has decreed it. The edict is published in the physical geography of Europe and Asia. Courts and capitals and diplomats may postpone the realization of that splendid dream for one decade or five. The Cossack stretches his imperial arm from the Baltic Sea across Asia to China, and from the Arctic Ocean down to Afghanistan, and almost to the shores of the Persian Gulf. Three hundred years ago he was as much of a barbarian in Europe as the Apache or Seminole is in America to-day. A half-dozen years ago the rattle of his artillery made half of Europe tremble with apprehension, and the Great Powers caught their breath lest he should break their balance of power forever by throwing his sword into the scale. He belongs to a virile and conquering race. The centuries are his allies. Francis Joseph is an old man, sitting on a throne made of mosaic, whose bits he holds together by his weight. Frederick William is tottering on the verge of the grave, and Bismarck is an invalid at the head of a Germany that endures them both with a sullen determination to be free. Great Britain has read the handwriting on her palace wall. If Russian statesmanship shall prove equal to the opportunity, he would be bold indeed who should challenge the prediction that the next Emperor of Russia will celebrate his coronation under the dome of St. Sophia.— N. Y. Star.