300 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY. 



Amur,^ and of the ice-bound terminus of Vladivostok, 

 and watched events in interested anticipation. Nor 

 were they disappointed at the sequel. For before 

 very long Kussia sprung upon the world one of those 

 masterpieces of diplomacy which she alone is capable 

 of perpetrating. The line did not pass through the 

 Amur region at all, but ran along through a much 

 easier country belonging to Russia's neighbour, and 

 in addition to linking up Vladivostok with Moscow, 

 forged its way to the south through another man's 

 land till it reached Port Arthur, a terminus in far 

 warmer water than Vladivostok, and possessing a 

 situation conveniently adjacent to the capital of the 

 Celestial Empire and seat of political activity in the 

 Far East. 



British diplomacy, it is true, for once rose to the 

 occasion, and secured for Great Britain the lease of 

 Wei-hai-Wei, a harbour which, as a matter of fact, 

 completely commands Port Arthur ; but the advantage 

 thus obtained was hastily and gratuitously thrown 

 away when it was made known that it had been 

 decided not to fortify it, and the sole advantage which 

 we now reap from our position is that in occupying it 

 ourselves we prevent any one else more aggressively 



1 I am not personally acquainted with the region through which such a 

 line would have had to pass, but it is admitted on all sides that the Amur 

 section could of itself have had no value, and would consequently be looked 

 upon merely as a necessity for completing the communication between 

 Stretensk and Khabarofsk. The position is put plainly by Vladimir in 

 his ' Russia on the Pacific,' when he says : " Here we have about 2000 

 versts to be constructed through dense forests, across big rivers, often 

 away from all population, under rigorous climatic conditions, with a frozen 

 soil requiring to be laboriously broken up. Moreover, the local conditions 

 do not warrant the heavy expenses necessary for the work ; the population 

 of the Amur province amounts only to 115,000 inhabitants, and the country 

 is mostly uncultivated ; many years must pass before the trade of the 

 people, all living on the banks of the river, and already provided with 

 regular steamer service, will require a railway." 



