Siberia 



319 



mean War. Allied Great Britain, France, 

 Turkey, and Sardinia were hammering 

 at the ramparts of Sebastopol, which 

 they finally took after a siege of three 

 hundred and fifty-one days and the loss 

 of over 100,000 men. In i860 Count 

 Ignatieff , ' ' alone and unsupported save 

 for Russian prestige," obtained from 

 the Chinese Government its signature 

 to the treaty of Pekin. Thereby the 

 left bank of the Amur and the right 

 bank of the Usuri were ceded to Russia. 

 In point of fact, China in no way suf- 

 fered from the cession. She had de- 

 rived no revenue from the ceded terri- 

 tory and had never sent governors into 

 it or exercised any control over it. 

 None the less, that acquisition was to 

 "be so momentous in its consequences 

 that, in comparison, the temporary check 

 received by Russia at Sebastopol was a 

 bagatelle. By that treaty the first con- 

 quest of Siberia became complete. In 

 its entirety it recognized the authority 

 of the Tsar. From the banks of the 

 Neva north of the Altai Mountains as 

 far as the Sea of Japan the whole pro- 

 digious tract was under a single rule. 

 While the world looked on, Russia, al- 

 most unconsciously, was shifting her 

 maritime base ; alone of the European 

 states, she from her continental domin- 

 ions looked out upon eastern seas. 

 Though other western nations held 

 isolated ports and islands in eastern 

 waters, Russia alone reached and dom- 

 inated those waters by broad territorial 

 possessions that were continuous. 



VI.ADIVOSTOK 



Though holding a coast line of many 

 liundred miles along the Pacific, she then 

 possessed no city or inhabited tract adja- 

 cent to a harbor upon its shores. In 186 1 

 forty men were sent by Alexander II. 

 They landed at the head of a bay bear- 

 ing the significant name of Bay of Peter 

 the Great, at the extreme southeastern 

 point of the Russian possessions in Asia. 



Erecting a fort, with a presumption that 

 seems amusing, they gave to the spot 

 the name of Vladivostok, "The Mis- 

 tress of the East. ' ' Other fortifications 

 were erected, and a city speedily arose, 

 which boasts over 40,000 inhabitants 

 today. It is lighted by electricity and 

 shows every indication of western pro- 

 gress. _ Its erection on that splendid and 

 potential harbor is a typical illustration 

 of the fruits that spring from the estab- 

 lishment of Russian Government in 

 Siberia. 



PHYSICAI. CONDITIONS IN SIBERIA 



_ In discussing Siberia, statements of 

 dimension and distance confuse and be- 

 wilder rather than enlighten. It is of 

 small advantage to dwell upon its area 

 of over 4,900,000 square miles. If the 

 forty-five states which compose the 

 American Union were taken up and 

 planted bodily in the midst of Siberia, 

 the}' would be enclosed in every direc- 

 tion by a wide border of land. In this 

 border territory all the countries of Eu- 

 rope except Russia could likewise be 

 planted bodily, and there would remain 

 still unoccupied 300,000 square miles, 

 an area twice the size of imperial Ger- 

 many. We have now to consider cer- 

 tain gloomy and repellent facts that at 

 first discourage speculation and half 

 paralyze hope. Only as we realize 

 what Siberia is, only as we consider the 

 immense disadvantages as well as the 

 advantages of its geographic position, 

 can we take into full account what 

 Siberia is and what it will be. The vic- 

 tory of arms is complete. The victory 

 of settled life, of laborious industry, of 

 applied science, is but begun. But the 

 hero who carries the sword is inferior to 

 the pioneer, and the colonist who wars 

 with unwilling nature utilizes its locked- 

 up resources and compels it to serve 

 him. The southeastern portion of Sibe- 

 ria is an immense plateau in the midst 

 of mountains. Toward the west and 



