The Russians seem to be still casting about for means
of worrying the authors of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty. Their Ambassador in Pekin has, it is said, suggested that Thibet should be declared independent, obviously as a blow to Great Britain. The lofty plateau contains only five millions of people, with small means of defence, and is so situated that its freedom from European control is of vital importance to British India. Bengal Proper would hardly be tenable with a European army cantoned above its eastern frontier. The Navosti, too, publishes articles intended to show that, if Russia is cut off from the Pacific, she must force a way to the water through Afghanistan and Beloochistan. The writer does not know his subject very well, for he says Afghanistan could be conquered by a few regiments of Cossacks ; but it is his temper, not his information, which is of importance. The Russians, and not unnaturally, are clearly writhing under the Treaty, which they think is intended to keep them from their natural outlet.
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