Littell's Living Age/Volume 127/Issue 1641/Miscellany

The cession of Saghalien to Russia by Japan, in exchange for the Kurile Isles, now an accomplished fact, is commented on by the Japanese newspapers. The Japan Mail, admitting that the exchange of Saghalien for the Kurile Islands saves appearances, says there is nevertheless "something unpleasant about the incessant encroachment of a neighbour who possesses in that perfection which only comes of long practice the art of swallowing up everything in its proximity;" and it gives a story in illustration: "A little boy at a fair was wondering at the huge bulk of an elephant, whose intelligence was greatly praised by his keeper. To test this, the youth was told to place a coin in the trunk of the animal, and had the satisfaction of seeing it immediately deposited in a box placed at hand for the purpose. Delighted and satisfied with the exhibition, the boy requested that the elephant should now return him the coin, when the keeper replied that that part of the creature's education had not been pursued." It is fortunate in this instance that the coin was of no great value, either to the Japanese who lost, or to the Russians who gained it. It is chiefly instructive, however, as showing the irresistible tendency to territorial acquisition for which Russia is better known than liked in Asia; and the dexterous way in which the Japanese have been quietly edged out of their joint occupation, as completely as and with far less fracas than Austria in her joint occupancy of Sleswick-Holstein. A great deal of nonsense is often written about places commanding narrow seas, and of course Saghalien has been assumed to give Russia the command of the Japanese waters, besides extending her frontier towards Japan from the Chinese coast. But Colonel Veniukof, in his military survey of the Russian boundaries in Asia, gives a much more correct appreciation when he says that it is not of the slightest strategical importance, because, owing to the depth of the channel, it does not defend the mouths of the Amour; because it has not a single safe harbour; because its defence is impossible; and because, on account of its climate, it cannot produce grain enough to support the garrison and convicts which are to be assigned to it.