animals gives value to the icy regions of the north, and to the southern mountain regions. Much of the soil of Siberia is highly fertile, and the agricultural possibilities of the country incalculable. The fertile steppes in the governments of Tomsk and Tobolsk form the great granaries of Russia and northern Europe. The great rivers and numerous lakes of the country abound with valuable fish. Large forests of useful timber are found in all portions of the country. The great rivers of Siberia are of little value as water-ways, from having their outlets in the frozen ocean. The Amur, however, fortunately flows east, and thus forms a navigable stream of more than 2,200 miles in length, from central Siberia to the Pacific. This great stream, with its hundreds of tributaries, its endurable climate, the agricultural value of its soil, its extensive woodlands, the abundant animal life on its banks, and the innumerable fish in its waters, forms the most valuable section of the country, and is probably destined to a rapid growth in population. The mineral wealth of Siberia is immense, and of the most. varied character. Important iron mines are worked in the Ural region, as also mines of platinum. This region yields many precious stones, among them the diamond. Gold, silver, copper, and lead are also abundantly found. Splendid emeralds, amethysts, and topaz are found in various portions of the country. Malachite is abundant and beautiful, as also porphyry and jasper, all of which are worked into magnificent vases, tables, and other ornamental forms. Such is an imperfect glance at the useful resources of this vast region, whose population is rapidly increasing and its natural wealth being vigorously developed under the stimulus of Russian enterprise. But the Russian advance has been not only westward, but southward. The immense Mongolian region traversed by the Kirghiz nomads, desert as it is in great part, yet gives subsistence to great numbers of men, and to vast herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, the property of these wandering tribes. It thus had its value in the Muscovite plan of extension, and Russia was engaged for years in quietly taking possession of it, till her control over the natives became supreme. The movement was made by the gradual extension of military posts to the south of Siberia, and by cajoling the natives of the steppes until her hold was sufficiently strong to. defy them. When work in the silver and lead mines of eastern Siberia was stopped during the formation of the Amur expedition, a party was sent into the mountain regions of the steppes to prospect for these minerals. The result was the finding of rich silver and lead deposits in a district far beyond the Russian border. All the diplomatic cunning of the Muscovites was needed in negotiations with the Kirghiz for this territory. The ore appeared to the nomads but ordinary rock. They had no particular objection, therefore, to part with the hill region, but strongly objected to part with a small river which ran past the foot of the hills, and was of more real value to them than mountains of silver. "This stream was necessary to Russian mining operations, and by cunningly investing the Sultan with a gold-laced coat and a medal, and his chiefs in rich array, a great change was brought about in his views. When a Cossack buckled a sabre on his waist, this settled the point. He would have given half the rivers in the steppe sooner than be stripped of his weapons and finery. Thus for a sum of about £150 his imperial majesty acquired mines and a freehold property in the Kirghiz steppes which will, I have no doubt, expand rapidly towards all points of the compass. These mines are of immense value." (Atkinson.) The next advance southward was in the building of a fort on the Kopal, a point considerably to the south of the former station, and near the Chinese frontier. A station 200 miles further to the southwest was the town of Vernoje, founded by a colony from Kopal. Numerous other forts arose on the desert frontier of Russia, and the ruins of old forts which had served a similar purpose of bringing the Asiatic tribes under Russian sway are frequent in Siberia, having been abandoned as the country became subdued. Atkinson says, "Russia is thus surrounding the Kirghiz hordes with civilization which will ultimately bring about a moral revolution in this country. Agriculture and other branches of industry will be introduced by the Russian peasant, than whom no man can better adapt himself to circumstance." CHAPTER VIII. Russia's Occupation of Manchuria and From Harbin to Port Arthur-Japan's Treaty With Russia-The Powers Rob Japan of the Spoils of War-Leases by China to Germany, Russia and Great Britain The Region of the Amur-The Right of River Navigation--The Manchurian Railway-The Treaty of 1898-The Character and Resources of Manchuria-Decline of the Manchu People-The Port Arthur Naval Station The Harbor of Talien-wan-Dalny, a Town Built to Order-Russia as a Builder of Cities. M ENTION is made in the preceding chapter of the branch line of railroad laid by Russia from Harbin, in northern Manchuria, to Port Arthur, a location at the southern extremity of the Liao-tung peninsula. The acts of diplomacy and force by which Russia obtained this privilege and the advantage which was taken of the concession are of the greatest importance in our record, since they were the pioneer steps in the series of events which led eventually to the war with Japan. For the primary stage in these important occurrences we must go back to the close of the Chino-Japanese war and the settlement made between the victors and the vanquished in that conflict. The closing events in that war were the capture of the Chinese port and stronghold of Wei-hai-wei, on the northern coast of the province of Shantung, opposite Port Arthur, and the occupation of the twin city of New-chwang, which gave Japan a post of vantage between Mukden in Manchuria and Peking. When the spring of 1895 was about to open, the Japanese possessed an army of 100,000 men, ready to move upon Peking, and there is no doubt that they could have taken the city speedily and easily. Two months previously, the Chinese had sent to Tokio a pretended peace mission with inadequate powers; but now, the Peking government, recognizing the impossibility of resistance, appointed Li Hung Chang plenipotentiary, and dispatched him to Shimonoseki, which he reached on March 20, 1895. Luckily for the success of his mission, he was shot in the cheek by a fanatic four days after his arrival, while he was returning from a conference with Count Ito, the representative of Japan. This outrage aroused great sympathy for Li Hung Chang, and, to prove the sincerity of his regret, the Mikado consented to an armistice, and sensibly modified the terms of peace upon which he had originally insisted. On April 17, 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, and, on May 8, the ratifications were exchanged at Chefoo. The provisions of the treaty may be briefly summed up as follows: The Chinese were to cede to Japan the islands of Formosa and the Pescadores, and also, on the Asiatic mainland, the southern part of the province of Shingking, including the Liao-tung or Regent's Sword peninsula, and with it the important naval fortress of Port Arthur. By way of pecuniary indemnity, China was to pay 200,000,000 Kuping taels, or, say, $170,000,000, in eight installments, with interest at the rate of five per cent. on those unpaid. The commercial concessions were to include the admission of ships under the Japanese flag to the different rivers and lakes of China and the appointment of consuls; and the Japanese were to retain Wei-hai-wei until the whole indemnity had been paid and an acceptable commercial treaty had been concluded. These terms were by no means extreme, in view of the completeness of the Japanese triumph; but they were far from agreeable to Russia, which foresaw that the presence |