Can her forms of government awaken any envy in Asiatic races? The corruptibility of the placemen, their tyrannical and arbitrary conduct under Nicholas, the mass of more than fifty million peasants who occupied the lowest of all positions beside the caste of placemen and nobles,--all this really is not particularly alluring for those among whom the wildest autocratic institutions are yet combined with patriarchal mildness.
Yes, it is hard, not only at present, but even in the distant future, to discover in Russia's craving for conquests the prospect of a profitable change in the social life of the Asiatic peoples, a change in the direction of European ideas. If we ask ourselves what has become of the Tartars, who for more than two hundred years have dwelt under Russian protection; what of the great number of Siberian tribes,--such as Bashkirs, Voguls, Tzeremisses, Votjaks,--which have been or are on the point of being absorbed into the Russian nation, must we not everywhere regard the Russianising as the chief result?
Russianising is naturally a step from Asia towards Europe, as the government of an Alexander II., so far as it has gone, may even be called a turning-point: and yet who will blame us, if to this wearisome process, whose results seem always doubtful, we prefer the English scheme of civilisation, which has at this moment such splendid and surprising results to show in India, and wherever else it deals with Asiatics?
That the peoples of broad India, of the land which has been the cradle and the fountain-head of that Asiatic civilisation which we show up and fight against as unfit to live, hold very persistently to their old usages, to their own ways of thinking, no one will dispute; and yet how great a change has come over India, even since the beginning of the last century! Methinks, even the worst enemies of Great Britain will be unable to deny that the caste-system of the Hindoos and their many inhuman customs have suffered a mighty blow from English influence. No one can deny that these wild Asiatics, in spite of all their stiff-necked bearing, are advancing with wonderful strides on the path of our civilisation. We find at this moment in India a great number of people thoroughly convinced of the blessed influence of their conqueror: numerous schools and institutions spread the light of the new world abroad through all classes of the population. Not only are there many well versed in the English tongue; they also take an active part in our scientific discussions, are enrolled as members of learned European societies, and sometimes even take up the pen to emulate the writers of the West. Rajah Radakant Deb Bahádur, Maharajah Kali Krishna Bahadur, Baboo Rayendra Lala Mitra, a good many pundits (priests), and other learned gentlemen, may be found on the list of French, German, and Anglo-Asiatic societies, and are known in distinguished circles by their works. Strong in their own sense of nationality, the Hindoos are now better acquainted with their language, history and philosophy, than ever they were in the days of their inland princes. Societies are formed, as in England, for the extirpation of certain prejudices, for doing away with so many shameful habits and customs, for the advancement of social intercourse; and if we consider how much the reading world increases day by day, how large a circle has been procured from among the natives for such Hindustani papers as the _Hirkara Bengála_ ("Bengal Messenger"), the _Suheili Panjábi_ ("Punjaub Star"), the _Audh Akbar_ ("Oudh News"), _Khairkah Panjábi_ ("Punjaub Wellwisher"), and how greatly the press is rising day by day into a powerful factor of Europeanism, we shall be obliged to own that England's subject races stand, in respect of culture, not only above their yoke-fellows in Russia, but even above many of the Russians themselves.