322 



NATURE 



[August 4, 1904 



palaeontolotjy depends almost entirely upon private 

 munificence for the means of research. The staff is 

 thus to be congratulated all the more on its remark- 

 able achievements in advancing this branch of science. 

 The collection it has mounted for public exhibition 

 is unique as an illustration of the facts of organic 

 evolution, and the specimens themselves have never 

 been surpassed as examples of skilled collecting and 

 preparation. A. S. W. 



MANCHURIA UNDER RUSSIAN RULE.^ 

 T^HIS book, dedicated to the "Gallant Japanese 

 -•■ Nation," is a reprint of letters from Manchuria 

 written during the autumn of 1903 for some Far 

 Eastern publications. The narrative of events is 

 brought down to the outbreak of war between Russia 

 and Japan, and a " prologue " has been added to serve 

 as a sketch of the history of Manchuria from the 

 earliest times of which there is anv record to the 



Manchu and Muscovite 



present day. The author is well versed in his subject, 

 has travelled extensively in all three provinces of 

 Manchuria, is a careful observer, and shows a sound 

 judgment. His style is easy, and the book well 

 worth reading from beginning to end. Indeed, we 

 may say that it should be read by everyone who wishes 

 to form a true opinion of the remarkable events now 

 taking place in the Far East. For remote as Man- 

 churia is from western Europe, its occupation by 

 Russia, coupled with the lease from China of the 

 peninsula of Kwan-tung, the construction of the 

 " Chinese Eastern Railway," and the war are of great 

 importance to the whole civilised world. 



The story of this extraordinary leap in the dark 

 of a great Power whose policy had been hitherto not 

 wanting in prudence and foresight is well told by the 

 author in his opening chapters. The idea, it seems, 

 first occurred to Prince Uktomsky while accompany- 

 ing the present Tsar, then Tsarevi'tch, in a tour round 



' "Manchu and Mus 



." By B. L. Putnam Weale 

 Ltd., 1904.) Price loj. net. 



Pp. 



NO. 1 8 14, VOL. 70] 



the world ten years ago. He was astonished at the 

 success which had "attended the spread of Anglo-Saxon 

 trade and ideas under the aegis of England's undis- 

 puted naval might," and he thought the time had 

 come for Russia to establish an empire in the Far 

 East. To carry out such a gigantic undertaking it 

 was necessary to secure the services and collaboration 

 of men of genius and untiring industry. Such a man 

 was found in Count Cassini, the Russian Minister at 

 Peking, whose name is associated with that of Prince 

 Uktomsky in this vast project. " These two men," 

 says our author, " did more than any others to set 

 the snowball rolling down from bitter Siberia on to 

 China." 



The next step was to organise the Russo-Chinese 

 Bank, for without this Russia could not have gained 

 even a temporary success. M. Pokotiloff, the agent 

 of this bank, and Mr. Victor von Grot, one of Sir 

 Richard Hart's most valued colleagues, were entrusted 

 with the meniiirPN necessary to ensure the credit of 

 the Russian Government. Suc- 

 cess at first crowned the 

 labours of these men, and the 

 possibilities of the future grew 

 more and more attractive, the 

 ultimate destruction of China 

 and the reduction of Japan to 

 the rank of a secondary Power 

 being not the least important. 

 The first blow to Russian 

 supremacy occurred in 1895, 

 when Japan defeated China 

 and obtained the cession of 

 Liau-tung. This, however, 

 was neutralised by skilful 

 diplomacy, and China retained 

 possession of the forfeited ter- 

 ritorv at the price of the con- 

 cession for building the trans- 

 Manchurian Railway. By 1900 

 the Russo-Chinese Bank had 

 attained the high-water mark 

 of prosperity. But even then 

 there were symptoms of some- 

 thing not being quite right, 

 and when the following year 

 the Russian railway adminis- 

 tration decreed that henceforth 

 passenger fares and freight 

 charges must be paid for in 

 rouble notes the whole edifice 

 of Russian Empire in Man- 

 churia began to totter. The 

 defeat of the " travelling rouble " is well told by Mr. 

 Weale — how the dollar-loving Chinaman resented the 

 threatened loss of what he considered his birthright by 

 the arbitrary decrees of the Russian bureaucrats, how 

 he prepared for battle, and how finally the rouble notes, 

 tons of which had been imported into China, were dis- 

 credited and disappeared. 



The three chief instruments of Russia in her policy 

 of expansion in Manchuria were the rouble, the Russo- 

 Chinese Bank, and the railway. These three were so 

 intimatelv associated and so well planned to work 

 together that you cannot explain one without mention- 

 ing the others. In the words of our author, " they are 

 a three-headed Medusa that turn their threatening 

 faces on poor China and either enchant or quell her 

 with their looks." It was becoming evident that the 

 task Russia had so lightly undertaken was beyond 

 her powers. She had misjudged the resistance she 

 would encounter from the vellow race ; great as her 

 own resources were, she had over-rated these. Too 

 confident of her strength, and relying on her successes 



