The curiously instructive article under the above heading in the North American Review of July, 1899, written by Mr. Vladimir Holmstrem, provided an interesting sketch of the Russian view of the Far Eastern question as it affected the United States. It should be equally interesting to look at the same question from the opposite point of view of the Western merchant trading with China, and to trace, if we can, to what extent Russian political interests in the Far East are reconcilable with the commercial interests of the civilised Powers who now hold the largest stake in the trade of China.

Mr.Vladimir Holmstrem's appeal to the American people was fathered by an introduction from the pen of Prince E. Ookhtomsky, the eloquent annalist of the journey of the present Emperor of Russia, then the Czarewitch, through British India and Eastern Asia, seven years before. This short introduction is of special value to the student of Far Eastern politics of the present moment, for it indicates the basis upon which recent official action by Russia in China is avowedly founded, viz.: (1) the idea of autocracy; (2) the idea that the culture of the West leads to anarchy; (3) the idea that America must emancipate herself from England's political tutelage, and co-operate with Russia in China.