MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 91-80069 MICROFILMED 1991 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK 44 as part of the Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States -- Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material... Columbia University Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: TITLE : N0RMAN,S1R HENRY ALL THE RUSSIAS PLACE: NEW YORK DATE: 1902 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES I'RESERVATiON DEPARTMENT BI BLIOGRAI'HIC MICROFORM TARGET Master Negative # Original Material as Fihried - Exisiing Bibliograpluc Record " ' "■ "■pi nny i j i yquM i i ii ii i HI II g n i>w»n i»i ^w ni npi' n mmm '' «ip i Mg'-yy^ 'm' m ' }mw *^mimm ' ' * ' ^' w ^'' ^ ^ «m 'l mlm 'm % < 947.01 N78 NonuaiL Heiirv, I'^yS ■^^ ' ■ > ^^ ^J'*' liii>sias; ira\'t'is and ^tiidii'S in i'oii!«'iij|nara!'v ^'^.trofH^an Russia. Miilaial. Silnaaa, tin' ('au^aisns, aial * i-utrm A^aa. is}- 1 hairy Nnriiiaf. ... with one Jiundred •^•^»d t\\aasl\-anne ilhi^f rat ions chiniiy from thn aiitlinr's Vh\<\ii^riii'\iy^^. aaid inur niap^. Xt'w Vork, {\ So rib fair's S0I1.S, }!Ml2. 2 p. r, xii p. 1 1,. 476 p. mri. illn^,. 8 pi,. 3 iiiaio, front. 3 nl f.)l,l map. 24'™ 1. Russia— Descr >K trav. 2. Siberia— Descr. & trav. 3. Eastern qie^- tion (Central Asia) i Title. Library of Congress 9147 V / in, R ARV (ilVHN P>V Delta Ka; pa Epoiion i B OF A K i: Bm.,)UI: M H! I) !'.Y MAKY MANlil: VILLI: JullN>rON In \\\ v\( iWN ( .f Hi I- Ml Ni;.\si) HL)WAKh W . S. .iOHN>TuN ■\.\\. ir.-.(. : A ,\\. ib^ ' : 11 l'-- -if^^ f i £ ^"■tfi^ \} ^1^.,. jL.c^r4/^-k4i ^ /:; i^t /U^f~^ '^ ^, I ALL THE RUSSIAS . — ^,t*m-- i 1. 1 \ ALL THE RUSSIAS ^rKOPEAX AT.S-,S7.., mV^-'-"'. ^"'^'^^ .M ( r. M. THE TSAR AND ISARITSA AT Ht>MF *ii r r. BY HENRY NORMAN, M.P. ,, „,„ OK •• . MK PEOPLES .NO ^^^^^ ' "THE REAL JAPAN, LTC. HE EAR EAST ^.XH ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTV-NINE "-I^^^J^^J'^^-^ CHIEFLY FROM THE AUTHORS PHOTOGRAPHS AND FOUR MAPS 3 3 3 3'' : J ■,-. ' • , ' '3 ' » > J 1 ■> i 3 3 3 > > >> .3. 33 >,}! 3 3 3 5 ' NEW YORK ■ • CHARLES SCRIBNERS SONS 1902 \ l'i) \ * Li f *.ra»i».«^** .V*a-rt:l*;^«' ^4.7.:/ N'i - I V#.* Copyright, 1902, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published, September, 1902 'II TO MY SON NIGEL olim hoc pro patre loquetur ■ r- « • • • • . • • • :: : • • • . . . . . . • c ». • I • .. . • • • . . . • . . • •• • /:;•..• • TROW DIRECTORY PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK "A i^ i PREFACE -T-HIS volume is the outcome of fifteen years' interest in 1 Russian affairs, cuhrunating in four joumeys-one o „early 30.ooo mlles-in European and Asiatic Russ.a In he course of these, besides a residence of some t,me m St. Peters : ga.^ visits to the principal cities, I travelled in F.nland, m S La as far as LaUe BaiUal (I had P--'^^--;^^^^^^^^^^^^^ tok) in the Caucasus, and in Central As,a as far as the frontier If Kashgar During all these journeys 1 was afforded oppor- nu" ^f seeing and investigating every matter that r..ese „e, and of making the acquaintance of the duef Rus an ad nnnistrators in every part. Indeed, official courtesy vvent so f r convey me, by a special train and a special steamer, to ;;! I could not otherwise have seen, and to provide for my safety on another occasion by an escort of Cossacks. I case the reader may wonder how. without a mastery the Russian language, I held the conversations and made the inquiries here described, I may say that during my chief jour- le s I took with me as interpreter a young Russian gentleman a Lident of law at the University of Moscow, whose knowledge and intelligent sympathy were of the greatest service to me Without such help, or the ability to speak Russian fluently a journey for any serious purpose in Russia outside the two capitals would be a waste of time. m ■ft »v PREFACE It has not l>een ,ny c.bject to write a cmprehensive account of Russian n>st,tutK>ns and Russian Ufe. Tins ex.sts ,n ad- ,,.ab,e for. in the two vulun.es of S,r DonaUl Macken.e XVallace, which remain, when allowance is ma.le tor the changes since the,r pubUcation. the most n.struct.ve and trustworthy gen- eral work upon Russ.a. My own modest ant, has been to pre- sent a picture of the aspects of contemporary Russ.a ot most interest to foreigtt readers, wuh especal reference to the recent remarkable industrial attd conttt.ercial development of Kuss.a. and the possibility of closer commercal and pohtical relat.ons between Russia attd (ireat Britain. This last 1 regard as the »;,.„ /--iftpi- \n"-lo-.\merican relations) in most important question (attei .\tw' British foreign politics to-day. _ As in former books. I have tried to present m their natura relationship the picturesque surface and the solid substratum of fact, in the hope of making my pages at the same time enter- taining and informing. 1 trust, therefore, that the reader will not resent the occasional close proximity of the Hght and the weighty. , . It has been mv strenuous endeavour to be fair an ^ ! THE CAPITALS '"T St. Petersburg and the Way There . . • IL The Two Moscows, and a Few Reflections . COUNT TOLSTOI AT HOME AND ABROAD III. Leo, the Son of Nicholas FINLAND IV. Finland: the Land of Wood and Water . . V. The Finns and Their Neighbours .... SIBERIA VL The Significance of Siberia VIL Thk ('xKEat Siberian Railway VIU. Siberia From the Train ...•••' IX. Siberian Civilisation X. The Prison of Irkutsk XI. THE GREAT WATER-WAY ** Little Mother Volga" THE CAUCASUS XII. XIII. XIV. XV. The Frosty Caucasus The Georgian Road . TiFLlS OF THE CrOSS-ROADS The Oil-Wells of Baku . PAGB I 23 47 . 64 . 79 . 96 . 102 . 127 . 142 . 157 . 164 . 172 . 181 . 202 . 219 Vlll CONTENTS CENTRAL ASIA I'ACjK CHAl'TKK XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. Thk Trans-C.xspian Raiiavav : Across Central Ama ,,. .... 228 i;V I RAIN Russian Kxpanmon in Ckntrai. A^ia . . • • -54 Russian Administkahon in Ckntkal Asia: Trans- Caspia and Tashkeni- New Bokhara and lis Prospects .... Old Bokhara and Its Horrors .... Samarkand and Beyond ECONOMICS XXII. U. DE WlTTE AND HiS POLICV . . • • XXIII. RUSSIAN IMNANCE. COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY FOREIGN POLITICS XXIV. Russia and the Nations .... XXV. Russia and Knc;land CONCLUSION XXVI. Retrospect and Prospect • • APPENDIX • • • • 272 287 297 • 349 . 3^J3 • 413 INDEX • 449 • 457 • 459 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Froyitispicce PAGE . Pktersburg . 4 . facing 8 • ^^ . facing 20 • 23 • 23 . 27 III., Moscow T. M. THE Tsar am> Tsarifsa at Home . The Russian l'..i.i( kman ' ' ' ' '^ p,* c THK Fortress and Ca. hedral of St. Peter and St. Paue, S CVTHEDRAL OF St. IsAAC, ST. PETERSBURG . . • T„E Nevski ProM'E.t, St. Petershuro . The Ministry of War, Si. Petersm R(; • (;VTE AND CHAPE., oE THE O.D CiTV, MOSCOW . . \ (;me ce the Oil) City, Moscow . . • • ^VnMEN IN THE SlNDAY MARKET, MoSCoW . • '^^'^^^'^r^'.V^ THE CVTHEDRAE OF ST. lUsiE THE BEATIFIED, MOSCOW. SIXIEENTH CENTl R^ THE KREMLIN, MoSCoW, FROM THE KaMENNY BRIDGE The Kremlin, Moscow H M THE Tsar at the Man(EUVRES . THE Kremlin Soiare and Memorial oe Alexander 1>,R()KEN Down on THE StEITE . • • • TaLI'ING the TELE(iRAPH FOR HkLL . The Home of the Romanoffs, Moscow . The (lATEWAY OF Vasnaya Polyana . CoTNi- Tolstoy at Home . • • • • VvsNxYx Polyana. Colnt Toestoy's Home (Front) Va.naya Polyana. Count Tolstoy's Home (Back) A Country House in Finland . . • • The City and Harbour of Helsingfors . The Diet House, Helsingfors . . . ■ The Bur(;hers' Chamber • • • • • FINIXND'S LOYE FOR ALEXANDER II. • THE FINNISH LANDSCAPE-MOUNTAIN. LaKE, FoREST A Road in Finland ..•••• \ Finnish Mourning St.amp • • • F.sn'ish agriculture-burning the woods for a seed-bed Ariiippaina Miihkali, the Finnish Blind Bard . • The Rune-singers ...••••* Finnish Typks •••■''" Smmon Traps in Finland . • • • * ' j _ X F,ss-,sH WK.nn.N.-.: Thk Bku.k's Pkavkr on Leaving Home Veiling the Dowered Bride ix Field 29 • 31 • Zl facing 3b 37 39 43 4S 51 53 56 57 66 68. 69 ■ 71 . 72 73 75 / / 79 81 84 86 88 90 92 93 VUl CONTENTS rAf.K ECONOMICS XXII. M. I>H WiTTE AND IIlS POLICV . . - • XXIII. RussEVN Finance, Commv.kck, and Industry FOREIGN POLITICS XXIV. RUSSL\ AND THE NATIONS XXV. Russia and Kn(;eand CONCLUSION XXVI. Retrospect and Prosi'ECT APPENDIX • • INDEX 8 CENTRAL ASIA The Tran.-Casi'ian Rau way : Across Central Ama i;v Ira IN Rus>L\N Expansion in Central A^ia . . • • -54 RussLAN Administrahon in Central A^l\ : Trans- Casima and Tashkent "'" XIX. New Bokhara and Irs Prospects -^7 XX. Old Bokhara and Its Horror^ ^9' XXI. Samarkand and Beyond 3^9 CHAI'TKK XVI. XVII, XVIII . 349 • 3^1 . 413 . 449 • 457 459 I) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS T. M. THE Tsar and Tsaritsa at Home :)F Sr. Pktf.r and St. Paul, S'i TnK Russian Poi.k kman TiiF Fortress and Cathedral ( CVIHKDRAL OK ST. IsAAC, Sl PeTERSBURC The Nkx^ki Prosi-kct. St. Petershuro TiiK Ministry of War, St. Petkrsiu rc . (;mk and CHArKi. of the Old Cnv, Moscoxv . . A (lATE OF THE OlD CEIY, MoSCOW • • ' ' WoMFN IN THE SlNDAV MARKET, MoSCOW . THF C VTHEDRAI. OF ST. BaSIL THE BEATIFIED, MOSCOW, SiXT THE KREMLIN, MoSCoW, FROM THE KaMENNY BRIDGE The Kremlin, Moscow ..••••• II M. THE Tsar at the Manceuvres . . • • THE Kremlin Socare and Memorl-xl of Alex.^nder III. Broken Down on the Steppe . . • • TaPPINO the TKI.ECiRAPH FOR HELP . The Home of the Romanoffs, Moscow . The C.atewav of Vasnava Polyana . CoCNP Tolstoy at Home . . • • • VxsNXYX Polyana. Coint Tolstoy's Home (Front) Va^naya Polyana. Count Tolstoy's Home (B.^ck) A Country House in Finland . . • • The City and Harbour of Helsinofors . The Diet House, Helsinofors . . • • The BuRtHiERs' Chamhkr . • • • • FINIXND'S LOYE FOR AlKXANDKR II. • THE FINNISH LANDSCAPE-MOUNTAIN, LaKE. FoREST A Road in Finland .-•••• \ Finnish Mourning Stamp • • • Finnish Aoriculture-Burninc; the Woods for a Seed ARHIPPAINA MiIHKALI, THE FINNISH BLIND BaRD The Rune-singers ...••• Finnish Types -•••■' SxiMoN Traps in Finland . . • • • A Finnish Wedding: The Bride's Prayer on Leaving Vfiling the Dowered Bride Froyitispiece PAGE I Petersburg . 4 .facing 8 . facing 20 • 23 . 25 . 27 eenth Century 29 • 31 • 13 . facing 3t) Moscow . . 37 . 39 . 43 . 45 . 51 . 53 . . 56 • 57 . 66 68. 69 . 71 Fi LD B ED H ome 73 75 / / 79 81 84 86 88 90 92 93 IX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS I'KIM 1 \ Al !•' 'Kl - I l.i 1 \\ 1 IN 1-J Kull-. AM> UK li K ^S A Finnish Pfari-fisih u A Sir.KRIAN I.o( OMCI 1\H A I'ARTV <•! Kidman Knt-imfkn in" m -.,,,, •,■,„. nl. IIIK l-RAls-lin. WAIKR-IAKIIN^ A-'IA . Till KaII WAV IN lllK I RAl > Tin, SiKAMMiii" •• Baikal" Stivmin<; mik-m.ii |;nW ..K TllK "HaIKAI." liRlAKlN.. MH. I ' J'- I'HK LaSI SlAllnN IN MlRORK • • ■ • [UE 15..rNl.ARV RKTWKKN KrRnI>i: ANL AmA rilK Town of ZLA1A..FST FRnM IHF KaIIAVAV . (;,.i,i)-i)ir.(;KRs Waiunc ior ihf Trmn What you Sef for Days from ihf Siffrfxn Kxirf ThF WATER-TOWKR am. SfoRF-HoF-.F Al KVFRV SlAlK.N ThF RKCUFAR SIHFRIAN STATION . Siberian Peasants Watuhin.; the Train Bfifi)IN«; a iluT in ihe Tau;a . The Tower of the Fire-wakh, Irkui>k The City of Irkuisk . . • ■ The Technkae S( Hv)of, Irkutsk . • • • The Museum, Irkutsk .••••* The Cathedral, Irkuisk ..•••' Poor Siherian Peasani Prosferous Siberian Peasani- . • • • • Inside the Prison, Irkutsk-A (;r..uf of Convicts to fe The Vofoa A Timber Haroe on the Vt)L(;A . . . • • Caucasl\n Tyi'Es— Taiars ..•••• A Tekkin Family . . • • ** The Reaf Circassian . I) I RIHFTED Batum ...•••••■ Vladikavkaz, at the Fooi of the Caitasfs . The Georoian Road: A Woofiy Wave . Rfssian Fori in the Pass The Casii.f of Prin( ess Tamara in the OF Darifi *' ROFND IHE MoUNlAlN SlDE . The Tor (»f the Pass— Ofd Road Crossino the SuMMir . . • • How THE Road comes down at Mleti Shoeinc. an Ox in the Caucasus TlFLIS . • lAl.l 121 122 I2S 129 • Cv> . 134 • Co • C^7 . C>9 . 140 . 142 • 143 . 147 • 149 •151 . 152 • Cs5 I()0 i()6 167 173 175 177 179 183 186 iS(.> C.oROE ( < 1Q2 D)4 197 199 201 203 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS it TIFFIS AND THE RUINs OF THE CiTADEL A Pfi of Ofd Tiffis . • • • A CaU( AMAN TYI'E-RoSTOM THE GUIDE WINF-SKUNS AND THE Wl N E-SHOF, TlFLlS The Shamfooer <'F Tiffis . A Chat ai the Wine-shof, Tiflis A Wandering Pe(;(;ar, Tiflis A " FoUNiAiN " Al Baku The Raifway Station, Baku THF Landino-Staoe ai Krasnovodsk The Raifway Station, 'i^ii.- 'Fr \\s-C\SFiAN Train i::. t:::, •...., O,,,, K..,..k,s ^^. n.. N... R.u,w.v 'V, K WllTTK IHF T'RAIN SlOl'S . Bread-seffers at a Station In the New Tashkent . • • • Tashkent : A Cossack Patrol . The Boys' College . «« A Familiar Sight •« The Arba . • • * ' ** Father and Son Bokhara : City and Citadel . • * The Portal of the Amirs I alace •• The " Batch a" • • • • «• The Unveiled Ladies •* A Street Grimacer • «« The Tower of Fxecutions 4« The Approach to the Prison . « The Prison Gate and the Gaoler The Door of the Great Prison «» The Horror of Horrors . Samarkand: The Rigistan •« <« •( « it i( i< (< A Sart .•••'' The Madrassa Shir Dar The Madrassa of Ulugh Beg Interior of Shir Dar . Portal of the Tomb of Tamerlane . Thf Tomb of Tamerlane . • • • " „ ,t The Upper Chamber • a The Crypt Where He Mausoleum of Bibi Khanum • • • • XI PAGE . 205 . 207 . 20S . 210 . 211 . 212 . 213 . 221 . 225 . 229 • 231 . 232 . 233 Lies 241 244 250 274 27b 27^ 280 282 284 298 , 300 . 302 . 303 . 307 . 308 • 311 . 312 • 314 . 31^ . 321 • 323 • 324 • 325 . 327 . 329 . 330 . 331 • 332 . 334 Xll LIST OF ILLUSIKAIIONS Samarkand: I^'MI; ^'F Hn^i Khax'm . . • • Mausoleum \m. M"SQUE of Sm xh /iNi'xn (I TNTKK !' 'i;. I '! >ii \n / 1 \ i ' AH 4» 'I'iii li.H K "i Tk \\ KR Thf AvFN-rr of A.nlijan iiii N\n\i^ I'MiirFMW or Anlijan . l'\. Ki\.. Cotton in Ammjan I in l.\ i K WCE T(-) Osn A KiK m; Family Shopping in Osh . A Mother am Daughter of Osh and thi *'OsH. AND No Mistake!"— The End of iii. Lxcellency M. de Witte. Minister of Finance EiR Home My Journey r.\r.F. .*>,•)' 339 . 3-i4 . 345 • 346 . 347 . 353 'YuV TKAS-SlFi K!\N K \ H AV A \ i /\rf^rn SfCtioft) . RAnwAV^ "F 111! Caucasus TUF •rRAN>-CAM!AN K Ml ^^ AV . • • • Kauavav I'.XFWMmN !\ A^FV . • • • PAGE . 107 • ->^ /'tiring' 260 ALL THE RUSSIAS n . THE CAPITALS CHAPTER I ST. PETERSBURG AND THE WAY THERE RrSSTA!'' . 1 stnkes the ear! Does any .<.,! ,n auy language, except the dear ivMuc oi one's oxvn knul. niean as much tn-dav. _ ''" . \\i,a, /. Russia? The uutettered u-re- sponsibk, limitless, absolr,tc rr.lc .-i uue mau over a lnui(lrerac- tisi'nsi every art, lapped in every luxury, es- teeming manners more highly than moral>.- ( )r is it the vast an a,,nr()ache>. 1 imd myself wondenn-. as we glide away, at which platform the -ronp of Cleiinan oiVicer.^ >tood a tew yeafs a-o to look for their traveller from over the frontier, standin- at the sleepino-car door with a packet m his hand-^a packet which bctraved one of the l)e^td of the world; which cansed quick recalls and snrpri>inK promotion> in that class of men The Fortress and Cathedral u{ St. Peter and St. Paul. St. Peterslnir^. who serve their countries by comhinin.i,^ the roles of .gx^^itlcman and spy; which -ave the han-man a hastv jol, m the recesses of a famous fortress, and threw upon the charitv of liis Majesty the Tsar— never sou.uht in such circumstances in vain— a widow^ and a child. You make your entry into Russia like a thief in the nioht. It is after cii^ht o'clock, and dark, when you all i^our in anxious flood from the train into the Customs Hall at X'ierzhbolovo. or in Genuan, \Virl)allen. ( ommandin-- n-urcs in -rev and -old, whom vou take at the hr>t -lance to be at least Major-Gen- s I SI. l'i;n,RSBURG AND THK WAY THERE 5 „-,,. ,,„, .ho are really officers of police an.l Customs, stand „: ,i, aoors: a soKHer collects passports as the passengers enter ■„, „e has a great sheaf of all si.es and colottrs; and a httle ,^. .„- „„,,,, ,„ ,„ouses a,td n,agenta belts and top-boots ca,- ,;,-f L Ktggage, and c,uicklv sorts ,t by the baggage nun - ,,evs it bears. The officials gather ronn.l a table m the middle \„, ,,H, ..Here the passports are registered and stamped ,^.,, , ,,,,e that you cannot leave Russta agan. wuou a police permtt, or without a Russian passport tf you s ay has k months. I expected that our luggage wouUl be ra- cked through and through. On the -^^y have n e been ntore courteously treated, nor more expedttiousU ds h d Bttt the stnkutg contrast .tth all other Cont.nett ta, alstonl' Houses was the s.lence. the discipHne. the routn.e. the ^r.ler— there was neither rudeness nor chatter. he uge of the Russian railway is wider than the German ,,Hh 1 e;,b:ious intention of preventing German rollmg-stock .1 heing available in Russia in case of invasion, so y.u ch^ ,,r. here-the onlv time between Calais and St Pete.b ir an 1 the night.' with the wood-sparks belching from the big ~ nd tear-ng past the carriage windows, you purs^ie your unseen wav through the mysterious country whose name a sailed differentlv in your ear from the name of every othe :-:^ntrv on the map since first you heard it. ^ou on ly kno 1 is Russia, because it differs so much from every '^^^ -ve read of it. The --^^^-^:::;:tZ:'T^^^^^^^^ ::,; RuTsian^hing. so far. in which popular rumour has met its ''"pxpress speed in Russia, as exemplified by the Nord Express i. abi::.:; miles an hour, so the wide car runs east y ar. night passes and the dawn grow s pmk and ,r y ^ ^ .«. .# » - ■ .» ■•^^■s ,.-#...■ ^<- ♦ - *...A ' :.-'■.. it^:t.-« -ft..-* - •» " ^, ^ -e ^ -r -■^»' ALL TUL KLSSIAS ,,-. win heather! Miles upon nulcs o( the A„a xvhat do you sec. W Hn . ,,^. ^,,,.,,, ,,venaer-,nukUn,,fa,lhU,lK nK>k.u,wni.eiaso. '»-'-- -"'"" ""^ so. u-h M. -i.n.ce. the Au~.mn ease beneath any oUki m^ .l„■ul.^^ ,K,-v larch lo\v-u-vo\Nni,^ ■i'''^'"'"" ' , , (•l,n>tn.as-iree,MKei laun ^ u o-,-ows here hv loch tree lkn.nvonK a. ■• Scotch n.n,o,auy^^.^^^^^ ^,,,,,, ,,,. Scotland .hc,.enn,,U^^^ ,,,,^^„.^, --' --\'^' '^ ;;r --vol.a.hn,,.ea cc,tta,e. the is hardly a M;4n ol hlc l->Uie ,. ,^^^,,^^.^ house not to he hr V'^''" '^\?i ^v r in hV cL; the ,, „,, verv short in the straw =-' J^ . ^,^,^^.,^. ,„ ^,, ,,,,e ----"r^"f ;^^7 ';:rr r ;:h.e .rovuices. ,. not the wealth ot KusMa-ncUho Uuulscape. sint- ^'''^^'•^^^^'^"'r-\\ ;::;;:; e-,eou,nrv n,al,eahle to the pie, vast, unalterable landscape ^^^^^.^ ouch of an,bit,ous or covetous -"-'"■^> . "^ ; ^„, ^arth 11 1 u- h'.lf heartedlv, from tne si)ai>c m)il is one, rtses '''-l^'-- '""' ' ^^,.:, ,,,„ ,,,oauee. To hint who is srini. and has no hea.t to lau^h ^^^ de laces the heather a,td lo,>s us .";-' " ; ' ^^ ,,,^,^^::,,,„, eontes, as we know, and suKdl ";--- j' ^ ^,^, „,,,,,,,. and water-soddett spaecs-for the,e ^ j^ ' ^^ ;^^^^,,^„,. ,,,,, ^';;::'";tt; 1 eaL .u-the .uidd.. of the tttoor, ttpon sonte sables, ott as NN^ 1 tr-nn' Some (is- poor trodden pathway, ^;1"-- j;; ^^ l ::;;ocU, lus ir t the cra/v plough, droppe.ckle. Mack l^ui . the cia/.N piou^ . ' ,^. ,.,.,,,, K„„,. of niornuiR. hooded in close processton. u, the ,>c - '^ " ^ ^,;, ,^.^,,,.. a„,l shrouded in hunible weed... How it hits , how It accor- own army, leaving --- ^ ^ ,1, died when its leaders hind; ancUvhere the last 1 os^^ ^^^^^^^ ,,.^, touched ,,ere executed. XX e see 1 ko^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ,, hands with what has ^-j^ ^ ^^"^ ^^...^ ,,e Terrible fled from . Moscow destroyed a repttbhc. wl e^e ^^.^ ^_^^_^^^. ^^^^^,^, an idiot saint, where ^----^ ^^^^at kept hts cannons and at the walls in vam, ^^here ^ e ^^^^^^^^^^^ residences h,s powder. And we see Gatdn one ^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^.^,,, of the imperial Family, and w he ^^^^ ^^^.^^ ^,^^^^.^ ,-hen. almost without ^-"f ."" " , ^ ,,, ,,e in the city which in a plain. 1^-1^°'°"^ , ° '.^ters of the Keva and named the great Tsar Peter built m the w.tets aiter himself. • „r„e,,__from Charing Cross to St. Petersburg m fitt> boms, 8 ALL THK RUSSLAS A where the i^ange chatii^es, with bed and hoard of the l)cst, with never a single stop of more than h\e niinntes, and such punctual- ity that, due at St. Petersburg at J. 45, the station clock is strik- ing three as we drive with our luggage out of the yard. This journey is one of many such owed by travellers to the enterprise which makes this imposing cross upon the map — from Calais to Constantinople, and from Gibraltar to Irkutsk. A iroika dashes down the Xevski Prospect, the horse in the shafts trotting desi)erately, the others galloi)ing on either side, their heads bent outward. Over the li(juscto|)s rise the tne bulbous domes, like inverted balloons, that crowu the church now standing where Alexander II. fell. At the corner of the great bazaar is a little voti\e chapel to the saint wlio cau^^ed peo])le to subscribe so liberally to rebuild the l)azaar when it was burned, and as they pass, the well lo -do ci-o-^ iberii-ebes and the [xior dotl their ca[)S. All tlie-e are inci tni^niit itv-. Thex- loi^k as odd a-> a leatlief botlrl wniild amid >]i\er and en! nla--. 1 hex* eU r are bus oi real Kn^.^ia — M. iulind (uie to luuii. \\w (inaric!" uirg 1:- a itM"e!L;n eitw an^ of it w ( )\\ h be at 1 a 'me m ari-> or ^. it -dam < ti' \-|]| 'elei" ilir < .real hnili ii in the Xex'a wamp-. a 'a v-.\\\i\'^\\ toward Europe," m AlLiar.*'!!'- memor-- ahu phrase; and tliat is precisely what it remams. For a !< ng; nme every educated Ivussian wished to make his country like western! luirnpe: he resented above all things being called un- civilised, and civilisation meant to him French architecture and English manners. St. Petersburg is the embodiment of this wish. Provincial Russians still hugely admire their capital, but if it were to be rebuilt now it would resemble Moscow and not Milan. The fashion of imitating the West has passed; to-day to be patriotic is to be Russian, and so far from following the mode of the out- side world, to wait confidently till the outside world shall learn tlim tlu Ivussian mode is "better and shall lay aside its heathen- ism, ii:. pciiliaiiieiiiarianism, ii^ socialism, the licence it cnll- lib- j;t^^.^me^- *^^^ C.AiHhDKAL Uh ST. ISAAC, ST. PETERSBURG. . T,. « . '* 4 I If ST. IM riRSBl KG 9 eriw an<:l all it- ntluT wickednesses, and walk in the only patli of rL"liL;i(»n.-> irulli and >ocial .^ccnril}-. So to the Russian, St. I'eter-buri;' is no loni^xn- ]\ussia, while to the visitor it is cosmo- politan and therefore, as a whole, uninteresting. J sav, as a whole, for the citv of Peter the Great and all his successors cannot fail to contain many things to arrest the at- tention, its churches, for exam])le, are the most splendid of anv modern churches in the world — indeed their costliness is in curious contrast with their modernity. In other countries cathe- drals are magnificent through the faith and the munilicence of men of old time; here our contemporaries have set their creed in gold and gems. St. Isaac's Cathedral, from whose magnificent dome the best view of the city is obtained, whose gloom hides untold wealth upon its altars, whose colossal steps are each formed of a single stone, whose four sides of great granite monoliths are unsurpassed, and whose pillars of malachite and lapis lazuli are unapproached elsewhere, was consecrated the year in which I was born. A semieircular colonnade leads from the Nevski to the cathedral of our wonder-working Lady of Kazan, where the name of the Almighty blazes in diamonds, where half a ton of silver marks an outburst of Cossack piety, where pearls and sapphires seem to have no value, so lavishly are they strewed, and it dates from 181 1. Wealth in Russia seems to pour itself to- ward the habitation and the decoration of religion. Any reason suf^ces for a new church. Of course, where Alexander II. fell a superb church is rising, and its dazzling group of blue and green and white and gold cupolas is visible from every part of the city. In its centre are the very paving-stones upon which he fell, and the soil stained with his blood. Such a solemn me- morial is natural and inevitable, but a fire at the market, and a generous popular subscription to rebuild it, is excuse for a highly decorated little chapel on the Nevski itself, before which innu- merable passers stop and pray, diverting the traffic like a boul- der in a stream. y»^ ■■-■<>» ->— ; '«■ -;■ '' 4 * lO ALL THi: RUSSIAS One clnirch only, nicatrrcly endowed in compari-on with ihc rest, is pnik.umlly rich ni a._M.ciali..n. A -S>n-c like a iiee.lle ri>es almost from the Xeva, and at i!~ base are llie heavy ea^enialcs where the water la]- .ireanly l.-re^er a; in^enilaMe dni.-e-n^ liehmd— einn-eh ami '.lie .hin-e.ni- alike .ieuicale.i l>' M- I'eler aiul M. J'aul. The eitadcl i- ni-n an i-l.e.,,!, wliere retcr''^ -en- crals first camped, and wliicli he iuiuui g>.AKl and made the focus o! ilu aiv to be. I >- n it i< bis cottage, a log-house of four roolil^, nuw caiainlh protected by anotlKi Anwluvc built over and around it^ 1 inre i^ 1iis dining-ruoiii, iii> rcnciHiuii-rooni, his dark liitk bedroom, the very chair in whicii he sat. the very objects he made. You see nothing of the prison of which you have heard so much, except its walls upon the river and its dark water-gate, for as you drive to the cathedral through the land- gate the mndern mint is before you, the church to your right, and a long row of single-storey barracks to your left. And it is lifeless to a^k questions. Very few people know what passes wrdnann ami these few never open their lips. But the horror has (kparted from liu-^ place, for nowadays prisoners of State are carried tn tk,r f< stress of bchiu^^eiburg, also an island m the Xeva. lnn^ luiw- aw..). ( '< vsicnrnin- ild^ prison absolute secrecy prevails. T madn inn aannaintance of an intimate relation of the Govrnior, and lie a^^nrol nic that never in the cW-c^t family tad. liad hr evn^ heard a syllable concerning it. So far as silence goes, 1! 1^ lUiWvA a hxini^ grave, t1ie ^tnnv rephca of the closed lips ol aumcraay. lUn ah the uorid mav Avi\v ihr*a-]i tlie low reddsrick iratn <>! the eiladci lu the (didiLdral ui M. i'einr ami St. i 'ani, and gaze through its narrow gloom upon all the mould- ering flags of conquered enemies and all the rusting keys of sur- rendered towns. These are but poor things, however, to what lies below them — the long rows of square white marble tombs, w^here. each muicr the same gilt cross and with nothing but a name to mark the difference, repose forever all the Tsars, save one, of all the Russias, since Tsars and Russia were. i I ST. ri.TERSBrRH ^3 Of this long line, two only impress their personality in St Petersburg to-day. One. the first, the great Peter who dtd cvcrvthing. designol everyUung, foresaw everyi.nn,. The otiuu ,,/^„,^,,-,„t,„, ,l,n.c blood Stained the .ucci twenty years a.o unute.Mvc b.cattse of the conieni> <,f one lutie roon. At ,h;i!ern.ta,-c, once Ca.harn.e'. pavHon, but since 1850 the „,,,,n„ceni l.nne of the uorUl-ianious collection ol picture., you „;,: .ec Peter n, h. habu as he l.ved. A hie-..ze wax portrait „;„;,„,. :,„n,.- n, h,. own chan-, dres.ed n, the very clothes he ,.,, ,,,.,„;„- ,1K. .word gtven to h.nt by that deposed ruler ,„- ,,,i,„a ..„,, called ■■ the strong." shows you his great height and hi> vigilant black eyes. In a glass case is the yellow charger p, ,-ode on that |ulv ,lay at Pultava when he founded Russia „„„„ the rums of Sweden, and beside n, almost as b.g-for the „;.,U,eaten handiwork of this early taxidermist must have shrunk ,„t,Uinv since ,t bore that royal loa.l-runs his favourite yellow Lnind' All around are hundreds of his instruments and lathes ,„ul tools, an.l the things those strong busy hands made with them And an attendant, observing with pleased anticipation vour',rcat interest, selects front a group of walking-sttcks his heavv'u-on staff, and catches it as it falls from your unready grasp, and then, placing a tall stick upright beside you, shows you the notch at Peter-s height a foot above your head. Since Peter the Great foresaw so many things, it is possible enough that when he crushed the aboriginal frogs of the ^eva „a,-shes beneath his heel he foresaw the Island Parks too. The Neva with its broad, slow, silver flood, stealing to the sea by „,anv'wavs. holds netted certain flat islands, called Kamenno. and Ycla'oin.'in its watery strands, and these have been laid out and plant^l with an art which worked hand in hand with nature The result is a series of parks, among which summer villas, called ,atclu,s. nestle and sandy roads wind fancifully, but a 1 with an artlessness of which other European parks have lost the secret. But with what a prodigality it has been done, these smooth roads, H Al.L nil'. RL'SSIAS ST. PETERSBURG 15 these solid enibankincnls to protect the e(lKe> of the lagoons, these miles of silver l.irclu-s :uu\ Uv> and other -racefnl trees! Indeed, this is a reflection that rises ohen to one's lips in Russia, nieanin- not onlv what nioney^and money ha> always weltered forth—hut what tune, u hat labour, uhat tenacious clin-m- to an ideal seen afar oft ! Myin- along the>e ^oft roads come the Russian horses, beautiful black stallions, decked with white foam, driven with outstretched arms by a coachman of Gargantuan size in his wadded gown of blue cloth. lie calls out as he goes, he leans over his beasts, his narrow waistbelt of eastern silk em- phasises his enormous girth, the rem.s. half of leather and half of blue or orange webbing, tlap their buckled sides upon the horses' tlanks— he scorns a whip. The master or mistress of all this sits hrmly back in the diminutive dark blue or green drosky —a light phaeton with tiny front wheel>— and the big Orlotf plunges forward, his wooden arched collar frannng his i)roud head, his flowing tail streaming out behind— it is the most famil- iar sight in St. Petersburg, and an exhilarating one. Suddenly, '' H-r-r-r! " savs the driver, the hor>e pulls up and you are at the Point, with one of the loveliest water-views in the world before you. From the end of the farthest island you gaze toward Kron- stadt down the Neva, so shallow m her vast width that only a few yachts tlutter across her breast, for the steamers may not venture out of a dredged channel between clo-e-set buoys. After the green shade of the woods and the little eyedike pools looking out of their seclusion, the open of blue sky seems enormous, the water is a silver tloor, and something in this peep into the infinite —it may be the tumble of opalescent clouds piled upon the hori- zon reminds you of the other great water-view of Europe, down the Sea of Marmora. To my eye, the island i)arks of Petersburg they are within half an hour of the centre of the city — are the most beautiful town drive in ITirope. But though the Xeva brings beauty, it brings misery, too. Along its ciuays in the populous parts of the city are thousands of cellar-dwellings, where the poor live. When a certain wind blows back from the sea the river rises and floods these tene- ments, and the wretched inhabitants have to forsake them till the water subsides, when they return with their bits of furniture to their reeking homes. A paternal government, how^ever, thouditfullv causes a gun to be flred from the citadel when the river is rising, and its boom across the waters warns the cellar- dwellers to escape. St. Petersburg, it is perhaps needless to add, is an unhealthy place, damp and depressing, and in summer, when water is low and sewage is high, the canals with which it is inter- sected smell horribly. Only in winter, when damp and other evil things are frozen solid, is it bracing and clean, and even then, you must remember, every window in every house is hermetically sealed, except for one air-hole. The little room I have spoken of as conveying the impression of the second personality is in the Winter Palace. Here there is much to see. Beautiful rooms, halls huge and white, enamelled in pink or white marble, so delicate as to be lovely, although an imitation, and giving a sense of light and freshness not com- mon in palaces. Three thousand people can dance in the W'inter Palace at one time; over two thousand people, after a ball, can sup. Never, in Europe, can there be a scene of more brilliance than this — every woman in extravagant loveliness, every man in uniform, most of them blazing with stars and medals, of which there are nowdiere so many as here. But after endless march- ings through the countless chambers, great and small, from the Throne Room to the private apartments of visiting royalties, which seem in almost all the palaces of continental Europe to have been designed by the same architect and furnished by the same upholsterer, the official with you knocks at a door and retires. The door is slowly opened by an old man with many medals — a grave, melancholy old man. He is the keeper of the private apartments of Alexander H., which have been sacredly preserved exactly as he left them. On Sunday morning, March 'I- ,6 ALL THK RUSSL^S n 1881 the Tsar uas writiuK i» '»« room, smokin- a cigarette. u'was his custom to inspect some regiment on Sunday morn- ings, and on this day he was due at the parade of the mannes i„ the Michael Kidmg School, hue times had the .\. nh.^t. tned to kill him. and at lea>t twice they had nearly succeeded. 1 hey almost hlew up the Imperial tran,, and they actually blew up the o-uard-room and di„n>g-roon, of the Wmter Palace and la.led of their chief purpose only because the Imperial dmner had heen arranged f.,r half an hotu' later than u,.ual, in order that a r„>al visitor. Prince Alexan.ler of Hesse, nnght he present. 1 he an was once more full of terrorist threats, and the T>ar s son and heir and his most truste.l a.lviser. begged him not to go to the inspection. I'-ut Alexander, brave and obstinate and fatah>t.c. was not to be deterred. 1 le laul Ins half-.smoked cigarette upon an ash-trav. picked up a Uu.ely folded clean handkerch.ef from the table.'slipped his little s.lver-plated. ivory-handled revolver into his pocket, buckled on his sword and left the room. .\n hour later he was carried back, fast blee.lmg to death, one leg shattered to the thigh, the other to the knee, and placed upon the narrow iron bed in the recess, and there he breathed h,s last. As the room was. so it remains. The lialf-smoked cigarette lies'upon the ash-tray in a glass tube. The little revolver hes before the mirror. Upon each of the tables an.l several of the chairs is a looselv folded clean handkerchief, tor it was the 1 sar . wish to have one of these always within reach of his hand I ere are his toilet articles-a plain small set of bottles and brushes from a rustv morocco folding case, evidently bought m Lngland before we invented the m.Klern luxurious dressing-bag. t .s all modest bevond belief, and the brushes are half w.,rn. 1 ns was a monarch who did not care to spend any of his incalculable wealth upon personal luxuries. The wall. .)f the room are cov- ered bv bookcases, all <,uite full of books obviously read. Among them.'just ])ehind his chair. 1 noticed the two volumes of 1 ru- monfs La France Jnivc, showing signs of much handling. C)p- ST. PETERSBURG 17 posite the foot of the camp-bed hangs a portrait, rather crudely painted, of a little daughter who died, and below the portrait, neatly folded, lie the last frocks she wore, which her father kept always by him. It is all extraordinarily affecting. Had he lived, 1 could never by any chance have thus known his private life and looked at his intimate belongings. 1 should have seen Alex- ander H. in uniform, a tall figure, a composed, not intellectual face — seen him in those very clothes that are now in a glass case in a church — but he would have been covered with his great dignities, cased by the enormous loneliness of his position as an Emperor. I should never have known that the maroon-colored frock, dating from the time when children were most hideously clad of all, belonging to his little dead daughter, had to be spread upon a table in the rear of his study for him to come and look at. and a l)lue frock, too, which she was wearing when that pict- ure flanging above it was painted. I should not have seen the short iron bed, humbly draped in some Turkish stufif. neither rich nor costly, on which behind a bit of archway he could rest himself. He would have been merely the great remote Tsar, the Liberator of the Serfs, the suppressor of Poland, the war-maker against Turkey, the object of the Nihilists' bloodthirsty pursuit. But because he died a royal martyr, I may see him for the man he was, learn his little personal ways, look at what he carried in his pockets, know how simple a life he chose to live inside his outer shell of impenetrable pomp, and be permitted to dis- cern how he worshipped the memory of his little dead child. By more vivid means still, however, is the memory of Alex- ander H. nourished in St. Petersburg. In three places is his actual shed blood to be seen. As I stood by his bed, my own guide, taking advantage of the old oi^cial's back being turned, lifted the coverlet and pointed silently to the broad rusty stain upon the faded linen. The act was an ofifence, and I reproved him sharply. Again, in a glass case by the altar of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration is the uniform Alexander wore upon the - ■'I ^*. Av. .P^ J A > y»- - Z'- . Mi w . H , w.im. --\ -> ••, 'S • ALL THF, KUSSL-^S Sl\ PKTERSBURG , .1 .-..i.lnril of his sworil bears a wide day of his death. -"1 t^- -^^ ^ " ,,,,, ,„, .,„ ^"'='^' '' ""^- " , 'a d Id- have been preserved and "P--^'-'^ f '^^7 :l ''i: ; t Men^omd Church of the -" ™" 'T.', e th: IHs descendants have n.leed Resurrection, bu.U over than, i \,nonv Nvould liave determined that here. too. the populace, a. .\inon> it do in Ronie, shall mark the blood of Lxsar. Far more than churches and palaces aiul ^tres.s die htt^ daily habits of a people, the -""-"P'-^. '^ ,' f, , few U,ei; character and predict their ^^^^^^ J^^^'^J^ ,,„,,,, commonplaces of the Russian cap.tal-tnrtcs the notice of stately chroniclers. ^^^^,^^,,„, The gentle What strikes the visitor rsin l^;^^Xn...n police n.anners of ^^^ ^^^'^^^^^^ haled from their beds, suggests terror to the W csteiu .i ^^^^^^^ n.dnight trials, dungeons, all he « " ' ^^^ '^ ^,^^ ^,,^,,,,, .Inma The Russian street police, at an> latc. arc me "■ ( ne of them, lo.^kmg like a soUlier because of his mih- :niform, sabre, and, at night, revolver, s,an him off ^" ' - his team. He directs lost wayfarers. ^^ '^^'l- ' \ ^ ^^ ,„, he reads Russian ad.lresses for me and tel s "- - -^ ° \nd as -t matter of fact, it is not this .'r.n),Av,./ uho doe. And, as a maivci Western world hears n.ysterious and despotic work of ^^^J^^^^^^^ ,, ,,,,ot so n.uch. He ^^^^;^^ ^^^^Z^^^^^^^ expel you conceal from you of ^^^'J^^^^ "^^ ,, ,,other branch from the city at his pleasure. That is tlie xn of the pohce, whose story is too long to be told here. 19 The next thing that catches the eye of the stranger is the universal custom, except in the case of the most expensive shops, of decorating the outside with pictures of everything sold within. The tailor's shop has elaborate pictures of coats and trousers, the ironmonger depicts saws and pincers and hammers and locks, the fruiterer every kind of fruit, the provision merchant bread and sausages and cheese. Why? Partly, of course, like all adver- tisements, to catch the eye, but chiefly because the majority of potential customers cannot read, and would not know what the shopkeeper offered if he did not tell them pictorially. This is a trifle, but it is a significant one. The costliness of Russian life is also a curious revelation. Rus- .sia contains probably a larger proportion of very poor people than any country except China, yet St. Petersburg is the most ex- pensive city I have ever visited. To begin with, every house and hotel contains a swarm of servants, and each one expects a tip. The man who takes your hat and coat at a private house thinks fivcpence little enough; if you give half-a-crown to the attendant who ])erf()rms the same modest service for you at a great ofhcial's he shows no sign of excessive gratitude. The tips of a wealthy Russian to a waiter at a good restaurant are enormous. At the Hotel d'Europe, where I made the mistake of stopping on my first visit, a room on the third fioor costs thirteen shillings a day, and a closed carnage to take you to dinner ten minutes' drive away cannot be had for less than twenty-six shillings. Similarly you find sixpence charged on the bill for a few sheets of hotel note-paper of the cheapest kind, and a bath costs three-and-six- pence. A fortune awaits the man who will " run " a hotel in St. Petersburg on modern lines, where, if you pay high, at least you will get comfort and attention, without miserable extortions. Aleanwhile, the home-like old Hotel de France is where you find tout Pctcrslwuyo, One expects to find Russia overrun with soldiers, her capital like Berlin for its masses of troops, but more so. Yet if you L. .mm'^m '• i%»* " ALL IHK RUSSIAS *° , . . „„ the Embankment to the ehance to .ee the .ua,.a m.^^^^^^ Bank of l-glar,a. ami a t.- ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^,^,,^,,.^ ^,„, ,i.y n, James's Street, yon have ,h..m1 . -^^^^^^^ ^^^^ i„„,„„erahle otheers London than in Si. ''^■'^■''7;";- .,,„„,,^ ,,, uncommon U^A^n.. about,bmthcpnvate>' - _'^;^^,^^.^ Ana at in-s. yon take fo > -^ ^ ^^^^, ^,^^^^^^,^ ,, ,,, , „n,- ofthekn.l. l'---"-'^- Vu'.^K-MK-----"'-'''"^ form. rn,tnrm, m i;u-i. >.^ II ; ._^ ,^^. ^^ j,.,„ ,iv,i,an .> 'ina ui-n^^^i''^^^^^' ^'"'' ' ,. • 1 1 from the statioivHia:^u-i ^^ the :.^n,. .hen --•-" '-' ^ jj S'.e raUways; then all ,he v>uKlo^v-eleane^. who ^^^' ^ j and night out- ,he -^ '-^ ' ^^7^'ts ll 'low- to the youngsters as ^"^'^-"' :,,.ai every boy at ^ l^;^" ,„te of a teehnieal sehool ,,„^,asy...-valkmg-stKk. Lv Y . ^^^_,^^, ,,,, __....u:,u .n.n.eers, eml ^"S-'f^' ,.,,,,,,,, u.e rest ,,.,,. ,,,.M..eneranvexere...- oi in., m-o. Every .u ,..- . "^ =^" . ^ ,^,. ,,^, ,,e„.to-do popula- .;,,e .n.h :u, a.tumshmg 1-°^°™^,,,,,^,^, ;, ;, easv to under- -■-' ;\-';:;;:"r .erhap. a. a., o,. two-knows ^-">--"-''''^^'^^,-,.i they mean. \ /a vaa. tmu'~ T bnx e a^kaaanM,aaacalu.---^^^^_^,^,^^.,^.^^^, ,„„•-„, ,,„ tu denutca.anaiu.c.-nfe.-. ; ^_^^^^^..^^,^.,,,,,,.^^^ the \vcarer^ the) mcau ca u H LU a. H < tu o >- H CO UJ ^.-m^ n. ^iiii'* * - ST. IM;1 I^RSBURC; 21 of the cai). the excuse for a more commaiKhnc: accent. And to the foreii^nier they mean two things: first, an officialdom which both in(hcates and explains so great a lack of private initiative; and second, a ceaseless source of embarrassment, from the dan- o-er of exhibitini;- your railway ticket to a major-general, or mak- in<'- vorn- most deferential bow to the guard. St. I Petersburg is the only city 1 have seen apparently without such a thing as a place where alcoholic drinks alone are sold. ]n a restaurant you can order a glass of beer or of vodka, but the " bar " or the public-house or the American '* saloon " is non- existent. The onlv exception I saw was an *' automatic buffet " where you get any drink on the penny-in-the-slot principle. It was enormously popular, but it also sold excellent food automati- cally, and called itself " Ouisisana.'' (I puzzled over this name a lone- time until it occurred to me to divide it into three Italian words.) In a shop, however, where cigarettes and liquors are sold I have several times seen poor children come with an empty bottle, place a few^ coppers on the counter and take vodka home. The consumption of alcohol in Russia is comparatively small per head, but there is a good deal of drunkenness — much more in public than in other countries. The Russian is by nature a genial and company-loving man, and on religious holidays and public fetes these virtues are his undoing. The well-to-do Russian has a peculiar passion in connection with his meals — namely, to hear the music of a huge " orchestrion " or mechanical organ, with drums, cymbals, and every imaginable instrument. Xo self-re- specting restaurant is without one of these monstrous and costly erections, wound by hand or moved by electricity, and they play with the briefest intermissions the whole day. With one excep- tion, all that I heard needed tuning, and dinner — even when it is so excellent as Russian food in good restaurants always is — under such conditions is apt to be indigestible. Two more quaint little details. Nobody in Russia w^ars woollen underclothing — always linen or cotton. ^Moreover, the M L THK RUSSIAS 1 ■ 1 ..nJ tin- iiccc-Mlv (it the - -n --.,--/.,7..,lnneha^van. 1 1 1 >+t<-.i- nt' i\\ (K^n l'^ .111 '11^ I'll- 1 ""t;" „J:i V .....„„„.- .,.. I1.UK-. - -J< ' - >;'•,-:;,';•;,:;;:!';;";■:;;::':;■"; Voltaire 1" >a.y, I Uci ^x^i canned c\'cn \\:\c\--\^\\Vl the 1 " VmI in mmc mih. Ian in viin laai. ! :":::, v»: ;: --,.,....... -•■■'"-;:'■',;;;:,::;: • • i.\ <.r\ site st'cni- t<' 1';^^ e Itccai ua' oi 1 ^ Ld of the Kns.a of to-aav to have been an.K-ipate.ll. 1 . StUl. in all youv wonder at h. foresight ""''.-;•;, ^,,„,,,„ ,,,Hve,<>n,inSt.l>etei>lnir,w,tuuitc..nii.t 1 .o. ^^^^ that he made one mistake-m huildmo- the -' ' "^ ^^'^^ ^,^ do.- toward luiropc should have been m another pait great Russian wall f1 r ..-n CHAPTER II THE TWO MOSCOWS, AND A FEW REFLECTIONS ST. PETERSBURG might be anywhere, and without turn- ing one's self into a guide-book (precisely what I wish to avoid) there is hardly anything in it to describe. My impres- sions of it have only covered a few pages; but it would be easy to write a volume about INIoscow. Here is Russia indeed — - every side of her faith- fully represented. The mairnificcnt white rail- wa\ station, with " God save the Tsar " in |)ermanent gas-let- ters over the portal, is where tlu' Great Si- berian train starts fur Vladnostok and Port Arthur. Tliese s t r a n u' e, dark - rol )ed if', t rJ Gate .iiul Chapel of the Old City, Moscow. nuai. fitting by them.^elvcs at the bourse, tur1)ane(l or fnr-hatted, are Ivussian stibjects from Central Asia. Russia is a great man- ufacttuang cotnUr\- now: Moscow is one of the manufacturing cities of the world. Napoleon looms large in Russian history: from those low hills a few miles away he looked down upon the splendid prey he was about to seize; through this gate he entered 23 ^^ ALL THK RUSSIAS the ctadel; in that church h,s horses .crc s.ahlca. A Romanoff Tsar rules Russia; th.s . the house .here the Urst Ron^no o become a Tsar Hved, as a sunple seigneur; and here ar the tontb ai the Rnr,ks and Ron.anoffs who ruled when St. l-eterslnng Rnssia is -I theocracy; -Moscow is the holy city. was a swamp. Russia is a tntocui . . r. „..;., of consecrated and consecrating. Under whatever aspee Ku la of to-day presents herself to you, m Moscow you may hnd it em- boS, for Russia sprang from Moscow and the Dukes of Mus- covy laid her foundation-stones. Since the Coronation of .894 everybody has read of the won- derful churches of Moscow, of its brilliant colouring, of Us his- toric interest, of the piety of its people. Yet 1 cannot refrain fro, dwelling for a moment on this, for Moscow produces a tmu e and an meffaceable impression. There is n<, cuy m the w^oild Ik I The imperial City in the centre of feking. seen from the .valls where Marco Polo's instruments stood un„l the (.erman purloined them, has something of n^ hUic and green and go d. hs fantastic architecture recall^ the eave.^ and the - dMow i. of Korea. It,, narrow lui^lern street, renmul one ..f Sarajoo. h, hnlv nnagcs. incrallv mnnnuTabK-. and the p...u~ pa--''-. ^-1^'''- oratelv bowing and en..ng hnn..W a.ain and a. a,n..,.ge. Lonrdesatpilgrnnagc.nne. h. Mree,H--l -u h o,I . -ton as In..- as vour list, over winch the .In^^cbk.e. rat.le .and bang till vourWare deaf and your throat . ..re, brn,g back to nuanorv Belgrad. the wor.t-paved town m the world, where von may Mtn well fracture your skull in a drive down the ni un street m a c , .cd carnage. Rut as a whole .Moscow is like nothing but Mo^eow- a city"apart. exempt from comparison, bevond description. -^ . , f T) • i,n- n T^nnnl'itioti of a million. The second capital of Russia ha. a population it is the commercial centre, and the greatest Russian -a-^^-^^ ,., town, and it iKis four hundixd and tntv cluird^s: inu to 1^ viler Moscow is the Kremlin, and the Kremlin is Moscow, lie remaininc, forty-nme fiftieths of the city do not ---^^- ^^^^ learned l^ve not yet agreed what " Kremlin n.eans-probabh THE TWO MOSCOWS 25 fortress, or Acropolis, or central official quarter, for many other towns have one. Actually it is an isosceles triangle, one side rest- ing upon the river Moskva, and all three marked by enormous pyramidal walls of pale pink brick, broken at intervals by square watch-towers, and pierced by live gates. One of these leads from the river— a prison or secret gate— and everybody who passes under another, the Gate of the Redeemer, so called from the miracle-working portrait over it, must remove his hat. The best A Gate of the OLi City, Moscow. view is from the Kamennv Bridge, and is shown in my photo- graph. Without colour, however, the Kremlin loses half its charm. A Russian wit has said that Moscow is remarkable for two things— a cannon which has never been bred, and a bell which has never been tolled. And these are perhaps the two most striking single objects. On the way through the Kremlin, you pass in the arsenal yard an enormous quantity of l)ronze cannon, ALL THK RUSSIAS THE TWO MOSCOWS 27 26 , • . '^,^^^.>ri1l ;,7 i— s broken, and the eleven-ton p.cce kncKked toutr ui i/.v ^^^^^.^^^, ,^,^ ^, ,, „^.nihcant r,: :-:::.:■ .^:-.--.-< ^■-'-■' "r"; ,rI::.: ZL.^An, l..ly :^u'^ ^'^^^^^ ^'^^^^^^^- ,n a glas. frauK. s a ; ss tablet telhngth.pn, nd. on. ^Vc stopped to re dt- , ,,,tv of four. UK-huln,, a ,n,d.-^wlu.n n.tan.lv a ..U, ■ , ,,,;,H-..e.nKn.onetan.l.KU-p,yon,cuMnson,ove.,. Ul cang. .uthesn-eetau. notpcrnnu.dn, Kn..a. '^; '^ on;e,an,gn,,ran.n.n,.to...ea,,..ve..cnnn,o,-.. „., nn.lc.-tana, inn tlK. uH.lcm Ull~ H^ Movy u -.^ a^^^^^^ somc.hnr^ p.a.lu,l> a . ,.^ ^.„ ^f U,,--an vuuaacs. a ,;il,lci ..ct up Ml a puMir place to tell ol im ■ • f .,> r^.lnlent of X.il'O eons -iL',.i-^if" '•'"'■" < ■ Moscowi^. "f''>u>e, redolent 01 . , m,i1. from Three hours' dr.ve from the city arc the bpaiic.N !!..!>, bom t 1 " ta,..l .us first view of the splendid pillage tn,a awatt d which In oDta Moscow eighty-seven years ago looked his impatient legions. If Moscow eig.> Z,,! n. ii was with P-. „, Lse hills as it looks to-day. h.s heart. ^^^^^^^^^ ^, i hnvo heit biHi Thnm-h tiu 1 loitski Uate oi tiu- Krcniliii br rnterecl next clay. \^ ^^'^-^ ^'--^ ' ■ ,^ • i,p.- ...ir In t1ii< little iKiU-.Tiy tMx^aU^ .\losco^v 1 • • \\- thi. Ked Siairca-e he KM hi^ <^iiiuiiii,^ . , ,u, iMaee In this Chureh m tlic Savunu th. inia... into the I alact. c-hn^tian niartvr ;:t:r.;::t;::r^:;*;:;.;:a.*.-..^ - row cemetery of hi- troops. The whole Kremlin is wonderfully picturesciue. Its broad castellated brick walls are pierced by deep arched gateways and crowned bv cpiamt towers whose red sides and green tiled roofs emerge from masses of foliage. High above all is the tower of Ivan \-eliki (an Englishman, by name John Yill.ers). from which the whole citv is spread out before you like the illuminated page c,f some old missal. Here is a glimpse of the garden of a mon- Wmieii m !li.- Sunday W.uket. Moscow. astery vAu.n once boasted 16.000 servants, pretty red balconies ,,„„,■„. ,,„„„1 a =qnarc of embowered walks. A few steps away is the never-to-be-forgotten Callidral oi the Ascnmption, n, M.ai^e as its orioinal wa^ Innlt mx centuries ago, dazzling w,th gold, frescoe.l from door to cupola, claiming upon its highest altar a piece of the Saviour's robe, the spot where a man crowns himsell Tsar of Ml the Ku=sias. and. in the eyes and in the profoundest 1 1H1-: TWO MOSCOWS -9 ALL TH1-. RUSSL^S 28 interest, an.l he nu,^t ^^^^^ ,-,ii,cuuns. ^ly object he n'.^. ^^^_^^.,,^^^. ^^,,, ^,„,„,h,,. .^enes, and place, but » ;^';'^ ,^,^ ^,„., „,„„„,. uhu-h 00 to the "-'--'--"^- '^'^-^r ;"',:'" , ,-,,„„ .hK-h the Ku^.a oi to- morrow nu.) be mfenu . ^^^^^^^ navollcrs. Moscow to the ^;f ;;;;;';; ;,,, L,., wCbreaa people, To most people, cxcn ,- ., „u-turesaue and nivs- Moscow is only the nuanu oUl capual, -"^ :^^^,.^. ,,,^;,,. terunts fauh-the lol> ..^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^.,, „^ ,Ve.t- It is this, but .t IS al^o ..unKthnv > _ ^^^^^,^^^. „,,^v„Ha,,.,,,->p.;.;;"y;;;;-^ ■•'■'•■^■^''■> ''^-" ■""•- ' -, ., ,,^. ,;^i, of nnlion^. W c have y.a.uol „,,cd sonic day i>' :'.iu. ' -< '<'i^ ...lon-spi""'""- ''"''= .„ Old MOSCOW. U. New MOSCOW n^s ^ ^^ ;; .^,,.^^,.„„,,y ,.|,.l, have paid seventy or -g^ t 1 " ^ -^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^,^^,^ _a startlu,, jtiuaposttton, but the on tl ^^^ ^ the other. !•> ..uu,factnrc. as we as .n^. .^^^.^^ ,„,hio„. ^'o--^\'^:::^^;;:i^Cn'-^^^^ only Chinese in ,i,e walls, known as the Chinese 1 .^^^^^ ^^^^^ ., ,„, , few tea merchants-.s P-^« ;^;; ^^ ,,„„.^..,g buyers ^,„., ,.,,,, The streets hum w,th tl-^eP ', ^.^^^^^ ^„^j ,1 ^ tTt-,- 1 iu>'o IS croweic I N 1 ■ ' ... I ,.V,r^ ,\t ,,,,n5i tha- I M '-'ns.,C IS e ,•,-,,,.,,, "■'" "^' , ,, ,,- ,„,r!u.n nf Ihcm ^pcakmi; C.via.a., „KTchani.. a uar.arkauu; ,.■■,"'•■ .,-„.,, ,aces an.l bead- uith a >pvnikhn- nt 1 hn.csc, ic ,,, v.au/i uitb Napo- ... I ,,.,, WhiMi vmu 'Invv ..111 U) Maa > ■^""•"'"" " : h,'l uulM.lc a.allv.l.n,.na..crv,bnlhaniui ,eonsghoston.hclnl.^uut.uu ^^^^^ ^ ^^^_^^_^^,^^^^^.,,^.. colour, quaint m a,vh„e.-nn-c. 'V' '';'-;' .,^,,.„,, ,„h ln„e ^^^•^^" >■"" ";' ^'^ -^- X n im.l -Moscow, at .h-ance^ varvm, disfiguring chnuneys. All ai.ni.i.i ■ 1 1 ,. tr-nn -ire <^reat spinning and weaving frnm two to SIX liours b\ tr.iin. art r,ieai. -i ,-, c non-pnnting mills. Spniiimg m Russia has advanced w. ' omshin.. stri.les; In t886 there were already over two mil Ium. Tl,- CMwdrM ..i ^t baV.l tl,e Bc,ir>.,ea, .\\oscow-Sixteenth C.ntuw. pl-H-os* From i.xSo to 1889 the .anput of the cotton nianu- factinin.- in,hi"» -«••••♦ -• 30 ALL Till RLSSIAS then i1ic pnuhiction lias steadiK ri^cn. tlmu-]^ imt of course at thi.sastoni>liiii-ratc. The dcniaial tor ccltnii -..< .(1m> practically unlimilcd for the entifc population of Rn^-reat iealousv, and their nationalitv had this disadxantage, that when trouble arose with the workmen, the immediate object of the hostility of the latter was their direct chiet, and the situation be- came much more complicated if he happened to 1)e a foreigner. Such troubles are b\- no means i-are. and in one ot them an haig- lishman was killed a few _\ear- ago. Indeed, among the -ubjects of official consideration in l\ii--ia to-da_\' the familiar miu' oi the relatioiLs of capital and iaJjoair is a^.-umniL; an e\er liable perplcx- 111-. not t" -a\ disfjiiictiiiL;', a-peot. Frr)ni tlu' niill^owncr^^' point of \- lew the iiio-t difhcni! ]'!■< 'bUan, however, is thai » •! inrl. Mnli- erto wo( Mi ha^ 1 ireii c!Mel!\ ■ t ■( 'III its ])ncv It !\\ nig pro 111 bi- \\\i\ \iriad\ u costs £3 or more tor four tons, and it does not go hah a.s far as good coal. English coal is costly, coal from the Donetz district in the south has to l)ear 800 miles of railway trans- j)ort, and naphtha residues, which are so largely employed for all kinds of steam -raising, are rising steadily in price. Official com- fort is gi.ii! i*\ I lie statement that coal will ])rol)ably be found uiak'i' (he AloL-cow di-siricl iL-l-1i, but lucanw hilc the cost of fuci, and t lierefore of p< )wer, Ntaiid- in t lie w a\' ( >f nian\' a new iii(hi-tria1 enterprise. One other matter in cnnneclion with cotton in Rii-sia de.^erx-es mention. Most of tlie raw material come- from Americ:i. and a considerable cjuantit} from I\g\pt. Rut m Tnrke-tan. Russia has come into possession of a cotton-growing country of great possibilities. Last year, a Moscow merchant told me, 350,000 711 L lAVO MOSCOWS 31 American bales came from there, and this, it must be remembered, is favoured b\' escaping- the heaxw dutv which foreign cotton lias to pay. An official publication l)efore me contains this state- ment: " In the near future [)robably the greater part of the Rus- sian cotton industry will be supplied with native raw material." Rut as all the cotton of Turkestan is dependent upon irrigation, and ca])ital is scarce there, the Moscow spinners do not yet share -j«t5 )»»*'' The Kremlin, Moscow, from the Kamennv Bridge. this «s])iiniistic liope. Meanwhile, liere is a little story, winch mav interest Lancashire. A prominent and wcaltliy Moscow- producer of cotton goods is exhibiting, with ostensible indigna- tion, but really with much natural pride, a piece bearing an exact imitation of his own trade mark. His name is slightly altered, but the rest, including his many medals from exhibitions, with his name correctly spelled upon them, is there. This piece was man- f \L. }i i; 1 'f 32 ALL llli: RUSSL^S ufacturcd in England and sent to him by his a-cnt in I'ersia. So, at least, everybody says. 1 did not succeed ni -eein- it. ddiei-e is nothm- -o nitere-tm- ni KuxMa at tlii> nionient as the nulu>trial development uliuii lia^ ah.ady -one so far. and is uitlH nil d< .uhl goiii- so niiK-li larihvr. i 1 i^ a ni. aiimtous de- vd-pmeiii- !er\ant of God l^ hi^i;li enongh to place the crown u|)on his hrow. Therefore, in the holiest spot of the Holy Citv, amid all the pomp of the living- and all the solemnity of the dead, sur- rounded I)\- the royalty of the world, while hells clash and camion roar and multittides throng without, the hereditary heir of the RomanotYs — though but a trace of real RomanofY blood is left — crowns and consecrates himself Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, and — for the whole list is well worth recalling — of Mos- cow, of Kiev, of Vladimir, of Novgorod; Tsar of Kazan, of Astrakhan, of Poland, of Siberia, of Kherson-Taurida, of Grusi; (iosudar of Pskov; (irand Duke of Smolensk, of Lithuania, of Volynia, of Podolia and of Finland; Prince of Esthonia, of Libonia. of Kurland; of Semigalia, of the Samoyeds, of Bielos- tok, of Korelia. of Foer, of Ingor, of Perm, of Viatka, of Bulgaria, and of other countries; Master and Grand Duke of the Lower Countries in Novgorod, of Tchernigov, of Riazan, of Polotsk, of Rostov, of \\iroslav, of \^ieloselsk, of Udork, of Obodsk, of Kondisk, of Vitelsk, of Mstilav, and of all the countries of the North; Master Absolute of Iversk, of Kastalnisk, of Kabardinsk, and of the territory of Armenia; Sovereign of the Mountain Princes of Tcherkask; Master of Turkestan, Heir Presumptive of Norway, and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, of Stormarne, of Dithmarschen, and of Oldenburg. And it is sober truth, as I have said, that to the majority of the people who live in these places the man who thus crowns himself in the House of God becomes thereby something more than human— a semi-divine person. One is reminded of the vigil of Festus: — those bright forms We clothe with purple, crown, and call to thrones, Are human, but not his ; those are but men Whom other men press round and kneel before — Those palaces are dwelt in by mankind ; ' -A-«^*t ^ .■■-'^.#,. — 'vrv^f*--. /> »-^»«i '•. • —t #■•* »«»■»-* »^'.<>-»-'*N-^»#* •■l# ,•»••, ••%♦ "^ .—% .B. A^. - . 36 ALL -nil. RUSSLAS Higher provision is for him y<»n ^ft'k AiiiKl nut punii) and glories: see it here ! behold earth's paragon ! Now. raise thee, clay ! TluMv i^ iiMtliiim- like it m ilu- v..Mi.l: pmlai;!} no .ucli claim ha, ever U'cii imi i.Tili elsewhere a^ i^ rcmilarlv made in thi^ ,inirr1i w1irii T Mieh riaim has ,,,r i eeii -^ widely and so shicerely allowrl An 1 i- - mulci^uuid Russia 11 1. a])solutely necessary to appreciate this fact. Unless you realize that in Russia the Tsar is everything, literally every- thing; that not only is his will law but that it is also heaven- inspired right; that his land and his subjects are his to dispose of wholly as he will— I am speaking, of course, of the masses of the people— you will not grasp the fundamental condition of Rus- sia to-day. A well-known story tells that in a Russian battle not so long ago, the artillery, urgently needed in front to save the day, was stopped by a dee]) ditch. The soldiers thereupon flung themselves in until the ditch was full, and the artillery galloped over their bodies. The incident, whether fact or fiction, illus- trates the relation of the common people of Russia to their Sov- ereign. As you go higher in the scale the fact remains, but on a different basis. Oflficial rank— /c7//«— is the standard of position — a greater or less tcJiiu determines a man's honour and influence, and of course all conceivable tcJiiii culminates in the Tsar. If you have not yourself a high tcJiiu, you must be '' protected " by somebody who has. Officials of high rank will hardly deign to nntice you at one minute, and the next they are wholly at your service, if they have learned that you are well " protected.'' And in the highest society of all, whatever views it may privately hold and express, the Tsar, as the source of promotion and the foun- tain of honours and emoluments, dwells alone upon the heights. In material things it is the same. I was once discussing with a Russian administrator the military capabilities of the Trans- Sil)erian Railway, and 1 remarked that there would not be rolling- stock enough to convey masses of troops in a short time. '' Every t/5 UL) < H 36 j^l 1 111! RLSblAS Higher provision is for him you seek Amid our pomp and glories : see it here ! Behold earth's paragon ! Now, raise thee, clay . There is nothing like it in the world: probably no .ua. c.n:n has ever been put forth elsewhere as is regularly made m tins church when Tsar succeeds Tsar-certainly no such clanii has ever been so widely and so sincerely allowed. And to understand Russia it is absolutely necessary to appreciate this fact. Unless you realize that in Russia the Tsar is everything, literally every- thing- that not only is his will law but that it is also heaven- inspire.1 right; that his lan y < UJ 2e: 11U% IWO MOSCOW'S 37 engine and carriage in Russia would be put tliere if necessary/* was the rcplv. '* But," 1 olMccted, "' thai would dir^organize the whole commerce of the country, and Ijring tens of thousands to ruin." '' You don't understand," answered this official: " li th.e Tsar g ave the word to take every railway carriage in Russia and The Krcnihn Square and Memorial of Alexander !.. MOSCOW. run it across the Si])eri:ni Raiiwav and throw it into the China Sea at the oilier end, wlu^ i should hke to know, winilil pre\-ent -1 1 ii , "' it?"''' The inlhience ^^i tlie ihr.>nc i^ mcre;L>nig ratiier ilian diminishing'-, fur 1 heard man\- complaints from educated Rns- • "Tt. a Ru-sian no uhstacle is unsurmountable wlitii his Tsar commands." M. de Witte. in ins Report to 11. .M , \hv Viupvr..r >.n ilu- lUidget of tin- J-nii ire iuv IQOO, I 3^ ALi. rm: rlssias THE TWO MOSCOWS 39 sians that CLTiaiii MiiuMcr.^ of Slate were takiiii; Llicir i)rui)Osals (lii"cct t<> tlie '{>:[]'. wln'^e ^iLinaiure made tlieiii irre\-nca])l_\' law. instead of submutini^ tlierii tir.-t. a> i> cii-toiiiar}-. to the Council of Ministers. The d'>ar himself deternnned to build the I'rans- Siberian Ivailway; it will cu>t a hundred nnllion.s sterling;, d^radi- tion alone i.s more powerful than autocrac} : if it were not, the world would have even i^reater reasun to admire the asj)irations of Nicholas II. A Tsar cannot conuuand a i)olicy which no Minister will undertake to carry out; he is unable to control and lielples.s to set a>ide a mas> ot stati>tics or unfaxourable informa- tion which they la\- before him. Sometimes, as in the case of Alexander 111., he is deliberatel} overwhelmed with details in order that he may not espouse principles. Thus a Tsar niii.:^ht possibly not be able to preserve peace ai^^ainst all the facts and warnings and arguments l)rought to bear upon him. But he could declare war, by a word, at any time. And it is to the e\er- lasting honour of Alexander 111. tliat he set his face so stead- fastly against war, waged either b\- himself or \)y others, and of Nicholas II., that his first great act should be to call a Confer- ence of Peace, although, some of his Ministers, both by private word and official (\q(h\, made it almost a mockerw From ruler to ruled is a natural transition, and especially so in Russia, where there is no middle ckk^s in which the two quali- ties coalesce. Indeed tin- is the mo^t striking aspect of Rus- sian society: at the top, the imperial family, surrounded bv the nobilit) ; at the bottom, the " eommon peo|)le.*' ivussian life abounds in incidents which illustrate a personal sympathy between high and low existing in no other society. I read, for instance, that one day a miserably ragged man begged an alms at a rail- way station from a prosperous-looking passenger. At that mo- ment a (icneral— and it must be rememl)ered that in Russia a Cicneral is a very great personage— with his pretty young wife came upon the platform. " 1 will give you five roubles," said the man heartlessly, " if you will kiss the (ienerafs wife." The beo-- >) >> gar went straight to the lady, fell upon his knees, and told her of his plight. She listened, and then, getting her husband's per- mission, held out her cheek for him to kiss. The Xozvyc I ^roiiya, which told the story, added truly that such magnanimity could only occur in Russia. One day I remarked to a Russian friend with whom I was dining what an excellent servant he had. •' Yes," he said, ''and there is also something remarkable about him that you don't see. That man has been kissed by a Tsar. - When— why? " I asked in astonishment. " Some years ago, replied my friend, " he was on sentry duty in the garden of an Imperial palace, and in the early Easter morning the Emperor came out alone. ' I'oskrcss Cliristos ! ^—' Chi'ist is risen!' said the sentry, as custom prescribes, and it is also prescribed that you shall salute with a kiss the first person who tells you the good news. Such customs in Russia are binding upon Emperor or peasant alike." It was a charming story, and well illustrates the comparative nearness of top and bottom in Russian life. The development of industrialism with its rapidly made fort- unes is changing this condition so far as the large towns are con- cerned, but it still remains true of the country as a w hole. What impressions of the Russian people does one gather from several months' travel through the whole empire — a journey of twenty thousand miles? The first thing that attracts your attention in the two capitals themselves, is the curious detail I have already mentioned, namely, that the shops which offer wares to the peo- ple do so, not in words, as with us, but with pictures. I noticed the same thing later in going over barracks. In one large frame, for instance, is a series of " penny dreadful " pictures, showing all the duties of a sentry— what the good sentry does if a fire breaks out, if a burglar is seen entering a house, if a citizen is attacked, if a sportsman comes shooting birds near a pow^der- mao-azine. and so on. Verv few of the soldiers can read,* and this *The official report for i8q6 showed that out of every lOO recruits an avera;;e iA 28.4 could write, and 71.6 could not write. 40 ALL I hi; russias THE I WO MOSCOWS 41 is the only way to impart iiiiorination. In a class-room at another barracks was a >choolniahicr icachin- the letters of the alphabet on a blackboard to a lar-e nnnil)er of men. " This is the class fur me to join." I remarked, to the -rcat -lee of these good- tempered grown-np children. ddic Rus>ian people, then, i- illiterate, in the strict sense of the word. And millions npnii million.^ oi people who read no books Br' 'kt'H I)' *xn ( mi l!k' SU' PP^ and no newr^|)a])er<, write and iTeei\e iiu letter^, mn-l inexitaldx' be the helple.^.^ \ieliin> ui .-.uper>i 11 it m aiid pi'ejndice. This is, of C()nr>e. the fact. I\n<-ia is tlu' liiniie ^f inoia' religions manias and crazy notions tlian conld be eiiuniei-aied. \ot a month passes vvithont some almost incredible instance r^f relioi(Mis fanaticism. The end of the world is a con.staiUly recnrring belief. Tlie horrible skopfsi, whose practices one cannot more nearly describe than by saying that they carry ont literally tlie exhortation, '' If thine \ i eye offend thee, pluck it out." are represented all over Russia, and in spite of the severest measures the police cannot stop their abominable propaganda. It is natural to the Russian peasant to take the scripture literally. In ^lay of this year a man named Ivan riotnikof of Bielovodsk, m the government of Kharkov, l)egged a book to teach him to " live in truth." He was given a Ciospel, read Mark v. 29. and was admitted to the hospital, hav- ing chopped his hand off with an axe, after failing to gouge oiU his eye. The Dukhobortsi, too, the superior peasants who left Russia, largely with Tolstoy's help, rather than perform mili- tary service, found the laws of Canada as contrary to their peculiar tenets as those of Russia. The government allotment of land, a correspondent wrote, was opposed to their conviction that all land should belong to the community. They refuse to accept the marriage law, claiming that the only proper marriage is that brought about by nuUual moral affection, and they cannot con- sent u. recognise the right of authorities to regulate such mai- lers. The divorce law also conllicts with their idea of free love. If parties find their uiiidii not contracted through the pure feeling of love, they have the right, it is urged, to divorce themselves. And the registration of births and deaths is objected to. because God knows all about them, 'fhe Rusr^ian authorities are entitled to more svmpatliy than they receive, considering what strange millions thev have to deal with. A friend told mc of a travelling impostor he' had seen, who went from village to village offering, for a .small fee. to show some hair> from the head of the \'irgin Uary. One person at a time was admitted, a small parcel was produced and many wrappings taken off in succession, until in the last paper of all the visitor was invited to ga.-'e upon the miraculous hairs. The paper was c|uite empty and the peasant would aver that he saw nothing. Then the impostor would sor- rowfully explain that the hairs were invisible to sinful eyes, and that only the pious could see them. In order to escape the re- proach, his customers would loudly and i)roudly assert that they 42 ALL im: lU'SSLAS saw thein clearly, and so he did a \n-\>k trade, ddie Russian Gov- ernment is anxious to clian-e it^ old ( n-eoorian Calendar to that of the rest of the world (the Russian date is now thirteen days l)e- hindour own),l)Ut it cannot do so, l)ecau>e the peasants would be furious if the favourhe sanu- were r(.])l)ed of then" proper bulh- days. Sunday, hy the way, is a ])ers()n to the Russian lower classes. Poverty and illiteracy naturally i^o hand in hand. In no other L^reat country of the world is po\erty — monotonous, re- signed poverty — to so i^reat an extent the national characteristic of the peoi)le. ddie only parallels 1 know are in some of the Balkan States. At almo-t any point m rural Ru>sia you mii^iit think xourself in the interior of Ser\ ia or lUil^aria. except that even in these countries the poor pea>ain >eems not (piite so poor, and his bearini^ is more independeni. Roni;' train journeys in Russia are depres.'-iiii^ expcncncc>. ( )ncc pa>t the limit> of the towns, ever\- \illai^'e is the same~--a wide street or two — not really streets, of cour>e. but dee]) du^i or mud. or >now , accordini;' to the >eaM)n, and from a >corc to a cou|)le ol hundreil i^ra)', one- store)- wooden hou^e.^. n>uall\ dilapit and lorcmo-^l an aL;riculim"al countr\'; she produces (includini^ l^oland) two th(Mi m her mu.-.l fertile district.^ that the worst famines occur, for famine— a little one cwerv vear, a biu" one e\ery se\en > ears — has now become a rei^ular occurrence. And the countr\. as one nic> across it. Jeaxes the ^-eneral impression of indio-ence. In shar]) and ])ainful contrast with western lui- rope, there are \irtuall\ no fat stack yai'ds. tio cosev farmdiouse, no chateau .)f the local land-ownei-. no scpiire's hall — merely assemblaj^es of men and women just on the hither side of the starvation line. And. from all one learns, disease is rife. Wdiole villa<4es, 1 was told by men who knew them well, are i)oisoned THK TWO MOSCOWS 43 with svphilis, and the authorities, orravely alarmed at this terrible state of tliini;-s, have appointed of late several commissions of in- (piiry to devise remedial lueasures. Drunkenness, too, is a na- tional vice, the peasant havino- his re-mlar bout whenever he has saved up a small sum, but the new oovernment monopoly of the sale of vodka, which is oradually comino- into force over the whole country, will, 1 believe, exert a beneficial inrtuence in this matter, and much of the denunciation levelled at it is, in m\' opinion, unjust. The vast void si)aces of rural Russia, by the ^vay. may be imai^ined from the fact that e\er\- train carries a ladder and tools and elect rical a])pliances for cuttini;- the tele- i^raph wire and callini^ for assistance m case of accident or break- down. This hap])ened t!i tne on one occa- sion. The lines are, of course, nearl}' all sin- le ones, so there is no Broken Down on the Steppe— Tapping the Telegraph lor Help. opportunity to sto|) a tram i;oi'kU' ^^i ^^^^ op])osite direction. Rast winter successive trains were blocked by snow near Odessa, until several thousand i)asseno-ers were snowed-u]), almost with- out food, for three days, sutterino- terribly, and only released and l)rovisioned at last by the efforts of two reoiments and a hastily oro-anised service of sledcres. Between the towns in Russia, even on the main lines of railway, you are in a country almost untouclied by the conveniences of modern civilisation. Personallv, the Russian common people are attractive. They 44 ALL 11 li: RLSSLAS THE TWO MOSCOWS 45 are simple, i^ood-natiired. kiiicd or to laiiL-li. Xobodv can tail lo like tlieiii. Their poverty does not prevent tlieni from beini;- liapp\ m then- melanehol}- Slav fashion. 1diey live in iVwi and are ine\preslaek rye hreaal. eal)l)ai4-e. hnekwheat. mn>hroonis. e-,!^> are the ehief items ot the ;;////'/7/.v fare, lie is a llnent liar, ^enerallx from amiable motives. 1\q is relii^ions in ever\ lihre oi his heini^. hnt his reli,i;ion is wholly of the letter; he is eonxineed that his priest has the e\il eye; he i'ets wildlv drnnk at h'.a^ter for jo\ to think that Christ is risen, and at other times for no reason at all. The soldier, typieal of his elass. is a i^reat ehild. and is treated a- sneh. Xothini^- is left to his intelliL;enee or hi> initiat:\e. ( )f \irtnes he has many — he is hraxe. obedient, faithfnl; ot wits he i> not snppo^ed or even desired to show an\ si^n. 1 lu- \ri"\ words he is to .sa\ are i)Ut into his monthi. If an riffleer a one an^wci'; when llu' I -ai" ^leel- him he has aiiiiilu-r- — a whole scMiieiiee eai'etnl!} lecUaied 1>) heart and sii,,nled m niii-on b\- the whole rei^-iment in n Ion- ^erie^ < .f e\])lo-i\-e s\l|;ii,| 1 lis ])ay is aboni \s. in of a-nenhnral work, for em])lovment. This, to my thinkm-, i> by far the mo^t >ionineant and impor- tant aspect of Knssia of to-day, and 1 shall have more to say about It hereafter. I only desire here to make clear the two great characteristics of the Russian social fabric, without an apprecia- tion of which no Russian question or prospect can be intelligently judged— autocracy, the semi-divine, unquestioned, unbounded authoritv, at the toj); its counteri)art, illiterate, superstitious, brute-like dependence and automatonism. at the bottom. I cannot help but turn back for a moment to Old Moscow, before leaving the two capitals of Russia, with their associations and su2:crestions. In a . .1^ 1 > ^ crowded street of banks and merchants' offices, in the " Chinese City " — all foreigners in Rus- sia used to be called " Chinese." just as to- day they are called " Germans " — stands a little medic'eval house, skilfully and sympa- thetically restored — the home of Michael the first Tsar of Romanoff race. And within the Kretnlin stands the Cathedral of the Areh- ano-el Michael, the mausolemn of all the Ruriks and Romanoffs till Peter built his citv on the Xeva and laid him down forever m its island fortress-church, to be followed by all the Tsars unto this day. In the one place you see the little, low, many-coloured rooms (much like the old royal apartments in the Kremlin palace), the narrow bed, the modest clothes-chest, the great wooden krass bowl, the green leather boots with their pointed spur- The Home of the Rt»manoffs, Moscow. ^ . m e*. » ..- 44 ALL lin: RUSSLAS are sini])le. .^ood-natiircd kindlw \rr\ ready tu \k' ])k'a>cd or to laudi. Xobodv can fai! lo like ihein. Their poverty doc? not ])revent tlieni from 1)eni^- liap])) in llieir nielaneliol}' Slav fashion. They live in dirt and are niexpres are the chief items of the ;;//////; \v fare, lie is a tluent liar, ^enerall}- from amiable motives. He is reli<;i()us in every fibre oi his beini;, but his relii^ion is wholly of the letter; he is conxinced that his ])riest has the e\il eye; he o^ets wildlv (lrind< at I^aster for jov to think that Cdu-ist is risen, and at other times for iio reason at all. 1Te soldier, typical of his class, is a i^reat child, and is treated as stich. Xothini;- is left to his intelligence or his initiati\e. Of \irtties he has many — he is braxe, obedient, faithftd: of wits he i> not sui)po>ed or even desired to show an\- siiL^n. The \ei"\ words he is to sa\' are ptU into his niotUli. If an o fli cer a ^ks him a (jnestion tliat he cannot answer, he may not ^av. '" 1 ilo no! know " ; he nui^t I'eplv. " I am not able to know." W Ikmi lii.s Colonel i^reet^ him collecti\elv, he has one answer: when tlie T^ar ^reet- hnn he lia^ anijther — a whole sentence cai'eftilly leai'ned \t\ lieail and sht.jiiied in unr-on b\' the wliole re^nnent m a joni^- series r.if exjdosixe s\|]al)|es. llisp:i\ i>a]Hin! ! x. Huf iiecni- ever\ I liree ! n< u il 1 1-. k'rom the ponii ol \ lew oi the milu.'ir}- mariinel. he i< ideal KiJiwucu- futUT — cJiair i) canon. 1\) his number there is no Inn.u. 1\) this o-eneral characterisation of the Russian pcqnil ue i nnisi add one important finnlificntirm. Tlie extras >i-di!iar\- -tlic almn-^t nicretlible i^rMwih .»! industrialism i\\ l\n->ia i~> brinumi^ alxnu a i-reat ; ni( 1 \ \\:\\ ehanne i n i lie ir peasant wlio wurk> wnh lunidn-e( la^^C's of the p(Nn{de. Tlie ' M- ihon-ands of his fellows m a mill or lactorv soon bece.nie.s a diflerent bem- from the peasant toilm- on his hu ,,f xiHa-e land and nn-ratin-- hither and thither, m sea^on> of a-ncnliuial work, tor emi)lovment. This, to my thinkmo-. i, Py far the mo^t ^iomificant and impor- tant aspect of Russia of to-day. and 1 shall have more to say THK TWO MOSCOWS 45 about it hereafter. I only desire here to make clear the two great characteristics of the Russian social fabric, without an apprecia- tion of which no Russian (luestion or ])rospect can be intelligently judged— autocracy, the semi-divine, unquestioned, unbounded authority, at the toj); its counterpart, illiterate, superstitious, brute-like dependence and autoniatonism. at the bottom. I cannot help but turn back for a moment to Old Moscow, before leaving the two capitals of Russia, with their associations and suggestions. In a ^ crowded street of banks and merchants' offices, in the " Chinese City " — all foreigners in Rus- sia used to be called '' Chinese." just as to- day thev are called *' Germans " — stands a little medircval house, skilfully and sympa- thetically restored — the home of Michael, the tlrst Tsar of Romanoff race. And within the Kremlin stands the Cathedral of the Arch- angel .Michael, the mausoleum of all the Ruriks anthin_i;s of his children. In the other place he lies heneath a wine-red velvet pall, and six and forty of his race, similarly habited for eternity, are liis silent companions. When one thinks of what these Roman- offs were, what they are, what they desire to he. and what are the colossal and ever-^'rowin^ forces they control, at the mo- tion of a sin<.(le will, to tnrn their all-emhracini^ and fanatic de- sire into fact, I know of few more imi)ressive s])ots on modern earth. COUNT TOLSTOI AT HOME AND ABROAD CHAPTER III LEO, THE SON OF NICHOLAS THE name of Moscow will always bring back to my mind, before anything else, my visit to Tolstoy. Indeed, he is as much a part of Russia, as significant of Russian character, as prophetic of Russian development, as the Kremlin itself. At the bottom of every Russian is a stratum of enthusiastic ideal- ism, of disbelief in the thing that is and belief in the thing that may be. Scratch a Muscovite and you find a transcendentalist. Drop into conversation with your neighbour in the railway car- riage and in ten minutes you will be disputing hotly over some purely abstract proposition, connected, nine times out of ten, with the possibility of a perfect social state. With us the classes of those who do things and those who dream them are sharply dissevered; the typical Russian is doer and dreamer in one, and Tolstoy is the dreamer incarnate in every Russian heart. The guide-book describes Tula as the Russian Birmingham and Sheffield combined. Peter the Great filled it with his gun- smiths, and to-day, faithful to this tradition, it is the principal small-arms manufactory of the Empire. Moreover, since coal and iron have been discovered in the neighbourhood, it has taken on a new development, and is now a thriving and growing city. It was not small-arms, however, nor iron-works, that took me thither, but something the precise antithesis of these symptoms of modernity. For ten miles out of Tula lives Count Tolstoy, and I could not be within six hours by train of his home with- out making a pilgrimage to meet the man who is perhaps less of this Russian world than any other individual within its con- 47 48 AL.L IMi: RUSSIAS LEO, THK SON OK NICHOLAS 49 'i fines, yet whose voice i> re-anlcd l.y the world outride as tlie most remarkable lliini;- which Kii:>>ia contains lo-day. Tn my telegram reciuesting permission came the cordial hnt untrans- latable words, Milosli l^rosiiiL and. leaving Moscow at night, at eio-ht o'clock next morning I \ainly endeavraired, in vei-y broken Russian, to make an liotel-keeper and a droshky-driver under- stand who was meant by "(h-af d^olstoy." d\) them the great man is simply Leo, son of Nicholas, and remembering this patri- archal habit and " Lef Xikolaievitch," 1 was soon rattling over the cobble-stones of the long wide street on the way to Yasnaya Polyana, Count Tolstoy's world-famous estate. After the misery of agricultural Russia between the frontier and the capital it was a relief to pass through a landscape show- ing: irood tillau-e. g-ood roads and bridges, good Hocks and herds, good crops, and afforestation. I'or part of the way we drove through dense forests of silver birch of perhaps twenty year^' growth, soon to follow their predecessors into stove and furnace, but meanwhile of fair\-like beauty, with their sj)otted shining silver trunks and delicate golden foliage. Midwaw at the foot of a valley, l)eside a railway and a river, rose an example of what is really to-day " Xew Russia " — a huge iron-works, with its un- ceasing din and its belching chimneys, its rows of little houses and its village of mud-roofed triangular dwellings, ddiis belongs to a lielgian joint-stock company, and night and day, Sundays included, it has a thousand men at work — men who formerly tilled the sandy soil with careless hand and primitive im])lement. An ant-like stream of men pours across the road to the long barracks and the half-underground hovels where they live. They are not attractive men, either, and we are uiad to be in the ereen country once more, with the cpiiet hgures of browsing beasts, the rumble of sj^ringless carts jerking along, a peasant asleep, his boots dangling, on each one, the horses with bits beneath their chins, thoughtfully picking their way and giving elbow- room to passing vehicles. After about nine miles the driver turns aside from the excellent main road, and for another mile the droshkv rocks, like a ship hove-to in a sea-way, across grass fields, where cart-wheels have left foot-deep ruts in the recent rainv weather. There are signs of careful planting about us, and at last something which at home would be called a village green, and two little white-washed towers forming the end of an avenue of old birches. The birches are hoary as is their master's head, and great in stature even as himself, and their way winds upward, past an exquisite willow-grove by a lake, till it brmgs you in sight of a white low-spreading chateau, with iron roof painted green, like ahnost all roofs in Russia, close set round with trees. Tolstoy works in his room till one o'clock, and nothing is ever allowed by his devoted family to disturb him. We are there- fore led by a manservant to a spacious upper room, where a long table, with a portly samovar at one end, and a row of chairs down each side, shows that wide and ever-ready hospitality is the rule of the household. There his youngest daughter charm- ingly entertains us for awhile, until his eldest daughter and daughter-in-law come to take us for a long walk round the farm and through the birch-woods. It is not like the farms of England, still less like the West; it resembles more the neglected homesteads of New England. There are long, low wooden barns, a long stable and coach- house, and a fragrant apple-house, where tons of apples are be- ing weighed and packed for the train. Outside the barn lie two wooden ploughs, primitive enough to have come from the depths of Asia. In the stable Miss Tolstoy unfastens the loose-box door ' of her own hack, and going outside calls to her. The mare trots out and follows her mistress about like a dog. Then I am shown what is called the " Clydesdale " stallion, and asked to explain his breed. In such an atmosphere even the innocent falsehood of politeness is impossible, and I am therefore compelled to say that the animal is just half the size he should be for the name he n • <^''^*t».»«fi-i»t»'-,Vi..» >f.-^f 50 ALL IHK RUSSLAS bears. There is also a 13-haiKl wild white horse from the steppe, which is with difticulty perMiaded by the incessant ptirring of the Krooni from showin- us then and there how really wild he is. Count Tolstoy, notwithstandmo- his -reat aoc, hnds i)erhaps his keenest pleasure in traverMii- the country at full -allop on this narrow steed. Then round the tield> and throu-h the woods and orchards we walk and talk. It is rather a dreary picture our hostess paints of tlii> famotis oiate. The land brings m no revenue no landowner in KusMa. we are told, draws anytliing in the ^hape of I'ent from his estates. The peasants gue >ervice at sowiui^- and liarvot m return for their land, or a proportion of their ci-ops where i1k'\ i\^^ not ^ue labour. Ihil the crops are small, and are all Ciuisumcd 011 the place. Moreoxcr, it i- grow- ini* e\ cr ni( u'e (iiltic . ) . T mr al a^ 1] a^k w li\ ]v la 11' cannot \)v tilled with naukTU inri)lciiiLirL>. lei-tili:?cd with artilicial manure^, and lliv cr< -p- rcajHt] wiili -el! binder^, and lluis ^^t Tl at a prnfit. 1 am mm.! iliai 11 rouhl noi be d^nr; bin 1 cannot learn wlna Tt would be (^oiin;ir\' to 1 <>niu hii^tox*'^ iluMiru'-. ^friciK ^prakmi:,. 1 know-, but nirii -< 1 1- .ipplc -cllinL:. hia" onr linni,:. tlif H't'ii \\ork> lia\e disorea!!l^ed the di^nuT Ibf peas- ,tiit- ir,ini|> t». the mil] cverv dav and wor]< incn-dibb l^'Wi: hMurs for incredibly small pay; which, however, saved for a fortnight, enables them to indulge in l)i-montli]y orgies of vodka. And I 1 1 iiHo tlu possession of the rich iia the cit\ , who ale ca^cic^^ a^ Lu pro(hir<, ■ nin ! -n-k ^ ^\\\\ the social |)rest!L^e that land a!«Mia -ixc^ in nhj countries. Mi-- T(ii-t<»\ is ])e-MiniMk- ill!- in««riiiii-. tor Mir -oc- « mi iu sa\ thai e\cii ul these, tlk' third _i;ciua"ain >n i- a]\\a\^ ruiiird and ha-- \(^ bcL^'in a^\ain. \() Russian. -Ik- a\iT>, '"cxcr " haiiaU a l'aiiiil\," a> \(ju sav. LKO, THE SON OF NICHOLAS 5^ A man makes a fortune, his son lavishes it, his grandson disperses It." In his youth, Tolstoy was a mad sportsihan, from dawn to nightfall in the saddle, or with gun and hound. Then this estate was watched and cherished for the chase's sake; now he thinks of it but as an appanage of the ])eople wdiich he monopolises. The GatL'wav of Yasnaya Polvana. h,ii lie bi- do-- IcaiHiiL:" re he cunie^, walking stuihi) down the narrow woodway, joyously about liini. Count Toi-toy's face is as familiar a- iliat of an\ crowned rn!rr of to^rlnv. F\-er\b(idi\ kimw^ ..1 his sini|)le habit.s, lii.s peas- ant"- bhai-e. Ins a\(»nlance of meat, wine and tobacco — in a word, of hi- practical einl)odiment of a curioudy ])rimitive form of C lin- tian faith., b.nt his ai)pearance makes an im|)re'^sion no whit less keen because it is exactl\ what you liave long known. He is seventv-two. and bis broad strong face is deeply seatned. his eyes < J *l ALL TIIL RUSSLAS 5'^ see visions from far beneath heavy bu^hy hmu^. hi^ ])eanl i. snow white, lie wear> a n.un.l -.11 iclt ea|x and a Mack l)l()U^^e with a strap at the waist, and hi> >hoes arc in a >ti-an-e ^tate of (hlapi- ^j.^^5.„, un- Ihc led of a man who, b^ larth a nMl.ieman, ha> be- cume iruiii eonx u;n< >n a -h< .nnakcr. jl^^. ^^|^,^^,,o-r:i|,h rr!.r-dii.,Td hna-. whieh hv ailrrward \k'V- mitted nu' Im take dunv- hiin \>iw\ l>\wi-v]\' a- lie appeared that day •the p'rojih^et'^ L'Tuu, tkie | r.-l )a I riai i beard. 1 h<.' pt;a-an! - i »1< )ii-e. lUit I hi' k-n^ ca!inMt portrav the iiiriinti' ^\M/eiiiess Ot iii^ uxpres- Muii, iiur \\w pen onncx the cxetahni; -mkieness of his words. For him the law and the prophets, the ten cuniiiiandiiients and tiic caieg. iKal nnperative, are all comprised in the one word- Love Who has it, has everything— religion, ethics, law, politics; who has It not, has nothing. " Write me as one who loved his fellow-men," would be also Tolstoy's request to the recording angel if he were not far too modest to wish to be written down at all. And his devotion to the race marks his attitude to the individual. He greets you with genuine pleasure, he asks your opinion almost with deference, he considers your answer with respect. Your personality is evidently a thing he regards as sacred. You struggle in vain to reverse the relationship, but without much success, for his soul dwells apart and you can- not get on the same plane with him — there is so little common ground between you. To questions about matters of current iiiierest, he often replies as a mathematician might reply to a cpiestion about the rotation of crops, and to my own common- pkace questions, prompted by every-day life and mundane affairs, fluii if line frtim the Inuning bush of his pure sotti nii'^wer*^ n^ HicunpiaiuoiMbk' a- iht- commandments mii-i na\-e seemed to Moses. *" .\ic \ou iii >\nn>a'M\." ! a-kcd, '" \\i\\i M . de \\ iUc"s |)(ilic\' iif fo^trri-iL; 1>\" a'il nu-.-in- ilu- iiii!ii>tri;il ■K'\ I'N'iinK'iU i>f kus-ia, a-- ai;aiiist licr a-ricnltiii-al (lc\ fIu|)nH-ui; " " 1 Ju not sec." was the Delphic repl\. '■ that it makes an entwine work anv better or worse if you paint it red or blue or green." It took nic, Li:o, thb: son ok Nicholas 53 Count 1-lstoy at Home. beniolned recipient of an inspired message, several day. to get dowti to the bef course the Russian people, the masses, know nothing whate\er about the Dual Alliance, therefore the ([uestion was essentiallv a foolish one. Rut in describing it as a " menace of war against otlier })eo])les " ('ount Tolstoy dianietrically mis-states both its motive and its effect. (See Chapter XXI\'.) Such mundane matters cannot be criticised to any good pur[)ose from the stand-[)oint of spiritual intuition. LKO, THE SON OF NICHOLAS 55 " of the progress of Socialism in England." And his face clouded over when 1 told him that Socialism, at least under its own name, plavs a far smaller part in English life than it did within my own recollection twenty years ago. " Then tell me." he continued. •• what is being done in England about the ' single tax.' " And he was obviously deeply disappointed when I replied that noth- ing was being done about it at all. One trifling remark in our conversation interested him most. Looking at some carpenters at work. I happened to say that 1 try to do with my own hands all the carpentry on my farm. He at once came over to me to ask about it. And in the liking of one man for simple country life and manual labour he evidently thought he discovered a symptom of hope for the future of a nation. For thither runs his own ideal. So far as the secular authorities are concerned. Tolstoy seems to bear a charmed life. The story about the Tsar meeting him at a railway station and holding a long conversation with him, was a pure invention. Indeed, when an important official from St Petersburg came to Tula in the course of certain investiga- tions, and desired to ask Tolstoy's advice, the latter refused to receive him. But except the suppression of some of his writings, the authorities leave Lef Nikolaievitch alone, though his views must seem to them the quintessence of subversive propagandism. -Three things I hate." he said to me: "autocracy, orthodoxy, and militarism." and these are the three pillars of the Russian State I asked him point-blank, - How is it that the Govern- ment has never arrested or banished you? " " I cannot tell," he answered, and then, after a moment's pause he added, slowly, in a tone of much solemnity: " I wish they would. It would be a great joy to me." The general opinion among advanced Rus- sians is that the police are restrained in this instance by the world- wide scandal that any harsh treatment of Tolstoy would cause. But I am inclined to think that Tolstoy's influence, which is proba- bly crreater out of Russia than in it, being almost confined to the 56 ALL rm: RLSSIAS spiritual sphere, is not fotmd runnini;- atluvart tlie administration in practical life. How should it? Here, for example, is one of his proposals. '* My land here," he said to me, when I pressed him for some immediate i)ractical reform, " is worth to me, let us say, six rouhles an acre a year. I would have the (Govern- ment impose upon this land a tax of nine rouhles. 1 could not pay it. \'ery well, let them take it away from me and ^ive it in cultivation to peasant families in small (juantities sufficient to support them. They could well pay the hii^her rate for it." Such views as this do not endani^er the Russian social fahric. Vasn;i\:i PnlsaiKi, (^.'»uiu i'<'lsU)v'N lit.nu' (riuiil). For some nriexj)lainc(l i-c;in;)ii. hdwevci". and hy sonu* extra* m"- dinai'\- error of ccclesia:^tical tactics, the religions autlu »iities suddenly excomnnniicated him in March of this year. J was told bv Russians that the reason was the issue of tl\ sheets at a kopeck apiece, containint:: his l)ittcrest (lenuiiciatii)iis of the ( )ith(i(lo.x; Church, and the enormous circulation these were ha\'ins,;- among the people. In accordance with what he had said to me about secular prosecution, he reni.arked to a recent visitor, " The day of my excommunication was the happiest of my life." But this did not jirevent him from striking hack at once, in a LEO, THK SON OF NICHOLAS S7 long letter a.ldressed to the Holy Synod. The latter's decree, he declared, is illegal or intentionally ambiguous; .t is arbitrary, uniustii^able. and mendacious. Moreover, it contains a calumny and constitutes an incitement to wicked sentiments and acts •■ 1 have not repudiated the Church.- he added, •' because 1 liad revolted against the l-ord. 1 repudiated it, on the contrary, hecause 1 wanted to serve Cod with all the force o^^^ He admits that he denies the whole creed of C "st amty considered as theology-the incarnation of esus Chnst, the Trinitv the Immaculate Conception, etc., but he does not deny Yasnaya Polyana, Count Tolstoy's Home (Back). " God the spirit, a uni,ue God of love, the princij^e of all things.^ He believes not m the Christian Heaven and He 1 but in the unmortality of the soul and man's moral responsibility and h writes long ans this blow directed? Ihe dead, the msensible remains of the man. or his kindred, the behevers surrounding him? If it is a threat, to whom is it addressed, agan.st who.n .s It anned? Is k really believed that I shall not hnd a priest to celebrate mv husband-s funeral service and pray for hmi i„ church-a goo,l priest who in the presence of the true God of love disregards the commands of men. or a bad pnest whom an offer of mmiev would place at my disposal? But even this .s no necessarv. For me the Church is an abstraction, and I do no acknowledge other mmisters than those who comprehend what it reallv is. \\'ere h necessary to believe that the Church is merelv'the congregation of men who out of malice do not hesi- tate to violate Chrisfs highest command, the law o love, we should long ago have left it. all of us who are faithful to it ai.d observe its laws. .\n-e the Gregorian Calendar because the people will not have their saints' days altered. The excommunication of Tolstoy, too, could have no possible eiTect upon the educated classes, whose relio-ious views are definite and well known. Finally, since so many of Tolstoy's writings are not permitted to be circu- lated in Russia, the effect of his views there is hardly so far- reaching as to call for such conspicuous and heavy-handed treatment. The truth is, I believe, that Tolstoy's influence is first, that of his noble personal character; and second, that of the artist. It is in this latter light that educated Russians esteem him. I have often heard people speak with profound respect of his work as a creative artist, and in the next breath laugh at his theories of reform. What are these, in a word? I tried to summarise them, immediately after my conversation with him, as follows: No more nations and frontiers and patriotism, but the world; no more rulers and laws and compulsion, but the individual con- science; no more multitudinous cities and manufactures and money, but simply the tiller of the soil, eating of the fruit of his toil, exchanging with his neighbours the work of his hands, and finding in the changing round of natural processes alike the nour- ishment of his body and the delight of his eyes; while, like some 62 ALL IHK RLISSIAS directing angel poised a1)Ove, the law of love, revealed in Christ, lights each man's path, and so ilhiniines the world. It is, of course, a species of nihihsni. for reaHsation of it would mean the annihilation of science, of invention, of art, of literature, Init it is the nihilism of the \i>ionar}-, and sliould have no terrors for the autocrat, tlie priest, or tlie major- general. I have dwelt thus long upon my visit to Yasnaya Polyana, partly because Tolstoy is one of the most striking of living figures, and anything at first hand about him, especially now that we can hardly hope he will be included in this category much longer, is probably of interest; and partly because, in his vague and facile idealism, he is the typical Russian. There are, of course, compact groups of Russian reformers working directly for prac- tical ends which they keep steadily in view. Among these the bimetallists are not the least numerous or energetic. But the vast majority of reformers, so far as I could judge from my own experience, are dreamers. Almost every serious student, for in- stance, is a socialist, but a pure theorist, seeking the line of de- velopment along which human nature can perfect itself. No doubt of this perfectibility ever occurs to him. Half of them label themselves Alarxists, and the other half — some local name I have forgotten. When any new solution of the social ])rol)lcm is advocated anywhere, it immediately finds disciples in Russia. Thus during the last American Presidential Election, a Populist group of students sprang up, and still exists. As Sir Donald Wallace has pointed out, Russians, having received their political education from books, naturally attribute to theoretical considera- tions an importance which seems exaggerated to those who have been educated by political experience. *' When any important or trivial question arises, they at once launch into the sea of philosophical principles." So far as the students are concerned, the result of this national habit is that they, the best educated LKO, I HE SON OE NICHOLAS 63 and most intelligent class of the community, exert little influence in the direction of change, \\1ien the next liberalising move- ment comes — and such a movement is being unconsciously pre- pared from above — not they, but an entirely different class, will have constrained it. 62 ALL THE RUSSLAS directing angel poised above, the law of love, revealed in Christ, lights each man's path, and so illumines the world. It is, of course, a species of nihiHsm, for realisation of it would mean the annihilation of science, of invention, of art, of literature, but it is the nihilism of the visionary, and should have no terrors for the autocrat, the priest, or the major- general. I have dwelt thus long upon my visit to Yasnaya Polyana, partly because Tolstoy is one of the most striking of living figures, and anything at first hand about him, especially now that we can hardly hope he will be included in this category much longer, is probably of interest; and partly because, in his vague and facile idealism, he is the typical Russian. There are, of course, compact groups of Russian reformers working directly for prac- tical ends which they keep steadily in view. Among these the bimetallists are not the least numerous or energetic. But the vast majority of reformers, so far as I could judge from my own experience, are dreamers. Almost every serious student, for in- stance, is a socialist, but a pure theorist, seeking the line of de- velopment along which human nature can perfect itself. No doubt of this perfectibility ever occurs to him. Half of them label themselves ^Marxists, and the other half — some local name I have forgotten. When any new solution of the social problem is advocated anywhere, it immediately finds disciples in Russia. Thus during the last American Presidential Election, a Populist group of students sprang up, and still exists. As Sir Donald Wallace has pointed out, Russians, liaving received their political education from books, naturally attribute to theoretical considera- tions an importance which seems exaggerated to those w^ho have been educated by political experience. " When any important or trivial question arises, they at once launch into the sea of philosophical principles." So far as the students are concerned, the result of this national habit is that they, the best educated LEO, THE SON OF NICHOLAS ^3 and most intelligent class of the community, exert little influence in the direction of change. When the next liberalising move- ment comes — and such a movement is being unconsciously pre- pared from above — not they, but an entirely different class, will have constrained it. FINLAND CHAPTER IV FINLAND: THE LAND OF WOOD AND WATER FINLAND is a little country, and there is not much to tell about it. But it is the focus of some brave ideas, and its short story has no soiled page. A desolate and water- logged land, in a hard northern climate, three-ciuarters of its surface destitute of population, possessing no natural wealth except its forests and no natural advantages exce])t its water- falls, where the ripening crops race against the descend- ing frost for their harvest-goal and are often outstripped, and where the peasant for half the year lives like an Arctic explorer —how should it have any story? Yet the very hardness of the struggle has made the Finn one of the sturdiest specimens of humanity— only the sturdy could survive; industry was the con- dition of his existence; his loneliness has l)re(l self-reliance, and his long solitudes have awakened faith. He has developed in this dark wintry corner of lun'ope a civilisation curiously his own— quaintly original on the one side and Transatlantically progressive on the other. He has a natural bent for science, especially in its practical application; art has been born to him —not much in quantity, but vigorous and independent in qual- ity; while literature has by nature deep roots in the hearts of men whose chilly, infertile home-land is the richest of all the world in folk-song and lyric proverb, in legend and magic spell, in epic saga and chanted rune. Yes, it is a little country, but it is big in character, big in the material and moral progress it has made under severe con- ditions, and it raises a big political question. No review of Rus- 64 H FINLAND 65 sia to-day could be complete that did not take Finland into ac- count, though even in its short story there is much that cannot, with discretion, be discussed just now. The first aspect under which the visitor to Russia hears of Finland is that of the playground of St. Petersburg. The fron- tier is but a couple of hours' distance by rail, yet this little journey takes you into a more attractive rurality than can be found in other directions. A Russian grand seigneur, with a vast estate and troops of servants, can have all the pleasures of country life and few of its inconveniences, even though his estate be mortgaged to the hilt and ready cash be a rare commodity. But for the ordinary man, and particularly for the foreign resident, it is dif- ficult to find a small country house in pleasant and healthful sur- roundings. Russia is very flat and uninteresting, from a topo- graphical point of view% and Russian villages do not olYer by any means that wholesome life and idyllic environment in which the townsman finds temporary amusement and repose. On the contrary, they are too often dirty and drunken, and they are nearly always poor. In Finland, on the other hand, pine-clad hill and dashing stream form the commonest natural features; the peasants are fairly well-to-do, they are healthy, intelligent, and strikingly honest; sobriety rules, because the sale of intoxicants is absolutely prohibited; there is capital fishing to be' had; while, perhaps most influential reason of all, owing to the lowness of the Finnish tariff, both necessaries and luxuries are far cheaper than in Russia. So everyone who can afford it — and almost every foreign resident of the Capital — buys or rents a little country house in Finland, where his family lives during the summer — al- most intolerable in the fiat, canal-intersected city of Peter — and whither he betakes himself either daily or at each week-end. The northeastern part of St. Petersburg is called the Viborg quarter, and the Finland station is just on the other side of the Neva. The frontier is at Terijoki, thirty-three miles away, but there are no frontier formalities, as a perfunctory glance is given 66 ALL THK RUSSLAS FINLAND 67 at your baggage in the station before the train starts. There is no fear of much smuggling from a high-tariff country to a low- tarifT one. SmuggHng between the two countries, as 1 shall point out later, plays an important political part, but it is all the other way. Almost the only thing you may not take freely in your baggage into Finland is spirituous liquor. Even from the train you soon remark a difference between the two countries. Russia is a land of plains, broken by occasional great rivers. Fin- land is a land of " rocks and rills," covered with masses of granite. A Coiintrv lli>iisi' in I'mliind. an astonishing proportion of its surface water, and tlie train runs for hours past two unbroken lines of ])ine-woo(ls. And man's handiwork shows as much difference as nature's. The wooden houses of the peasants, as well as of the better classes, are neat and pretty, mostly painted red; they are always in good repair, the fences in order, the gates sound and closed. The whole coun- try, in fact, looks well cared for— the home of hard-working people, prospering thriftily. And one curious and characteristic detail strikes the traveller before he alights. In Russia official ' notices of every kind appear in Russian only. The Russian of- ticially ignores the existence of foreign languages even where foreigners mostly congregate. If you do not know Russian there is but one thing to do — learn it. Finland, on the other hand, is cosmopolitan, for, to begin with, it is bilingual. Finnish, that strange, soft cousin of the Oriental T^Iagyar tongue, is the lan- guage of the people; Swedish is spoken in all the towns and by everybody above the status of peasant. And the notices to pas- sengers in the railway carriages are in six languages: Finnish, Swedish, Russian, English, French, and German. Neatness, and modest self-respecting prosperity, are even more noticeable in the towns than in the country districts. Vi- borg, the first important place you reach in the journey from Russia to the capital, is hardly a real Finnish town, for it is the commercial link betw^een Finland and Russia, and a large pro- portion of its merchants are Russians and Germans, and Rus- sian is spoken currently in commercial circles. The main line of railwav runs throu^'h it; the branch to the north is onlv a few kilometres awa}-; its s])]en(li(l harl)our is — exce])t in winter — the chief maritime inlet and outlet of the country; and the great Saima Canal leads from the head of its bay deep into the multi-- ttidinou? water-way? of the interior. Needless to say, there is a sti'oiig Russian garrison here, and over ilie strange old slab- sided Gothic castle, liuiU" by tlic Swe(li>h Governor Knut>on in 1293, Hies tlie little Russian " war-tlag." The approach, too. is guarded b\' sexeral nicnlern forts upon islands in the haw fur Russia is open to attack from this side and takes her precautions accordingly. Viborg, thus, apart from its Castle and round- house, is commercial, modern, Russo-German Finland; it is not genuine Finland, either of our time, like Helsingfors, or of all time, like the villages and up-country towns. Eight hours in the train, through almost unbroken pine- woods, with hardly a town of any importance the whole way, bring you to Helsingfors, and here you are really in Finland of 6>^ Al 1. I HI Kl ^M AS to-clav. 'llic I'lnii li:i- :ni cnllm-ia-tic admiration [, .r liu' cajnial t his coiimrv, wliK-h ooiiU In- luiluau- ii ii had n^i m. -(u.d a o ha. I. oi m^tihcation. IikKhmI. 1 dmihi i! an> ui ihr .-apual^ ..1 the woi-Kl which cuuiit ihcir a-c by cciuuric- and ihcir iiiha1)i- ijr^ ■-. '■*■-. L a Tlu' Cii\ AiKl iLui^"Ur :^ h\- million^, evoke ^ludi a |)atri, h'lit I wandered almoin a cr^ofl deal dnrin^L:- a week'^ .^tay. and i did iiut b. Down the centre of the city run.> o t }!L'lsinj:fors. the wide h:-p]anadc. all -ardeii^ and trees, with fine houses upon one Mde. and a truly metropolitan ran.c-c of ^lioj)^ and huiel-^ u])on the other. In the middle, stands the bronze ^tatue of the poet Kuneberc^. l)v his >on. and i^raven on its pedestal is the national son<- he wrote. Every May the students of the University p;ather \ 70 ALL IML RUSSL^S about his feet and sin^ iii> words— or at least they used to do so; perhaps this is forhichlen now. ddie spirit and metrical vii^our of Runebero's poetrv are adnnrably shown, l)y the way, ni the following- spirited translation of " Tlie March of the Biorne- boro-ers." in the e>:act metre of the peculiar orii^inal, line for line — a poem now forbidden to be sung- in Finland: — Sons of a race whose blood was shed. On Narva's field; on I'oland's sanel ; at Leipzig; Luizen's dark hills under; Not yet is Finland's manhood dead ; With foemen's blood a field may slill be tinted red. All Rest, all IVaee. Away! bej^one ! The tempest loosens; lii^htnin.i^s fiasli ; and o'er the field the cannon thunder; Rank upon rank, march on ! march on ! The spirit of each father brave looks on as brave a son. No nobler aim Could lii^iit us to the field ; Our swords are tlame ; Nor iiew our blood to yield ; Forward each man, brave and bold! Lo! the i;lorious path of I-'reedom, centuries old ' Gleam high ! tiiou bannc-r \'ictory-seaknl ! In the grey bygone days, l(Mig since, all battle-worn, Be still our splendid colours, though tattered, onward borne ! Of Finland's ancient Standard there's yet a shred untorn. Never shall our fathers' ground He reft by force from out the arms of soldiers who have never bled ; Never shall the word go round That Finns to their free Northern home were traitors found. The brave can only do and die Not backward turn at danger's threat ; nor shrink ; nor quail ; nor bow the head! Be ours the warrior's fortune high To fall— we only plead for one last Victory ! Take sword in hand ! Rush gladly on the foe ! Die for our land. So Honour's life shall grow! Untiring pkmge from fray to fray. The present time is ours— 'tis now the harvest-day ; Thinned ranks as splendid witness show FINLAND 71 To Valour's daring deeds, our land that save and ward ; On with the grand old banner, that never battle scared. Around the staff still gathers its faithful Finnish guard.* Above the Esplanade is the hill whereon stands the observa- tory and the fine well-known group of " The Shipwrecked " by the sculptor Stigell. From this height the splendid bay and har- bour spread out before you. On the town side these end in rows of neat warehouses and railway lines. A little way out is the pict- urescjue Yacht Club, on an islet, and farther on is the group of island fortresses around Sveaborg — the " Gibraltar of the Baltic," with its 6,000 Russian troops and 900 guns. This was the scene of the treacherous sur- render of the Swed- ish Admiral Cronstedt to the Russians in 1808, and of the un- snccessftd attacks of the Allies during the Crimean \\\ar. Helsingfors has many imposing buildings for so small a city, the best placed be- imr the Lutheran church of St. Nicholas in the Senate Square, raised upon its little granite hill and reached by fifty wide steps. Jt may be seen behind the monument of Alexander II. in my illustration on p. /T,. This monument — also by the younger Runeberg, and erected by the Finnish people in 1894 — is a proof of how^ easy it has been for Russia to enjoy the devotion of the Finns, for on the anniversary of the Emperor's assassina- tion or fete-dav it is surrounded bv wTcaths and memorial em- blems of their grateful affection. The University, another fine building accommodating 2,000 students, is named after Alex- • T/ie Times, January 8, 1 90 1. The Diet House, Helsingfors. ' H -3« --■' * ■^ 7'2 ALL rilE RLSSL\S FINLAND 73 ander I., and his \m>{ occupies ilie ])]ace of huiiuiir m ilic Aula. But to the visitor, especially just now, the most interesting^ build- ings are the Senate House, with its magnificent salle, where the Emperor, if he came, would open the Diet; RuUhirhusct, the great panelled hall, its walls covered with the escutcheons of all the knightly members of the Diet, where the knights hold their session; and Stdmlcrkusct, the Estates' I louse, with its three halls where the representatives of the clergy, the bourgeoisie, and peas- ants sit during the rare meetings of the Diet. There is nothing remarkable in the architecture of these: they are simple, modern, and dignified, but to the stranger from a land of representative instituti()n> they are fraught with the in- terest and patlios of some noble and his- toric landmark .sinking slow]}- into the soa. . 'Hie first inifireb- sK sii of "1 IcKinki." liu\\c\ei", i.s one's la-l ; surprise and admirn- tioii at llu- niUTpri-c a!id \!,L:*'i;r by winch SO poor and -inali a ])eople have made of their capital so civilised atid ^o progressive a niofjern city. Forty years ago Helsingfors h:i I in!\ jo.nru) mli al itants, to-da\ it has more than four times that iiniiilier. :\U(\ a- I h:i\r :tire;iii\ rciiiarkeu, 1 know ui no capital ciiv in tlie w-rM winch Mirfiasses it in (a'der, cleanliness, convcni- ener and all tiie externals at m< Mica-ii ei\ ili-aii« ni. i he ^i reets are pcrfectlv kept, and little electrie-cnr-, ni'-'del- <»! ilaai knid. iin'- nisli rapid and comfortable tran-p^n ir-, all parts; r*hu'ati<»n ni all branches of knowledge, for both ^excs, offer- every theoretical and material opportunit}- ; the Post-office, to take one exa.niple of government, is the best arranged — not the biggest, of course TIa* Bu!uh-!^' ('h.inila'!-. —I have ever seen, our post-offices In the great provincial towns of England, where the whole of Helsingfors would be but a parish, l)eing but barns in comparison; and on the table in my sitting- room at the Hotel Kamp was a telephone by which I could con- verse with all parts of Finland. All these things are the signs of good citizenship, the more to be admired as it has grown upon I iiiLmd "^ Love for Alexander II. The anniversary of his assassination. no rich soil of nnlnnitcd natural resources and vast easily acquired wealth, but has l)een cultivated, like the Spartan virtues of orig- inal Xew England, in the crevices of the rocks. What the Finns have accomplished, however, cannot be adequately appreciated without a comparison of certain extraor- { I ■'M /4 ALL rm KLSbiAS diiiarx' statistics ff laiiil aii«l pc<»|)]i'. I lu' art/a < a' l'in]an lluw into the Hahic. And only twentv-cii^iit per cent, of the superlicial area of the conntry p*)>- sesses a i)opulation of more than ten ^onls to the square kilometre. That is, seventy-two per cent. — say threc-cpiarters, of iMidand — is virtually umnhahited, while the remaining- (fiiarter ha- a density of onl\- J3.5 inhabitants. At the >amc date a> ihe.-e staii-iic- the iiei_L:hl)( inriiiL: ctuiiitiac- <•[ lU'iiinarlx h;itl 0( ) iii.h;i] iilai!! - In ihe square kilometre, l\u>.-iau I'uland, O3, and the Go\crnmcnt of Moscow, ()/, while Id-ancc had jj. Ccnnan} , So. Ildriand. 14^). and r.cluinni, JO' dhc c'Xtraordiiiarx' ])Overi\- ariil >U'niii\' *>} the land could not he more cloqucntU' I'-id. \d;i ihi< jionr land and >catlcred ioll-..-^ wilh i^wrxihing liut w n,n! and waUTiali- de- nied tn tlkni ly nature, and handicapped by one of the worst climates of land- where people live at all, — exported in iSuR no less than t8u,uou,uuu irancs' worth of natural and manufactured produce — nearly £3 worth per head of the total population! There need be few bounds to one's admiration and respect for the Finnish race. The aspect of Finland is shown by the foregoing figures as plainly as by any illustrations of Finnish landscapes. It is a land of pine forest, of rock, of river and lake. Nature has but these three colours on her palette there, and the only difYerence be- tw^een one landscape and another depends upon which of the three predominates at any particular place. The typical land- scape — the composite Finnish portrait, so to speak — is seen when all these elements are present in equal prominence, and the hu- man t u tor is superadded in the shape of a little patch of culti- \'aU'd hind around a cluster of wooden buildings. Thi> combina- tion \> preci->i'i\ :^lio\\ n 111 < mk- < a ww i hn>irations, ^catteicd >}jruce and hr trees where you ,-tand, cliriL^in.i;-. a< tliese trees alone can. to the thin earth 1 between the out cr< >])- of ^ramte luiKide: heb )W, in the shelter, the cleared land, marked oft 1)V snakedence> which FINLAND IS recall a land-cape in Virginia; a stream or two, emptying into a lake which is connected with another and thus again with an- other until a irreat chain is formed; beyond and around, hills clad The rinni<;h l,:ind^c:ipe-^Mnunuin. l.ake. Fr^rcjst, Field. tliick with spruce and fir. ddiat is Finland, where man inhal)its it at rill. Sometimes the forest predominates, as in the north and west, again, the whole country appears to be lake and bog, and the onlv terra firma is the long narrow road between two , »i •» )k 4j^^9\^*»»-^^ ,>4«4'^< '6 A LI. rill ki 5.^iAb sheets c^f water; e1-c\\]icre yonr cye-^ and car:= perceive notlnni; but ila^^hlnL;a roarini;~ stream. 1 ha\'e spoken of the " waterfall- "' a^ one of tlie t\\(* natural resources of h'inhuul hut thi- r> not -ti ictl\- accin-atc. 'I hen^ i> not a real waterfall in iMnland — onl\ rapi(l>. Imatra it>eh', the show place of the (irand Dnchx . the Mecca of the toun-t an of rockv, roaring- rapids. d1ie niap:nificent physical atlas of the country. receruly ptil)lishe(h shows some 700 rapids, a lars^e ])rop()rtion of which are suitable for hy- draulic development for industrial purposes, or the production of electrical energy. A large number of rapids liave l)een thus de\ el- oped, and it is certain that such enterprise will extend greatly dur- inir the next few vears. For not onlv is this the cheapest possible power, but it is ])eculiarly suited to the one industry, for which Finland possesses natural supi)lies, which will soon — by the ex- haustion of similar supplies elsewhere — be unrivalled. 1 mean the manufacture of wood-pulp, and cellulose (chemical wood- pulp) for making paper, cardboard, etc. Finland's forests are as yet hardlv touched, and she has a vast area of them. An oiTicial estimate assigns forty-six per cent, of the entire area to forests — a superficies of thirty-seven and a half million acres, or 5S.500 square miles. In i89() it was calctilated tliat these forest:- con- tained jj,3()^'),jSo large tree^. and _v ^-7 ' ---5' ^ ' -mailer trees, still good encMigh for >awing. Miicli of \\\\< \< unaxailable for commercial |)in'pose- until the jiriei' (tf w^khI aiiil pnl]) ri-e- cr>n- siderably, for at present price-, it 1- too far to the Xorth. or too remote from river transport to pay for cutting and bringing down. But these [)riccs are steadily rising, and must continue to ri-e, wdhle to-day Finland has forests for -ale, intersected by streams for floating down the logs, and powerful rapids from which tens of thousands of horse-power can easily be developed to grind them into pulp. Already this industry has taken on large proportions. In 1865 there were two pulp-mills; in 1872, six more; to-day there f FIM AM) / / are over liuri) . In 1898. iwcr.tv-fivc pulp mills, employin- i .0:0 men pro,h,ce.l 50.894 ton?, oi tlie value nt a quarter of a null'.un slerUn-^ncarlv a million an.l a e'inill> produced 13.296 tons, value £120.242. and fourteen paper mills, employing 2,828 men. produced 32.022 umis, value £;^2.7So. in fact, to so preponderatino- an e.xtem 1^ ihis A R'lad in Finland. the chief Finnish indu_.iry that of the 180 million.? of franc? which, as 1 have said, was the total value of Finnish exports in that year, no less than 110.000,000 francs were represented by wood, pulp. and paper. In view of the ever-increasing circulation of news- papers, which depend wholly upon pulp for their supply of paper, and the facts that America is almost denuded of her pulp-wood forests, that Canada is using up her supplies at a great rate, that 'J: 78 ALL Till] RUSSLVS Russian wood is poor in (jnalii>- and remote ni >iinaii<)n, and that no other eounlry has an\' fore>ts of this nature at all, the ques- tion, where is ijuln to eonie from ten vear.^ hence? is beconiiiiL' a pressing one to ah who have to supply the insatiable maw of the newspai)er i)ress. To-day in iMidand. if you know where to go and how to set to work, you can buy at a fair price a powerful waterfall, and the freehold of enough forest land around it to cut and grow^ and cut again enough timber to keep the waterfall at work grinding night and day for ever. Finland, therefore, in my opinion, offers an excellent opportunity for the investment of foreign capital in this direction. Certain fiscal changes, too, which there is good ground to believe that Russia will shortlv impose,* will place this industry in Finland upon an even more advan- tageous tooting. See Chapter V., pa<;'e ot. f,u'tni>tc'. A Finnish Mourning Stamp. CHAPTER V THE FINNS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS FOVM races have struggled unconsciously for predominance in 1-inland, and the native population of to-day keeps soniethuig of the impress of each of them ; the dark, slender, poetic, dreamy, singing Karelian, who Inrst came to colonise it over the eastern border: the fair, broad-shouldered, hard-working, Tory Tavast; his cousin the real Finn; the impulsive, blue-eyed Swede from westward; and the childlike roaming Lapp from the north. But. as I said at the start, the real ancestor of the Finn is his climate. He is hardv in body and hard in temperament; given to silence; laborious and conscientious; with many virtues and few graces. The fact that he makes a splendid sailor, tells much of hts character, as it causes him to be found before the mast the world over— there is a special mission to Finnish sailors m San Francisco. He steers the tar-boats down his own perilous rapids with the daring and coolness of the Indian in his canoe; he lives as frugally-and for the same reason-as the Highlander of Scotland; vou cannot help but trust him, but it is often more than vou can do to get him to talk. His agriculture is yet ot the most primitive character: his favorite method of cultiva- tion, is to cut down the trees in winter, leave them to dry for a season, and then burn them, with the underwoods, to clear the land and fertihse it at the same time. Within his hard shell, however, there is a tender kernel of romance and playfulness and song. His immortal epic of the !l I i 80 ALL I Hi: RUSSIAS I)ast, tlie Kale\ala, still echoes in lii> heart, and hi> old men ehi>j) hands and sing its runes, or others which come unbichlen to their lips, in thrihing strophe and antistrophe. On W hitstm-e\e, his young men light bonfires and make merry rotmd them, and Christmas brings out his candles and lir-trees and fat fare. But he comes out of his shell most of all in midsummer for a Strcitgc- scvif", or Eisteddfod, when from far and near come sim'im'--chil)s and choirs, to l)e judged b\- a jury of their elders, in the cotu't of a green glade, before an audience of the whole countryside. Then he plays cjuaint childlike games. To one wise law he doubtless largely owes his freedom from a vice which cold and poverty and loneliness and oj^portunity have (levelo|)e(l to a terrible degree among his great neighbours to the east: the sale of alcohol, in an\- sliape or form, is abso- lutely prohibited in Finland outside the towns. A iMnnish coun- trvman can onlv obtain intoxicating lifiuor bv o-oint late and long," he has to get a >peci:i] ])olicf pennii for ennii^h -pirits to entt/rtaiii hi^ neiglilxanx am! dnnk '" Sfdhi! to ilu' Xoi-ihJand. slcih!/ '^ lilxc his forebear-, the \ikiiig- and the " lujar\- -kald-." Excc|)l for thi- law the -nving- b:iiil< mi Siii-nii would tell a dif- ferent arid a -orrier tale. 1 he law inakiTi oi 1-niiand li.iia- al>o been ^tnkmgi\■ wi-r ni all that n la u - lo education. It is a land of schools. Except upon the eastern frontier, where the people are still backward, exerybody can read and write. The total population in 1890 was 2,380,140, and so far as I can calculate, no fewer than 540,412 souls were attending school. That is, out of every hundred of the entire population, something like twenty-three were actually at school. This seems an extraordinarv record, taking all thingfs into consideration. There are 2,608 university students, includ- ing women; 4.;_3 are at the lycees; private schools educate FIINNISH AUKlCULlUKt-BURNING THE WOODS FOR A SEED-BED. . '- ^» - -A • .MbV* •^**'« • • * • i I * THE FINNS AND IHKIR NKIGHBOLRS 83 ;.785; primary schools contain 4i3'S67; '' ur1)an popular .^c1r)()1> " give instruction to J5,93i ; and " rural popular schools " to 72,991 • normal schools are preparing 1,881 teachers, the sexes being of about equal number; and private schools receiving a subvention from the State have 7,7^5 children. With such a foundation, one is no longer surprised to read the long list of learned societies which flourish here — literary, philological, ju- ridical medical, and scientific. One of these, the Society of Finnish Literature, is laying the world under obligations by the wealth of folk-song it has discovered and preserved. So long ago as 1889 it had a collection of 22,000 epic, lyric, and magic songs, 13,000 legends, 40,000 proverbs, 10,000 enigmas, 2,000 runes, and 20,000 incantation formulas. I find in my note-books a number of other figures about Fin- land, some of them eloquent concerning the national character and achievement. We hardly realise >vhat a little people it is until we see the fact in numerals. Twice the whole population would still be half a million short of filling London. Including the capital, there are but three towns larger than \^iborg, which has only 24,569 inhabitants. In the whole country there are only thirty-seven " towns." There are but 461 Roman Catholics in Finland, and only 45,000 members of the Russian Orthodox Church, and these almost all on the eastern frontier adjoining Russia. Of 2,380,140 inhabitants at the census of 1890, no fewer than 2,334,547 were Lutherans. The public debt is 1 12,000,000 francs, and every penny of this has been incurred for construction of railroads, of which there are 1,094 miles l)elonging to the State, and T12 miles of private companies. There are 174 savings banks — six to a town, and it must be remembered that many of these " towns " are what we should call villages — these banks have 124,245 depositors, who possess among them close upon 70,000,000 francs of savings — that is, the savings banks alone have on deposit popular savings equal to nearly two-thirds of the entire public debt. >. «•«•»« A* **, ►■ i 84 ALL Tin: RUSSIAS The people who can show facts Hke the>e in the liard con- ditions of their homehmd must indeed l)e welcome citizens in a land where nature is lavish and men are still lackini;-, and it is astoundiu-- that anv rciynnc lucky enough to have them should take stei)s which drive them away. Some years a^o there were 80,000 Funis in the I'nited States, and to-day numbers of them are emij^ratini;- to Canada, where it is now easier for them to i^et good land. This retlection naturally leads to the consideration of the one matter which the Viu]] rei^ards as of xital im^ portance to him — tlie (pies- tmn which kcc}),^ the Intle niirthern land ni tlie wiu-M's e\'e. J refer lu tlie rela • lions 1)i't\\een tb.e Grand l)uch\ and the ku>>ian Mm • pi re. At ])reserit. a^ e\er\1)ody knows, these are alnu>st the worst possible. Twice with- in the last few months I liave seen a capital where every woman was in black. One was London, where the ])eople were mourninu- their dead Oueen; the other was llelsinofors, where people mourned their lost liberty, livery woiuan in Helsino-fors bore the black syrubols of ])ersonal woe. lint i)er- sonal protest went nuich farther than this, \\1ien ( leneral I'obri- kof, the Russian Governor-Cieneral, who was sent to carry out the new rciiimc, took his walks abroad, every Finn who saw him coming, crossed to the other side of the street. When he i)atron- ised a concert for some charitable |)ur])ose, the Finns bouiL^lit all the tickets, but not a siuHe one of them attended. The hotels Arhippaini .Wiihkili. t!ie Finnish Blind B.ua. THL: FINNS AND THEIR NKIGHBOLRS 85 refused apartments to one of the Finnish senators ^vho supported the Russian proposals. By the indiscretion of a porter lie se- cured rooms at one of the principal hotels and refused to leave. Therefore the hotel was boycotted and it is temporarily ruined. The Russian authorities, intending to make the Russian lan- cuage compulsory in all government departments, invited sev- eral young Finnish functionaries to St. Petersburg to learn Rus- sian under very advantageous conditions and with every prospect of official promotion. When the language ordinance was pub- lished and these Finns saw why they were desired to learn Rus- sian thev immediately resigned. The Russians took charge of the postal svstem of Finland and abolished the Finnish stamps. Thereupon the Finns issued a '• mourning stamp,'" all black ex- cept the red arms of Finland and the name of the country m Hn- ni.il and Swedish, and stuck it beside the Russian stamps on their letters The Russians retorted by strictly torbiddmg its sale and destrovmg all letters which bore ,t. Now ,t ,s one of the curio^.tK- of philatclv. On the last anniversary ot liie pumica- tion of the Tsar's manifesto to the Finnish Senate concernmg the modification of the administration of Finland, in one oi tlie streets a black sheet was displayed on which were inscribed the names of those Senators who voted in favour of the proclama- tion of the Imperial manifesto, and in the evening the windows of the houses ,nhabite- man< wronsi. In the Fundamental Laws, the Order on the Diet, para.-raph 71 , savs: - A fnndaniental law can be institnted. niodi- f,ccuss,on and b m- ni.h cn„M>;u;,unal acccpt.uice. In ihor appeal to the 1 -ar the members of the Diet point out " that a law, whether tundamctal <,r .■-cneral, U, be valul m the country can be enacted only with the^approval and consent of the Estates" ; that "neither the institutions of Russia and its autocratic system ha^■e been intro- duced into Finlan.l, nor have they had any force there ; Utat the Council of State " cannot act as a legislative organ for Fin- land " an.l that the Imperial manifesto and the statutes ba^ed upon it are " tnconsistent with the right of making their own laws which, according .0 the Constitution of Finland, belongs to her people." There can be no question of the historical ac- curacy of these contentions. ss ALL THi; RLSSIAS The chief Russian actions of which the Finns complain arc the appointment of a Russian instead of a T^innish Secretary of State, the takini^-over of the h'innish post-office, the announce- ment that after a certain future date Russian will be the lan- guage employed in all official departments, the severe censor- ship and suppression of newspapers, and the institution of a new law of military service. Of these it is the last-named which has brought something like despair into the (irand Duchv. It was stated on good authority that this proposal, when laid before the Russian Council of Ministers some three Finnish Tvp;*s. montlis ago by General Kuropatkin, ^Tini^-ter of War. and Gen- eral P>ol)rikof. (iovern()r-( ieneral of Mnland. was discussed for four hours and then rejected by a large majority, the (irand Duke X'ladimir Alexandrovitch, and M. de W'itte, Minister of Finance, both voting with the majority. If this were so, the Tsar, whose decision of course over-rides that of the Council, has been guided by his military advisers, for the new law. in a some- what modified form, has now been signed and officially promul- gated, and is to come into force in 1903. It is accompanied by an Imperial manifesto pointing out that the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy must share, in comiuon with all other parts of the THE FINNS AND I'HEIR NEIGHBOURS 89 Empire, the military burdens necessary to secure the unity of the Russian arniv and the national defence. Not to go into needless detail, the et=fect of the new law, two years hence, will l,e t,■;«,<,. in commenling on ihc new Military Service Law for the C.ran.l Duchv. sagaciously points out lh.at as the existing period of service wtth the colours for Russian conscripts is five years, and as the object of the new aw .s to se- cure umty of service in the Russian army, this particular enactment probably pomts to a reduction from five tothree years in the period of active service throughout the whole Russian army. — .l/.>™/«c j"''^'. -August 2. igol- i 90 ALL FHL RUSSIAS stitution is met ])v one simple consideration. As a matter of plain fact, there is in human affairs of this kind no such thinij^ as tinality. Or rather, the only linal thini;- is force majcuvc — imperative national self-interest. Before that all i)romises are air, and all treaties are black marks on white paper. 1 i)ut this brutally (foreseeing the conse(iuences), but there is no use in mincino- words. Kverv student of history, politics, or di])lomacy knows it to he tlie simple truth, and every coinitry. not Knssia alone, affords examples in proof. Clerniany hroke her promises to \ilin. '11 Tiaps in tiiil.iiu! Denmark, h'rance hroke her pronli^e^ ahout M,iil,ii;aM',ir. io come nearer home, 1-Jii;ian(l has repeatedly ])le(l,L;ed lier>e]i' to evacuate Iv^vpt, and the L'nited States was .solemnly pledged to s^rant complete independence to C'uha. None of these jjled^es seems likely to he kept. Therefore, if it is, in the jud.unient of Russia, an imperative condition of her national i)ros])erity or security that her relations with Finland should he fundamentally altered, she will only he followinij the ordinary line of historical and modern precedents by breaking her pronn'.ses and tearing THE FINNS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS 91 up her pledges. 1 do not defend the principle— I state the fact. •• Pitv 'tis, 'tis true." And who is to be the judge of Russian national prosperity and security? Obviously, Russia herself— not the well-meaning foreigners who from the safe comfort of their libraries hurl their book^s of reference at her head. It is not they who will stop the smuggling across her frontier from Finland, to the injury of her headly taxed manufacturers and merchants, nor they who, in her hour of need, will increase her army or defend her western fron- tier. Russia, like Italv, fara da sc. and like every other sovereign Power that has ever grown up and endured, will and must take all the steps that seem to Ik- necessary to that end. Having said so much, I bow before the storm: but one or two considerations should he borne in mind Ijy those who will passionately differ with me. I shall not be accused of having failed to give due credit to the Finnish national character tor the wonderful progress she has achieved, but let it be remembered that Finland has thriven under the protection of the Russian sword. She has borne virtually no burden of national .lelence. If ^he had been independent, and obliged to be ready to mobilise an armv or a tleet at any time for her own protection, her budget would have presented a d.ft-erent aspect. iMoreovcr, the high tariff country ha^ protected the low lanlt country. The hmn has thriven under a vcrv low scale of customs dutK-, while Ins Russia.i neighbour an.! competitor has haa\ thai kii>>ia hold- ii, and thai >fil!CN the fjiK'sttdn. 'I'luTc lia^ hci'ti ])ail |iri H-cdnrc ^n li^illi ^ii'r-. aiiil. a< in tlie case of the hen and the et^-i;-. il i> hard lo sa\- which came hr-t. Russian a(hiiinislrat(irs in h'inland ha\e eoniniitled hhmder after blunder of tact, have uiveii offence where none need have been THI-. FINNS AND THKIR NKIGHBOURS 93 given have nee.Uesslv woun.led the national sentiments of a proud and stnhhorn people. The Fintis have shown themselves so ,n- transi-em. so careless {)cn(l half llic >unniK'r and lialf their incomes there. C ii^ars eo-t a (|uarter of what they cost in Russia: e\erv dailx' sunnner resident takes hack a j)oeketfnl e\ery iiiornini;-. AH h'innish proihice enters the i^reat Rirssian market under a (hlTerential duty — that is, praeticaUy, with a bounty. Russian manufacturers camiot compete in h'inland with the i)r(td- ucc of haiuland or (iermanw Mnallw as thiuijs are now, Rus- sia reahv heHexes herseh" vuhierable to a foreign foe comini;" rai A Finnish W.dvlui.;; ilk Bride's Prayer on Leaving Home. hlnland tinihcal It '!L lu-r \-iew, national ^eniritv nTcnn- tnilitarv and other )etence to sav whether this view is ia\'e ih ) i'< ill i! ■ettles riLdu < >r wrfMii:;. T on]\' i(le-, and, a.^ ni the case of the lien and the e.^-u'. it i- liard In ^av wliich cnnie fir-t, Russian a(hnnii-trat( ^r- in h'nilaial haxe i-« anniit led bhiiiner afier bhtnder of tact. ha\'e uuen olTence where none need ha\c been THK FINNS AND THKIR NKIGHBOURS 93 given, have nee(he»h- wounded the national sentiments of a proud and stubborn ])eo])lc. Th, hdnns have shown them>elve^ so iu- transi^.ent, so carele.. of Russian feelin-s and needs, so hostile, in fact^ a. to put weapon^ m the hand> of those who declare them to be reallv enemies of Russia. 1 repeat, therefore, that no true friend to iMuland will >eek, under these circumstances, to embitter her relatic^ns with Russia. If this rcnun-k he iusiificl. it applies especially to those amoni cr A Finnish Wed.ling: Veiling tlie Dowersd Bii u. who are always, asst,reclly with the best motives, ready to sign memorials nn^l hoi.l ,neetings and found societies to protest a<.a,w: Hu- manaijement by other nations of their own atfatrs or to -u..i^.-: -„■ ..un government to redress wrongs for which it is no, responsible. The share of re^pouHi.lr.y lur iIk Crimean War .Inch the bno.tv < '' l-'ncna- unduuhicllv incirrcd by us „,V;„ln„aqn,tntion,oXu-h.,laO.,shreat in inter- national relations as in private life, even though good people often lose sight of it. And let us not forget that Russians dis- like and resent abuse and denunciation precisely as much as we do ourselves, and are just as apt as we are to stiffen their l)acks in consequence of it. In conclusion, there is one more consideration which those who raise the loudest cries of illegality would do well to ponder. Russia, as one of her leading statesmen remarked to me. might, with perfect ease and safety and in all the odour of perfect legal- ity, al)S()rb the whole of b'inland next nKuith. and wi])e it off the map as a separate entitw This would be the sim|)le process. P^rst, she announces that slic with(h-aws from all {irotection over Finland and grants to the former (irand I)uc1i\ absolute and complete national independence. Then, as the i)resence of an in- dependent and [)ossil)ly hostile State upon her exposed frontier would be obviously incompatible with her national securitv, she marches an army cor|)s into Finland and annexes the country — lock, stock, and barrel. White to play — mate in two moves. There would be a huge outcrv, but anvbodv who knows anv- *I read in a recent issue of a leading London daily paper the statement that Russia had suppressed the use of the Finnish language throughout Finland! THK FINNS AND THKIR NKIGHBOURS 95 thing of contemporary Europe knows that not a finger would be raised to stop her. And I do not see an American fleet steam- ing up the Baltic. Thus Russia could get all she wants, and infinitely more than she is asking, without transgressing for an instant or by a hair's breadth that sacred formal legality in which laws and lawyers often perpetrate injustice everywhere. V-'^ -■-.,•44 ":"Aiiiliw&tii£ :■:»;' ?iiiiiiMSE''''-. A Finnish Pearl Fisher. ^\ * -- » *-■- ■*■•*-* <% THK SIGNIFICANCK OF SIBERIA 97 SIBERIA CHAP IK R VI THE SIGNIFICANCK OF SIBERIA ANY account of Siberia should 1)cgin with the words, '' Once upon a time." for it must sound like a fairy-tale. The little beginnings, when the tn\st Tsars of Moscow authorised the first expedition across the L'rals; the ])rivate family that hnanced it; the \^olga boatman, become pirate, his life forfeited for his crimes, who led it; the vast distances, the awful climate, the strange peoples, the unsurpassed heroism of these ])ioneers; later on, the magnihcent diplomacy, the hue strategy, the perfect in- sight which outwitted d^atar, Tungus, Manchu, and Jesuit alike; the military tenacitv which stuck to what diplomacy won. even when England and France allied tried to take it away; after the con(|uest, the development; first furs, then gold, then wheat, then coal, and now at last the greatest railway in the world and possibly the eventual mastery of the Far K:\st behind the snort of the locomotive — there is not in history, so far as 1 know, a chapter which, being fact, breathes such an air of fairy-land. So, once upon a time, there dwelt upon the banks of the Volga a man named Vassili, the son of d^imothy, the son of Atha- nasius Alenin the carter, earning his hard l)rea(l by towing boats up the great river. Fie was nicknamed " the millstone," because he ground the corn for his comrades — Yermak. A man (^f iron physique and primitive passions, the lonely l)oats were at his mercy, so he became a pirate and nuirdered their owners and plundered their cargoes. At last the terrible tales reached the 96 ear of Ivan the Terrible, who decreed his death and sent a force to hang him and his band of Don Cossacks. Up the highway of the Volga they ded, till on the banks of the Kama, not far from the foothills of the Ural IMountains, they came to the abode of a rich family of settlers and traders named Stroganof, who at that very moment were casting envious eyes across the range to the land of Yugra, whence the Ostiaks brought such precious sables. In Yermak the Stroganofs saw the man they needed. They furnished him with money and arms, he gathered a motley crew of adventurers round him, and on New Year's Day, 1581, he started. That was the beginning; the railway to Port Arthur is not the end. Yermak was a fox in cunning and a lion in fighting. His perils were endless and his sufferings terrible. One by one his old Cossack comrades of the Volga wxre slain by his side, and at last he was literally caught napping by his chief enemy, the blind Tatar chief, Kuchum, in a camp on the banks of the Irtysh River, and after cutting his way to the water was drowned wdiile trving, like the old boatman he was, to swim to safety. But be- fore this he had carried the twodieaded eagle of Byzantium, which Ivan the Terrible had just adopted for the blazon of Mos- covy, almost as far as the site of Tobolsk; he had bartered the key of a new empire for the Tsar's pardon; he was a prince and wore a mantle sent him by the Imperial hands; he had set Russia's goal immutably in the East. Moreover, although Kuchum killed him in the end, he had seized the old man's capital two years before, and made it a centre of Asiatic trade for Russia. This capital was called Sibir, and it has given its name to live million squares miles of Russia in Asia. Henceforth, therefore, let us pronounce the first syllable of Siberia short. After Yermak's death the absorption of Siberia proceeded as steadily as water trickling down hill. The loadstone was ever the sable, and as fast as one district was stripped of its furs, rumours of the wealth of the next drew the pioneers on. Sometimes furs t ^1 98 ALL THK RUSSLAS THK SIGNIFICANCE OF SIBERL^ 99 were scarce, at other times the Cossacks hned their coats with sable. The Httle l)aiuls of explorers built themselves cimoz^ic, winter quarters of wood, and gradually the soldiery followed and erected their ostrogs, wooden blockhouse forts, near l)y. Terrible suffering was, of course, common; starvation and frost-bite took their yearly toll; more than once it is recorded that men ate men in their extremity; one expedition had to abandon twenty-four soldiers with frozen feet ui)on an ice-bound river, which engulfed their corpses in the spring. Ikit ever the movement spread- now by individual enterprise, now by Government aid, now in spite of Government opposition. Heroism against nature and natives alike became endemic. Russia pushed steadily on. To- bolsk, near Kuchum's deserted capital, was founded in 1587; the next great river, the Yenissei, was reached, and Yenisseisk founded in 1620; the Lena discovered and Yakutsk built in 1632. Irkutsk, on the Angara, close to its outlet into Lake Baikal, dates from 16:; I, and ])efore thi^ to the north, Dcjnef had sailed through Bering's Strait in 1648, Cossacks had made their appear- ance on the Sea of Okhotsk in \(^^(k Poyarkof had found the Amur in 1644, and in 1650 Khabarof had cai)tured the town of Albazin, to the north of the Amur, and founded at the junction of the Ussuri and the Amur the town now called Khabarofsk, he being the first Russian to come into contact— which meant conflict— with the Chinese. Thus in seventy years after Yermak had started to cross the Urals for the unknown, fur-bearing land of '' \Yigra," Russia had extended right across Asia, northward as far as the inaccessible Arctic regions, southward to the borders of China, and eastward to the l)ank of the mighty river which falls into the Pacific. In the north the expansion continued, for in 1697 Atlasof conquered Kamchatka; but a sudden check came to the eastward and southern advance by the pusillanimous treaty of Nertchinsk in 1689 — the one occasion on which Russia has been a victim to that venerable bogey, the military power of the Chinese. This was, by the way, the first convention between Chinese and any western nation, and by it Russia lost the Amur and her access to any useful part of the Pacific seaboard. For nearly one hundred and fifty years the tide was stayed in the Far East, while Russia's energies were sapped and her vigour rudely tried by events at home. The race of Rurik had become ex- tinct; the false Demetrius had desolated the country; the family of Romanoff had finally established itself on the throne of Mos- cow at the moment of Russia's direst need; Moscow itself had been burned and occupied by the Polish enemy; the land had been a ])rev to insurrections. The Romanoffs saved Russia, but it was long before they had any strength to spare for her far frontiers, and even the colossal energy of Peter the Great, though he was sensitive enough to the pull of the eastern loadstone, was almost monopolised by the task of lifting Russia into line with her west- ern neiirhbours. Nine Russian rulers came and went — four of them were women, one was a child, and the reigns of all but two were very short — before Russia resumed her eastward march. But when Alexander I. had hnished his successive wars with France, Austria, Sw-eden, and Turkey, when Nicholas I. was not yet plunged into the war in the Crimea, the moment arrived, and with it the man. The sudden elevation in 1847 of the young Gen- eral Muravief, Governor of Tula, to the post of Governor-General of Eastern Siberia — an act of administrative genius on the part of Nicholas I. — closed the period of Siberian ecli])se which had begun a hundred and forty-eight years before with the Treaty of Nertchinsk, and opened the brilliant chapter which leaves Rus- sia to-day with a naval base, an army, and a railway at the gates of Peking. As Yermak was the hero of the first chapter, so Aluravief is the hero of the second — he left Siberia in 1861 — and his statue at Khabarofsk looks down with proudly folded arms upon as splendid a piece of creative statesmanship as modern his- tory records. He saw the end from the beginning, and in spite of the frequent doubts and hesitancies of his sovereigns, the mach- inations of his many and bitter enemies, and the vast natural ■s. A \\ lOO ALL THL RUSSLAS difficulties of his task, he reahsed it to the Ml for after his retire- ment his work proceeded ahiiost mechanically to its conelt,s.on He founded Petropavlofsk. on the Tacific coast, in .849. fort.hed it an.l enal,le of U-^e cook> and waiters, the pantry and the reMauranl, 1 li!> i- a car which fnniicrlv served as a royal >ak)nn, and it i- in no way Mined lur :* dinnig-car I contains two Uailin :i piano. Three tables >eatin£r fi'iir person^, nm a l.-urd tables abuiiL eigh- teen inches square. In ilie front part of this car there is also a full-sized bath, witii shower, and an exercising machine, some- thing like the crank in our prisons, which you make more or less laboriou:^ by adjusting a weight. The third and fifth cars are second-class, and the fourth first-class. Except ill two points, there is virtually no difference between the two cla==:cs, aitimugli of conr^c. a- el^ewliere, or, rannT, iiuich more than cl-cwhere, you are Ic-s likcj\' to find objectioininle ccmipainiins m the one than \i\ tiie oilier. '1 riere ib a thruiigii enrnuor al tin; ^ide, arid -1 \ e« >inp;iiai]u;!its for l.uii- |u.'r-on< and one for two |)ersons in tlic second--cla>>, and ilna-e larger com- partments and one small one in the first -cla^^-. ( hie eif the ad- vantages which the first has over the second i> tliat in the former the centre of the car is an open salon, with sofa, easy chairs, writ- ing-table, clock, and a large map of the Russian h:m])ire. This, when it does not happen to be monopolised by a i)arty playing THK GRKAT SIBERL\N RAILWAY 105 cards, is certainly dehghtful, and 1 have seen nothing like it else- where, except in the private car of an American railway magnate. Both first and second-class have one improvement over similar trains elsewhere, which cannot be too highly commended. All A inrtv of Ru^^an Engineers in the Primeval Forest. the upholstery is of soft leather, and all the walls are covered with a species of waterproof cloth, which is washed at the end of eacli journey. The difierence between this and the clotli and plush upholstery of other trains, which soil you at every touch, and fiing clouds of pestilent dust into the air, is indescribable. i .,,^'»..— H-«-- , /I ,o6 ALL TMK RUSSLAS The Siberian l-xpress. however, ^hows more improvement than tliis In the roof oi each compartment are two electric light, one of which is ext,nt;ui>lied when yon pnl! tlie curtain over it at ni^ht. There i^ also a table lamp han-ms "ii the wall, which can l)e placed anywhere, and an excellent movable table. W-ith these two vou can read and write in perfect comfort. Above your head are two levers: one admits fresh air, through wire gauze to keep out dust; the other turns hot water into the heat- in>. apparatus. There is a pneumatic bell to the restaurant and a,relectric bell for the servant. The beds are wide and very com- fortable, and the whole ..f your luggage goes m the racks over- head In the corridors are more ingenious filter-ventilators. and outside the windows are plate-glass tlanges, so that you can look ahead without the danger of a spark entering your eye. Over- head in the little central salon and in the dmmg-car. is an elab- orate ventilator to be filled with ice from outside m summer, so as to admit cooled air. The corridor also contains a frame to hold a large printed card showing the name of the next station, the time of arrival, and the length of the stop. Finally, there is the other advantage which the first-class passenger enjoys. There are no brakes on his carriage! There is no hand brake, as on every other part of the train, and the Westinghouse passes under- neath him in its pipe. He is thus undisturbed by the grinding and jolting which even the best-regulated brake produces, and can read and sleep peacefullv through stoppages and down grades and hostile signals. This is surely the height of railway con- sideration. Such luxury, however, it is perhaps needless to add, speaks volumes concerning the speed of the Siberian Express. This train is the result of study by Russian engineers of the railways of Europe and America. It may therefore be regarded as the fixed type of the Siberian carriage, and I have described it in detail, because before we are many years older the Sil)erian railway will be one of the great passenger routes of the world. After much praise I may venture upon a little criticism. Rus- BA OF^ JAPAN a: UJ aa Co I CO z X io6 ALL TUl', RUSSIAS The Siberian h'-xpress. however, >hows more ini,.rovement than this In the root of eaeii eonipartnient are two eleetnc lights, one oi winch ts extu,KU»hed when you pull the curtain over it at ni^ht. There is also a table lamp han-m.u on the wall, winch can be j.laeed anywhere, and an excellent uunable table. With these two vou can read a>ul write m perfect comtort. Above vour head are Uvo levers: one adntUs fresh a,r, through wn-e gau.e to keep out dust: the other turns hot water into the heat- Lr apparatus. There is a pneumatic bell to the restaurant and „r.Mectr>c bell for the servant. The beds are wule and very com- fortable, and the whole of your h,g,Liage goes m the racks over- head In the corridors are more ingemous filter-ventdators, and outside the windows are plate-glass llanges, so that you eatilook ahead without the danger of a spark entermg your eye. Over- head in the little central salon and m the THE GRl AI SIBKRIAN RAILWAY 1 09 'a i i sia has in tlli^ train gone somewhat ahead of herseh'. so to speak. It is not enough to huiid a line train— vou must educate in knowl- edge, and more especially in responsibility, the people who are to^vork it. The dining-car, for example, will not hear a mo- ment's comparison with that of the Orient Express or the Rivie- ra Mxpress. We waited interminable times for our meals. One passenger sat at table fifty minutes, having had nothing but a plate of soup and being unable in all that time to obtain a bottle of beer. Then he left the car in disgust, and in a loud voice de- manded the complaint book. Result: he was snowed under with apologies and waited upon like a prince. If the dining car were properlv arranged, it would hold all the passengers. As it is, one has to intrigue and struggle for a table. Again, not once after we left was one of the station and time cards put m the frame All the pneumatic bells, too, were out of order, and no waiter could be summone.l. When I ordered a bath I was told that the pipes were inexplicably stopped up. There are other matters I might mention, and it is only fair to add that some of the shortcomings are the fault of the passengers themselves, who are not yet educated to the use of the facilities so lavishly pro- vided for them. A needless inconvenience is that all the lavatory arrangements of the train are shared by the two sexes, with con- sequent delays and embarrassments. The greatest disturbance, however, to the foreign visitor's comfort is that all Western meal- times must be abandoned before a Russian's daily food-scheme. No Russian has an exact sense of time, the lack of it being proba- bly attributable to the Orientalism in his blood. Nobody, indeed, could have one on this train, for the clock keeps the hour of St. Petersburg for a thousand miles or more of due eastward travel- ling, in order that its time-table may have some semblance of utili'tv and conformity : then as the days pass the train itself grows ashamed of such a childish pretension, and after Chelyabinsk it leaps lightly to local time and hurls a couple of useless hours out of the window, so to speak— hours that make no record, either 1 1 ^^ K^ ALL 11 II RLSSLAS oi uial -r wnc. against any of us— two sinless hours, two joyiess, trark- liitle hours tiung forth upon the brown Siberian u ppes. As for a Russian's meaLtimes, he simply has none, it i had my tea early tlierc would be the invariable nameless of^cial in his dark-blue uniform piped with green or blue or magenta cloth, xuiii i rossed pick-axes ui iiammers or bill-hooks on his collar and cai), hnishing a hdchis made into the shape of a ciulii lutilc ^,j^^.,H-^iade!— or thoughtfully spitting out the bones of a fried carp upnn h\^ plate while he selected a fresh mouthful with his knife. When we dined or supped they would be drinking tea, and once when we went into the restaurant-car for a sandwich about midnight a party of rugged-looking men— not officials, for once, but of occupations which their strange faces did not allow us to presume— were sitting round an empty cafcticrc drinking champagne from tumblers, a saucer in front of them piled high witli the cardboard mouth-pieces and ashes of many dozen cigar- ettes. This habit of eating when you are hungry and eating what- ever you may happen to fancy, instead of eating when the cook wills, and then only what custom severely restricts you to, is dis- organising in its effects upon the refectory of the train. There is no time to sweep up and set tables; no time when the servants can feel free to rest, sleep, or eat; no time when the wearied kitchen fire can " go down " as it does at home. The result is great discomfort for Western passengers, and the authorities should certainly insist upon all meals being served at fixed hours, and at those hours only. The story of the inception of the Great Siberian Railway has been told many times (in my own ^' Peoples and Politics of the Far East," for instance), and all that need be recalled here is that the first suggestion of it came from an Englishman, and that enterprising Americans were the first to lay before the Russian Government a definite offer to build it on certain terms. Nat- urally enough, Russia decided that it must be her own task, but N Rl.AT ^1B!-,R1A\ R AHAV.W 113 it was a long time before she could face the tremendous expendi- \ui\- !!i\"ni\-f(|, and liui until lier staic-nieiiA kccu foresight per- cli\ t (! the \ast change commg over the Far East was the gigantic ciUer])ri>e rcihiced to a definite project. The present Tsar, wiien as Tsesarie\-ic]i he \\a> irax'elHni;" in the h^ar hhist, whcek'tl the hr>t harrow and laid the hrst stone of the railway at \ ladivostok on May U), 1891, and hi> enthusiastic support has assured the success acliieved. The speed with wdiich construction has fol- lowed is, considering the great natural difficulties, without par- allel in raihvaydjuilding. The whole line was divided into seven sections, and work carried on u])on them so far as ])ossil)le siinuh taneouslw The Si1)erian plain presented no engineering diffi- culties, since for a thousand miles the surface does not show a higher rise than four hundred feet; l)ut as all wood, water, food, and labour had to be supplied from the base, the difficulties of or- ganisation were very great. But the first portion, from Chelya- binsk to Omsk, 492 miles, was opened for traffic in December, 1895; the second, from Omsk to Ob, 388 miles, in 1896; the third, from Ob to Krasnoyarsk, 476 miles, later in the same year; the fourth, from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk, 672 miles, in August, 1898. Thus the rail-head reached a point 3,371] miles east of Moscow, and as the train had also reached Khabarofsk, on the Amur, from Vladivostok, the eastern terminus, a distance of 475 miles, in the same month and year, a total of 2,503 miles of rail- way had been laid and opened for traffic in seven years. The Sil)erian Railway will cross altogether thirty miles of bridges, and of these the line to Irkutsk required a large number, including such important ones as those over the Irtysh at Omsk, 700 yards, over the Ob at Krivoshekovo, 840 yards; over the Yenissei at Krasnoyarsk, 930 yards, and over the Uda at Nijni Udinsk, 350 yards. Moreover, before reaching Irkutsk there is some very stifY grading work in a mountainous country. By this perform- ance Russia holds the world's record for railway-building. She may well be proud of it. 1 14 Al.l. II IL. KLbSlAS THE GRKAT SJBI-RIAN RAILWAY The train Icavin- Moscow at S. 1 3 on Saturday cvcnni^s reaches Irkutsk-ai lea.. .. .It.l when 1 travelle.l by a. hut the journey is being ex,,eo oitett that the t.nte-tahle ts seiaom aceura'te for .nore than a tnonth cr two-at 713 >" H'^' »";'"- in.r of the Motuhiv week-.he n.tnh day. The average spee.l of the Siberian Express, which, it .nu>t be retnetnbered, is much The Railway in the Urals. ii-i!i that 'H [ iiu' (trdiiiarx- tr-tin from AToscow dailv for r tjir tlitliM-i'iUH; «.! linu' between cxTiitreii iiiiU.- an iK'nr, nichid- i/reatcr Uian ii Irkutsk, i<. thprcfore— a!!. 'w 11114 i- ^ We>t and l-a^t — ahii^M exacti\ - incr sloppa-e-. A few ,ninn!e>- Mu>!y oi a ....Icn^d. tune tali u-iH give the reader niorc information than much de>cnplion. Here. then. i> the journey at a gkmce: "5 VKRSTS.* STATION. HOUR OF ARRIVAL. LAY. J/osC(>7i '-Kursk Li/it\ Moscow 8.15 I'.M. ^ o 1 u r Saturday 93 Serpukhot 10.54 p.m. J i8ii Tuhi 1. A.M. A 7.09 A.M. 8.59 A.M. MiMiday 10. 2q i'.\L Suzrano- Vyascmskaya Line, 239^ Uzlovaya 4.03 a.m. ' Sunday 382^ Riask 8.32 A.M. 753 Penza 7.47 p.m. ^ Orp.vt Simerl\n Railway. Sajnara-Zhitaoust Section. I 1 1 8 Samara 1155^ Kiiicl 1609 L'fa I7g2^ \yasovaya 4.48 .\.m. 1 gc8,\ ZialaousL 8.49 -^ - 'i- West Siberian Section, \ I'uesday 2059 Chelyabinsk 2.05 p.m. i2ijij\ Kurgan 10.55 p.m. ; 2548i Petropavlovsk ^'^^ ^'^H Wednesday 2805 Omsk 4.57 P.M. J Central Siberian Section. 3382! Krivoshekovo 4.18 p.m. | ^j^^j.g^^y 3390 Ob 4.50 p.m. } 3605 Taiga (for Tomsk, 82 versts) 1.58 a.m. Mariinsk 7.34 a.m. 3932 \chin?k 2.50 P.M. 4099 Krasnoyarsk ic 3c i'.m. Friday 432 () 4742 5108 i).c() A , M. Saturtlay 1.38 A.M. )^ N ijiii I'clinsk Tuliin 8.26 A.M. i Irkutsk 715 -'^-M- M'onday Sunday • To turn versts into miles, multiply by .66. I 1 1 6 ALL llli: RISSLAS The condensation of tins tabic is >\\u\\n by the fact that on three clays only two >tations each, are -iven, and on two day., only one'station. r>etween Samara and Irkntsk nnieteen stations are' mentioned above: m realuy there are two hnndred and six. Therefore, stoppa-es play a large part m redncing the speed average, and if the rate of progress were at all uniform, seventeen miles an hour would be a very respectable hgure. lUu for the first thousand versts, as far as Samara, the line is an important one in European Russia, and the speed of the train averages twenty-two miles an hour. Then, when the Urals are passed, a speed of nineteen miles is kept up for a long distance over the straight stretches of the Siberian plain. From ( )msk to Taiga, nearly another thousand ver>ts. it sinks to hfteen or sixteen, and after Taiga it drops to twelve miles an hour or less. In fact, for the last 1,500 miles of the long journey there was hardly a moment when 1 would not have backed myself to pass the train on a bicycle if there had been a decent road beside the track. And the present speed average will not be greatly increased until the whole line is relaid with heavier rails and solidly ballasted. But, though it is possible to find fault wath the speed, the cost of the journey is beyond even a miser's criticism, d here is nothing in the world like it. A few years ago, when it was dis- covered that the people were not making sutticient use of the railways, the heroic decision was made to put railway travelling literally within the reach of everyone. The zone system of charges was adopted, the tariff made cheaper the longer the jour- ney, and the rates put at an astoundingly low figure for the whole empire. Irkutsk, as I have said, is 3.371 miles from Moscow, and the journey thither occupies close upon nine days. 1 he price of a first-class ticket is sixtv-three roubles, and there are supple- mentary charges of 12.60 roubles for '^ express speed," 7.50 for the sleeping-berth, and three roubles for three changes of bed- linen th ro/^/r. Total: 86.10 roubles: £9 2s. : $44-3«- And this is for a train practically as luxurious as any in the world, and THE GREAT SI BERLIN RAILWAY 1 1 incom|)arabl\- sui)erior to the ordinary European or American train. The second-class fare for the same journey is only £6, ur less than $30, and tlie third-class passenger, travelling by the ordinary dail}- train, and spending thirty hours more on the way, can actually travel these 3.371 miles for the ridiculous sum of about £2 14s., or, say, $13.50. It is otiicially stated that the through ticket from Moscow to Port Arthur or \dadivostok will cost 115 roubles, about £ij, or $59, and a ticket from London or Paris to Shanghai 320 roubles, about £33 17s., or Si 65. The enlightenment which prescribes such fares should be reckoned to the credit of the Russian authorities, when we are noting down things to their debit. In la\ing" the Siberian line one irreat mistake was made — • f:ir loo light rails were ordered. The rail-makers ])oiined this out when they made their contracts, but an unwise economy pre- vailed, with the result that already the trafhc is heavier than the rails can carry, and minor accidents are consequently fre([uent. The present weight is a little over sixteen pounds to the foot, and, as the ballast is only earth or sand, and the rails are merely spiked to the sleepers, after a (la\'s rain the trains, as somebody has re- marked, run off the track like scphrrels. This excuse, however, nuist be made for the authorities : w hen the}- ])lanned the line they had no idea that traffic would develop as fast as it has done. In 1900 no less than 758,000 tons of paying freight were carried, and yet the railway was wholly unable to move all that was offered, and I saw small mountains of grain still awaiting transportation as late as in November.* It is now the intention to relav the rails * " The oross income of the railway was reckoned in iqoo at 24.58 roubles [/"2 los. — $12.68] per i.ooo car-axle versts (in 1899 it was 28.63 roubles [^3 — $14.57]), ^^ compared witli 36.23 roubles [^3 i6s. — $18.65] on all the other government railway lines. This low ^ross revenue is attributed to the . 2yoS, /'/;v iS. The above e(]uivalents within scjuare brackets are my own, I^ritish Consuls not having leisure for such calculations. The Russian figures 1 18 ALL THi: RUSSIAS over the whole hue, and, as a hegiiniing, the track from Ob to Irkutsk will l)e relaid as soon as possible, a >uni of 15,000,000 roubles ha\ ini;- been set aside for this j)urpose. The old rails will be used for fresh sidings, of which a large number, and over a hundred new stations, will be constructed. As a further striking example of the extraordinary development along this new rail- way, 1 may mention here that last year i,075,cx)0 passengers were carried, as against 417,000 in i^i)6. The stations them- selves are admirable. Except tlie (pute unim])ortant ones, where no settlemen.t yet exists, and the engine stoi)s only to take water, they are j)rettily designed, the chief ones of brick, the rest of wood, like Swiss chalets, and they are commodiotis in size. In no country tliat 1 know can such excellent food be had 01 route, and at every station there is a medicine chest, and an otticial corresponding to a dresser in one of our hospitals, called a I'cl- sclicr, capable of treating simple ailments and rendering hrst aid to the injured. For his services and medicine no charge is i)er- mitted to be made. My photograph on p. 135 shows the water- tower and storehotise to be seen at every station, the latter being banked up to the roof with earth to kee]) out the cold. I low se- vere this is mav be jtidged from the fact that for a considerable distance-on the Central Siberian section the earth never thaws, even in mid-sununer, for more than two or three feet l)elow the ^^,j-face — a condition which makes it very difticult to hnd a solid foundation for buildings and bridge-piles. The line is watched bv an army of men, no fewer than 4,000, for instance, being em- ployed between the I'rals and 1^)msk. One of these is stationed in his little wooden hut at every verst : he stands at attention, t1ag in hand, as the train approaches, and it is his duty to step into the middle of the track as soon as the train has passed, and hold are doubtless accurate, hut the conchuliivi,^ statement contains an extra<.r(hnary l-hin- der. Five thousand roubles per verst ecjuals about /707 los., not 12'}0, i>er mile. Inasmuch as 5.000 roubles is roughly ^sOO, and a vcr^t is about two-thirds ot a mile. it is not unreasonable to think that even a Koreii^n Office proof-reader mii^ht have detected so palpable an error. THE GREAT SIBERLAN RAILWAY 119 up his staff as a signal that all is right. This figure may be ob- served in my photographs. Almost every one of these men — every one in Central Siberia — is an ex-convict or a dcpovtc; yet although, as I shall have occasion to point out later, crime is rife in Siberia, and constitutes the chief drawback to the develop- ment of the country, I did not hear of a single offence com- mitted by one of these men. Beyond Irkutsk the railway was not yet open, but the line was in working order and the Governor-General, General Gore- mykin, was kind enough to give me a special train over it to Lake P)aikal, and to place a government steam-launch at my disposal on the lake. This inland sea has an area of over 12,000 s(juare miles; its water is brilliantly clear, its depth is enormous and in many places unplumbed, and the solid mountains run sheer down to its edges. The terminus is a station called Baranchiki, just where the Angara empties itself into the lake, and a long wooden jetty leads to the slip where the great ice-breaking, train- carrying steamer lies. The railway has now been begun round the southern end of the lake, though the cost of one hundred and fifty-five miles of line through such a country will be very great, but this Circum-Baikal section, the Kntgobalkalskaya, is considered essential for heavy traffic, to provide an alterna- tive route if the steamers break down or cannot pass the ice, and not improbably to connect ultimately with a line direct to Peking. The firm of Sir William Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. has built upon Lake Baikal one of the most remarkable steamships in the world, to ferry the Siberian trains across the lake, and in winter to break the ice at the same time. The '* Baikal " was brought out in pieces from Newcastle-on- Tyne, and put together by English engineers, who have been living in this remote and lonely spot for over two years. I found three of these hard at work, the chief, Mr. Douie, and his assistants, Mr. Renton and Mr. Handy, and spent some very i \ I J 120 AIJ. IHK RLISSIAS interesting hours with them. They ought to be well i)ai(l for the hue work thev were doing, for a more drearx exile can hardly be imagined. Thev lived at a little village called I.istveintchnaya, a nest of crime and robbery, crowded during the summer with innumerable caravans bringing tea from China. l^Lvery civilised person carries a revolver there, and two if he is of a cautious temperament. Xobody thinks of going out after dark, and every week somebody is robbed or killed. The whole poi)ulation is ex- convict or worse. The boss oi the labourer^ on the I'aikal was in Siberia for outraging a child; the man who conducted me to where Mr. Douie and Mr. Kenton were at work was a nnu'derer from the Caucasus; a short time l)efore my visit another nuu"- derer employed on the ^hip had tried to repeat his crime, and had been consigned to chains again; the \ cry day 1 was there the |)olice were looking for a man >u])posed to have ol)tained work in the yard, who wa- wantrd for killing eight j^eoplc, 1 was told, at one time. There arc a u-w Cossack^ at I .i-^t vcnitchnava, but thev are whollv incapable. c\-cn u" ihcx' ha\'f the desire, of coping wall tlie tnrbuleni place. It nia\- be the bc-^t policv lor tile l\us>]an < io\-c!anneiU ii'u I" iiang a- murderers, or keep its criminals in conliiienient . but a« turn tlieai Iom^c m sueli places. There can be no excu^^e, however, for il> failure to jiroxide an adeciuate police force to control them, or for the |)reposterous tolerance wiiich allows exery man of these criminals to go aboiu armed to the teeth. A few months before my visit they held up tlie mail cart from Lake Ikiikal to Irkutsk, shot four of its hve guards, and stole its gold. Some day they will hold up a train, and rob the passengers. Then authority wnll doubtless assert itself. 1 do not see anything to prevent such an act. In a place like this the English engineers have absolutely nothing to do or think about, except their work, and the long evenings of a Siberian winter, spent within fast-l)arred doors, must be inexpres- sibly dreary. The " Baikal " is a magnificent vessel of 4,000 tons, with twin THF. GRKAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY 121 engines amidships of 1,250 horse-power each, and a similar en- gine forward, to drive the screw m the bow; for the principle of the new tvpe of ice-breaker is to draw out the water from under the ice ahead by the suction of a bow-screw, when the ice collapses by its own weight and a passage is forced through the broken mass l)y the impact of the vessel. As will be seen from my illustrations, the f^rst that have been published, the •• Baikal •■ has extensive upper works, and these contain luxurious The Sieamshir '-Baikal" Steaminir tliroui;li the U'e. saloons and cabins. Upon her deck she carries three trains -a passent^er train in the middle, and a freight tram on each side Her speed is thirteen knots, and on her trial trips she has shown herself capable of breaking through solid ice thirty-eight inches thick, with five inches of hard snow on the top— such snow is much more difficult to pierce than ice-and has forced her way through two thicknesses of ice frozen together, aggregat- ing from fiftv-six to sixty-five inches. In summer her bow pro- peller should be removed, and large propellers substituted for her v<^ s \ I ! I .1 \ II 11 ii t i no ALL IHL RUSSIAS interesting hours with them. They ought to 1)e wcH paid for the tine work thc> were douig, for a more (h'eary exile can hardly be imagined. Thex' lived at a little village called Listxcnhchnaya. a nest of crime and rol)l)ery, crowded during the sunnner with innumerable caravans bringing tea from China, livery civilised person carries a revolver there, and two if he is of a cautious temperament. Nobody thinks of going out after dark, and every week somebody is rol)l)ed or killed. l"he whole poi)ulation is ex- con\ict or worse, ddie l)o>^ of the lal)ourer> on the I'aikal \\a^ in Siberia for outraging a child; the man who conducted me to where Mr. Douie and Mr. Kenton were at work was a murderer from the I'aucasus; a short time before in>- visit another mur- derer emploved on the >hip had tried to repeat his crime, and had been consigned to chains again; the \ery da\- 1 was there the police were looking for a man >upposcd to have obtained work m the \ard, wiio \\a:- wanted for killing eiglu ])e(iple, I was told, at one time. There are a !e\v Cossack< at 1 .i-t venitchiiava. but the\- are wlioliy incapable, even if liiex have the de>{ coping wuh the inrbuieni place. It max- be llie best pulley ba- ilie l\u-Han ( io\'ernnieni n< a to liang its murderers, ^t keep its crniinialN m enntniemeiil, Lail lo turn liieni loose in ^ncll places. There can ])e no exim^e. however, for its failure to ])rovide an adecpiate |)oliee force to control ihem, i.r lor the p.rep< »-terous tolerance winch allows everx man. of ilie.se cnininaL^ to go abora armed to the teeth. A tew month- before my visit tliey held np the mail cart from Lake I'.aikal to Irkut.-k, dmi four of its five "uanL and stole its gold. Some dav they will hold up a train, and rob the passengers. Ihcn antliority will donhtless assert itself. I do not see anythint; to |)revent sncli an act. In a place like this the English engineers have absolutely nothing to do or think about, e.xcept their work, and the long evenings of a Siberian winter, spent within fast-barred doors, must be inexpres- sibly dreary. The " Baikal " is a magnificent vessel of 4.000 tons, with twin THK GRKAT SIBP.RIAN RAILWAY 121 engines amidships of i,_'50 horse-power each, and a similar en- gine forward, lo drive the screw in the bow, for the principle of the new txpe of ice-breaker is to draw out the water from under the ice ahead by the suction of a bow-screw, when the ice collaiises by its own weight and a passage is forced through the broken mass l)y the impact of the vessel. As will be seen from mv illustrations, the first that have been published, the •■ P.aikal'- has extensive upper works, and these contain luxurious The Si.Mmship -Baikar' Sieamini; through tlie Ice. saloons and cabins. Upon her deck sl,e carries three trains _a passenger train in the mid.Ue. and a freight tram on each side Iler'^peed is thirteen knots, and on her trial trips she has shown herself capable of breaking through solid ice thirty-e.ght inches thick, with tive inches of hard snow on the top-such snow is much more (Ufficult to pierce than ice-and has forced her way through two thicknesses of ice frozen together, aggregat- ing from fiftv-six to sixty-f^ve inches. In summer her bow pro- peller should be removed, and large propellers substituted tor her it 122 ALL THE RUSSIAS smaller winter ones; but so far the railway authorities have taken no steps to build a dock upon the lake, without w^hich neither of these important cliani^es can be effected, nor the steamer herself repaired if any mishap should damai;e her hull. Lake Baikal is frozen from the middle of December to the end of April, and there is also talk of laying a railway across upon the ice, as is done each year from St. Petersburg to Kronstadt ; but proba- bly all depends upon the success of the ice-l)reaking steamer. If this accomplishes its purpose another simiku" vessel will be built, for obviously the entire trans-con- tinental s e r \' i c e would otherwise be staked upon one ship never getting out of order the whole sea- son. The " Yermak," ho we \' c 1"-^ t h c ice- breaker also built by Sir William Arm- strong, \V li i t wort h cK: Co. for service in the Baltic — has been sucli a splendid suc- cess, forcing her way through mixed ice twenty-live feet thick, that there is every reason to presume tlie "Baikal" will do her work equally well. Upon the opposite side of Lake Baikal the starting station is Alisovaya, thirty-nine miles from Ikaranchiki, and there the railway enters upon a great plateau and reaches its highest point in the Yablonoi Mountains at 3,412 feet. This has been the most trying section of the line to build, and the last rail was [^>w <.J Uie " li;ukar' Bre.ikinir the Ico. THK GREAT SIBERL'\N RAILWAY 123 laid only on December 28, 1899. As originally announced, the intention was to continue the railway right through to Khabar- ofsk, whence trains have l)een running for some time to Madivos- tok. But there is good reason to think that the Russian (iov- ernment never really expected to have to do this, and was well aware that before the rest of the line could be finished an arrange- ment with China would permit her to carry the railway through Manchuria, thus not only giving her virtual control of this most valuable province but also greatly shortening the entire length. The route will therefore, now be from Misovaya to Stretensk, 605 miles; by steamer, larger or smaller according as the water is higher or lower, down the Shilka and Amur rivers, i,4-'8 miles, to Khabarofsk; and thence to Yladivostok, 252 miles. Total distance from Moscow by this route, 4,307 miles by railway, and 1,467 miles by steamer. The Boxer rising has so disorganised and delayed everything connected with the TransT3aikal section of the line that no through times can be accurately given. But previous to these disturl)ances it was officially stated that in summer the journey from Moscow to \^la(livostok would, until the completion of tlie Manchurian lines, occupy about twenty days. Just before the Chme^e coinnicnced lio^tiluies a friend in mine made the coni- [)lete journey as quickly as possible— the railway not being yel organised for through traffic. With much courteous help from the authorities, and doing one long stretch in Eastern Sil>ena m a horse-box, his itinerary was as follows: Vladivostok May ^7. 18 Khabarofsk ^^^y 19.20 Blagovyeshchensk ^^ay 27-29 Pokovkhra • 1^"^ 4-6 Stretensk June 9-1 1 Baikal June 15 Irkutsk June 16 Moscow (late) June 23 I ii .^1 ^ l^ 124 ALL rm: RLSSLAS That is, the journey took thirty-eii;lit days. lUu it will he noticed that no fewer than twenty (la\s were spent on the Amur and Shilka rivers, tliis dreary delay l)enii; due to the tact that shallow water reduced the rate of si)eed at times to next to notliini;", and at other times stopj)ed the steamer alto<^a'ther. This was excep- tional, e\en at this time of >ear, and allowing;- for the fact that the journey was against the current. Moreover, as 1 have ex- plained ahove, this river journey is only a temporary expedient, to connect the two ends of the railway while the Manchurian railway is under constructic^n, and it will he ohserved that the journey from Irkutsk to Moscow has heen consideral)ly shortened e\"en since 1 made it a few months ])re\iousl}'.''' The ultimate route will he from Misovaya, on Lake luiikal, to Khaidalovo, a sliort distance on this side of Stretensk, thence * The line tnun Khaidalova to the ( 'hinc^e huntiei. vonnectiii^ the Siberian Kail- wav with the Manchuria!i Kailway, lias been opeiu-il tur na!tic. Mi iic( i\ rr. since lh;s chapter was written, the hist rail ot the Northeiii Manchurian section was laid on No- vember 3, iqoi, coni[)letin^ the all rail connection between Mo-c^w and the har I'.ast ern termini, and by eliminating the ri\er journey between Stretensk and Khabarofsk greatly shortening the through j(jurney, in which there will now be on!_\- one change of cars (at Lake liaikal) !)etween Moscow and I'ort Arthur (to which the branch from Ivharbin is already oj)en) or Vladivostok, d'his event has been annoiniced by M. de Witte in the tollowing address t*; the 'i'sar ; " ( )n May K), iS()I, vour Majestv, at Vladivostok, turned with your own hand the first sod of the (ireat Siberian Kailway. To-day, on the anniversary ot your accession to the throne, the l^ast Asiatic Railway line is completed. I venture to express to your Majesty from the bottom of my heart my loyal congratulaiiou on this historic event. With the laying of the rails for a distance of 2,400 versts. trom the Transbaikal territory to \dadivostok and Port Arthur, our enterprise in Manchuria i- practically, though not entirely, concluded. Xotwdthstanding exceptionally ditficult conditions and the destruction of a large portion of the line last year, temporary trahic can, from to-day, be carried on along the wdiole sv^tem. 1 hope that within two years hence all the remaining work to be done will be completed and that the railway will be opened for {permanent regular trafhc." The Tsar replied as follows : " I thank vou sincerelv for vour jovful communication. I congratulate you on the completion within so short a time and amid incredii)le ditficulties of one ot the greatest railway undertakings of the world." I may add that M. Lessar, the new Russian Minister to (diina. performed the through journey in twentv davs, but for political reasons every elTc^rt was made to convey him to liis jxist as (piicklv as pos-ible. THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY I 2 across Manchuria to Xikholsk, sixty miles above Madivostok, with a branch line from Kharbhi, the centre of Manchuria, to Mnk.lcn. wlicnce three other branches lead respectively to Niucbwans. I'oi't .\rthur. and Peking. The last of these is nominallv built by the Russo-Chinese Banking Company. l)ut this is a mere form of words— the whole line is as Russian its AIoscow. The Manchurian raihvay will be 950 miles long, *an(i the southern branch 646 miles, and when all this is com- pleted the total length of the (ireat Siberian Railway will be 5,486 miles. The following will then be the shortest route between the United States and the Far East via Siberia: New York, Havre, Paris (London passengers will go via Dover and Ustend to Cologne). Cologne, Berlin. Alexandrovo, Warsaw, Moscow, Tula, Samara. Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Stretensk, Mukden. Port Arthur, and the total length of this journey (excluding the Atlantic) about 7,300 miles, of which 297 miles will be in France. 99 miles in Belgium. 660 miles in Germany, 2,310 miles in European Rus- sia, and about 4,000 in Asiatic Russia. These are the official figures. One other possibility must be mentioned— it is always un- safe to sav that any Russian plan is final— namely, that the whole direction of the Trans-Baikalian line will once more be altered, as I have suggested above, and that a line will be run due south- east from Irkutsk to Peking along the old caravan road through Kiakhta, and across the desert. This would again enormously shorten the through journey; there are no insuperable physical difficulties: if China is coerced into consenting while England still has her hands full in South Africa, and Japan remains passive, there will be no political ob- stacle; and the political and strategical results will be infinitely more important than the commercial ones, for it will give Russia definitive control over the whole of Northern China. But this, unless a wiser diplomacy arises meanwhile, might mean war with * ->^-^r-'i- 124 ALL THE RUSSL^lS That is, the journey took thirty-eii^ht clays. lUil it will 1)e noticed that no fewer than twenty days were spent on the Amur and Shilka rivers, this dreary delay hein^;- due to the fact that shallow- water reduced the rate of s])eed at times to next to nothing-, and at other times stopped the steaiuer altogether. This was excep- tional, even at this time of year, and allowing- for the fact thai the journey was ag;ainst the current. Moreover, as 1 have ex- plained ahove, this river journey is only a tem|)orary expedient, to connect the two ends of the railway while the Manchurian railway is under construction, and it will be observed that the journey from Irkutsk to ^loscow has been considerably shortened even since i made it a few months prexiouslw''' The ultimate route will be from Misovaya, on Lake 1 Baikal, to Khaidalovo, a short distance on this side of Stretensk, thence * The line Irom Khaidalova to the ('hiiu-^e hontier, connecting the Si'herian Rail- way willi the Manchurian Railway, has been ojjcned h>r ttattic. Moreover, since this chapter was written, the last rail of the Northern Manchurian section w;is laid on No- vember 3, IQOI, coin{)leting the all-iail connection between Moscow and the l"ar luist- ern termini, and Ijy eliminating the river journey between Stretensk and l\hal)ar()fsk greatly shortening the through journey, in which there will now be (»nly one change ot cars (at Lake Ikiikal) between Moscow and I'ort Arthur (to which the branch from Kharbin i>> already open) or \dadivostok. This event has been announced by M. de Witte in the followinij address to the Tsar ; " ( )n May iq, 1891, vour Majestv, at \'ladivostok, turned with your own hand the first sod ot the (ireat Siberian Railway. To-day, on the anniversary ot your accession to the throne, the I'.ast Asiatic Railway line is cotnpleted. I venture to exjire^s to vour Majesty from the bottom of my heart my loyal congratulation on thi> historic event. With the laying of the rails for a distance of 2,400 ver'-ts. trom the Transbaikal territory to \dadivostok and Port Arthur, our enterjjri^e in Manchuria is practically. though not entirely, concluded. Notwithstanding exceptionally tretches of emerald-col- oured winter rve and intervals of birch forest, scattered o\er with o-rav-roofed villaues — little, tlat, sheddike honse> all huddled to- o-ether and remindiuij- one of the kind of i^ray scab that clusters and spreads on the l)ack of a diseased leaf. There is nothing- of the industry and economv of French cultivation, nor of the rich The List Station in Euritpe. farmyards and sleek herds of kaii^land. but the soil is tilled every- where, and the harvest is oaihered and sold, haiormous stacks of straw testify to the al)un(lant harvest of tliis season. .\11 the houses are of wood, "ray with ai^e. often dilapidate had raved m u^ about tlu-c mountain^, but the truth is that Russians are not good judge.; <'f mountams— as in- deed, how should thev be, when in the whole of European Ru- sia tliere is no land as high as the Washington Monument.^ Those in whom the Urals excite immoderate enthusiasm can never have seen the Tvrol and do not know the (irampians. Let it be said at once that the Ural- cannot hold a inuc-knoi to either. Where the firs clothe them closely, the hills seem to be wear- SIBERLA EROM THE TRAIN 131 ing a mantle of rough green frieze, but presently larches, yellow- ing fast in this perfect October weather, burn like flambeaux among the green, and beside the shallow- river, wimpling over its stony bed, and through the fords of stepping-stones built curiously in a fork shape, the purple thicket of bare alder-twigs The Town of Zlataoust from t!ie Railway. makes planes of soft, qniet colour, ^'our fir or pine fJi duissc is an inartistic tree; the repetition of his even points becomes tire- some, and he gives the outline of the mountains a line regular as the teeth of a comb, which should be the despair of the painter. Therefore painters wisely let these fir countries alone. In a few places, at the water-parting, which occurs near the town of Zlataoust, the pine gives way and the gray stone triumphs ( 132 AI.l. IHl. Rl SSIAS where a few points, the highest c.f any in ihi> southern end of the ciuun, r>se hare against th.e sky. A Utile ,.t,r anion- the engnieers, who cotn-teouslv de.u'e that I shall l..>e nollnn-, causes n.e to o-lue nivsell to the win.K.w and stare into the (ore>t n. my de- Tire not' to nii>s the frontier-post, the actual detVnite spot, hcyond the station of Urjunika, where luirope ends and Asia l.e-ins. the i.nlv place, except one other in tliese same numntains and one in the Caucasus, where Europe and .\sia are joined l.y railway. It has been marked, as we presently see. by a little uninspired monument, some ten feet !ii,s;h, in yellnw freesmne. It i- a snnple base with a stone-l)uili. pointed coUinin on the top— the sort of thin- vou mav liiid behind some trees in the park of a noble- man? raised to'mark the re>tin,L;-place of his favourite f..x-terrier. I do not detect any inscription upon its front, as the train passes at such a speed that to photograph it 1 have to set my shutter at the hundredth part of a second, with the re>ult you see. Indif- ferent, the passengers barely interrupt their endless tea and talk and cigarettes, but we are silent, thoughtful, opp'-^--^'''' frangbt with "igue realisatinn^ ,.1 the Mgnilicance -t ihi^ bit of earth; i.llv we 'compose, with lVel.ng> that sh.nild thnll a Ku>Man. but are. ^ave for our .en^c nl the ^cntunent, alien to us the legend thai mi-bt l.e cut up..n tin. tatctul pillar. Uu-Ma, wli.. ba^ not lo.,ked back, here l.rM pushed her pK.n.Lib beyond the la^t lunit ,„■ bain.pe. Merc she i^.rde.l lier>elt tnr that b.ng antrenuouslv pur-iicd. how rich in human incident, lunv bitter with human ..ulTeriug! Here pa»cd her tram- ni cb;nned ^-oin-icts— convicts whose te.ar< made I'.urope weep; here, even here, dehled the long line of exiles, reft from their homo to make warm a spot in .\sia for the coming thousands. Here passed the Poles, a hundred years ago, when Russia hrst took up that burden on her western border-the burden that has meant riches and industrial expansion to her ever since— niaiiv thousand of them went this way. Here she lield her Cossacks, always in SIBKRIA FROM TUK TRAIN U3 harness of war. Inirryini;- the laggard and the fugitive. Here, to-day, when so much has been done and said and suffered, so much spent and lost and gained, here passes this emblem of her success, carrying an earnest, even to the confines of China, of what she has done and what in the future she means to do — the (Ireat Siberian l^xpress. Xo, on second thought there is no room on that monument, nor yet space on the broadest hillside of her forgotten boundary, to write the story that surges to the surface of one's imagination. The Urals produce, as everybody knows, most kinds of pre- cious stones and vast quantities of iron. The centre of the min- G')ki-aiKUers Waitini: tur the Train. era] industry is at Zlataoust, twenty-four hours beyond Samara. A lovely glimpse of the town itself is caught after leaving the station. Ikult in a valley, it surrounds part of a large artificial lake which was produced l)y damming up the little river to supply water-power to its foundries. This was not a success, and Zlata- oust must forever look out upon an expensive failure, which nevertheless constitutes its chief attraction as ? town. Almost before the train stopped, our passengers were clustering round three kiosks on the platform, where a thousand little objects in black iron, all of unspeakable ugliness, were for sale as souvenirs. 4 ,34 ALL IHL RL SSLAS An enthusiastic cn-incor showed me the walking-stick he had housht of ■■ vrai acier." Init, untortunateiy, uiien he bent it dou- ble on the platfonn to ^-lum the tmeness of its metal, the resili- ence of its sprin-. it remained in a disheartened curve, no better than a wilted .lahlia-stalk. d'here is sure to be a bayonet factory at /dataoust. At Ciielyabinsk. however, four hours later, on the eastern verge of the Urals, the platform output was charming: pink, red, and green jasper, sinning rock crystal, lumps of mal- achite that had been suddenly cooled oft while boiling (when What V"ii Seo f'T Davs from tlu' Siberian Express. the world was made), of the vivid verdigris-green that is like nothing else. The palace^ an.l gallerio (-1 St. Petersburg and Moscow are full of vase, and tables an.l basins of these jaspers and lapis lazuli, and nothing could be more beautiful if only the makers would follow classic shapes instead of choosing as their models the stucco horr..rs of the suburban garden, or of inlaying tables with diamond-work in contrasting colours which ape the patchwork bed-ciuiU of the cook's aunt. Rut the little ash-trays in cloudv rose jasper, polishe.l only on one side, are the best pres- SIBERIA FROM THK TRAIN 135 ents to bring back to friends who have been very good, as a me- mento of that town where convicts and exiles used to be gathered in enormous sheds and sorted over before being drafted to places where their labour was required or where their vices— when they liad anv— would remain unheard of. To-day every spring sees huge crowds of peasant emigrants to Siberia, undergoing ex- amination and selection at Chelyabinsk before being distributed according to a regular scheme of colonisation. FronrChelvabinsk onward the train crosses the great Siberian The Water-luwer and Storehouse at Every Station. plain, and this may be said to continue as far as Tomsk, more than seven hundred miles away. From Wednesday noon till Fri- dav morning, except for the rivers you could hardly tell one piece of the monotonous landscape from another. But the more you see of it, the more it appeals to you. Infinitely simple in its long, sunburnt expanses to right, to left, and behind the train, dotted sparsely with meagre beasts which may be dromedaries, may be oxen mav be horses; broken by tracts of bog where silver birches, very old and very small, struggle for their life; flecked here and 136 ALL THK RUSSIAS there at wide intervals by a wooden hut or tlie rounded tent of a Khirg-hiz; cut through by winding sandy ways where carts move Hke tiies in October, faint and slow— there is yet something singularly winning about this landscape, even though the pathos of miles of purple heather and gray and black moorland is wholly missing. For an idea of the monotony of this part of the journey I must refer the reader to my photographs. Words will not describe it. Several times for more than an hour the track is perfectly straiLdit— without even the suggestion of a curve. A cannon- ball tired from between the rails would fall between them a dozen miles away, if the aim were true and the trajectory faultless. There is positivelv one stretch where tlie line is as straight as a plumb-line for nearly eighty miles, and it should be easy to imag- ine the hypnotic effect of sitting in the middle of the observation- car and watching the twin lines of steel unroll themselves from under your feet, and roll away again out of Mght over the edge of the world, till dav passes, and :,unset, llooding the plain with gold and scarlet and j.nrple. rvoeivcs them into it>^ bla/mg abv^s. Wdiat a honzuii, wlial a -ensc o! -^pace and dvtaa-lnnriii ' I nc iviukI brcatlK-. the dust of i-reai ciiu- is a claid iKuhiiiL: like ^o lar-c as a man hand, and everything is far away, except to- dav nnrl ve-terdav, whicli in llu- (k'-cn and lliv -up]^r arc me >aiiu\ ( nie u iih an* itiivr. In liie-^e early da\^ of October the -real bl.-M.niing *>[ the plain is over for the year. F.ast of tlie Tral^ there i> no oak, nor ash. nor elm, nor hazel nor apple, to ])e.»ple tlie landsoai)e, and no autumn-dowering plant blooms beside the way, only an m- tinite variety of reeds, and where the tine natural hay was taken in June, a crop of tall weeds, stark and l)rowii, their heads still holding up the empty seed-vessels, architectural in their exact branchings. Sometimes in the black, shallow cutting beside the track, whence the ballast had been digged, 1 saw certain bulb- rooted plants with round whorls of leaves that should have shel- SIBKRIA FROM THE TRAIN ^37 I \ tered either a lily or an orchid spike this summer, and once or twice a big bulrush— at least, that rush which suffered an aesthetic renaissance in England under this name, and is not a bulrush at ail_stood up very high. Already a cocoon-like fluff was taking the place of the close brown velvet covering, and he was soon to seed freelv — the familiar sacrifice of the individual in the in- terest of the species. He will not be there, that brown velvet bulrush, when 1 return from Irkutsk in a month, but then— the Th^^ Regular Silvrian Station. widespread rushv hopes of next summer! Not only bulru.dies, but every kind ()f high-water grass and reed, the whole gamut from grass to bamboo, wave and whisper and whistle in wide beds. At last vou have under your eye the real country for the Marsh-King's Daughter. Hans Andersen, who knew marshes as no one before hmi or since, who has left in every teachable mmd that reads him some enduring sense of their poetry, would have loved this part of Siberia. What romance could he not have written of these bowed birches, '' the white ladies of the for- M :1 •_> -., >--• » ...»*.»- li 138 ALL THE RUSSL\S est," with stems of silver, here positively frost-white, and fine purple twigs weeping evenly to the northward. He would have peopled these thickets of black alder with a weird water-life. And suddenly, after days of it, in a second it is swept away; alder. birch, willow, and reed-bed alike disappear, and, as though i)lanted by the hand of man in a straight line across this worldscape, the Siberian cedar, to be readily mistaken for an ill-nourished tir-tree with a yellowish tinge al)out the needles, springing from a rich madder-coloured bed of heath and heather, usurps the scene. It is after twelve o'clock by local time; enter the Siberian cedar at some mysterious nature-cue, exeunt birches and the rest that have followed us so faitlifully from the western verges of Russia. We are now to have nothing but Siberian cedar all day. For a thousand versts this Siberian plain hardly changes its character. The silver bircho are alway- by our side, and some- times the woods take on a more m.IuI shape. Round the settle- ments lierds of black and white cou> graze, and for a few nnles we pass through sttil)l)le field-, and great heap- ot grain, in -acks, covered with tarpauHii.-. arc i.iled uj) at the >tatiMiis awaitmg transport. l>iii tlie[ m-luMrx liardh couiu m the h-iig ,iiMnotM!Hm- Mc-piH'. i hi.-c a j urt iirc-^. lur -ron]) of Tatar-, mme back from gi .ld--\\a-liin-. altracl- artciUinii. and agani we m/c the (lcva,-late(l track mI a I^utM frc, Oecasionaih' we lakr a iia-il a! a station, lor tin; bui'u-t^ are evcrvwherr vsccWvul and put to duime the wretched ra,i]uav cmuncr^ 111 tlir !:wari • .1 ju^pulous fjii^kind, 'file -tati'Mi^ tht'iUM/lves are all hrauimiih l>ui!i of wood, neat and clean, MU-rounded with i.rctty paliside^ cacii hav- ing Its water-tower and fir engine lion^e, and ollermg to the third-cla>s traveller free boihng water f-r In- tea|)ot and chl boiled water to drink. We pa^s a train of convict>. gomg to Irkutsk, all the windows barred wuli iron, and a -entrv wuh nxrd bayonet at the entrance of each carriage, l^v showing mv off cial letter to the colonel in command 1 get permission to pa>^ through the train. The prisoners consi>t of convicts, in chains, and simple .vv«.>•k.'.uV*l:u■^ ' SIBKRIA FROM THE TRAIN 139 exiles, the wives and children of the latter accompanying them. Their accommodation is warm and comfortable, and except some of the convicts, who are obviously savages, they seem in good spirits. Several times, too, we meet trains of returning colonists, who have either been to Siberia for the harvest, or are returning disappointed and dissatisfied. This latter category includes a regular percentage of all who emigrate voluntarily. The vast agricultural plain is, of course, the predominatmg impression \chhy this journey; indeed, there is no other such Siberian feasants Watchinsz ihe Train. plain ill tiic world. Stati-iics of tin- mzc of S,l.cr,a may be lound in ,vcrv bonk of reference, but it is impossible not to reprodnce some (^f them when describing a journey tlirough the land. It is then over ^.ooo.ooo square miles m area, half as large agam as the whole of Europe; it covers 3-^ degrees of lat.tude, and no fewer than no ioni>hni-iy complete is tins natural network of waterways that, wuh the aid of one canal, steamers of a considerable size liave been built in Kn-land and taken under their own steam to Lake F»aikal, nearly 3,500 miles east of Mos- cow. The zone of colonisation lie^ to the south of ()4 decrees north latitude, for al)ove this is the zone of polar tundra— :\ wilder- ness of marsh and moss, with stunted bushes for its only vegeta- tion, frozen during the greater part of the year, and incapal)le of supporting any life except that of the scattered tribes of Arctic Buildinu .1 Hut m \hc Taiua. natives who roam about and maiiai^e not to perisli m it. lUit ^oxnh ot this there 1- m W'e-teni Sil)ena almic a cultivable area of six thousand geographicrd scjuare tuiles. ■ The landscape changes a third time between ^^)scow and Irkutsk. This is at Taiga, whence a branch line of tlfty-four miles leads to Tomsk. The word Taii^a means primeval forest. A couple of years ago this place was but a name and a sto|)pmg- place for the trains. To-day it is a smart Httle town and growing fast. Beyond it the line plunges into the virgin woods. The SlBi^RIA FROM THE TRAIN 141 first passenger train left it, eastward bound, on New Year's Day, 1899, and the bridge at Krasnoyarsk was only finished in March of the same year, permitting trains to proceed without a break to Irkutsk, the present terminus. Our train has no longer an engine with air-compressor for the Westinghouse brake, there- for'^e our si)eed, never great, dwindles to a crawl, and for nearly a thousand miles, from Friday till Monday, we dawdle along, almost always through an unbroken forest of silver birch, pine, larch and cedar, with occasional clearings and innumeral)le little stations. From the train only small timber is in sight, but back in the forest there is an inexhaustible supply of serviceable trees, and a special department has been recently created for the eco- nomic deforestation of these Siberian provinces, the outlet being a great timber port to be formed at the mouth of the Ob. At each station we make a long halt. They are charming places, admirably built, and prettily decorated, and round each of them a circle of civilisation is spreading. At last, at noon on Monday, nine days and 3,371 miles from Moscow, after passing a zone^of rolling country with Highland scenery, we come in sight of a large town encircled by a great river, its churches and pul)lic buildings visible from far away. This is Irkutsk, the end. f(^r the pre.seiu. of the (ireat Siberian Railway, the ^)oun(lary of luistern Siberia, the junction of Europe, so to speak, for trade by land with Peking, and not much more than a hundred miles from the frontier of I hina. 1 V •.'■. ^^\S' \' '•'^"\' «■-•■:■*••-■•■-> »^ v»- *~ v>'" '. 1 1 '* ryt %t v^^ <^ • ' .v.'t'xvT**,-^*^!* !.»,«■.**«>■>■«' .■»ru.»»»'«'** ' CFIAP'I I.R IX SIBKRIAN CIVILISAIION TfIR chief towns l^{ Siberia are natiirnllv ^iil thovc that had i^ruw 11 iij) and il« 'uridk'*! heloia- the railway wa^ e* awtruetcd ( )ni.k, Kra^novardx, TMindx, and liixuidv. Uiiier- will nt ci)iir:^e soon he created, and ni ;^everal cases they wiil ^npcrsede the old ones. After a thousand versts of the Si- ])erian plain the first im- portant station, Omsk, is a genuine surprise. At dusk you pass over the great river with a well-lit passenger steamer plying upon it — pass over it by a handsome girder bridge. Then a promising net- work of sidings begins, and, after the manner of Siberian trains, von steal verv slowly into the electric-lit station of ( hnsk. A neat and pretty brick building greets you, the silent, impassive figures ui peasants in sheepskins grouped about its doors. You pass into the usual hall which is waiting-room and restaurant combined; well-set tables with tall palms — Hnnaiion palms of course — standing in them, and tall crystal candelabra veiled in red muslin. At one side is the tea-counter, ii:. biabS samovar purring softly; at another a display of hot dishes to tempt the hungry, with a cJicf of smiling face and much-starched iuicii wavnig his knife above the baked meats. The proffered 142 The >wcr in ,f til,, p irc vvih kiitsk. :^■.^..,,-■^ W fV^ bilif-.RlAN ClXlf JnATK )\ T4.5 i^. meal was so attractive t1iat we took it here instead of in tlie res- tciurant-car, and ncjthing could ha\-e been ])elter. The town e)f Om^k i- onlv Tom^k on a smaller scale, and Tom an am- bitious theatre; one of the three Government gold laboratories is there; the i)rison was the principal distributing station of Si- beria; it is lighted l)y electricity; it is the focus of a great agri- cultural district; it has oxer so.ooo inhabitants; there was everv reason to suppose that its happy development would be parallel with that of the railway itself. To-day it is going down-hill, for the sim])le reason that the railway is hfty-four miles away — a journey of fi\e hours — and that even then the station is a long drive through the woods from the town. I heard many explana- tions of this extraordinary arrangement: that the land around the town was too swampy, that too costly bridges would have had to be built, that the engineers who laid out the line left the town aside because its inhabitants would not agree to certain con- ditions advantageous to the proposers. Which is true I do not know, but it is certain that Taiga, the station for Tomsk on the main line, was only a couple of tents in the wilderness three years ago, and that to-day it is a considerable settlement, growing rapidly into a town, destined beyond question to thrive at the expense of the city so proudly planned to be the heart of Si- beria. Tomsk reminds one of a rapidly grown Western Ameri- can town, except that it has several far finer permanent build- ings. The streets are its least civilised characteristic, for, except in w'inter, they are either ankle-deep in dust or knee-deep in mud, and winter comes so suddenly that the townspeople some- times wade through mud to the theatre and find the roads frozen solid when they come out, while by next morning there are thirty degrees of frost. Omsk, to my thinking, will necessarily become the chief Si- ' 4 .s . r,' • f I I 146 ALL THE RUSSIAS berian town, because of its magnificent waterways, its siirround- ino- ai^-riculture, its gokl-nnmno-, and, above all. its proxiinitv to the colossal deposits of coal that liave ])een discovered to the south of it, the copper-mines not far ott, and the probal)ihty that some day a railway will run southeast from it to connect Siberia with Central Asia. For the present, however, Irkutsk Is a more important place, and indeed, at hrst si^ht, as it nestle, within the embrace ot the broad Angara, it is charming, and one is astonished at the pro- portion of imposing buildings rising from the tlat brown mass of wooden houses. A second suri)rise is that the suburb where the station is situated is called (dascow. lUit when you drive away through mud a couple of feet deep, in which the droschky rolls about so alarmingly that people invariably ride with their arms about each others' waists, you fear that first appearances were de- ceptive. The streets, in fact, are awful, and the local paper of the morning after my arrival told how two little l)oys returning from school fell in the middle of the street and were only just rescued from drowning by some passing carters, ^'our first im- pression, however, returns and remains when you have seen more of this remote Siberian capital. It 1^ an a.tonishiiio- place. Here are a few plain facts to begin with. Irkutsk has 51,4^^ inhal)itants. It spends ten per cent, of its munici|)al income on primary education. It has ^xx<^ hospitals and thirty doctors. There is an astronomical and meteorological observatory, of which the magnetic observations possess peculiar importance. Its theatre, a handsome building of brick and stone, cost over £30,000. There is a museum, an offshoot of the Russian Geo- graphical Society, with an extremely interesting ethnological collection, as well as almost complete collections of the birds and animals of the district. From its telegraph of^ce mes- sages can be sent to any part of the world in any language, but I must add that a telegram sent to me from London on Monday was only delivered at midday on Friday. There is a perfectly organised telephone service, and the outlying manufactories, one SIBKRIAN CIVILISATION H7 of them as much as sixty miles away, are all connected with the city by telephone. A fire-extinguishing service is excellently equipped with an English steam fire-engine among other appar- atus, and I saw some smart drill. Finally, besides an imposing cathedral, Irkutsk boasts no fewer than twenty Orthodox churches, one Roman Catholic and one Lutheran chapel, two synagogues, and two monasteries, for in Siberia a greater re- ligious tolerance exists than in Russia. That is not a bad list for a town which, until a few months ago, could only be reached The Technical School, Irkutsk. by an exhausting journey of several weeks, driving at full speed day and night. There is an air of well-being about the place, however, which says more than any catalogue of facts. I have seldom been more surprised than when, on the evening of my arrival, I started out to make a few purchases. I wanted some sardines and sugar and similar supplies, and I found myself in a shop which for size, arrangement, and variety of stock would compare with those of the West End of London, except, ])erhaps, such exceptional pur- vevors of luxuries as ^lorell's and Fortnum & Mason's. Next I wanted some photographic materials, and the first thing that caught my eye was a complete assortment of Zeiss lenses, of the latest pattern — the most expensive lenses in the market. Two 148 ALL IHI'. RUSSIAS 3 stationers- shops and a chemisfs were certainly equal to the average of such places it, any of the capitals of the world, and m another I saw such a stock of guns, nlles, revolvers, cutlery, and electric fittings as 1 have never seen in one place before. I should be at a loss where to look in London for such a selection ot tele- phones for instance, of every make and size, as were displayed in this Siberian shop. Such things would not be brought all these thousands of miles unless there were people who understood them and could afford to buv them, and it is this inference which causes the surprise. Similarlv. the outsides of the houses, with their thick wooden walls and stoutly barred gates, do not suggest wealth and culture: but when you have passed some of these outer barriers vou fi.nl vonrself in homes which, for luxury anhape of schools. ho>pUals. orphan- ages, and the like. Irkutsk, however, is not saved by its churches fn,m an amount of crime, actual and potential, that would be consulered excessive in a new mining-camp. The night before I amved a church was ransacked of its plate; the night of my arrival the principal jewel- ler's shop was robbed : a few days later a flourishing manufactory of false passport s-a peculiarly heinous crime in Russia--vvas raided bv the police; the day 1 visited the prison a man clubbed nearly to death, who never recovered consciousness, was picked up in the street; a short time previously the mail, carrying gold- dust had been ambushed and three of its armed guards shot ; and no respectable citizen would dream of passing alone through its suburbs after c >it,KUel is sent l.v mail, the p<'st undertaking the ni^nrance of each bag f,„. about 14.000 rouble^. At the labor,„or> u 1= weighed, nu.xed wnh borax, aiul melted m eruobU- iMor-an'.. one of the few things of llnti-li make I .aw 111 Siberia), the ingots assaved and weighed, and an - .assi^naf " for the vahie at Government rate-,. k-> the tax, a charge tor Laboratory lees. the cost of transmission to St. lVter>burg. an,l a certain small margin, given to the owner. This •' assignai " can be cashed im- mediatelv. or can be used as a bank-note. When a large .|uantity has accumulate.l. it is sent in a special wag.Mi, under an armed guard to St. Petersburg. an,l when the Irkutsk weights and as- savs have been verified, the margin is paid to the owner. 1 he strong-room contained tier upon tier .^f bright ingots, weighing from 'a few pounds to more than I could lilt. This treasure, it seemed to me, was very insufficiently guarded, and when I re- SIBKRIAN CIVILISATION 'S' marked upon this to the Director, he told me that for a good many years a force of Cossacks kept watch every night, but since they' once stole the whole contents of the strong-room a couple of civilian guards have been employed. The laboratory at Irkutsk was built in 1870, and since that time it has received a total amount of i.i7345'J l'^- avoirdupois of gold, or, I suppose, considerably over £60,000,000. There are three such laboratories in Russia, the others being at Tomsk for The C.ithedral. Irkutsk, Central Siberia, and Ekaterinburg for the Ural district. In 1896 Russia produced loi per cent, of the gold of the world. Up to tlie present year, from 1754. when she began to find gold, she cannot have taken much less than £.'50,000,000 from her own soil. The production of gold, however, is decreasing in I-Jussia, and in Siberia the richer mines are giving smaller returns. Against this must be set the discovery of valuable gold-fields farther north; the willingness of the Tsar to lease to private companies some of his own verv valuable mines that have hitherto been very IS2 ALL THE RUSSLAS inadequately worked; and the fact that the science of -old-ex- traction has made such progress of late that the mines supposed to be worked out by the hrst-comers many years ago, can now be made to yield a handsome profit again. The chief difficulty in Siberian gold-mining is labour. There is no skilled personnel to be had, and the conditions of life at points remote from ci\ili- sation are so disagreeable that labourers often leave as soon as they have amassed a small sum. 1 mav add liere my l)elief that Russia has secured in Mongnjia a tract of ex- trcniclx noli auriferous tcr- \-\{i >r\ . but this 1^ jeal« ius|\- hc'M !•> a grr.up o\ Peters- burg capitanstv^ riii! firial prr>t itik ^n, antl the [•reign investor is not likely to secure an inch of It. But for the disturb- ances in China 1 believe that these gold - fields «» w« -ulo li' ]far( ten sensa- b c i o r c ( ( P()C»r Silx'ri.ui l*easant. \M iiiaM \' now. IrkiUsk is, uf course, typical onlv of the civilisation of Siberia in the town'^. The little settlements tell a different tale. Many of them are doing well enough as regard^ agriculture, but the extreme loneli- ness of the life, and the lengtli of the winter, are producing ( r SIBKRIAN CIVILISATION '53 I !. li a peculiar Sil)erian type of people— silent, morose, inexpres- sibly sad. Among the lowest classes, too, these conditions, with the i)resence of so large a pi-oportion of criminals, inevit- ably breed their own series of crimes. The future of Siberia, however, obviously depends upon the success or faikf e of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and this is a question asked with great earnestness in Russia and of almost equal interest else- where. Will it pay? Will this gigantic enterprise be a suc- cess— tinancial, conunercial strategic? Russians themselves are by no means unanimous in reply. There are those who declare that it will not only give Russia the ultimate mastery of Asia, but that it will also pay a handsome dividend. On the other hand, I have heard it called a white elephant, a huge humbug and a finan- cial nullstone. 1 may admit that I approached the railway with manv ])rejudices against it. Some years ago I studied its begin- ning m Vladivostok; 1 have since been over the whole of the line^'that is open, and as far as Lake Baikal on the uncompleted section; and I had many conversations with engineers and of- ficials closely connected with all parts of it. I have therefore some grouii''ls for an o])niion. and 1 liave certainly come to tlie coiu-luHMii iliat the enterprise is of vast promise to Ru- gigantic railway any opinion as yet must, of course, be of the nature of a guess. It is fairly obvious that through passenger iralfic will nni pay at the very low rates now cliarged. wliile if tlie rate- are raided to a pavnig standard they xNuuld l-e prohil)itive to nu-t passengers. xl-uher can through goods traffic l)e protnable. a^ few classes oi merchandise, except tea, and perhaps silk, could support the co^t of upwards of 5,000 miles of railway transport, in competition with an alternative, if much longer, sea route. It is the enlight- ened policy of the railway authorities, moreover, to charge as little for goods proportionately as for passengers. For example, bar steel is carried from the Gulf of Finland to Krasnoyarsk, in t"i 154 ALL IHi; RUSSIAS Siberia, say, 3,300 miles, at the charoc of al)out £3 per ton. This figure was given to nie by an luighsh merchant in Krasnoyarsk. Machinery between the same points costs £10 per ton. Such rates make for the development of the country, but not for the dividends of the railway/'^ When we look at local traffic, however, a very different pict- ure presents itself. Already the demand for transport far ex- ceeds the supply. Acres of sacks of wheat he piled up, waiting for the railway to take them away. Agriculture here is still in its infancy, yet in 1898, the latest statistical year, Siberia pro- duced 1,000.000 tons of wheal. 730,ocx) tons of oats, j,5()o,o(X) tons of grain of all kinds, and 3J5,ooo tons of ])otatoes. Already last vear 2,500 American agricultural implements were sold m 5il3eria — more to the culluated acre than in Ru>Ma; McC or- mick's posters are m every village, and 1 )eering maohme^ have a strong foothi)l(l; in 'funisk there- 1- a eeinrai (lep«'>t where toui"- teen agncuhural implement maker- are re])re-erue(l. r.niiMi iirm>, uiifonunaiel)', are a^ii-^i for a 1 1 me w u ii > K'l I a) u ■ i\ I iieir a1 1'-aiice. 1 U'-i^ \a;i [ei 1 i 1 V il«;e and exi'iaieiiceu repre>eniati\ e of an Aiiveruan In in « i agricultural machine manufacturers, who was (leligliicd, and wiili good reason, at his prospects in Siberia. It the microbic fertilisation of land becomes a success, its influ- * An attempt is announced to establish a connection between the Russian and United States railways, via Bering Strait. A company called the Trans-Alaskan Rail- way Co. is stated to have been incorporated at Seattle, Washington State, with aeapital of >^f> '««•*«»«» ''- avowed object being the construction of a line through Alaska to some point . . .r Cape Prince of Wales. Mr. Harry de Windt, the well- known traveller, who nearly lost his life on a similar previous journey, is said to be planning, witli the assistance of the Russian and American Ciovernments, to start from Irkutsk, in December, 1901, for Yakutsk, 1,800 miles by sleigh; thence to Nijni Kolymsk, the sib ' rr,r> .r, Kussian settlement, where the population is chiefly com- posed of political exiles, another 1,600 miles by reindeer teams; and thence to the stioir .,1 I'.rrin- ^tr:at, whiih is only about 36 miles wide at its narrowest point, and ^v-Iuch he will cros^ cuIut nn ilu' Uv .t in :va Aincrican rrvonue cutter, returning to Civilisation l.v the \-ukon or M:u,krn/u- Kivrr. ^udi a r.uhvav enterprise appears wholly ehimerieah aiel it x^ \m:rcMAv ih.n l\u- i^ian ( ,. .vcrnna-nt ^h.ail-I seriously Contemplate it while >o many nioic p!onuMn>; j.art^ o! Ku-Ma an- m -r''-^' i'^'^''^ *>f railway facilities. SIBKRIAN CIVHJSATION 155 ence upon Siberian agriculture, where cliemical manures are out of the ((uestion, will be incalculable. There is a new world of i aoricultural and mineral wealth waiting beyond the Baikal, new railway, to con- nect the Trans-Sibe- rian with the Trans- CasiMan. will be built before many years elapse, bringing new supi)lies, creating new demands, and providing a new safe- guard against famine. The gold ont])Ut of Si- beria, of which I have A 'm al ready 1 ) UMven the .sinking ligure>. will be largelv inereahcd when the present min ing laws are modified, and the mines thrown open to the improved methods and ampler capital of the West — a state of things which Russia is ready to wel- ' come. At a place ^ called Ekibas-tuz, near Pavlodar, to the south of Omsk, and only sixtv-ix miles from the great Irtysh River— to whicli a line of raihvav was linished. two years ago, and three l')aldwin locomo- tives sent — are coal deposits which an English engineer declared to me to l)e the largest in the world, a seam running for miles of Prosperous Siberi;in Peasant. *a 156 ALL THi: RISSIAS the almost incredible thickness of three hundred feet. X'ast quan- tities of coke will he pt'oduccd here, shipped down the Irtysh to Tiumen, and thence transported to the I'rals for the iron works — a supply the importance of which will be ap})reciated by those who know anythini;- about the iron indtistrw Xear this are very rich copper mines, and it is certain that minerals will be discovered in other parts. The transi)ortation of convicts to Siberia will shortly cease, and last year J23.9CS1 eiuii^rants of both sexes crossed the Urals, making a total of close tipon 1,000.000 since 1893. I ha\e perhai)s now said enoti_i;h to justify in some decree my own belief that the develo])ment of Siberia is destined to be a handsome reward for the. efYorts and expendittire so lavishly devoted to it. CHAPTER X THE PRISON OF IRKUTSK FROM gold, which H. E. General Goremykin, Governor- General of the Irkutsk Government— whom I must not forget to thank for all the facilities he aiTorded me— calls ■' the cneniv of Siberia," it is a natural step to crime, and of course 1 spent some time at the famous prison of Irkutsk. It is a great, square, whitewashed brick building, surrounding a courtyard, with a' number of smaller wooden buildings adjacent, the whole enclosed, except on the front, by an enormous wooden palisade of logs, twenty feet high, sharpened at the end. I went into €ver\ part of the prison that I could see, including the hospital, the workshops, the laundry, and the kitchens, and visited every one of the large rooms and almost every cell. In all these I saw but two things to find fault with— the practice of herding to- gether criminals of all ages, tried and untried, and the long time, in some cases amounting to two years, which many of the prison- ers spend there before their cases are finally judged. This latter evil is caused partly by the great difficulty of collecting evidence from manv parts of Siberia, but chiefly because the central authorities' do not supply magistrates enough to cope with the numbers of those arrested. An additional difficulty is the varietv of languages spoken by the criminals themselves : three times 'during my visit was the governor, who accompanied me most of the time, obliged to send to another part of the prison for a prisoner to interpret a request made to him as we passed. The prison is supposed to hold only 700 criminals, but it contained 1.024 men on the day of my visit, 12 women, and 10 ^3/ y 158 ALL iht: russl\s children accompanyini;- their niotliers. Of these no fewer than 621 were awaitino- trial, 13S were condemned for detinite periods not exceedini^ three years, which they will serve in this prison, and 286 were " in transit," mostly either to the i^reat convict prison of Alexandrofsk, forty-six nnles from Irkutsk, or to the island of Sakhalin. The convicts condenmed to lon^ periods or lo Sakhalin had half the head shaved, as shown in the t^roup pho- toi^raphed on j). if)0, and a number of the worst characters were in chains. The majority of the prisoners were there for theft, and rohberv with violence; a number for unnatural offences, and several, in solitary continement, for usin.o- foroed passports, or two, for instance, who had exchani^ed identities and passports — a serious offence in Russian eyes. Two other men I saw sei)a- ratelv contined were unidentified {prisoners, who had no ])ass- ports, and refused to say who they were, or where they came from, the natural inference l)ein<,^ that they had somethini; seri- ous to hide. The cells were lar^e, clean, and fairly lii;ht, and all the prisoners were dressed in loose coats and trousers of ,i;rey felt, with apparently such underclothino; as they hapi)ene(l to possess. Those not sei)arately confmed were in loni,^ rooms, lighted by a row of small windows hi^h in the walls, entered by one heavv door, and having- down the middle a sort of enor- mous plank l)ed, sloping;- from the middle down to each side. Upon this they slei)t in two rows at ni^ht, and sat during the (lav, for the s})ace between the end of the boards and the wall was only just big enough to hold them all when standing u]) to receive an official visit. Four sucli wards did I enter, seeing per- haps six hundred ])risoners of all ages, from youths to very old men, of all the nationalities which Russia contains, and charged with all the crimes in the code. Every one of these prisoners was awaiting trial, and I was told that many of them would be tliere as long as two years. Certain considerations, however, may modify our disapproval somewhat. In the first place, these men are assuredly better clothed and housed and THE PRISON OF IRKUTSK ^59 fed than they would otherwise be— indeed, at the approach of winter, a large number deliberately get themselves arrested. In the second place, the proportion of criminals in the whole popu- lation of Siberia is so very large, and the police are so few in number, and so lax, that the chances are much stronger against an innocent man being arrested than in more civilised regions. Thirdly, it was impossible to pass about among these men, look- ing carefully into their faces, and not to feel that it was better for Siberia that most of them should be where they were. When the door of one of the large rooms was thrown open and I was invited to step in among two hundred of them, I confess at first I hesitated. There were only four of us— the governor, the head- warder, the doorkeeper of the room, and myself, with nobody else even within hail, while in one case there were but two doors between them and the street, and an old man keeping watch. In an English prison those men would have been outside in a couple of minutes. Never has it been my lot, though I have visited prisons, civilised and uncivilised, in many parts of the world, to see human nature at such a low ebb, and the faces of these men, from wild beast to vacant idiot, haunted me for days. Guilty or innocent of any particular crime, they could hardly be other, with few exceptions, than a curse to society. From' this point of view Russian criminology has a task unknown in countries where civilisation has reached a higher average de- velopment. The convicts, curiously enough— that is, men condemned to considerable terms of hard labour before being set free as exiles, forbidden to leave the district to which they are assigned— were on the whole of a rather better type, although they were disfig- ured by having half of the head shaved. Each man had a rough parcel of his personal belongings, and they were all strangely cheerful, considering their destination. Nothing, however, strikes an English visitor, who has seen the rigid military dis- cipline of our own prisons, so much as the good feeling, not to ) .jH|p> W LM Wi*'^>»4»'ij< 158 ALL THK RUSSIAS children accompanying their mothers. CM tlicse no fewer than 621 were awaitina- trial, i ^8 were condennied for definite periods not exceeding three years, which they will serve in this prison, and 286 were '* in transit," mostly either to the great convict prison of Alexandrofsk, forty-six miles from Irkutsk, or to the island of Sakhalin. The convicts condemned to long periods or 10 Sakhalin had half the head shaved, as shown in the grou]) pho- togra])he(l on p. 160, and a number of the worst characters were in chains. The majority of the prisoners were there for theft, and rol)l)ery with violence; a number for unnatural offences, and several, in solitary confinement, for using forged passports, or two, for instance, who had exchanged identities and passports — a serious offence in Russian eyes. Two other men I saw sepa- rately confmed were unidentified prisoners, who had no pass- jKjrts, and refused to say who they were, or where they came from, the natural inference being that they had something seri- ous to hide. The cells were large, clean, and fairly light, and all the prisoners were dressed in loose coats and trousers of grey felt, with apparently such underclothing as they hapj)ened to possess. Those not separately confined were in long rooms, lighted by a row of small windows high in the walls, entered by one heavy door, and having down the middle a sort of enor- mous plank bed, sloping from the middle down to each side. Upon this they slept in two rows at night, and sat during the day, for the space l^etween the end of the boards and the wall was only just big enougli to hold them all when standing u]) to receive an official visit. Four such wards did 1 enter, seeing per- haps six hundred prisoners of all ages, from youths to very old men, of all the nationalities which Russia contains, and charged with all the crimes in the code. Every one of these prisoners was awaiting trial, and I was told that many of them would be there as long as two years. Certain considerations, however, may modify our disapproval somewhat. In the first place, these men are assuredly better clotlied and housed and THE PRISON OF IRKUTSK ^59 fed than they would otherwise be — indeed, at the approach of winter, a large number deliberately get themselves arrested. In the second place, the proportion of criminals in the whole popu- lation of Siberia is so very large, and the police are so few in number, and so lax, that the chances are much stronger against an innocent man being arrested than in more civilised regions. Thirdly, it was impossible to pass about among these men, look- ing carefully into their faces, and not to feel that it was better for Siberia that most of them should be where they were. When the door of one of the large rooms was thrown open and I w^as invited to step in among two hundred of them, I confess at first I hesitated. There were only four of us— the governor, the head- warder, the doorkeeper of the room, and myself, with nobody else even within hail, while in one case there were but two doors between them and the street, and an old man keeping watch. In an English prison those men would have been outside in a couple of minutes. Never has it been my lot, though I have visited prisons, civilised and uncivilised, in many parts of the world, to see human nature at such a low ebb, and the faces of these men, from wild beast to vacant idiot, haunted me for days. Guilty or innocent of any particular crime, they could hardly be other, with few exceptions, than a curse to society. From this point of view Russian criminology has a task unknown in countries where civilisation has reached a higher average de- velopment. The convicts, curiously enough— that is, men condemned to considerable terms of hard labour before being set free as exiles, forbidden to leave the district to which they are assigned— were on the whole of a rather better type, although they were disfig- ured by having half of the head shaved. Each man had a rough parcel of his personal belongings, and they were all strangely cheerful, considering their destination. Nothing, however, strikes an English visitor, who has seen the rigid military dis- cipline of our own prisons, so much as the good feeling, not to -* • ♦ •• i6o ALL IHK RUSSL^S say familiarity, which prevails between tlie officials and the pris- oners. The lnspect()r-( ieneral of the Prison, M. Sipiai^in. wlio accompanied me, seemed to rei^ard his chari^es rather a> cliil- dren than as criminals, and they behaved to him with the con- fidence, never wantins;- in respect, of schoobboys t<»\\ar(l a master. He never failed to remove his military cap. and say " Zdrasti! " (Good health!) when he entered a ward, and a simnl- Inside the Prison, Irkutsk. A group of convicts lo be " Jistributed." taneotis cry returned his .i^reetino-. As we walked u]) and down, man after man stepped up to the inspector, asked him (piestions about themselves or their sentences without the least trace of fear or embarrassment, and even took him literally by the but- ton-hole and turned him aside from us when they wished to make some private remark to him. One man £^oino^ to Sakhalin pro- duced a paper showing that he had a small sum of money to his credit in a prison in Moscow, and the particulars were noted THE PRISON OF IRKUTSK i6i down and orders given that this was to be sent after him. An- other wished the doctor to examine him again before he started Un- Sakhalin; the Inspector spoke a word to his orderly, and later in the day I saw this man sittmg at the hospital door await- ing his turn. Those who think that everything in the Russian prison system is savagery may say that all this was rehearsed for my benefit, Init 1 am not a child in such matters, and 1 say that it'wa> impossible to accomi)any M. Sipiagin on this tour of inspection and not to be struck by the entire absence of terror- ism in any form. The Russian convict system has its terrible side, of which 1 am now more than ever aware, but there are few sign^ of it in a i)rison like that of Irkutsk. To find this nowadavs one must look farther north and east. There wa> no i)olitical prisoner there at the time; at least, I wa. a.>ured that this was the case, and later 1 saw the ofikial report for tlic day, m which no such prisoner figured. I saw a numbc-i- of " politicals " elsewhere at various times, but they were all earnnig a good livnig a. clerks and bookkeepers. Of course 1 (lid not get as far a> the terrible little town of Kolyni^k. a thousand ver.t. north of Irkutsk, where the worst political oi- fender^ are exiled to a living death, ihit from all I .aw i was not Mirprised to learn that at the beginnmg of each winter an inlhix of minor offenders take> place into prison, where they get wanu ciuarters, plenty of wholesome food, and no work. And as 1 have said. 1 saw clearly that the Russian authorities have to deal with a stratum of population far l)elow any that exists with us— a brutish, hopeless, irreclaimable mass of human animals. A few figures will show to what an extent the human refuse of European Russia has been emptied into Siberia. lu 1898— the latest statistics available— 7,906 men and 314 ^vo^len were exiled to Siberia. These were voluntarily followed into exile by 1,683 men and 3.275 women. The first-named exiles were divided into cla..es as follows; 1,281 men and 68 women con- demned to hard labour; 128 men and 3 women sentenced to l62 ALL IHI. RUSSIAS * .' banishment; 52 men and 158 women simply depiM-ted; and 3,848 men and 3 women, peasants whom their vilhige connnnnes had refused to receive l)ack after condenmation and punishment for various offences. The convict headcjuarters is the island of Sak- halin, in the China Sea, which very few foreij;ners have ever vis- ited. It is crowded now and can take no more, and its condition is said by Russians themselves to l)e very bad. Indeed its pris- ons, which will not hold half the convicts, are admitted in the of^cial report itself to be " dans un etat de vetuste tres avancee." It is evident to anybody who stuches the state of Sil)eria that this wonderful country can never enjoy its due develop- ment until the whole system of convict transportation is done away with. Not a week passes without a murder in every Si- berian town. Two emigrants had l)een killed in the Siberian train shortly before my visit. The head of one force of free labourers upon railway works was in Siberia for an outrage upon a child; the boss of another was a murderer. The porter at my hotel in Irkutsk was a murderer from the Caucasus. Theoretically, when bad characters are deported they are forbidden to leave the district to which they are assigned; practically, they leave as soon as it suits them, and their first object is to kill some peasant for his clothes and passport. Indeed, if they did not move away they w^ould starve, for in many cases the authorities simply turn them out and leave them to their fate.* The politi- * " De fait, la situation du forQat etait, sous maints rapports, mieux assurce que celle des condamnesa la deportation simple ou h. la relegation. Tandis que le premier, en etant astreint au travail, avait souvent son propre menage, certains deportes, aban- donnes a la merci du sort, dans un pays presque inhabite, avaient de la peine a trouver de I'occupation pour assurer leur existence. On conyoit par consequent I'im- portance de la recente loi qui a supprime la deportation, et avec elle ce genre special de proletariat vagabond. La prison contemporaine n'est certainement pas I'ideal du regime penitentiaire ; mais son effet sera toujours infiniment moins nuisible que celui du vagaVjondage pour ainsi dire force que vient de supprimer la loi susmentionnee." — Report of the Central Prison Administration, rej)roduced in the Gazette de St. P^tersbourg, March i8, 1901. THE PRISON OF IRKUTSK 163 cal exiles have made Siberia what it is, for they have been among the most educated and energetic classes in Russia; but the crim- inal exiles are a fatal bar to further progress. Siberia will there- fore eagerly welcome the good news that the commission ap- ' pointed by the Tsar to consider the whole question of criminal transportation has just reported against the Siberian system, and recommended the construction of great convict prisons in Russia. The cost of these to the State will be enormously greater than that of criminal Siberia, and assuredly the lot of the convict will henceforth be harder, but the decision was inevitable if one of the richest parts of the Tsar's dominions is to attain its proper prosperity. ii,1 m0 -i"iiii'i||piiiiiiii'"'i«i*'i THE GREAT WATER-WAY CHAPTER XI « LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA" RUSSIA has two great Asiatic railways, each destined to play a vast part in her commercial and political future. One of them runs, speaking roughly, from St. Petersburg to China, the other from the Black Sea (by the Caucasus and the Caspian) to India. The commercial objects of the two are dif- ferent, but a political aim they have in common: together with other lines shortly to be built they form part of the net which Russia is throwing over Asia. Having seen the Great Siberian Railway, as described in previous chapters, my next o])ject was the Trans-Caspian Railway, and the heart of Asia to which it goes. But Russia is a country of magnificent distances, and practically the whole of it separated me, in the north of Europe, from Asia Minor, in the south, with a great mountain chain, crossed by no railway, intervening. To make the whole jour- ney by rail would have been long, dreary and roundabout, where- as if I could get down the Volga, it would be not only a com- fortable but a very interesting one. But snow had begun to fall in Siberia, and the freezing of the Volga was close at hand. Fortune, however, was kind, for on the platform at Samara I learned that the last boat of the season was to leave the same night. The traveller from Western Europe reaches the Cau- casus most pleasantly by steamer from Constantinople to luitum, or if he is already in Russia, by steamer from Odessa. It is only when you are coming from Siberia that your best route is down the Volga to Tsaritsin, and thence by rail to Vladikavkaz. Samara had both plague and famine for its neighbours of late, 164 "LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA" 165 but there were no signs of either. It is a typical Russian pro- vincial town, defying description. Its houses range from wooden hovels to well-built, handsome structures, public offices and busi- ness premises. Its principal sight is of course a statue of a Tsar. Its best streets are paved and the others are a welter of mud. Its chief industry and the source of its prosperity— though this has suffered from the succession of bad harvests in the Volga provinces, and has still, I fear, to suiter more— could be learned from a glance round the store of ^lessrs. Koenitzer & Co., where every kind of agricultural tool and machine was displayed. Incidentally I have to thank this most courteous German firm for very timely assistance, and a word about this may be of use to future travellers in provincial Russia. My letters had been addressed to the Samara branch of the Volga-Kama Bank, and I had a personal letter of introduction to them from a Moscow banker, besides my official letter of recommendation from the Minister of Finance himself. Under these circumstances, when I approached the manager of the bank with London and Westminster circular notes, I imagined that cash would be forthcoming. It was a vain hope. The manager of the principal bank of this important town of 100,000 people, sit- uated at the focus of traffic where the greatest railway in Russia crosses the greatest river, looked at my financial documents with amiable curiosity, as if they had been a Papal Bull or a portrait of the Emperor of China. As for advancing money upon such things, the very idea raised obvious and painful suspicions in his mind. After long discussion I inquired if he could suggest any means whereby the solvency of the London and W^estminster Bank could be made manifest in Samara. He thought that if he telegraphed to Moscow, and Moscow telegraphed to St. Petersburg, and St. Petersburg telegraphed to London, the deed might ultimately be done. How long would this take? Per- haps a week. I left, with the intention of seeking the nearest pawnshop, when the firm of Koenitzer & Co. arose like a star . r" v»*»*v^"**w fcMWW Vfs r--JS(^>.„^-S>«-'* ri'i^lE^S'*"*'*'* ■■°*V^'"^^ ■; I i66 ALL IHK RUSSLAS in my financial night, and, having the usual knowledge of the methods of credit and exchange common to civilised countries, was kind enough to give me in two minutes all the money I wanted. Let this be the record of my thanks, and a warning to other travellers in provincial Russian towns where the con- stellation of Koenitzer may not be in the ascendant, to carry their cash in a belt, as one does in Korea, for instance. At the foot of a steep hill, at the end of a broad street, the great grey Volga flows past Samara. A paddle-steamer, look- nv^^*i,«i»(S>*!rt:ttw»-*ft;»-,, . The Volga. ing like a row of two-storey houses, lay at a wharf piled high with goods— sacks of corn and flour, thousands of wooden cases, cart-wdieels, the kind of dug-out canoes in which linen is washed in Russia, in fact, a miscellaneous mountain of merchandise, all asking urgently to be taken south before the frost blocked the long waterway. And a shouting, pushing, perspiring mass of peasant humanity, with its belongings, personal and professional, in innumerable great bundles. We were off before the hour struck, and an excellent meal and a large and verminous cabin "LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA" 167 awaited me upon the bosom of what geographers know as the biggest river in l£uroi)e, and what Russians attectionately call '' little Mother Volga." This gigantic waterway, 2,300 miles long, over eleven miles wide in the spring at Nijni Novgorod, draining a country three times the size of France, with a delta of seventy-two miles, is a disappointment as regards scenery. The Rhine, the Hudson, the Yang-tsze and the Thames all surpass it in their different A Timber Barge on the Volga. aspects. Its left bank is an unbroken fertile plain, edged with willows and dwarf oaks, and when the sandbanks, bordered with a green strip, come down to the river, one could think one's self on^the Nile. The right bank is an uninterrupted cliff, worn steep by the river in geologic time. Every now and then, when its angle is acuter, a little village chngs to it, the mud-coloured houses rising one above another on the mud-coloured slope. The important town of Saratof extends for a mile or more, and very quaint is the view of it from the steamer. Its centre is a 5*.^ -"-'^■k' 'ffc- .*■ ■ H i68 ALL THE RUSSL^S mass, of red-brick buildings, and on each flank is a long suburb of wooden houses, tailing out at last to a fringe of poverty. High white churches with green roofs are dotted over the city, and all the wide main streets fall precipitously to the water's edge at a right angle, looking at a distance more like streams than roads. The river is covered with busy life. Tugs are slowly hauling whole fleets of barges upstream, some loaded high above the water, some flat-decked and black— these are filled with petro- leum from Baku. Most picturesciue are the immense barges of timber drifting down from the north; these are as big and as high as a house, and on the top of them are the solidly built cabins in which their crews live during the long ([uiet voy- age. Every few hours we meet another steamer like ourselves, its one scarlet boat slung at a slant, nose upwards, at the stern. Near Saratof we made fast to a huge oil barge, and I think this was the most interesting incident of the Volga. No fuel but oil is used upon the river or near it, and the consumption is increasing so fast that, although the supply is increasing also, the price is steadily rising. It is not, of course, petroleum or kerosene as we know it, but the heavy residue left after these light oils are refined. The residue, for its fuel value, is worth more than the illuminating oils, and indeed I was told that the whole industry exists practically to produce this residue. As soon as we were made fast, a long wooden sluice was run aboard, one end of which was under the canvas pipe leading from a huge tank on the deck of the barge, and the other end over the open- ing of our own oil cisterns amidships. The word was given, and instantly a thick, dark green, almost inodorous stream rushed down the sluice. In less than an hour we had taken on board some forty tons, enough for four days and nights of consecutive steaming. When we cast off again I went down to the stokehole to "LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA )» 169 see what became of the oil. There were four large cylindrical boilers, each with apparently an ordinary firebox but without any grate-bars. In each furnace door was an opening a few inches wide, and two pipes, about an inch and a half in diameter, descended from the roof and coalescing in a joint with two taps, like that which unites the oxygen and hydrogen cylinders of a magic lantern, projected a little way into the firebox. The principle is precisely that of the familiar ozoniser or scent-spray, the oil coming into contact with a jet of steam and being driven into the furnace in the shape of a blast of petroleum vapour, which burns fiercely with a deafening roar. The heat is intense, the inside of the furnace being red-hot all round, but it is aston- ishing to see a perfectly empty firebox, with all the boiler-tubes in full sight, and not a cinder nor a trace of smoke. The stoke- hole is as clean as any other part of the vessel, and the two stokers stand quietly, each before a pair of boilers, holding a little wooden mallet in his hand. This is to tap the steam and oil cocks, as they are too hot to touch. A few taps, and one of the boiler fires is extinguished. A few more taps and a torch thrust for a second through the opening and it is alight again. Half a dozen taps and one furnace is burning with a blaz^ . ^ a heat and a roar positively alarming. The contrast between this simplicity and cleanliness and the banging, the dirt, the sweat and the cinder-shifting of an ordinary stokehole is extraordi- nary. When I went on deck there was not even a suggestion of smoke from the one broad low funnel, and the captain told me that he could get up steam from cold water in a Httle over half an hour. The combination of perfect river transport, connected by canals with St. Petersburg and Moscow, and the abundance of such a convenient and cheap fuel, is obviously destined to pro- mote manufactures of all kinds in the Volga towns. At Saratof it was easy to see that a number of the factories were new, while at Tsaritsin a French company is setting up ironworks on a i/'^ ' I r I y It .! I 70 ALL THK RUSSLA.S great scale. It is safe to prophesy that many other similar enter- prises will take shape hereabouts in years to come.* At Tsaritsin I left the steamer after three days on hoar4'«-'^ H'-'- "LITTLE MOTHER VOLGA '^ 171 a more or less pretentious kind — the hotel, and an institution or two, any of which buildings might be found enclosing the smug bourgeoisie of the French provinces, or persuading Ferdi- nand of Bulgaria that he was still in his Austrian hoine. After this kernel, the streets gain in dirt, in colour, in that frank in- decency of procedure which marks Oriental life, and the first houses you pass as you enter the town, and the last as you leave it, are square, crumbling wooden caves with all the messy food- products or the garish cottons hanging in them that characterise the customs of Eastern peoples. It is a cold and bright October day, and the great blue moun- tains that appear at every southern street-end of Vladikavkaz are powdered with snow. I have not seen mountains trust thein- selves so near a plain before. They seem a company of nol)le travellers, these huge peaks, always at the same point of arrival, walking into the town and toward the plain. The snow upon them is not more than the generous sugaring upon a birthday- cake, and their deep fissures keep an indigo gloom. They dis- dain foot-hills and approaches and slopes and shoulders, and only a green grass ridge seeded thickly with sheep, and a wooded hill or two, russet and orange at this autumn moment, lie between them and the steppe. My road leads over them, 8,000 feet high, by the most famous mountain-highway of the world. .,../*■■ -t^. '-^ .„..*„-, ,,-..i„ -,-. •- fk - "/•>■ -^ #-*■*■""* "^ ^'*-^ "^"^ )' li THE CAUCASUS CHAPTER XII THE FROSTY CAUCASUS FROM the Oxus to the Arctic Circle, and from Kars to Kamchatka, the Tsar rules many strange peoples and countries, but the Caucasus is strani^cst of all. Indeed, anyone who averred that the Caucasus is the most interesting land of the world would be able to back his opinion with good reasons. The range is a wall across the narrow isthmus which joins luirope and Asia, and the Gorge of Dariel is the door in this wall through wliich ha^•e come almost all the migrating peoples l)etween East and West since men be^an to move at all. iM'om manv of these migrations stragglers remained, some in one valley, some in an- other, and their new homes lent tliem>cl\es ^o well to defence against all after-comers that the original settlers were al)le to increase and multi|)ly and keep their race intact. 1 lence the Cau- casus contains to-day the direct and not greatly changed de- scendants of peoples otherwise lost in the mists of remote an- tiquity. It is, in the words of Mr. Douglas h^reshheld, the first explorer and climber of the mountain>, " an ethnological museum where the invaders of Europe, as they travelled westward to be manufactured into nations, left behind samples of themselves in their raw condition." The Germans, destroyers of sacred and profane legend, do not accept this theory, and Professor Virchow declares that it is disproved by the fact that the Caucasus could not have been a highway when the ice-fields came down lower than they do now, and that the languages of the Caucasus are not related to languages elsewhere, as would have been the case if the speakers of them were remnants of greater nations that 172 I' ■* 'i';i-.-''^-v ■■*^-* *- THE FROSTY CAUCASUS 173 had passed on. But the theory of human samples is so attrac- tive, and the races of the Caucasus are so original and peculiar, that for my part I share on this occasion the wilhngness of the American humorist to " know some things that are not so." At least the sceptical Germans may leave us the classic belief that Kasbek was the scene of the martyrdom of Prometheus, and the Christian legend -- : -7- - that Abraham's tent and Christ's cradle are ^ still to be found hidden on its slopes. The Caucasus, in fact, was destined by nature to be the home of myth, for in ancient times it was the barrier beyond which no man cottld go, and therefore the gate of the land which man populated with the ofT^|>ring of his dreams — the land " of Gog and Magog, of gold-guarding Griffms, one-eyed Arimaspians, and Amazons — of all the fabulous creatures which pass slowly out of the atlases of the learned into the picture-books of the nurserv." History is so romantic, however, in the Caucasus, that myth can be dispensed with. It tells us how Alexander the Great conquered Georgia; how the legions of Pompey, and, long after- ward, those of Justinian, fought at the mouth of the Dariel Pass, but that neither soldier nor merchant ever passed up from the south, while the Scythian barbarians to the north were equally "AuJ*,*"'' V ,-■ / y?7^/77^f:!^ Caucasian Types— Tatars. r UBirarr irniiniii h f I .f^ kecanK' the cockfiit wlicrt- the ri\ai M« ^liarnrncdan scct^ ui i'er^ia and Turkey fought 'Ui iheir everlastmg quarrel; n was divided by its own rulers, and for nian\- a gencraihui its story is of ])il- lage and poison and murder an.['c, ct cji .^Isic /7;rr7'/a'/,^7r I Icnulc, mi (Jc (jcorgic.^^ * b'itiallw wT.e.-ii < icor^ia was ludples- ;ii ilu; f^et of I'ersia, came Rn-sja. npres> man\ a rhsuig of her new .siib- * \\';ir«!rop. * THE FROSTY CAUCASUS 17s jects. The latest of these was the revolution led by the prophet- patriot Shamyl, wdio raised the entire Caucasus against her and held her whole might at bay for sixteen years, destroying sev- eral Russian armies, until he was hopelessly surrounded in the highland fastness of Gunib in 1859 and surrendered. In the pub- lic ixallerv at Tiilis there is a huge 1 ;<;::^ , _ > ])ainling represent- ini"- Shamvl with head thrown back and scarlet beard, brought before the Russian connnan- der, seated under a tree amid his stafT. As 1 Ic^oked at it a Georgian peasant, who of course cotild not read the inscription below, timidh- approached me audi asked. "If yon please, is thai Shamyl?" "It is," I replied, and his deep, long- drawn ''Ah" shower] how poig- naiit tlie niem(.r\- of ihib lo^i leader is yet. And wlien 1 left tlie gallerv half an hour later he v;as ^till gazing upon t1ie man witli whose fail all the liopes of hi.s people, witli ilieir history of 2,000 years, fell thially too. But the interest of the Caucasus is by no means confined to Caucasian Tx-pes — a lekkin Family. I V. ■ -l' i^Vi-.-iv'-tj-i^.-j.' *"-■-•■-''*..'■ ■'^.mfta •mmm Ill , 'i 176 ALL J I ii: RLSSL^^S its romantic history, nor even to its ethnol(\i;-ical variety also— its once g'allant Georgians, who so long chanipioneci the Ooss against the Crescent, its wild Le>ghian highlanders of Daghe:^- tan, its savage Suanetians. bnt laieh' tamed, its Ossets, the arm- makers, '* gentlemen of the monntains," its Ahkhasians, who miirrated to Tnrkcv en iiuissc rather than remain nnder Ivns>ian rule, its vain and handsome Circa.^sian>, its laz\' Mingrelians of the fever-haunted coast, and all the other races whose names sug- gest a philologist's nightmare — Imerian, Radian. Clurian, Lech- gum, Laz, Pshav, Khexsnr. I hych. Shapsnch, I)>higet, Ingush, Galgai, Kist, Tush, Karahulak, Kazi-KumykshI lt.> mountain scenery is unparaheled for grandeur except 1)\- the llimala\a?, and offers man\' a \irgin peak to the adxenturous Alpinist. The sportsman may tind ibex and stag and hoar and wild bull, and game-birds to satiet}-, for, in contra>t with other places, game is l)ecoming more abundant because of the high price of licences — so af)un(lant, indeed, that according to the 'litli^ Lisli'lc, bcar> and wolves rob the she|)hcrd brforc his cvc^, and wild boar- cnme to tlie fields in droves, it l- a boiaii!.-i'> paradi-c: between tiie arid plain ansl the --Uiiw- i-^ a Ik/iI where men on lu)r>ebacl\ can pla\- at hideand -eek amid the il-iwer^. '" -ur\a\-al- « •[ the i^iant iiura of pa-t ai;eb." li cuiitains the other great oibiields of the worl 1. aiai it- mineral wealth, already great, only awaits dc- velopineiu \'> astoni-!i an age little apt to enthusiasm over tiie trca-nrc- n drag"< from tlieu- hidini;pbice< m the earth. iMiially. tx> the student a politics its ver\ atnni-phere reeks with interest, 5Uice 5ome da\' tne vast armies oi Russia will puur through il again to another death-grip with the Turk — the great fortress of Kars is fortified only on the south side — and who knows what scenes it may witness if Britain and Russia draw the sword, and tlu masses of Moscovy march singing across it, to tiic Caspian, tc^ hnfl theif L:;ra\'e- on ihe f)ank> oi tiie Indn-?^ \At till- litiie bnni. m -jiite "f it- -nrpa--ini: intore-f from every point of \iew, remains comparatncel) unknown. it can THE FROSTY CAUCASUS 177 be reached almost in luxury, and on its main routes the most delicate dame need suffer no undue discomfort. In the whole of Russia there is not a hotel so clean and pleasant as the Hotel de Londres at Titlis. I cannot think wh.y the enterprising and well-to-do tourist, who has exhausted Europe, does not turn X Caucasian T3pes--Uie Real Circassian. I ^ ^ ., ^„ ■r'-':'."-..''-K'-t:*^--«' V'" r -"/■•* ^i-it^ik^siirji^aShiiiftfl^*** 178 ALL in I RISMAS his steps thither. IVrhaps lhc.>c pa-cs may induce hini to do so. And as Mr. Fre>hticKl, who jii>ily claim., that he and his companions "took the first step toward converting the prison of Prometheus into a new play-rouud lor his dc>cen(hmt>;' .avs that he cannot enforce hi.> recommendation I)ctter than hv echo- ing- the exhortation of Mr. CHnton Dent, so. assuredly, neith.er can I. " If you worsinp the mountain^ f..r their own sake; if you like to stand face to face with natin-e, wliere she mino-lcs the fantastic and the sublime with the sylvan and the idyllit-— snows, crags and mists, flowers and forests— in perfect haimiony; where she enhances the effect of her picttires hy the mo>t start- ling contrasts, and enlivens their foreground., with >ome of the most varied and picturescpie specimens of the human race— o to the Caucasus. If you wr.h to change, not only vour cartli and sky but your century, to lind ynm^vli one week among tlie paM..ral i..lk who., nee peopled \oriliern Ana. the next ani..ng barbarians who have been left strand.-d while the re^t of the world has dowed on; if it attracts ynu to share the bivunac of lauli shepherds, to Mt at supn,.r wiiii n feudal cltu;iiaii! wliile his retainers chant trie old ban. id. nt llieir race hv iiiv li,.hi ,a Ln-cii- bark torches — go to iht; 1, aiica.ii,-.'" I wisnM ..iih- add. go to the CaucaMj^ ab^ if you u.^iM \-isii a ciix wiiere .ewnty lan- guages are :>i)oken, .md where \uu can step aside from ilie npern- hini^c and tjie electric tramway and in five minutes be drink- "^^ ''''''^ ^rnin an ..x.4y chance we had liu upon the ver\- day clu)>en by the shepherds to bring down their docks from the sununer mountain pasttires to their winter (juarters in the plains — it may have been a Saim's I )a> , sacred by tradition to this change, or perhaps the hrst snows of winter ga\e the signal. I'rom \'ladi- kavkaz to the top of the pass, however, we met the>e docks in such numbers as 1 had never dreanKHl oi. Shall 1 be believed wlien I s;i\ that durmg that da> u c met a liuiulred thousand sheep and goats^ 1 iaiic\ ii wa-. iiiiich more, and during our hr^t (lav we th^vdght ot lit lie else. The whole long r^imple l)U-inc^s of sheep-rearing, Tn<>re <'ir- chaic to-dav in it- ])urMiit than trie breediiiL: and keeping <»t any other animal, is dee|)l\- interesting from many a \)^n\n of view. I am delighted to add another sheep >!]hoiiette. so to s|)eak. to memories I have gathered of " the meek-nosed, the i)assionle.sS faces " of shee|) in other ])arts of the world. The C'aucaHan sheej) — like every otlier inhabitant, brute or human, of these moun- tains — abounds in character. Unlike other l^astern sheep, it is mainly a white beast, with fawn-coloured ears and fawn-coloured feet, and a light dash of freckles upon its white nose: but be- yond this pretty colouring only the buttocks are remarkable, and THE GEORGL'\N ROAD 1^3 these because they carry what look like superfluous cushions of wool, similar in shape, if I am permitted the illustration, to the '' bustles " of twenty vears ago, but which prove to be lumps of fat between which depend their short and modest tails. The rams, of which there are numbers, have horns that curve ,n double curls, and though they are relatively small like the sheep thev are beautiful and walk with pride among the flock, stamping iheir feet and barking from time to time. V!adik:ivk:i7, at the Foot of the Caucasus. Deplorablv mingled with the sheep are goats-goats of ad .orts and stvl'es, black, brown, white, and mottled: goats with .reat horns' sweeping upward and over their backs, or wide- spread to each side, or even malignly twisted one over another. Nothing will ever make a goat look a good animal. Even a l^d, .n his moment of prettiest play, is impish as a lamb canno tbe^ Nobodv knows why this is. From the f^rst a goat has been used as at. emblem of sin-though nobody who knows goats can un- M^Ulll ' lg i84 ALL THi: RUSSL^S derstand why they should be tolerated upon the left hand, where, after all, you can smell them just as much as if they were upon the ri^ht. And a <>:oat is not morally sensitive; it will not realise anv indignity in being allowed only upon the left hand, while a sheep is too stupid to appreciate any compliment in being placed upon the right. However, this is no moment for theo- logical discussion. I was about to say that in the classics, in the Scriptures and by the old masters, a goat has always sym- bolised evil, (lei)ravily, and general vileness. The moment you see goats, you understand this. Their cross-set agate eyes of salacious regard: their flat, ironical noses always a-snufile, their thin, wicked mouths at the end of long lascivious faces — the thing is stamped upon them : goats are irremedially and im- memoriallv bad, and it is only the deep invulnerable stupidity of sheep which has i)revented them from knowing it and being corrupted bv it, and has preserved to the world innnaculate, snow-t)ure, the persistent, inalienable innocence of land)S. It was beautiful to watch these flocks, quitting the fast- nesses that have harboured them all sununer, and now, ere the sparse vegetation of the high pastures is bedded with its first coverlet of snow, hurrying down to the open plain and the shel- ter of the reaped maize-helds. Januued tight together, pouring along like a tlood, running like a frothy river for a cjuarter of an hour at a time between the horses' legs and the wheels of the carriage, the w^hole road was blocked with them. Their backs were a woolly sea, the patter of their innumerable feet was like the tide upon a stony beach. One grew giddy as they surged by. What a reckoning there will be. when they reach the jiastures bv the river l)elow, to see how many more the herds number when thev come back in the autumn than when they went up in the spring! The bronzed shepherds in huge brown felt cloak, black fur hat the size of any tea-cosy on their swart heads, bashlik draped at hazard in lines of incxtinguishal)le grace upon their powerful shoulders, and ten-foot staff in hand, walk at their head, THE GEORGIAN ROAD 185 amidst them, and at the end behind the_ least and the w ak st of the lambs. When they see our carnage, the sheep halt- halt as sheep always do, neatly, feet together very even almos •nh-hrst position " of the dancing-class. Then t e shepherd ri in harsh and sharp falsetto-is it the cry o the hawk to n th .r woollv wits together, to assemble such odds ot cunning a n > have b^en given them for the eluding of their enemy the :,;„„'o, ,1. .agl.>-a„- .0 .he pass,,,, o n»,y s . and has something timid and feminine and ^^^^^^^^ f ^^ ^^^ Sometimes one startled, fooHsh face pokes between te ^g our horses, and at once a blind, unreasoning dozen o o followers dare the passage, so that the horse starts and screams in frieht and is shouted at by the driver. ^ men the stream is flowing evenly past the two carriages the shepherds whistle encouragingly and the -eam-cok>ured dogs with their sinister faces turned our way, pass with mis- dogs, wiui adverse demon- trustful feet. They are too weaned to make any stration- for days they have been harrymg the flock upon the Tntai'ns, collecting stragglers, constraining ohsti,.te c mher. circumventing the astutely divagating goat, now dog-t.red and sullen they are wending with the rest to the plam the.r pupp,e -soft, furry love-pledges of a wild summer-lookmg ov r the ed<^es of the saddle-pockets of the flock-8^ "^-le a odd lup. Soon our fresh horses were harnessed and tins ne as^ve followed the course of a l.ttle nver m a large and tune, as we louou amono- the mountams. gravelly bed, we felt ourselves at last amon, t The ve<^etation of the valley was uiterestnig. and I ndul.ed 01 h bh of collectn.g berries of shrubs and trees that were 'e.-a tlnn^ that looked like a willow and had n.an> oiange .,e c,ust:red t.ghtly to its stem and long spn.es-a so s,,rav of barberrv. tlnnner and pinker than ours a 1 omejo ; ,,;. i„ ,,. own far-away garden. Turkc> oaks, falnn n . To vellow, crowde.1 and hung from the chff upon our r,gh , a , ^ the usual sorts of rock-ferns nestled in the damp seams of the ^'^The engineering of the road was masterly, and, like all n.oun- ,,„,,,,,. that hav. presented great difficnhic. u every now „::i tluT, nK.lc '..l.t ut senou- r.k 1,> nnu.ng close to huge overhanging lumps of mountain wl.ch, it not to-day on my h,. tltcn to-.n.rrow on yours. w.U 1 e . 1 !. ;- o^xx- tri midcr^taiiil icr pabSionait ui fou-h! for ?n long. It i- cM>y to unuci. uti i ^ .,re^. possess thts great range, thi= fttte race or tangk^ n, ,-,ne "race, thts fen.le cnuntrv on the southern slopes. It 1 weu- K.^- s,a, and a^ Hat as Russta, wtth ottlv the Ural^ to ponU to a- K - sian mountains. I should have wanted the Caucasus ) - - « - and I would have sacrificed the men of whole province, of plain life to possess them, ^^^^^ posting-station of Balta; Eio-ht m es from Vladikavkaz ib tne po.ui ,., de^^n^miles farther is Lars: and f^ve miles farther is the world- i88 ALL nil. KLSSLAS TLIE GKORGL^N ROAD 189 famous Gorge of Dariel, llic " Cauca>ia!i Gates " of Pliny, the dark and awful delile between lun-ope and A-ia. (iradually, as we drive on, the hills rise and elose ni on us till at length they fall almost sheer to the edge of the ruslung Terek and the nar- row road, leaving only just room for these at the bottom of a roeky eleft, 5,000 feet deep. Tlie air strikes ehill as a vault: not a ray of sunshine enters; the driver stoops low and lashes his horses; instinctively we lapse into silence. The geologist calls this gorge a " fault," for it is not a pass over the mountain-chain, but a rent clear across it. 'l"o the imaginative traveller, how- ever, it is a fit scene for the most wonderful highway in history. Seventy years ago it was a perilous road, for avalanches, or the sudden outbursts of pciu-up glacial >l reams, swept it from end to end. l)ut the Russians have spent twenty nnllion dollars upon it and made it safe. In iS;; iicarlx- all iheir troops and >tores for carrving the war into 1'nrkev and A-ia came l)y this road, and it will be used again for tlie same purpose, although to a much les<^ degree, for there i< now direct railway connection from Moscow to Baku, at one end of the IVans-Ganca-ian Railway, and therefore to l\ar< it-elf. r/./ TiHi-; an.l equall\- t.> Kars from Batiim. at tlie r^tlier enrl. to wliieh fr.rtified port -teaniers w( add hrinir troops and 1ack Sea. "Hie Lronre- nf the Ynnir-t^ze nia\ be niipre-ive -"■I liave not ■^ci-n tliein-^^^ -but there is n^.tlnni: m I'lirope winch produce- el!, ami marked the liirn't of her ibnninioti. The gorge ends suddenlv, as we dash at a right angle over a narrow bridge, and find a most |)ictnre-qnc sight before us. The valley has now a fiat fioor between its two rugged walls of ,c,ck. an.l n.an has turned such a narrow n.nnntan.,a,, u 1 . own uses, as was „,evuab,c when Europe ,s at one ettd an As ,, U>e other, lor .uaaenly. where the voa.l wulen. to a Ku -iat , ; a Rus.an .ortre.s >prntgs ,nto v,ew-a sc.uare hn >h„g, ;„,r,or„er towers, hattletnents and loopholes, preasely the „,,,,.. „f the fan-v-tale attd the box of bricks. The gtnde- b I e^en the trusty Murray, points out that the tort of Dartel The Georirinn K-^A- Russian F-^vi in the Pass. is co,i.ttanded by the .,rronndi,i, '"--•-"'-;;-:;'^^.ff .^^"\" "; „u.n,v could not draw anv cannon t,p thetr stdes, ! ..~^-luu^_ ,r„e-nn1e« thev took their cannon up in balloons. A 0>.,,.. .en.rv lonncres before the ,eate and scrutinises trie susptcouMv ;:; stop t,; cama^e and ,et out tttv cantera but there . no other sign of life. The choice of such a spot, however, to , s- ,„ne the passao-e of the Pass was ant.cipated Ion,. Ion, a,o. tor i88 ALL im: RUSSIAS famous Gorge of Dariel, the " Caucasian Gates " of Pliny, the dark and awful detile between luirope and Asia. Gradually, as we drive on, the hills rise and close in on us till at leni;th they fall almost sheer to the edge of the rushing Terek and the nar- row road, leavmg only just room for these at the bottom of a rocky cleft, 5,000 feet deep. The air strikes chill as a \ault; not a ray of sunshine enters; the driver stoops low and lashes his horses; instinctively we lapse into silence. The geologist calls this gorge a " fault," for it is not a pass over the mountain-chain, but a rent clear across it. To the imaginative traveller, how- ever, it is a fit scene for the most wonderful highway in history. Seventy years ago it was a perilous road, for avalanches, or the sudden outbursts of pent-up glacial >trcams, swept it from end to end, but the Russians have spent twenty million dollars upon it and made it safe. In iS-j- iicarK- all tlu-ir tr(H)p> and >tores for carrying the war hm^ Tnrkev and A-ia came l)v this road, an<] it will lie used a.uain f(-r the ^ame purpo-e, althougli to a much less dec^ree. for tliere is n^^w (Hrcct raihva\- connection from Moscow to P.akn. at one end < -f tjie ITan^^-ranea^ian Railway, and tIK■rcf^u-e to l\ar< it-elf. 7'ia Tiilis; and tM|iia!i\ u> K.ir- fr< mi Batnni. at ihe f*tlirr cud... in wIik-Ii ffiftitird f^ort '^tcamers \s-oiild brinLf ir^'Op^ and -npfiiies from « Odessa and Novorossisk in tlie Black Sea. The c:orge^ of llic \'ang-tsze niav be a:^ ui!i'rr--i\-e — T ba\-e not seen tlicni — but tlicrc i-^ n^ 'tiling- in PiirMpv wiiicli produce^ -o [irofound an i'ffect of drrad uj'nn ilie niind a^ this lonoh'. ^ilent. i^Txinna aAA a!M.-m of Dariel. \*'\\ '.\n nnf won- der tliat aii\- pco|»]e liOidiiu: it e-inld bai" the \wi\ lo iik- n-i of the world—- -ilic (mh' can-e f' t -nr|trisc is thai licforc tlic jua'-cn.t road was constructed an\-bud\- ever got through it at all. It e\cn f her dominion. The gorge ends suddenlv. a< we da. 192 ALL THL RUSSIAS of each stage, I saw he served some curious purpose. It is this: droves of camels come from time to lime over the Pass. anss Tamnra in the Gorge of Dariel, Georirian Road. laniiiiaritv hn/i-d^v rcrliaps he understands this, and that is why he -talk- uuiicard up f.^ a pantiii-, -wcaiiiii; aaiimal nucnching its thir>t, and -uddcnlx^ llnaist- hi,-^ l.n]- hnirv face at 11, ni-t :is naughty children say " P.oo! " to each otluT wlien tlicv meet in the dark. It i< one of thc^sc ^mple cxplanaimn^ which vet Strike one as ludicrou>. and at each p<.M lionse 1 am Munten THE GEORGIAN ROAD 193 anew by this strange exigency, and this fresh proof of Russia's boundless ethnological complications. We are to stay over-night at Kasbek, and we make our- selves comfortable in the barrack-like chambers that are placed at our disposal. When we descend to the bulYet for dinner, our enthusiasm hurls us in the direction of the national fl^it of sJiasJiIik — the delicious Caucasian mutton, cooked a la brocJic over a wood fire. We wait in happy impatience for its arrival, stemming our hunger with a zakiishka of raw herring, with brown bread, and drafts of quaint Caucasian wine, which we profess determinedly, if with some elTort, to find delicious. By and by a profound and searching steam of rawish but not quite raw onion invades the bufTet; this is onion at its very worst momeiU: raw onion is tolerable, cooked onion is ])a1at- able, onion that has merely suffered a heat-change is devastat- m<'- in its efi'ect ui)on the soul of the feeder. We become nervous, and when a Circa--ian person comes in bearing that onion which is apparently allied 10 the hoped-for sliaslilik, we wince palpably. Some rou-hlv c]ioppein ^.i mutton, smoked without and crude within, smothered in the aforesaid onion, manifest- it-clf, and. tnnidl) wc address ourselves to it. Fork and knife recoil Mniuhaneously from each knobby piece, and one ninuthhi: ^vhich never gets any farther) contents each inquiring palate. The meat. Iiarked without any relation to iib librc, its grain, or its bones, is absolutely fresh, is also quite uncooked, and only hours of stewing could have made it fit to eat. '' Would you try the plat national again? — it might be better here," says someone, a day or two later. '' Not again," is the reply; 'Met us wait till we get to Kn-land: mv cook does it beaiitiinliv: Xavcts dc niouton a la brochc. Xo more Circassian shashlik baa-ing at me, if you please." I made plans at Kasbek for an early ride up the mountains opposite, to see the little ancient church, 1,400 feet above us, of Tsminda-Sameba. not that of itself this presents much in- ic^4 ALL rm: lU SSIAS tcrest. but the view of the muuntain, and especially of its ^reat black side where IVometheus was chainetinctly >i)eak> of Tio- nietheus's rock as above the sea and far fruin the l-auca>u>), was said to be beautiful, and 1 wished to enjny a ride m true Cau- casian spirit. A (piarter to seven wa^ the hnnr fixed, and I retired earlv, to be readv. When I arose at six, it was upon a THK GLORGLIN ROAD ^95 ,vurkl ni Mb^u thai I looked out. Everything: was white, and tliat Inroad flaked. ( TiriM mas-card kind oi >nuw we u^cd Lu have oas fallincr. The stal)les and Hie vard were white; iiii:ii|)S, and al)Mird tuits ot 11 all oxer liun: vmi r^idd not ^er flftv varrk awav. and all the iiKaintaii!- had retired wiihin iiu- \rii. 1 hw put
and US condition. There was no iiii^~t;ike ^~the miow liad eoine to -tav: the p»Hir camel i-x'cn had hule drill- ueiwecn nn it was winter snow. What I saw fall as I looked out of the win- dow would be there till next April. We started at once, the hood of the carria^^e up, and little visible beyond the back of the driver in his thick ])leated woollen crown, but all round in the i^rey air the broad flakes were in sus- pension, apparently falling with that slow deliberation, that in- credible downy lightness, and that incalculable vagary of direc- tion that characterise real snow. Suddenly, out of the grey mystery in front of us, a troop of Cossack soldiers came riding, a couple of hundred of them, return- ing from th^eir service on the Armenian frontier to their little villages in the plain. These men are supplied vith rides and annnnmiK ai h_\ ( k uern- men! ; \ luar w ir\ little hur.-.eb, lliear armour} of sabres, knives, and pistols, are their own. Shrouded in the black, shaggy, felt cloak that descends to the horse's tail, and nearly covers their big felt boots in the short stirrups, cowled each in his pointed basJiIik, a hood witli tv o ends wound round the neck and falling down the back, they seemed like some ghostly procession of war- like fnar- pa-m- m d..\\ defile, h^ach cone-shaped silhouette upon his In-h -addle, wiili wild face — and what faces thcv were! luokin^- straight in front of him ua- the incarnati^jii ui all that is picturescjue. romantic, in a w( rd. ( aucasian. Presently the veil was lifted; the ikakes grew slimmer and The Georgian Road, the Top of the Pass— Olct Road. /V /V 196 Al.L IHK KLSSIAS finer the sun Hashed out. the hoo.l of the earna.^e wa. thrown back and there beside us. nuuUled m a ilawlc.s ernnne, was Kasliek and h,s court of peaks. br>,.ht an,l ^httern,, a.uaui.t a heaven of Italian bh.e. In his winter majesty, every seatn and fissure of vesterdav. filled a.ul snwothed with one n.oht^lall ot snow he was scarce to he looked on by his subjects. And now, with uKuu a ...gv-aK. the road mounte.l ,n good earnest: we en- countered the .nunohile oxen yoked to the snow-ploughs, we came upon the artificial tunnels, nuule to accommodate ava- lanches These places where the road suddenlv runs trnder a stoutlv timbered roof built ag.mst the mountain-side, brmg home to one the chances of winter, anteep. toward the river, here growing slender as a thread, and the aw- fnl tlunuler of tiK.m explo.ling over these mau-inadc de.ence. I ike all .uch work, .-uul much of ,lie construction work 1 have • ,. ;., ,lu..e avdanche-roofs are splendidly built; there seen in Kn>>ia, tia>e axdiauLiiL i is no trail of the contractor over .hem; whether the < .overnment does us own work or onunictor. are d.heren, here, 1 kn.,w not, IHU assuredlv the highway by winch Russia's lunpire ,. moving .edulouslv forward is made .0 endure, and to carry the greal weight of her power. ^ v \\ ■ At the top of the Pa- is a small cross np-n ihc Inb ^d., standing out m black relief up,.n a snowy shoulder. Many gen- erations ago it was set to mark the summu--7."77 '-■>■ ^'"' ''> - 1 1 , '11,;^ flii'n is ilie •~econd tune luu- ihe road is one ot later ikite. 1 Ins, tlieu, is uie . ^ ,„... „v present ,ournev th;U 1 have crossed a nionl.un-range from Kurope into .\sia. Xo .\lpine pass, except the S.elvio. which IS .,.040 feet high, is so high as this. Seldom can .1 be given to anvone to see great uK.untains m more exquisite aspect than I saw'these at the top of that pass. Peak after peak bit- in- the skv in sharp outline; snow but a few hours old, .un an of dwelling.., half underground, and with the square, open cave-like front which marks all b:astern dwell- in<>-s- fku-roofed. of course, and choked and huddled round with straw-stacks and niound- of u inter fodder. 1 was nnich tempted to stop and explore one of these little places where the f(K)t-S()le of its occupants ne\er knows what it is io stand upon the flat ('■round save wlien in(lt the ^nailer station-, 1 he food is in that particular tranMin-n -lage between arcliaism half-dis- , lamed aral enili-ation hah" c*.an|>reliended, uhu-li 1- the nioM try- ing of anv; but again the wine of the conntrv and it- bread give sustenance to travellers who have ne\er been in slavery to tables il'liotc. In the morning a Caucasian gentleman with white hair and a self-possession princes might envy, came and poured water upon our hands and face from a jug, while we juggled with sponge and soap in a vain eftort after even precarious cleanliness. In this matter we agreed that they do things handsomely in Ananur. None of us had ever been washed by a Circassian prince in full uniform before. (1 think 1 am right in describing him as a prince; you are a prince in the Caucasus if you possess four sheep, so Russians say, jokingly, and 1 cannot believe that our friend had iiuw the Geurgian Ruad Comes Down at Mleti. a dcece less.) We wandered up to the strange little castle: It dates from the hfteenth century, and the shells of its square and tapering towers frame and crumble round a church of later date. Nothing about this church, save some half-obliterated frescos and the arabescjues lettered beside its door, interested us, but in the river, a special breed of bull-trout mocks the prowess of the pass- ing fisherman, and there w^ere smooth places beside the tails of 200 ALL IHL RUSSIAS water and sudden-coniin- " racc^ " m the hollows of hanks where 1 should have deliohted to see the dry-ihes of a certain Liheral statesman friend allinmL;!} tloatnii^-. That day we made the second ascent of a smaller pass, this time always among cultivated slopes where the wheat was al- ready sprouting, the big, blue-grey buffaloes plouglnng. and the little tlat-roofed houses, all scrai)ed out of the hill-sides, com- fortably fronting the southern sun. X'isiting some of them, we found the cave-dwellers to be a handsome race huleed; the men tall, strong, and martial, bearded and bronzed and covered with weapons; the women gay in bright colors of blue and red and crimson, holding up babies wl>ose small heads were covered with henna-tinted hair. Cocks, hens, cats, dogs, and a few little tluffy bufYalo-calves all clustered in the shelter of these house-fronts, and on the roof huge, oval baskets of n.iaize-cobs shone golden, very often with the owner seated smoking beside his store of winter provender. At Dushet we spent some time trying to get into the castle of Prince Tschliaief, which stood upon the liill, white, castellated, looking proudly across the valley at the little town sxith its grim, nlain, red boxes of new Russian barracks. In point of api)ear- ance, the Prince's palace, which was also employed as a Police Station, was easily first in its expression of martial capability. Dushet is charmingly situated, and as it is within ear-ia. Tlic ran- m which it l,^.|^)„<_.«, — or rather belonged hclicvr^ it Im be tlu; ijldc.st town in the world, founded by Xoah'.s great^grcat -great grandson, while even sober historians recognise it at the beginning of the fourth century. Here lived and reigned all the 'IVars of Geor- THE GLORGLAN ROAD 20I tjia: hither came the Wandals of l^amerlane and rased the cathe- (Irak l)ut Tsar /vlexander L of Georgia rebuilt it. and under its aisles lie CJeorgia's rulers and wise men. The cathedral itself was built originallv in ;^2F^ a.d., over the spot where Christ's seamless robe, brought from Golgotha either by a Jew or by the Centurion Longinus — the legends differ — and given by him to his sister Sidonia, was found. She wrapped it around her, fell dead, and as it could not l)e detached from her body, she was buried in it, and until it was carried off to the Cathe- dral of the Assumption at ^Moscow, a holy oil exuded from the verv stones above the precious relic. Such was old ]\ltskhet. To-day it is a railway station on the line from P)atum to Baku, the point where the military road meets the military railway — a plain village, l)ut ennobled by the ruins of palaces and churches telling of the wonders of the days when Tsars lived here, before the proud name went north. Shoeing an Ox in the Caiu asus. .* .,- _, .,j>.^.i >«.Um«**^ *iw A^ A «•*«»,*>•• •» f>m ■4r^*l»» f*^ «v^#» ■**^ *«» ^'*» **" fc **. •* *-• * *-- ^ »^-'« - CHAPTKR XIV TIFLIS OF THE CROSS-ROADS THE German philologist, rrofessor Brui^sch, has calculated that sexenty lani^uai^es are si)okcii in Titlis. That simple statement, pondered loni;" enoui;h. mii^ht almost stiflice to de- scribe the citw It is the modern iKihel. the meetini^-place of Euro|)e and Asia, the cross-roads of the great route> north and south, and east and we^i. the focus of a scoi'c of keenly trading- peoples, the conglomerate deposit of two thousand }ears of l)n>y historw ( )\er thi^ cc^mplication Ru^^ia rule< ea.sil}' and well. It is an excellent example of ]\n\\ ^-he earner ci\ili>ation to I'.a-tern peoj)les. I'Aternallw half <»f Tit]!^ is a little Pari^. or a prettiiM- F-iicha- rest. A mass of im rooi>, painicil iii pale green and Indian red, makes a plea-nnt colc^nr ini|^)rcs-!on a< \ rui ar^prnach the citv from tlie monntam-, liiii t-i ^^^^ n n-. n^ rca.l aii a phenomenally small rain- fall. 1 itlis is stithng and intolerably hot, but in winter the same conchtions render it a delightful residence, {perfectly sheltered from the cold winds that sweep from the mountains and the TIFLIS OF THE CROSS-ROADS 203 plam to the southeast, and by its dry atmosphere admirably suited to people with weak lungs. It is a place of great importance to modern Russia. It forms, to begin with, the end of the military road across the Caucasus, which, though the railway now^ goes round the eastern coast to Baku, is still the quickest way to Europe, and all the mails come over it by fast coach. It is midway between Baku and Batum; that is, between the Caspian and the Black Sea, be- Titlis. tween Europe and A ' V - >.r'k>llu«W*«i*\V,*nV.«/tf^*~tw1«v*«i - 204 ALL I III: KUSSLAS And Russia has (k'vck)])C(l licr Caucasian ca|)ital in a man- ner worthy of its iniportiuicc. In the modern town the streets are wide and paved and hghted by electricity, the shops are hu-i;e and handsome, there is a pnhhc L;arden with winding;- walks and tine trees, excellent tramways run in all directions, and the pul)lic carriages, leather-upholstered and rubber-tyred, are far superior to those of St. Petersburg or Moscow — in fact, the best 1 have seen anywhere. The otiicial buildings are numerous and imposing — Russia always takes care of this. The cathedral is a magnificent edifice, the Governor-General's pakice dignified without and splendid w^ithin, there is a new and elaborate opera- house, and of course a number of military buildings. The mu- seum is extremely interesting for its collections of all the animals and birds of the Caucasus, all the geological products, and a fascinating series of figures and domestic implements illustrating" the ethnology of all the local races. While 1 was there an agri- cultural exhibition was held, and the (piality and variety of prod- ucts shown were astonishing. Some of the vegetables were so remarkal)le that 1 wrote and asked for seeds, which were sent ])romptly by otiicial post and aic now germinating under the sur|)rised eyes of a Ilam|)shire gardener. In matters like this, let me remark once for all, the Russian authorities are courtes}- itseh' to foreigners who a])proac]i them coin-teoUhly and are genuinely interested in wli:a they are doing. iMuallw the 1 bjtel (le L(,in(lre> i< tiic hr^l rcallx' ci\ili-^cd and conitorlable hotel T have found m !\u<ide her European frontier, and far from anywhere. But one does not go to Asia to see luvrope, and Rostom. the guide, in Circassian costume, with long poniard and war-medal, haunts the hall of the hotel. 1\) test the (ierman philologist, I ask him how many languages he speaks. He does not remember, f f« ^-r --.>*,•* -v «• « *, TIFLIS OF THE CROSS-ROADS 205 but proceeds to count them upon his fingers. Russian, :Mingrel- ian— his native tongue— Georgian, Armenian, Persian, Lesghian, Gruznian — I can't remember them, and I don't know how to spell them, but it is an extraordinary list. And he needs them all in an hour's stroll through the bazaar. Ten minutes in a tramway from the hotel door transports you into a piece of Titlis and ihe Ruins of the Citadel. Bao-hdad or Tehran, and one of the very few l^astern bazaars I have seen which has not its eye fixed, so to speak, upon the Western purchaser. A few things in the silversmiths' shops are for the foreigner, but otherwise, if you go there, you go as the native goes, you see what the native sees, you haggle as the native haggles, and you get what the native gets. This is re- freshincr wdien one remembers the bazaar in Cairo, for instance, 2o6 ALL THK RUSSIAS TIFLIS OF THK CROSS-ROADS 207 where the tourist buys with solemn precautions and secret Hee things si)eciany made for him in I>irmino-ham or Germany, which an Oriental passes with a contemptuous shrug. If one half of Tillis is like lun'opc, the other half is purely Oriental. Narrow, steep, ill-paved streets; mysterious houses hiding the life within behind closed doors and shuttered win- dows; the merchant sitting among his wares — the silversmiths m one street, the arms-maker> in another, the shoemakers, the carpet-dealers, the fruit-sellers, the perfume-venders, eacli trade in its own (juarter. And what things to buy, if one has monev and time — the two ecpially essential components of an Eastern bargain! Through this low door-way and behind this connnon- place shop is a dark warehouse piled high with cari)et- in inoun- tamous proUision. Here is e\ery fraud read}- for the unwary or unknowing purchaser, but here. abo. if yonr e\e i- Miarp aixl your tr-iigue >mooth and your experience truMwonlp, an.l \ our tune and patience witlmin liniii-. |. a htanvide ir. -ni ihe palaee of one of i]\c old Khan bv ; the >l Auhni;! assals of 1 'rrna ni innc t> « uie ■^ cl Hum b-.iah: m. ni the golden davs of Miili \hh-a<, two hundred years old, priceless; thai rug was wo\en hx ! ekke gnls in the tent of nomad kuikomans, a pat- tern ne\er copied init preserved in memory from the times of Tamerlane; this drugget issued long ago from the loom of Kurd- ish women of Erivan; the roll of rainbow-coloured silk came ^]nxvW to jiq-lit. like a dragon-fly above a reekin- i-.m 1. in a mud hovel of the i.^anrr iMwn . =1 ilukhara. heriest iioi-bed of Akn-nl- inan tanatieiMii. The merolian! will .Imw vnu, too. Inrquoises -~-han.hiii. or them, all Mnal! < u" mi tlu- wortiile- greeiiiMi line. Many tirne.^ \ on a^k hmi it he ha^ iimi higger tunpioiscs and he sliakes his jiead. At the l.aek of In', uon strong-box. wrapped in a dozen crumpled paper>. lie ha> a great one. of thai mar- vellous and indescribable blue which nature has prodnce.l only in this stone. Will much i)er>uasion wheedle it iiuo sight tor a moment, or much money secure its possession forever? Alavbe, but T have my doubts, and thev are based upon the unchano-ino- truth that at last,betweeii East and \\>st, pride of race is stronger than greed of gold. To console you, however, for the unattain- able azure, you may find and carry off a blue scimetar from Daghestan, a wrought-iron staff surmounted by an ox-head with which some old Persian officer has led his men to battle, a Georgian pistol inlaid with silver iiicllo work, and a choice bit of gold-encrusted ivorv from Kazi-I\umyk. lUit Tillis, this '* ])re- cipitate of hi>tor\-,'" these cross-roads between J{u- roi)e and Asia, excites ^•onr wnnrlcr and enchains your recollectiem chieli\- \ for its liuman ronrr]nnic- rate. Most of trie speak ers of its nianv tongues have their distinctive cos- tume, and indeed then own well - ninrked faces, Tliere is no mistaking tlie Tatars ^vit]: then" hat^ in the shajie of a truncated cone, the afjinline feat tired Lesginans. the swarth} Persians with their long-pointed hats of astrakhan ftir, the Armenians with their llat caps, the Turko- mans in huge sliagg\- hats of sheepskin, the \\'urtem])crg- ers of the German colony in the old Swabian costume, and most marked of all, the Gecjrgians in the tchcrkcss, with the kJiacir. the row of cartridge cases, across the breast. The native A Bit r.f Old Tifi!'^. 2o8 ALL THL RUSSIAS i^-cntleman, an officer of liii;li rank and loni^- service in war, who strides into the hotel (Hnini;-room in his uniform of chestnut and In(Han red, jini^ding- with small-arms and hunq- with medals even as a Zulu is strung with cowries, is certainlv one of the most A Caucasian Type— Rostom the Guide. slrikI^i^ ii^urc^ 1 h:ivc ever -een, Tn [;!ewn on a cunning >laiu on each side of the breast, are a splendid Imi-h, ex'cn though tlio cartridges are ])Ul (hmim\- bits ul wood, wnii gold or silver liearl'^. Added to all thi-. tiie port of the liead in its black sheepskin hat, and the whole martial bearing, make every man a field-marshal aial ilic hero of a hundred fights — to look at. Are the women of Georgia as beautiful as we have ahvays been told? When they become matrons, which is at an early age, they are too stout and broad in the beam for beauty, but in their youth, I should judge from glimpses at windows and passing faces, there may well be extraordinary loveliness among them — the loveliness of perfectly chiselled features true to the racial type, large calm dark eyes, firm, full mouth, alabaster skin, in- digo-black hair — the precise antithesis of the piquancy of irregu- lar features and nervous temperament which generally passes for beauty among ourselves. Tliese are women, you feel, whose lips would uliisjier pa^^^^ioiKite love esr. if time< allowed, .^uig high the song thai -end< their men to battle — whewe fhigers would grasp the dagger or lall lii^hih aero--- the -trnigs ul liie hue. wiih equal aptness. Dagger and war-song, however, are out 01 date in the (Caucasus to-day. One of the (juaintest sights (^f the whole l)azaar i- its wine. The district of Kakhetia, not far from here, produces red and -2o8 ALL THi; RUSSLIS TIFLLS OK THE CROSS-ROADS 209 i;x'ntleman. an officer of Iii^li rank and l(>n<4" service in war. who strides into the h(itel (hnin^-rooni in his uniform of chestnut and Inchan rech jini;HnMkiri- pco- pk; HI in\- lue before: a -rMHj, ,.[ jinnee- of thc^ hlnod. anilia-se- dors, and conmiander.- m chici would have everythnig lu learn from them in the matter of deportment. Xo matter who they may he — the Smiths and Joneses, possibly, of Georgia and Daghestan — their manners and their clothes hit off the choicest expressions of dignity and distinction. That full-skirted woollen coat, flying round the hue riding-boots, and hiding trousers of carmine silk; that tight-htting body-part, open at the breast to show a shirt of richot cream-colour, hooked smartly o\er the ribs and narrowly c^irdled at the waist l)v a belt of chased metal, worn ver_\- tight, from which hang sil\-er-worked poniard, sabre, pi-toldiolster and other strange httings, combine to form a co- tume ul inrmite spirit, to whicli tlu^ row of cartridges, sewn on a cunning ^lant on each ^ide of tlie ])reast, are a splendid tini^li. e\ei] though the cartridges are but dummy ])its of wood, witii gold ()!■ -iiWT head-. Added to all \h\>, the |)in-t of the liead m its black -hrfji-kni iiat, aiid ilie wii.tii- martial bearmg, make e\rr\- nian a lieid inar-lial and the hero uf a hundred light- — to look at. Are the women of Georgia as beautiful as we have ahvays been told? When they become matrons, \\ Inch is at an early age, they are too stout and broad in the beam for beauty, but in their youth, I should judge from glimpses at windows and passing faces, there may well be extraordinary loveliness among them — the loveliness of perfectly chiselled features true to the racial type, large calm dark eyes, firm, full mouth, alabaster skin, in- digo-black hair — the precise antithesis of the piquancy of irregu- lar features and nervous temperament which generally passes for beauty among ourselves. These are w^omen, you feel, whose lips WMUhi wm-pcr I tiU; -(!n a dee|)er collar where a inatcli >li()w> row upon row of these truncated wine -filled l)eeve-. a Ixivine cata- comb. In the diikluui nearer the Persian liazaar 1 spt-iit some rare hours, eatinir black l)rea{l, smoking- tobacco from Isfahan, drink- ing the slender vintage from the foreleg of the bnrdyuku and listening to thrilling tales of Shamyl from one who had fought against him for ten years. Anotlier experience of Tiths is the bath. It is a luxurious, modern, tile-fronted building in the heart of the Armenian ba- zaar, belonging to a prince whose name escapes me. Abundant Tfie Shanipi m .er < d Tiflis, springs of water strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydro- gen supply it, and in its vaulted chambers, far below the street, there is no sound but the splash of the fountain and the rolling echo of one's own voice. The masseur, however, distinguishes the bath of Tiflis. He is a Persian, speaking but a word or two of Russian His head is shaved, round lii- wnist a rag is iwi^ted, and hib leel are u\eti oraiiLre. l-'i r-t lie VIM): 1 . 1 ke the s]i;ini|)0()t>r nf Jern]\-ii Street, then ^Ufldeniw a^ \-on iie Kiee <]• *\\ nwards on the marble slal). he i> u|)Oii \ajur back. Ins heel> dug into your >pine. h\> hands grasping your shoulder^ to mcrease the ])ressure, and slowly, with skilful ap]>reciation of the lie of every muscle, his feet grind up and down \-our back — they encircle \imv neck — the}' are on \'our head! ddien he \atdts lightlv off, and in a moment, from a linen bau' tilled with soap, he has squeezed clouds of perfumed l)td)bles, and you are hidden in them from head to feet, as completely as if von had fallen into a snow-drift. O T O ALL THE RUSSIAS So far, all is tolerahle, if rather startling-, hut whcti, wrapped in linen atid heturhanned, \()u call for a cigarette and he hrini^s one, lic^hts it hetween hi^ own lips and would |)ut it hetween yours, the |)rejudices of the West ari^e. and you repulse the well-meant intention of that orange-footed ( )rienta!. Idie hath costs you six shillui^>, hut cleanlmess is aK\a\s a luxui'x- in the East. h wiii (jccur t«» !nan\' reader^, no d^nht. to n pohlira! enndili'U! i»f' liiese s!rani»-elv rmn ' ' \v lat In the >. i 1 an«i once vig"orons nationahliei, and huw ihc\ arr aikTtcti tuw; ivn Uii'iv vu ita'i,. A Olui .it Ilk Vv liic-iiiup. Tn spite nf tlu' eiitlui-^ia-ni iliev evoke, the -mall rial !< inajitic- ai- mo>t disappear jxihtiealix- in the fare <>f tlu' eolre the Kusso- I A WANDERING BEGGAR, TIFLIS. TIFLIS OF THK CROSS-ROADS 215 Turkish War the Georo-ians stood high in Rtissian favotir; they held important public ofhccs. and the social relations between them and Russian othcials were cordial. During the war doub'ts arose as to their loyalty, and the Armenians took advantage of this to i)ush their own interests. Their well-known trading and tinancial i>ifts were of much use to the Russians and verv profit- able to themselves. But the Armenians have shared the fate of the Georgians, for the Armenian troubles in Turkey bred a certain amount of real political agitation, and evoked fears of a oreat deal more, with the not unnatural result that the Russian authorities now cry a plague on both their houses, and exclude Georgians and Armenians alike from office and intiuence. This action, again, is naturally being followed by a recrudescence of national feeling, especially among the Georgians. The national costume, once almost abandoned, is now the fashion; the national literature is being fostered; and Georgian women talk less gossip and more politics. But all this has no serious significance. Mr. Oliver War- drop, in his " Kingdom of Georgia" (1888), wrote; *" Should Russia ever become involved in a great war, Georgia would undoubtedly declare her independence and endeavour to seize the Dariel Road; the Armenians and Lesghians would also revolt, each in their own way." My own opinion is that any enemy of Russia that counted upon this would be disappointed; the time is past for a Georgian political nationality, unless, in- deed, Russia should be already so hopelessly defeated as to break up of her own weight. I doubt much whether, in spite of their good looks and their martial clothes, the Georgians possess ca- pacity for anv struggle or for the organisation which it would necessitate if successful. Sporadic risings there might be if Russia were defeated once or twice, but they W'Ould be crushed without the slightest difficulty, and the only chance of success they might have would be when Russia was too exhausted even to attempt to put them down. Moreover, I saw no reason why 2l6 ALL rilL Rl SSLAS the (icori^ians should wi.sh to revolt, for ihcy arc not oppressed in any way, they have practically all the chances that Russians themselves enjoy, they are treated very o-ently as re^i^ards mili- tary service, and it is perfectly certain that li for anv c.mse ivussia sliould cease to protect them, some other I'ower would have to do so, for the) are now ii]c:i])al)le of takin^: ^-i^"^' •'! themselves or standing sword in hand, a> they once did, between lun-ope and the pressing hordes of AMa. In a word, the little nationalities of the Caucasus present no political i)roblem. In a previous chai)ter I showed how the inevitable trend of Russia is to the sunrise and the warm water. The Caucasus af- fords a further striking exam|)le of this. As mav be seen by a glance at my map (which >liuw.^ railways ])]•(. jected and niider construction, not to be found, 1 bei.eve, elsewhere), Russia is stretching out her arm rapidly to the south, toward Persia and its warm and conunercial gulf which leads straight to India and the East, m the shape of roads and railways. Alreadv a railway runs from Tiths to Kars. and several other schemes are on foot for further facilities of transport in the same direction. A railway is already begun, and will be finished in three or four years, from Karakles, l)elow Alexandropol, down the \alley of the Arpa-chai to the valley of the Aras (Araxes), then l)y the side of the Aras to Erivan. and on to Xakhitchexan and Julfa on tlie Russo-Per- sian frontier. Another railway is under survey and considera- tion from I>aku to Astara and Tabriz, with an alternatixe scheme from ^An■lach, on the present line, through jebrail to Tabriz. An important military road, about which not much is heard, runs from Patum to Artxin, thence t(,. Ardanautch. thence to Ar arc not oppressecT in any way, they have practically all the chances that Russians themselves enjoy, they are treated very oemly as regards mili- tary service, and it is perfectly certain that if for any cause Russia should cease to protect them, some other Rower would have to do so, for tlie>- are now mcapahle of taking- care of themselves or standini,^ sword in hand, as they once did, between lun'ope and the pressino^ hordes of Asia. In a word, the little iiaiiunalities of the C'aucasus i)resent no j)olitical ])rol)lein. Li a previous chapter I showed how the inevitable trend of RtisMa is to the sunrise and tlie warm water. The Caticasus af- fords a further striking example of tins. As mav be seen by a glance at ni\- ma|) (which -li()w> i-aih\ays jirojected and under construction, not to l)e found. 1 believe, elsewhere). Russia is stretching out Iter arm rapidly to the soutli. toward Persia and Its warm and commercial gulf which leads straight to India and the luist. 111 the sliape of roads and railways. Already a railway runs from Tiilis to Kars. and se\eral otiier scliemes are on fo(^t for further facilities of traii>port in the same direction. A railway IS already l)egun, and will be lim>he). then by the side of the .\ras to hj-i\an, and on to Xaklntrjiex :»]i and Jnifa on llie Russo-Per- sian frontier. Another railway is tinder survev and considera- tion from Rakti to Astara and Tabriz, with an alternatne scheme from \'evlach, on the i)resent line, through jebrail to Tabriz. An important militar>- road, about which not much i> heard, runs from I'.atum to Artvin, thence to Ardanantch. tlience to Ardalian, thence to Kars. It is metalled from b.atum to Artvin, and is l)eing widened from .Artvin to Ardanaiitcli. It has been metalled and in use for some time from Ardahan to Kar<. ITans and performances like these, at a time when money is scarce in Russia, 'ii < < 'J UJ >- < C o 3 (J (A V. 2l8 ALL THK RUSSIAS mean onlv one thinir. And I believe, thoiic:h much secrecv is observed upon the matter, that the raihvay wliicli Russia Iiopes to lay through Persia to the sea, the route of which has already been roughly surveyed, is intended to start on the frontier at Julfa, and run. via Ahar, to Tabriz. Teheran. Isfahan, and Vezd, and past lUmder Abbas to the Indian Ocean. lUit this raihvay raises an international (juestion of extreme delicacy, to which I return later.* Sucli is the Caucasus, in its various asj)ects — a rapid glance at a great subject. I hope I have gone a little way, at an}' rate, toward justifying my remark at the outset that it is j)erhaps on the whole the most interesting land of the world. It has been, as I said, unaccountably neglected, but I feel sure in advance of the thanks of any, whether travellers in search of new scenes or capitalists on the lookout for new enterprises, who take my ad- vice and visit it for themselves. •See Chapters XVII. and XXIV. '/'//<' 'fifties has just learned, "from a trustworthy source," that the Russians have decided to {)roceed at once with the construction of a raihvay which \s ill connect their Trans-Caspian line with the I'ersian province of Khorassan. Ihis line will start from Askhabad and be carried to .Meshed, and the construction is expecteti to be pushed forward ra[)idly. The line will enter Persian territory at Kettechinar, run up the Deregez valley, and keej) along the river side until it strikes the existing main road to Meshed between Durbadan and Imamkulich. .\ large party have been at work pegging out the line, and attached to this party have been M. StroietT, Dragoman of the .Meshed Russian Consulate, and the Ikram-ul-Mulk, late Kargu/.ar of Kuchan. Difficulties were met with in passing through villages, but it is said that these have been arranged, and the Ikram-ul-Mulk has been given 12.000 roubles as a present. It is understood in Askhabad that the money for the railway has been sanctioned and is ready, and that the Russian Ikmk will open a branch almost immediately in Meshe 1 to assist the financing of the works. A gentlenKin from St. Petersburg was named manager of the bank in Meshed, another official was to come from Teheran, and .Mi Askar Khan, the interpreter of the State I'.ank, .\skhabad. was also under ()rder^ to proceed to Meshed. "There is," the Tinu-s adds, "a feeling of great uneasiness amongst the official classes in Meshed, as it is impossible to predict what the advent of this railway means." It means that Russia is hurrving uixm Iht "historic mission" in view of (iermany's haste upon the enterprise described in Chapter X\ll. CHAPTER XV THE OIL-WELLS OF BAKU FATE has thrown a good many strange sights in my way, but 1 think the oil-wells of Baku are as strange as any. Directly after reaching the hotel I was called to the telephone, and invited bv Mr. Tvveedv, at Balakhani, six miles away, to spend the night there and see the wells next day. So I found myself, after dark, driving from the little station of Balakhani to the headquarters of the Russian Petroleum and Liquid Fuel Company. The mud was a foot deep, there was no road in par- ticular, but the droschky-driver took the direction which prom- ised the best chance of escaping an upset, and we rocked about till I was quite resigned to find myself floundering. The sur- roundings were positively weird. Every few yards a pyramidal structure, huge and ill-defined in the dark, towered up; within each was machinery hard at work, and mysterious hangings and splashings issued; in boiler-houses the lurid glow and fierce roar of petroleum furnaces made night alarming; and the whole air was thick with the reek of oil. I longed for morning to bring some sort of unity into this peculiar Hades. With davlight came not only unifying knowledge, but also fascination. To a man with imagination the business of petro- leum-getting must combine in itself the things which delight the gold prospector, the sportsman, the surgeon, the mechanician and the gambler. Like the prospector, the oil-seeker may look long in vain, and then suddenly run full tilt against riches. Like the sportsman, he may have the quarry just within his reach, and then in a second lose it. Like the surgeon, he uses instru- 219 220 ALL IHK RUSSLAS inents to i)crfurni strange and delicate tasks in ilie dark, guided only by a line sense of touch and a knowlech^e of the body in vvhicli he is working. Like the mechanician, he must ahyays be inyenting new and more ingenious tools. Like the gaml)ler, he ranges headlong oyer rising and falling yalues. After the pen, 1 think the oil-l)orer would be my clioice of implement where- with to soke the great prol)lem. To leaye generalities and come to plain facts, this is in brief the stor}' of an oil-well. The m\>tcriou.^ processes of nature, whether animal or xegetable — prohabK the former —which pro- duce petroleum in the bowels of tli.; earth. ]\:\\ .- t;ikcn jilacc in an tnuisual degree under the ea^tei'n ^hoic ni the I'anca'-ian pe- ninsula, where the town of P.akn lia,^ ri^en -and where, 1 max incidentall}- add, thi> town ha- uicrea-ed Iw twent\- fu'e per cent, in tifteen months, where hou.-c reiii- lia\e douhlrd in the same tune, and wliere xou max ,-ee ; I :-irinL: < '1 camei-^ cit !--in: 1 a > e . i t ran i : 1 1 a 1 xxax' hue under an ek-';t!'u' ligiit. This pet rx tji'ini used to be leaded b}' the lvUi>icni Liux ernmeiil at anomma! riMiiai; no\y it i- pnt up to auciion. A i'ertain numlKr of pouds (a poud I- ihirtx i\ 11)- 1 oi oil is supposed to be available for a certain ana. and liic hi 1 hng i^ b\ kopecks (say farthings) per poud of that number 1 laying acquired the land, the concessionaire pro- ceedo to sink hi^ wells. First he erects the pyramidal wooden structure, about seventy feet high, called the " derrick," with a large grooved wheel, like that over a colliery shaft, at its apex. Tie pu.t- in an engine and a winding drnan.. and then the digging begn 1- of 1 r!i,' n nportance to have as w^ide a shaft as possible, becau-e liu' xxaier the ^liaii the irreater the dimcu'^inn of tlie " baler." i )r eh >ni:aieM I aickrt . ns w iiicii lliv oil is nil niiaiely brought to the surface, and iherelore trie LMaailcr tiie xield of oil per diem and the larger tlu; j'trol!!. So iKiwa.daxx- liie llr-t tubes of xxrought iron en winch the xxell con>i-ts max- l)e a- xxide as twenty-eight or thirty inches. .\ kind of luige "^pade. \yeigh- ing perhaps half a ton, is suspended from a beam, w hicli Ijalances THK OIL-WLLLS OF BAKU 221 like the beam of a beam-engine. This spade is fixed to its shaft by a sort of bayonet catch, and when the l)eam lifts the whole api)aratus a man standing over the well gives it a half turn, and the spade falls two feet, striking the ground a heavy blow, the beam allows the shaft to fall upon it, pick it up and raise it again, the man gives another half turn, the spade falls again, and so on for hours with ex- traordinary ra])id- itv. the spade fall- irig perhaps thirty times a minute. This is known as the "free fall" sys- tem, from the ( ier- man J rcifall. Af- ter' a xxlnle tlie eartli is extract en by means i)\ a co- lossal shell-auger, and the iron tube is lowered mio place. The spades are of all shapes and sizes, and so far all is plain sailing. ]kn by and by ac- ^^ -Fountain" at Baku. Cidcnlb lia])pen. Spade- break, ln])es collapse under the ennrmou- pre'=^ure nece-arx to force them into place, steel ropes an happened perhaps 1.500 feet under-round, in a tube perhaiKs a loot m diameter, perhaps only SIX inehes, for, as the well -oes deeper, its diameter de- creases. \'ou do not know what the aeeident is— von only know that somethin- perhaps evei-ythin-, has -one to smash down there. Or you may know that vou -have a ton of broken. twisted iron jajnmed ti-ht in the narrow iron tube, with a (juai-ter of a mile of wire rope or chain piled up pell-mell on the top of it. Your business is to -et it all out—and the oibborcr does get it all out. In his workshop are laid side by side scores of suro-ieal instruments— tweezci-s. pincers, foixeps. probes, snares, ccrascurs, expanding things whieh grasp a tube by the inside, revolving knives which cut a three-inch ii-on bar cjr a jj- inch tube, eccentiac hooks which put straight anything lying on its side, so that the pincers ean seize it, and in fact a replica of every ghastly implement of modern surgery that 1 know, execpt a speculum. There is this little difference, however, that each of these instruments weighs a (juarter of a ton or more, that a whole clay is not too much in which to lower it, let it do its work, or fail to do it, and hoist it up again, and tliat the oil-sui;geon has noth- ing whatever to guide him except the light of pure imaginative genius and the waggle in liis hand of a wire rope which has half a ton dangling from it a (luarter of a mile l)elow. The reader should not now be surprised when I add that in a moment some- thing drops into the well, and that it sometimes takes the most skilful engineer six months to pick it up. I looked with pro- found respect upon the man who accomplishes such things. He happened to be a Caucasian prince, but that had nothing to do with my admiration. Never in my life have I seen anything which demanded such infinite patience. Waiting for the Foreign Office to publish a Blue-book is child's play in comparison. THE OIL-WELLS OF BAKU 223 But at length the engineer has his splendid reward. The oil stratum is reached, he rolls alTectionately in his hand the slimy sand that the digger brings up — he is sure there is oil! So to the wire rope a hollow cylinder, twenty to thirty feet long and an inch or two less in diameter than the lowest tubes, with a plunge- valve at the bottom, is attached, and cautiously lowered. It comes back by and by, the valve is pushed open as it is gently lowered upon a board, and out pours a quarter of a ton of sand, slime, water — and the precious oil. At last it is only oil, and then the well is pumped night and day till it runs dry. It takes on an average fifteen months to dig a well, and may cost five or six thousand pounds. The tubes alone for a well 2,000 feet deep cost £3,000. But perhaps it will give you five hundred tons of oil a day. The average life of a w^ell may Jje said to be three years, but of course it is often vastly more. There is, it must be added, the horrid chance — rare hereabouts — that after all your boring you may find nothing. Three miles from here a Rus- sian well-owner sank a w^ell 1,995 ^^^^ ^^^^ failed to get a trace of oil. But on the other hand — and this is wdiere the gambler's ex- citement comes in — you may have the delirious joy of getting a " fountain," and then hats are thrown up and dividends mount skvward. A " fountain " is an artesian well of oil which bursts upward with incredible force and gives you as much oil in a minute for nothing as you could pump in twenty-four hours of labour and expense. Perhaps it blows the huge baler through the derrick roof and into somebody else's boiler-house, knocks the derrick it- self into splinters, hurls up great stones like cannon-balls, buries the machinery in sand and slime and oil, and floods the reservoirs and roads — nitchcvo, the more the better, it is coining gold for its lucky owners. The Russian Petroleum Company had a '* foun- tain " once wdiich gave forty million pouds of oil in two months. The world went very well then. Curiously enough, a fountain made its welcome appearance on the same property the very day I went to say good-bye to Mr. Tweedy, its managing director 224 ALL THE RLSSLAS in London, whom by o-ood luck I found at IJaku, and he had of course rushed off to see it. 'idiis is a good opportunity for me to say how much 1 am indebted to Mr. Tweedy for the oj)i)or- tunities of studying and understanding the business of oil-getting. His knowledge of the subject is minute and profound, he has rendered great services to the successful investment of British capital in Baku, and after what I have written it is perhaps hardly necessary to add that his enthusiasm is contagious. Such is, in hasty outline, the business of oil-getting on it.-^ mechanical side. Imagine a couple of thousand of these black derricks crowded together, with a network of little canals, res- ervoirs dug in the ground, and pipes innumerable just laid about, one above another, exactly as they happened to lie most con- veniently—the pii)es which carry off the oil to the reservoirs at a little distance, the whole place ccaselesslv reekinir smokin^-- Steaming, and humming, and you know what Balakhani looks like, and why it seemed so strange to me when J drove through it at night. Since so niucli P.ritish capital i^ iiiM-^tcd in tin- (li.-tnct cer- tain ^tati.^tic> conotTiiini^ the |>i'' »diicniin of t)il ma\- l)c read witli interest, espcciallx .miicc !lie\- point to some niiiiortant conclu- sions regarding the future pro.^pecth of the iiidn>irv. Idie num- ber of tirms and companie-; engaged m i8()() was i()0. owning 1.357 active wells. ( )t the-c firms ()j sprang up during the pre- vious two years, and 2() of them were still at the l)orin^'- sta^'-e. All attempts to '* strike oil." in spite of extensive and deep boring, outside the five proved areas of the Apsheron Peninsula, namely, Bibi-Eibat and the great oil-held formed by Ikdakhani. Sabuntchi, Romani and Binagadi, have proved wholly unsuccessful. The total output for 1899* (to which the Binagadi area contributed very little) was 2,167,801.130 gallons. This was over 162,000.000 gallons more than in 1898. but though this great increase looks * The figures here given are taken from the report of the official Russian supervisor of the petroleum industry at Baku, as published in the official Vtestnik Finanzof. THE OIL-WELLS OF BAKU 225 very satisfactory at first sight, further examination gives it a less encouraging aspect. In the first place, the relative increase com- pared with previous years shows a marked decline; and second, these increases are nothing like so great as the increases in energy and expenditure in boring operations. In 1899 the enormous sum of £2,600,000 was spent on boring alone, and 572,761 feet of wells were bored, against 402,605 feet in 1898 — an increase of over 42 per cent. Thus for a 42 per cent, increase of effort, only an 8 per cent, increase of output was obtained. This is not The Railway Station, Baku. quite so bad as it looks, for a number of wells, especially on the Bibi-Eibat area, were only commenced in the second half of the year, and could not have become productive. But it points to the serious fact that the whole oil-field is becoming less produc- tive. This conclusion is clearly borne out by other figures. The number of inactive wells, for instance, has increased by nearly 50 per cent., whereas the number of active wells has increased by only 24 per cent. Of the five areas, moreover, only Sabuntchi and Balakhani showed an absolute increase of output. Most sig- nificant of all, however, are the facts that the '' fountains " — i.e.y 2 26 ALL THi: RLSSLIS THL ()IL-\VI LLS OF BAKU o 2 "" \\'c'il> where the uil i^ lurcccl lu the -iirfaee 1)\' cnrilnie':! L^a^. -how- iiig- that the seam has no otlier siitTicient outlet — liaxe (lee!-ea>etl by oiie-hah"; and that the average pruductiveneb^ ul \ven> has reguhirly diminished, while their average depth has as regnlarlv increased. This is strikingly .shown by the official hgures when arranged thus: A\ ciaxe i'luduoioa Average Depth per Well in Gallons. per Wtll m I'cet. 1^95 2,578,996 853 i^y^^ 2,171.922 895 1 ^97 1 .926,292 897 1^9^ 1,811,672 (^17 '%-> 1.597.495 937 These figures are again confirmed by the fact that whereas in 1895 oJ^b' ^ per cent, of the wells were " deep " ones, /.r., over 1,400 feet in depth, and gave only 5.4 per cent, of the total out- put, in 1899 over 10 per cent, of the wells were " deep." and gave over 29 per cent, of the total outi)ut. The conclusion is thus una\a)i(la1)le that the upi)er levels of oil- strata are l)ecoming exhausted, and that in the future the supply of petroleum from the Baku district will depend more and more upon deep borings, until these in their turn become exhausted, or the extreme depth possible for boring and pumping is reached. In other words, the aj)])roaching exhaustion of this great oil- field is unquestiona1)ly foreshadowed, though no man can foretell when this point will be reached. I hap|)en to know, by the way, that Russian engineers have (hscovered another oil-field, which they believe to be of the highest value, in an entirely different district, at a considerable (hstance from Baku. For certain o-ood reasons no particulars concerning this have yet been made public. It is also practically a certainty that vahial)le oil-fields will be found in other parts of the C/aucasus itself. I should say, however, though of course I speak entirely as a non-expert, that the above statistics and considerations deserve the careful attention of investors in oil-bearing properties at Baku. From Baku mv way now Hcs across the Caspian Sea, and to the wild, world-famous towns of the heart of Asia, once so far away that a man could make a reputation by riding to one of them, now so intimately connected with the commerce of the world that the price of cotton is telegraphed to them every morn- ing from Liverpool. I i CENTRAL ASIA CHAPi i:r xvj THE TRANS-CASPJAN RAIIAVAY: ACROSS CENTRAL ASE\ BY TRAIN ^TOT many years a-o— since a middle-aged man left college, y in fact— a jonrney to the liean ..f Central Ana involved several curious preliminaries. I'ir>t of all. making a will, because the chances of your coming hack again were slender. Second, a perfect colloquial knowledge of at lea>t one Iiastern language. Third, an Oriental cast of countenanc.\ and much skill in chsgnis- ing it. Fonrth, a most unusual love of adveiUure and stock ni personal courage. l-or y ^u^incum^ as Mecca, as hostile to the stranger a. d-lHl)et, a<; fanatical a^ no- where else, and amongst other thnig. you were running the ri^k of a fate uneciualled ni .sheer h^.rror m the wlir.k' ^.sde world. namely, being eaten alive l.y vermin tramvd for ihv purpose. Tlie qualifications luentioncd above were possessed hy Aviuimu:. \"ani- bery, which accounts, fur hi^ successful |.ni]~nev and -afe return. and the fatv alluded to wa:> sufTcred hx .mv onunrsni^n Stoddart and Conoll\- in tju' forties. Nowadays the undertakmg Is simj)]er and Ic- bare brown hills, like a few erystals of stigar at the bottom of a brown cup, and we were at Krasnovodsk — "* Red Water." thou^rh whv SO called 1 cannot tell, for there is no fresh water there at all, except wdiat they produce every day in tlie big distillerv, and the sea is a deep Italian l)lue. The' R.ulwjv St.iti-n at Kivusn. .v. .dsk. Here, according to some authorities, in bvgone ages the mighty Oxus emptied itself into the sea. so that from Peter the Great's time till now there has always l)een a project of l)ringing it back to its old bed. The town is new. for the original starthigt point of the Trans-Caspian Railway was at Uzun-Ada, further t'o the south, in a bay which proved unsuitable for shipping. ATud- brown mountains hem it closely r(nmd: not a green kaf or a drop of fresh w^ater is in sight, the place is as burnt and drv as the mside of a baker's oven. And in November a hot and daz- zling sun is still beating down into it ! The long, handsome white THL TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY ^31 stone building, of consistent Oriental architecture, is the railway station, for Russia lay.^ solidly and artistically the foundation- stones of her empire, no matter how remote they may be, and there stands the tram, all white, ready for its incredible journey. The next most conspicuous building is the distillery, wdiich sup- |)lies both the town and the line, and the next is a sort of military depot, half l)arracks and half prison — a halting-place between Europe and Asia for soldiers and convicts alike. No foreigner, as 1 have said, lands at Krasnovodsk without special permission; Russia watches all strangers on her frontiers — and England's — hereabouts. Mine was obtained from St. Petersburg through the British Foreign Offtce before I started. The wooden pier was crowded with civilians and porters — Persian hamals—Sind, where the steamer was to touch, a group of uni- formed police stood, with a military band behind them. When we were within a few yards the music struck up, and as soon as the gang-plank was in position the chief of police came aboard, and nol)0(ly else. The captain awaited him. Were there any for- eigners on l)oard? One — myself. My name? An oflicial list was produced from a portfolio and consulted. PacJiolst! — " If vou please " — and I was politely invited ashore. In St. Peters- l)urg it i> the otticial pleasure to smile when you speak of special permission l)eing nece»ary for the Trans-Caspian Railway. They take it seriouslv enough at Krasnovodsk. 1 may add that after this original formality-— with the single exception of the Chief of Police, an armv Colonel at Askhabad. wdio curtly summoned me to his office and kept me waiting for an hour and a half, and then charged me before all his subordinates with being in Central Asia without permission, the fact being that not only had I special per- mission l)ut also the highest official letters of personal introduc- tion to all the principal authorities— I received the greatest possible courtesy and assistance from the Russian officials every- where, a courtesy going so far on one occasion as a* mounted torchlight escort of Cossacks. It is, however, but natural that ■ wvof *%■■<-— *-%,■."• V* .•>>» -^-ifc «**-v •■•»■-* •-»*4 >fc»y i .'-*.*» *A V tVJ'-'J**'*"*'-*-***'*-'"^ Vs* ■■»(*. ■v. - -■^li^J**f^ 232 ALL THE RLSSL^S I ■ the Russians should be ready to show what they have done in Central Asia. They have every reason to he proud of it. On the Trans-Caspian Railway there are two kinds of train — the train and the i)ost-train. And the difference l)Ct\veen them is that the latter has a restaurant-car and the former has not. The post-train has an extra passen^er-carriaj^e, and the train has sev- eral freio-ht-cars, hut the si)ee(l is the same and the discomfort is the same. For what the Rtissian railway service i^ives you in extra comfort on the mai^mificent Sil)erian Ex{)ress, it takes out of you in extra fatigue and dirt on the Trans-Casi)ian. The train tliat awaited me was the post -train and con- sisted of live corridor carria^i^es, the last he- ini;- a restaurant-car, all of them painted white. Tlie tender of the engine was an oil- tank, and behind it, on a flat truck, was an enormous wooden tub, to hold water, f'>r in Central Asia there is little fuel, and water Is the most precious commodity that exists. But a -lance at the train raised a most painful suspicion, which a visit to the ticket office confirmed— tliere is not a first-class carriage on the Trans-Caspian Railwav! It was not snobbery which evoked one's consternation at this discovery. A thousand miles of a slow, hot, dusty journey lav before me, and even in European Russia the prospect of a thousand miles in a second-class carriage would be far from pleasant, while in Central Asia, with ample experience in other lands of what a native crowd is, it was appalling. Let me say at once that it more than ful- filled all my expectations. The ordinary second-class, too, has The Trans-Caspian Train. THE TRANS-CASFLAN RAILWAY ^33 narrow, tlat wooden seats, with thin, hard cushions spread on them. After a couple of nights on one of these you are stiff for a week. There is a carriage which has stuffed seats, but it is half second and half third, and the toilette arrangements are all in the third-class half. Moreover, in the stuited cushions are passengers without number wdio pay no fare. I still wriggle as I think of those carriages, for on one never-to-be-forgotten stage I became perforce wdiat a recent Act of Parliament calls a " verminous per- son." Now, to go unwashed is bad, but to share your washing with third-class Russian Asiatic passengers is not only worse — it is impossible. Eurthermore, wdiile the railway authorities have separate third-class carriages for Europeans and natives, the sec- ond-class is open to both. Their idea probably was that the higher fare would deter the native passenger, but this is far from being the case, so prosperous has the sedentary Sart become under Rus- sian rule. Therefore your carriage is invaded by a host of natives with their innumerable bundles, their water-pots and their tea- pots, their curiosity and their expectoration. They do not under- stand the unwritten law which reserves to you the seat you have once occupied; they dump themselves and their belongings any- where, and they are very difficult to detach: they are entirely amiable; they follow your every moveinent for hours with an unblinking curiosity; and they smell strong. I hope I have noth- ing but good will for my Eastern fellows-man, and I assuredly often find him more interesting than people with white skins, but I have the greatest objection to passing days and nights crowded close with him in an over-heated railway carriage. And if I expatiate somewhat upon this minor topic it is because the Trans-Caspian railway journey is such a remarkable experience and affords such rare and vast interests, that everybody who can afford the time and money should take it, and the Russian authorities should do all in their power to make the actual travelling as tolerable as possible. As things are at present, I should not advise any lady to come who is not prepared for some of the most personally y H* ' J \ - ' ' • .^J *.. ^34 ALL THK RUSSL^S objectionable sides of *' roui^liiiiL: ii."' Prince llilkotf. however. Minister of Railways, is so prompt to make any improvement or to inang-urate any new enterprise that U this plaint shonld meet his eye it may well be that no fntnre traveller will have occasiiMi to make it. There is also one other little matter which calls for attention. Formerly the train at Krasnovo — mcrcliant^ and commercial travellers; Armenian "drummers." sliarp and swarthv. for Per- sian firms; a score of officer- ni \anoii> innfortns; sexcral -oldier^ sweating in heavy gray overcuat-^-thcy hadh' nccii a baih^--and old. patched l)reeclies of red momcco leatlier; three otficers in the handsome green and gold oi the /^Oi^ruiucliuayu slnicha, the frontier guards, soldiers and ciistoms-otricers in one; >pecimens of most of the natives of Central Asia; and niy>elf. the onlv for- eigner. There are no fewer than eleven parallel lines o^ rail, for either military purposes or freight accommodation, as mav l)e needed. At three o'clock wx^ start, and between the l)are brown hills and the still blue sea the train runs slowly along for hours. It carries, as I said, its oil-fuel, and its water in a huge wooden tank on a truck behind the engine, f(^r the country is a desert, and the stations are merely the little white houses of the employees, appearing as specks in the wilderness. The low indented coast- THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY 235 hue, within a few yards of our right, reminds me of the Mediter- ranean coast, l)etween Marseilles and Nice, but here there are in every bay thousands of white-breasted ducks. For twenty-five miles the line runs across an absolutely barren plain; sunset finds us traversimr a saltv waste, dotted with scanty bushes, and when I look out of the window in the middle of the night, a bright moon shines on the same desolate scene. But at eight o'clock next morning comes a sudden thrill. Over a little station are written the magic words " Geok Tepe," and I rush out to see if anything remains to tell of the terrible battle and more terrible slaughter Ge'>k Tepe. the Okl Ramparts and the New Railway. of 1881. Sure eiiougli. (mi the oi)])osite >ide of the line, only fifty vards away, is the whole story, and luckily the train is accident- ally delaved long enough to enable me to make a hasty visit to the historic spot. It is a rectangular fortress, a thousand yards square, formed by a high and thick earthen wall and rampart. The sides are rid- dled with bullet-holes — not a square yard is untouched, while scores of gaps in the top show^ wdiere shells have burst. Several complete breaches gape wide, and one wdiole corner is gone — that is where the mine exploded, giving both the signal and the occasion for the final attack. Here raged for three whole f }/ ffi H. 236 ALL THL Rl!,SSIAS weeks an almost uniiitenuptcd battle. Umixhi ]>y hotli sides with a feroeioiis courage never sitrpasse.l ni history; here Si^obelei, and Kuropatkm under hini. won their -reatest lanreis; here Russia heeanie unstress of Tran^-t aspia: here ched a gallant and an interesting raee. Tile Tekke J-urkoniaus llrst (h'ove haek the Ritssian (ieueral Lomakin: tlien tliey eoini)ietely routed Lazaref at this very spot, and swept iu triumph over the whole eonntry. I'or two years SkoiieJef made lii> preparation-. anet on lire by petroleum bombs, artillery rained shell and shrapnel on them, gradtiallv the trenches drew nearer; but they fought wiili a desperation which kept the Russians at bay for three weeks, and on more than one occasion they routed the invaders in a hand-to-hand struggle and slashed them to death in their own trenches, leaving Russian heads and limbs scattered about. But the inevitable end came, and the slaughter of every male left in the fortress, and, after it! that ter- rible Cossack pursuit of flying men and women for ten miles. Opinions dilTer as to this part of the struggle. What is certain is that never since that time has a Turkoman hand been raised against Russia, nor ever will be. If you would strike onlv once, ■ and thus be more merciful in the enut far more important than either commerce or creed, Meshed "the Holy" is only one hundred and ninety-five miles from Herat as the crow tlies, and a road two hundred and thirty miles long connects the prosperous Per- sian town and the Afghan fortress supposed to be the kev to the invasion of India. Theref(M-e Russia and England keep very active rival intelligence departments there and struggle diplo- matically for influence. The proximity of Meshed has perhaps THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY 239 something to do with the fact that Askhabad is the military cen- tre of this part of Russian Central Asia, with a garrison of 10,000 men and stores of every kind on a war footing. A few years ago the tea and indigo of India used to supply Central Asia from this centre, but when Russia became paramount here her first care was to destroy l>ritish trade by excessive duties and even direct prohibition, and in this task she has been only too suc- cessful. After Askhabad the desert once more, till at last cultivated, irrigated land appears, and at each little station is a great heap of bales of cotton, for the harvest has just been gathered, await- ing transport. It has come for the most part on camels, and while their owners chat these are tethered in a quaint manner, tied nose and tail in a vicious circle, so that each is fast betw'een two others. Midway in the burnt plain is a magnificent old fort- ress, its good preservation telling how few years have passed since these same plains held the wild life of immemorial time. A belt of fertile land extends for fifteen miles from these moun- tains to the south, deliciously green in spring, but now only cov- ered with dwarfed scrub — tamarisk, I think. In summer the heat is terrible, rising to 155° at midday, and even now% in mid- November, one is glad to get out of the sun. At nine o'clock at night and 556 miles from our starting- point, another sensation. Most readers will remember hov/ the word " Merv " once rang through England, thanks to OT^onovan and Marvin and Vambery, as the possible cause of war with Russia, whose absorption of Central Asia brought her here in 1884 — just a year before Parliament, at Glad- stone's behest, voted £11,000,000 of war-money at a sitting in view of Russia's next step south; how the fears of some peo- ple that Russia meant to seize it, and beyond it, all Central Asia, gave rise to the sarcastic adjective " mervousness "; how Russia assured us that she did not mean to take it; how she took it soon afterwards; and how she built from it a line with no other 240 ALL THI", RUSSIAS ;1, h t possible o])ject hut, .should need ari^e. to hurry troops toward India. Well, tlie train ^^laekeii^ speed on the second evening, draws tip to a loui^ platform full oi brilliant uniforms whose wearers are eseortini^- elegant ladies, while a band strikes u|) a gay tune, and your window stops exactly opposite the word '' Mere " o\er the centi-al doorwaw N'ou cannot (piite believe it. Ikit it is a fact, for the whole oasis of Merv, one of the most fertile spots in the world, is as Russian as Ri^a. and when you say " Merv " in Central Asia you mean a loni;-, low, neat stone railway station, lit 1)\ a score of bri_L;ht lamj)s in a row, where the train chani^es enoines. while in a busy tele<;ra])h oftice a dozen operators sit before their clicking instruments; and if yoti are a Rtissian ohicer or oft'icial you mean also a brand-new town where a pestilent malarial ivwv i^ sure to catch \uu sooner or later, and ver\' likel\- to kill \-ou. lUit Merv has long ceased to lie a Ru^^ian botmdarv. for in the dark \-ou can see a branch line of rai!wa\- stealing sotitli- ward acros> the {)la!n. Thi^ i> tlie famous Mnrgliab 1 'ranch, the strategical litie i^\ (»ne hundi-cd and nnu-t\- nnks along the- rix'cr to the place tlie Ivu-^Kin- i-all Kii-hkni-ki I 'o^t. cIoqc tr. tlie frontier (ff .Xii^liani-t an. a ^i]i>rl di^iancr fr* mi Kushk it-clf and (inl)- eight}- miles from lluiaL.^ d'hr Kn-Han- k fra\rl b\ n haxinL:- cwv i.ren granted t<* a Inrri-iirr. M\ ..wn prrnii-M.M) f< .r LV-iitrai A>ia read. '* W'uh tlie ewrplion of the ^k.H"" lab Ih-nnch." 1 his line 1- piifelv -tralrgic auil militarw Xeitlier irar agriculture is ser\-e(l b\- it; iMr would an\l)oil\- e\er )U\- a ticket »e l)et( t!"e ]< )ng. by it, if it were oprn to all the world, as it ma\ Moreover, it runs through such a fe\er haunted district that Rus- sian carpenters, who can earn two rouble^ a da\- on it. throw up the job and go back to earn tifty kopeck.s at home. Idie line is * '! This line has siiuH- been prolDnjjjrii a tt-w niik-s to Ciiaht-l Dokhteran, on the ver)- frontier, and a t)ranch is t)uildin- throti-h I'enideh to .Maruchak, where the Murghab River crosses the frontier. THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY 241 simplv a deliberate military measure against Great Britain. It serves at present only the purpose of facilitating the invasion of India, or rather of enal)ling Russia to squeeze England by pre- tending to ])repare the hrst steps of an invasion of India, when- ever such a i)retence may facilitate her diplomacy in Europe. In simple truth, it places Herat at her mercy. The ]\Ierv-Kushk line, 1 may add, is now completed, and two regular trains a week run over it, at the rate of something less than ten miles an hour, reaching the Afghan frontier terminus in eighteen hours. A Glass of Tea While the Train Stops. The count r\- on both sides of it is a desert, with tufts of hardy scrub. Wild pig al)oun(l, and ])heasants, of which this country is the original home. The fever I have spoken of attacks a man suddenly, the s])leen swells, he turns as yellow as in jaun- dice, becomes unconscious on the second day, and then recovers or dies. Those workinsf on the railwav sav that recovery de- pends upon whether there is a train immediately after the attack to take you to the hospital at Merv. If you have just missed the l)i- weekly train, you die. But the epidemic will doubtless '■' -HTi—'f^ .V-i'^if r ■>"» liJ .»i.'— ii C^Vi, > rt ah\a}s proihices ilhiess. Arnieinans, the pioneors of trade ni this part of the world, are tryino^ to open np tracie at Knshk Lost, hnt huherto with httle success. From the Russian post the Af,L;han frontier is visible, and the Russian sentries can be discerned with the naked eye. There is one line of them on the top rid^e of the hills, and an- other upon the slope beyond. I>eyond these are the Afghan posts. Kushkinski Lost itself consists of about a score of houses, with something like fifty white inhal)itants. apart from soldiers. There are no white women in the settlement, and nothing like a hotel. The ofhcers have established a little military club, where they take their meals. During the great heat of summer, ice, or rather snow, is brought regularly by train. At first the only fortification, I was told, consisted of a series of detached ram- parts, within which the artillery was c|uartere(l. The infantry and Cossack barracks, and the ofhcers' (piarters — little grey one- story houses—are in the town. A temporary line of rails, how- ever, had been laid down from the main line to convey material for building a second fort, on the right of the terminus, and two hundred labourers had been brought— which meant that the o-ar- rison was to be increased. There is also a considerable railway workshop, and a depot, where presumably rails, etc., are kept in readiness for a hasty i)rolongation of the line — precisely as is the case at our own terminus on the Indian frontier. I read, by the way, in a recent work, that the relations of the Russians and the Afghans are very friendly. The contrary is the case. Russians described the Afghans to me as '* verv dano-erous '* and told me that it had hap])ene(l more than once that Russian offtcers out shooting had accidentally crossed the boundary and been pursued by armed Afghans. The Afghan posts let nobody pass, and no trade, and there is no custom-house of any kind. THL TRANS-CASLIAN RAILWAY '^43 Altogether, this particular Russian outpost of Empire must be about as disagreeable a place of exile as can be imagined — which is precisely what officers who have been stationed there say about it. Of course, I did not myself see any of the things I have men- tioned, but they were matters of common conversation with my acquaintances in the train. Most interesting of all, however, as one stands here on the edge of the platform and looks down the few hundred yards of this mys- terious Merv-Kushk line visible in the dark, is to reflect that if the future brings war betw-een England and Russia its roaring tide will flow over these very rails for the invasion of India, and that if it brings peace this will be a station on the through line be- tween Calais and Kandahar. Some day surely, though it may be long, long hence, and only when tens of thousands of Rus- sian and British soldier-ghosts are wandering through the shades of Walhalla, the traveller from London will hear on this very plat- form the cry, " Change here for Calcutta! " For some time after Merv the train passes through this world- famed oasis, then for more than fifty miles it traverses the heart- breaking desert of sand. Central Asia, in fact, as one views it from the train, is a desert broken by oases. Where a river de- scends from the mountains on the south, and is caught and meas- ured and allotted and distributed till it sometimes disappears al- together in the sands, there is fertility — luxurious vegetations and enormous crops, such fertility, indeed, as hardly exists else- where. The moment the irrigated area is passed, the burnt desert begins again, where nothing grows but stunted tamarisk and the prickly camel's thorn — indeed, for hour after hour one often sees not even these poor struggles after plant life. Here, on either side, as far as the eye reaches, is a yellow plain of ribbed sand. The earth has surely nothing more dreary to show, and it is dangerous, too, for the wind Idows it up and over the track, 244 ALL 11 II. RUSSIAS f pi, it THE TRANS-CASFIAN RAILWAY 245 ! and at the l)est, conipanics of men niii>t -weep it awaw while at the worst it chokes the locomotive aii.l l.riiii4> the train to a stand- stilL Sometimes the wliole service of the i-aihva\- i> suspended by such a wind The only help is Unuul in the saxaul, a stuiued, gnarled hush whose twisted roots hind the sand together as osiers bind mud. This bcini,^ so, 1 was astomshed to see that the 1 A Mystery in irini-Cispia TurkMnnn^ Pxaminin-- the Train. n,'ap- (.1 [angled saxaul roots fuel in the stoves of tlie trnin \\a^ and branches. By and by vegetation begins again^-timidlv at first, but soon luxuriously, for we are on the edge of the most wonderful river in the world, not excepting the Nile. At the station which now bears the name of the river. Amu Darya, but used to be called Charjui, one hundred and hfty miles beyond Merv, we halt for twenty-five minutes, and then creep forward at a snail's pace. At first by close-packed muddiouses, deep in tropical vegeta- tion, then out upon a wooden bridge over long mud Hats, then, barely moving at all, over the Amu Darya— the mighty and im- mortal Oxus itself. The bridge is a narrow, low way, upon tres- tles and piles, l)ut it is one of the engineering wotiders of the world, for it is a mile and three-ciuarters long, the river runs fast over its deep mud, and every balk of timber — there are 3,300 piles in the river-bed alone — had to be brought from Russia down the Volga and then transported these seven hundred miles bv rail. It is as dry as tinder, for rain is almost unknown here. Every quarter of a mile there is a tire station, with a great cis- tern of water and buckets, over which stands a sentry with lixed bayonet. Fire is the nightmare of the guardians of the bridge, but though I am not of a nervous temperament I must confess I was much more afraid of water — the dashing, swirling, coffee- coloured water below, between us and which was such a narrow, slender support of twelve-years' old wood, every single tin]l)er creaking again-t it- iieiglihonr in a upport of tu'elve-years' old wood., every single tinilier creaknig against its neighbour in a liould not hdvc been snr|)ri-cd \i the wliole tiling iiad eo]lap-ed in an in-tant. and I \\;i- glad to '^ce the ^(Aul gri:)nnd underneath once more. The authorities seem to share tin- kar, [mt niir ian official pockia jn>t now tliey are worknig with utmost speed upon a new bridge a quarter of a mile to the north. A number oi Imge iron cylindrical piers are in place, a dozen engines are pnfhng. huge heaps of dressed stones and timbers lie al)0ut, and an army of men is at w'ork. I saw this scene for the first time at sunrise, and I count that among the most impressive moments of my life. Idiese waters rise mysteriously in the " Roof of the World"; for 1.500 miles thev roll throucrh the land w^hich has been the scene of the most marvellous human episodes; they were looked upon 1)y the first of mankind, for the cradle of our race was there, and they have qualified the schemes of many of the greatest; the legions of Al- exander and Genghiz Khan and Tamerlane drank at them; w^e hear of them at the beginning of Genesis, and they may well yet n Ci.4.6 ALL THi: RUSSL^S [i. 1:^ i.? be one of the pathways of the last great war of human history. The railway jars sadly iii)on one's thoughts of such a ^cene. One feels vulgar to pass through the lieart of Asia, the mother of peo- ples, to the accompaniment of the restaurant-car and the conduc- tor's whistle. The Turkoman, silent in his dignity, wrapped in reserve as in his flowing garments, looking upon the invading stranger and his iron modernities with inscrutable eves— it is with him, and like him, that one would wish to journey here, and learn and wonder. Most welcome, therefore, comes the recollection of Matthew Arnold's noble lines upon these immemorial waters: But the majestic river floated on, Out of the mist and hum of that low land, Into the frosty starlight, and there moved, Rejoicing, through the hush'd Chorasmian waste, Under the solitary moon ;— he tlow'd Right for the polar star, past Orgunjt- * Brimming, and bright, and large ; then sands begin To hem his watery march, and dam his streams, And split his currents ; that for many a league The shorn and parcell'd Oxus strains along Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles— Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had In his high mountain-cradle in Pamere. A foil'd circuitous wanderer— till at last The long'd-for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed stars Emerge, and shine upon the Aral Sea. f By breakfast time we are running amid houses and fields and trees, with dignified Bokharans on horseback everywhere in sight. And now the great names of Asia follow fast. Seventy miles be- yond the Oxus, and seven hundred and eighty altogether, bring us to Bokhara. A neat, stone-built station like Merv. but larger, a long row of droschkies outside, and a little town of new white houses— that is all the passing traveller sees. The old Bokhara, ♦ Khiva. t " Sohrab and Rustum. " THE TRANS-CASPL^N RAILWAY 247 '' the noble," the seat of the learning of Asia nearly a thousand years ago, and always the home of its most savage bigotry, the citv witli a connected history of more than twelve hundred years, is eight miles away in the fertile land, while the station itself is in th^^e desert. When they brought the railway the Russians were still afraid of the fanatical Bokharans; now they wish they had run their line past the very gates of the city. On the platform a native barber is rapidly shaving heads with a huge hatchet- shaped razor. A woman completely hidden in a dark blue gar- ment sits with her face to the wall, while her husband arranges cushions and washes grapes, and then they proceed to a breakfast of fruit and flapjacks. The Turkoman head-dress of shaggy sheepskin has wholly disappeared, and in place of it there are big burly Bokharans in enormous white turbans and khalats of flowered and striped cotton over their tunics, their feet in elegant green-heeled morocco boots, and these tucked into a couple of pairs of slippers, one over the other. They crowd into the train the moment it stops, mostly into the second-class (remember there is no first-class), and make themselves very much at home. All their belongings come in with them, packed— including, in every case, a long-necked copper water-bottle — in a pair of car- pet saddle-bags slung over their shoulder. The native passen- gers leave the train, and, squatting down a few yards beyond the track, perform their ceremonial ablutions and pray toward Mecca. Then they go over to the melon-sellers and return with an enor- mous water-melon to make a piccaninny gape with envy, and this they proceed to eat in the carriage. These people have never been crushed like the Turkomans; their independence is still nominally preserved to them, for their own Amir can have their throats cut in the bazaar at his pleasure, and their looks and actions are therefore those of free men. They behave, in fact, as if the train belonged to them, and the unfortunate foreigner is crushed in his corner— if he has been lucky enough to keep a corner — by mere weight of humanity. 248 ALL THE RUSSIAS The flocks of sheep and goats are tlie most striking feature of the landscape as we proceed, and among the hitter are huge billy-goats, as big as a pony and twice as thick, with horns a yard long tossing over them. Then come thehrst really cultivated fields we have seen, surrounded by low mud walls, some under water and all cleverly irrigated, with winter rice or corn just coming up. After a while the water-supply stops — not a l)lade can be grown in this country without irrigation, therefore the water-supply is subject to the most rigorous supervision and scrupulous distribution, what Matthew Arnold calls '* the shorn and parcell'd Oxus," in a line as remarkal)le for its exact accu- racy as for its perfect music — the desert regains its sway, and for hours we pass over an absolutely flat plain, unbroken at an horizon, without a living thing upon it but tufts of coarse grass a few inches high. Then gradually signs of the neighbourhood of a river reappear, willows and alders and big trees like maples, irrigation channels, planted fields, winter crops just green above the surface. Ruined strongholds, similar to those one sees in the Balkans, where a whole village had to be ready to run for safety against Turkish marauders, tell their own tale of the rich life hereabouts and the state of society in years long past. Some of these little castles are now inhabited by villagers, and some are in almost perfect preservation, walls, gates, towers, cren- elated battlements and all. At half-past seven, nine hours after leaving Bokhara, and 934 miles from the Caspian, the train stops, and opposite my window is the magic name ** Samarkand," red- olent of the East and its roses, the city which Tamerlane made the Asiatic Athens, alike for the renown of its learning and the magnificence of its monuments. A glimpse of a wooden town in a park of verdure, a twenty minutes' halt, a capital meal in the restaurant, and we are off again. Of course, I lingered in these famous cities on my return— now I go straight through. Five hours later we are at the junction of Chernayevo, where the line divides, one branch going northward to Tashkent, the THE TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY 249 other continuing eastward to Andijan, in the heart of the cot- ton country. At last, sixty-six hours and 1,153 miles from Krasnovodsk, the train stops for good, in the heart of Asia, at the large, handsome station of Tashkent, the administrative cen- tre of Turkestan and the residence of the Governor-General of the whole Trans-Caspian region. The following condensed time-table will show the reader this jo,,rney-the most remarkable train-journey in the world-at a glance: HOUR OF ARRIVAU „„.s. -"-- (departure) 3.°o P-M. Krasnovodsk ^ ^ ^ 2.36 A.M. 208 Kizil-Arvat . . . ^r .... 9-45 A.M. 343 Askhabad ^_^p_^^_ 556 Merv..... ;;_ _ ^„^^,p.„. C74 Bairam-Ali ^ » ,, ^' _, . .. C.07 A.M. 706 Amu-Uarya (Charjui) ^ ' 10.04 A.M. 78° '^ol^hara _^,_ 886 Katti-Kurgan ^ ^^ ^ ^_ 934 Samarkand ,,.40 P.M. '°°5 Jisak 2.55A,M. ,059 Chernayevo " ^^^^^^_ 1153 Tashkent (departure) 400 a.m. ,059 Chernayevo ( ^^^^_^^_ no8 Khodjent ,0.55 A.M. ,,77 Kokand ^^^p^^_ ,226 Margelan ••• ^^p^^_ 1261 Andijan The principal stations are thus sixteen, but the total num- ber of stations is ninety-six-seventy-seven to the junction of Chernayevo five to Tashkent on the northern branch, and four- teen to Andijan on the eastern branch. The total length of the railway, including both branches, is 2,053 versts— 1.35.S miles and the average speed, from Krasnovodsk, the startmg-po.nt on the Caspian, to Tashkent, the northern terminus, including all stoppages, is seventeen and one-half miles an hour. But ex- *} » i i i! *'i I^O ALL THK RUSSL4.S eluding the eight schechiled slops, amounting to two hours and twenty-five minutes, and allowing three nnnutes at each of the other 'stations, the actual average speed while running work, out at over twenty nnles an hour— a highly credital)le i)erformance and much superior to that of the 'rrans-Sil)erian Railwav. Merely as a railway the Trans-Caspian is in no way exiraor- dinarv. Except for the absence of lal)our, timber, and water, which necessitated a rolling camp following upon the heels of the working party, and the passage of the sand desert, it pre- Bri':ui-v'!k""^ nt a *=:«;iti<-Mi. sented no diHicuhic-. aii^l the .:)iily cn-iiu'cring cxploii i- tlie bridge nver the Oxus. lUii. a^ I >aid :i\ the beginning. \hc :\>- toundmg fact is that h is here at all. It wa. l)egun on June 30, i88v. Merv wa> reached in 1uly. 1886: the Amu-Darva. ni June, 1887; the bridge, 4,f)00 yards long, was opened for t rathe in January. 1888; Samarkand reached in May, 1888: and Tash- kent soon afterward. Thus twenty ye:irs ago it was not thcnight of as it exists to-day; the notion of it was even strenuously repu- diated by Russian statesmen when ITigland grew nervous al)out their intentions. Twentv-hve years ago Samarkand and Tash- > .1 ^ fl "' I'll I 1 rt THK TRANS-CASPIAN RAILWAY 253 kent were onlv to be reached by adventurous travellers carry- in., their lives in their hands; Bokhara was as dangerous and as inaccessil,le as the capital of Thibet is to-day; And.jan was un- hear.l of- En-lan r. ago utter barbarism reigned. The military advantages it confer are too <^reat and too conspicuous to call for mention It is a dar- g rnterprise. magnificently executed. Physical dithculties and diplomatic obstacles have been alike overcome or disregarded^ Moreover, it is but the beginning of what is to be m this par f the world. No thoughtful foreigner can make the journey w.th- ut conceiving a profound admiration of Russia's courage an a profound respect for her powers. Russians have eve r^gh to be proud of their Trans-Caspian conquest and its s>mbol the railway; for the rest of the world it is half-a-dozen object- lessons in one. ! 'I !i m t. i': ' ,♦ t *;r- * ft- . T -_*.^.»— ^A.i^-= CHAPTER XVII 11 RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN CENTRAL ASIA THE railway which Russia has pushed forward through the region of tropic heat, has worked a revolution not less than that which she has thrust across the region of Arctic cold. Indeed the Trans-Caspian Railway has accomplished more than the Trans-Siberian, for whereas the remotest districts of Siberia have been accessible for generations to anybody who had time and endurance enough to undertake a journey of many weeks in tarantass or sleigh, Central Asia a few years ago was hermetically sealed except to the courageous few who, knowing the languages, were prepared to penetrate it in disguise, at the risk of torture and death, beyond the reach of any possible succour or rescue in case of mishap. Moreover, in Siberia, there was always river transport in summer, slow, but cheap and safe; in Central Asia the camel was the only carrier. Therefore the Trans-Caspian railway was destined l)y nature to have a revolutionary effect, and this has been even more than was foreseen. Not to burden these pages with figures, I may say that in 1885, two years be- fore the railway reached Samarkand, the total imports and exports of the province of Turkestan amounted to 40475 ^^^^^r while in 1896, after the railway had been in operation eight years, they had risen to 159^229 tons, and the increase is pro- ceeding rapidly and steadily. In 1897, the district of Andijan alone exported 19,000 tons of cotton, and along the eastern portion of the line I saw acres and acres of bales awaiting ship- ment, w^hile everyw^here } heard complaints of the insufficiency of rolling stock to meet the demands of growers. Yet the Ime itself is laid as in Russia, except for the first hundred miles, RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN CENTRAL ASIA ^55 where the rails are the old Hght ones originally laid to Uzun- Ada- the roadway is solidly ballasted; and the speed, as 1 have' shown. ,s good. The mcome from freight and passengers is not vet enough, of course, to pay interest on the whole capital 'expenditure, but it more than pays all workmg ex- penses and for the rest Russia has the enormous strategical advantages it gives her, and the certainty that the Pecumary re^ turns will be greater every year. The gross receipts for 1899 were fjgc^say $3,ooo-per mile, and the total movement of '"'RusfatTot'srtisiied. however, with the brilliat^t results she has achieved-British trade, once so flourishing, ^-en from Cen- tral Asia; a great domestic trade created; Trans-Casp.a, Bokhara. Turkestan closely connected with European Russia; a railway station placed upon the Afghan frontier; and the rich province of Khorassan as good as annexed. As usual, it is a supposed strategic necessity that is urging her on. At present, ,n tne eyes of he; strategists, the Trans-Caspian is an isolated railway. It depends upon the military district of the Caucasus alone. If a Russian army is ever required in Central Asia-a possibility which every Russian strategist feels compelled to contemplate--it wi 1 be a great one, it will demand vast quantities of supplies behind it. and both men and materiel will be wanted quickly. Taking Mos- cow or Warsaw as the military centre of Russia, this movement would have to take place, as things are now, by the rail route of Rostof. Vladikavkaz, Petrofsk, Baku, thence across the Cas- pian, and another seven or eight hundred miles to where the troops were wanted-a long and costly journey, and withou sufficient steamer accommodation on the Caspian Sea. By rail to Samara or Saratof, and thence down the Volga and across the Caspian to Baku, would be even longer in point of fme. Why does Russia think her troops must be mor€ quickly moved than either of these two routes would allow? She knows that she was no invasion from India to fear, and that, whether her forces were II 256 ALL THE RUSSL^iS :i I'M Ul. i gathered quickly or slowly, they would find the same military concentration awaiting them on the Indian frontier or in Afghan- istan. The explanation is simple, and has recently been put forward in an almost semi-official manner in Russia.* It is an absolutely determined part of her policy to have an outlet on the Persian Gulf to carry her southwestern frontier to the warm water.f With her present railway system, however, she does not feel strong enough to meet the opposition that this stej:) — practically the annexation of Persia— might provoke. The definite project • See T/ie Shortest Railway Route from Central Europe to Central Asia (St. Peters- burg, 1899) and R. E. C. Long, " Russian Railway Policy in Asia," Fortnightly Re- view, December, 1899. t It may be remarked that Russian writers have ])een for some time urging upon the Russian Government the necessity of pushing a railway to the Indian Ocean with- out delay. For instance, Professor Hermann P.runnhofer. of St. Petersburg, m a volume of essays called "Russia's Hand over Asia," published three years ago, advocated the seizure of the little Persian seaport of Pender Jesseh, near Ormuz, as an offset to the expected British occupation of P.ender Abbas. He wrote: " Bender Jesseh is, so to speak, the Russian Vladivostok on the Indian Ocean. If Western Siberia and Central Asia are not to be excluded from the great trade of the world in future, they must endeavour to come into direct communication with the Indian Ocean. Gigantic as the advantages are which the Siberian Railway will confer on the Russian P:mpire, it will in the future not be able to meet the still more gigantic demands which will be made upon it by international traffic, the produce of Russo- Siberian and Chinese soil, the industries, and the civil and military administrations. A second Pacific railway through Siberia, analogous to the three Pacific railways running through North America, is absolutely impossible. If Russia, therefore, wishes to, and will, safeguard the future, the centre of her Empire— viz., Western Siberia and Central Asia— she must, in the first instance, keep open the access to the Indian Ocean. The railway to Pender Jesseh will probably start from Askhabad, south-east, via Kotchan, to Meshed and Herat; then curve westward to Pirjand, cross the terrible Lut Desert, and reach Kerman. From here it will run to Pender Jesseh, after overcoming considerable difficulties. The harbour of this commercial town is good, and only open to south-east winds. The anchorage is five metres deep at one and one-half kilometres distance from the shore, and eight metres deep at three kilometres distance. Pender Jesseh is connected by a regular weekly steamship service with Kurachi and Bombay on the east, and with Pushire and Busra on the west." This railway, he added, would have its greatest value in rendering Russia "entirely independent of the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal." And in this connec- tion it is a curious fact that Suez Canal shares fell when the concession for the Baghdad railway was announced. RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN CENTRAL ASIA 257 of such a raihvav would (unless a preliminary agreement had been reached), precipitate hostile action by England: it would m all probability cause a Mohammedan rising; like the Trans-Cas- pian the railway would be isolated from Europe, and moreoyer it would be open to military attack from Egypt and India. Most important consideration of all, Germany stands possessed de jure of the right of which Russia is hurrying to become possessed de facto, namely, to build a railway connecting the present Eu- ropean system with the Persian Gulf. Russia's fear is mtense, therefore, that Germany, or England and Germany m co-opera- tion, will create direct transit between Europe and India, and will do this before she herself is in a position either to prevent it or to offer an alternatiye. For the Russian view is that the trade of the world is insufficient to support two railway connections be- tween Europe and India, and that therefore whenever one such connection is made, any other becomes impossible. And this connection Russia has always been determined to have for her- self The answer to the above question, therefore, is this: Rus- sia is extremely anxious to extend her railway system in Central Asia, (I) to bring her military centres into direct connection with the Afghan and Persian frontiers, in view of possible hostilities with England; (2) to secure for herself the future railway trade- route between Europe and India, by offering a shorter and cheaper line before the alternative route via Baghdad is con- structed; (3) by thus rendering the construction of this latter railway an unprofitable undertaking, to remove the one fatal obstacle to an ultimate port for herself upon the Persian Gulf; (4) to develop further her own Central Asian territories. From a Russian point of view the reasons are certainly convincing. The German project is so important, in itself, as afifecting the future of Russia in Central Asia, and as possibly compromising gravely the relations between the two Empires, that all students of foreign affairs are watching its development with great atten- tion and I may pause a moment here to give a brief account of it. i |l \ i »i 2S8 ALL THI, UrSSlAS hi I From the time of the Armenian massacres, when Germany so conspicuously declined to join in any coercive measures, tlie relations of the Kaiser and the Sultan have grown steadily more intimate, as exhibited during the war with Greece, and in the former's triumphal visits to Constantinople and Jerusalem. The climax— assuredly foreseen and planned— came in the signature, in December, 1899, of the concession to a German company of the right to build a railway across Asia Minor to Baghdad, with an obvious ultimate terminus in the great harl)()ur of Koweit. at the head of the Persian Gulf. The Russian Amba>sa(l()r had moved heaven and earth to prevent this concession being given to Germany, and a British syndicate had even offered to con- struct the line without any State guarantee at all. But so power- ful was the combination of Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, the German Ambassador in Constantinople, and I3r. von Siemens, the director of the Deutsche Bank, that they not only obtained the concession but also in it an undertaking from the l^u'kish Government to pay to the Company a kilometrical guarantee or subsidy of £1,000 per mile per annum— that is, a yearly payment in all of £240,000 — $1,200,000! This is the most striking diplo- matic success of modern times, and the rebuff to Russia is, of course, proportionate to the triumph of Germany. I say nothing of the rebuff to England; the conduct of our foreign affairs of late has accustomed us to rebuffs. But it is worthy of remark that the final struggle for this great concession was taking place in Constantinople at the precise time when the Kaiser was in England and when the hrst startling disaster of the Boer \\ ar had just occurred. The proposed railway is an extension of the line rapidly built and well worked by Germany, from Ilaidar-Pasha, on the Bosphorus (where a German cotnpany has just been formed, with the Sultan's approval, to develop a harbour), 7'ia Lsmid, Eskishehr, and Afum kara-hissar, to Konia. The new line will proceed southward to Kerman, at the foot of the Taurus Mountains, then RUSSIAN EXPANSION EN CENTRAE ASIA 259 sku-i thi^ range northeastward to Eregli, cross it by the famous pass to Adana (whence there is already a short English line to the Mediterranean), and proceed to Tell-ha-besh (with a branch to Aleppo), bridging the Euphrates at Europus, and via Mosul (near Xhieveh), Tekrit, and Beled (with a branch to Khannikin, on the Persian frontier, whence a line might profitably be run via Kermanshahan, Aamadan, and Kum, to Tehran) to Baghdad. Thence the line will continue z'ia Kerbela, Nedjef, and Busra, to Kozima, at the head of the magnificent harbour of Koweit, where there is to be a German naval coaling-station— four days' steam from Bombay! To bring this railway into connection with Eu- r()i)ean lines the Bosphorus is to be si)anned by a bridge grate- fully named after the present Sultan, and a recent well-informed anonymous writer calculates that Kozima will be reached in three and a half days from Constantinople, and ten days from Berlin. The length of the new railway will be 1,750 mi^^s, and accord- ing to the concession it is to be finished by 1907. But although the concession was signed two years ago, the first shovelful of earth has yet to be lifted— and for the very good reason that Turkey is utterly unable to pay the guarantee she has promised unless she is permitted by the Powers to increase her import duties from eight to eleven per cent., w^hich, backed of course by Germany, she is now desirous of doing. But England has the prci)on(lerant share of Turkish trade, and therefore for her to consent to burden her trade in order that Germany may build a railwav to rob her (^f an important trade-route is, as has been said, like asking her to contribute to the cost of the razor for cutting her own throat. The harbour of Kow^eit has just enjoyed a period of con- siderable diplomatic and naval prominence, unquestionably in connection with the development of the German scheme. In January, 1900, it was visited by a German mission, accompanied by the German Consul-General in Constantinople and several engineers, including the chief engineer of the Baghdad Rail- i I ALL THK RUSSL\S m 260 This mission rcquestcl the Shokh of Koweit. Mubarek n.any the v.llage of Ka.h.e. on the northern .h, r^ o th K ,,e,t inlet The Sheikh dedine.l to do so. Next a Itirk.s „■.,< rotlected at Rnsra, where Izzet Be%. force of 3.000 -- ;;-^;f^t., ,,,,„,,, ,„on Arah.an af- said to he one of the bultan . l f.irs h-i;>- ^J^^ J ;;,,.,. E,.i. of to smash ^l"^-;Vr "/'.''' --'-' ^--'^ ''' Nejd. having faded. 5t,t XNhen the ,„„,„,,„aer of found a British RtndH,at alrea.ly there, the o ..h.ch prolnlnted her from land.n, troops, and ' -'^ - force was promptly concentrated m the C.ulf. In mc v ot e aion of Turle; and Ciern.any one nee.l not be unduly sus- pcCtr suppose that if the Snltan had succeeded m occupy- . ;Kowe.t, It's cess,on to Germany would have '>- t e nex steo Those who have a taste for such thmgs w,ll greatly en ;«; the loUowing comment of the K^ln.sC. ZcHun, upon the ""'Tn the political sphere the Kowe.t c.uest.on threatens to assume a certain importance. It is naturally not n. the mter^ es Tf Turkev, nor in that of those who wUl budd an<, work he ra.lwav, that the ternnnus. the excellent harbour of KoweU, o the shores of winch Ko.ima Hes. should be ahenate from L ,mme> Ekaterinoslav. SEA ^Tashkent. K,4.^ MONGOLIA oYarkand o - • • • • ^Koka» fMm ish % lelan - Odessi ^^ >OvBokhai Khiva ^<^ iFTlU fvW«fiS/£ ,6^ ffCustend/e ^Pot} ^ S "-^AS Samarkaad Darya Xhoj-jui) Termezi %u oTashkur^an ^s:^ . jlS* • • • » « « -.— ■ [lasnovodsk J ■J Askhabai Coi in lie \mid >m kairs> rreblzond 'O. Brusaljd An ira Af> ■..Tabrii ^ ^ V ResFTt ^abad iran «»< ^-^^y 'V .0 !ad \- h'r/ana\ Birjai E R s I A Isfahan >- ATCHANISTAN.^ \ ^ ••o^ -Nerv Chany^n Rawal Pindi Lahof •iEr r-^ ■ » »••* »**»» '' , Sim la [Urn I >l^n N D I Gr^^' -X .:/ 'fp AOf MEDITEBRANEAN QaL Ralm' o ^Yezd Ht^ [Da/nascus Jafifh f\.Jtr\isa\em Ca\rl EGYPT 1^ fcb ARAB I A , -i^l Ex/stin^ Railways ^ — » ' Proposed f^ -•...-^ Under construction :s = rr = ^^^^ Telegraph, thus ,^.^%istan^-.B^lUCH\Stm\ Bender {Abbas Jeysuimerel iidaraba( S> 5) '^- Muskai ^ M A N An A SEA %i^^i RAILWAY EXPANSION IN CENTRAL ASIA. RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN CENTRAL ASIA 261 It must be regarded as highly improbable that England means 10 alter this situation by violent means, and it is equally ini- I^robable that the Sultan of his own accord will divest himself of rights which are of great importance for Turkey and for the working of the contemplated great railway. In an epoch which has given birth to PanTslamism. a movement with manv promising aspects, the renunciation of the sovereignty of the Sultan over Mahomedan territory in Asia would be a step which would be entirely inconsistent." A blind man could read between the lines of this inspired utterance. The spectacle of Christian Germany invoking Pan- Islamism on behalf of her own political and commercial ambi- tions is both instructive and entertaining.* What is this railway to accomplish? - The German calcula- tion is, of course," says the anonymous writer I have already quoted, " not only that new trade will be developed, but that the course of present trade will be altered. It is expected that British vessels will cease to be the chief medium between Central Europe and the East. Passenger traffic with India is to be almost ab- sorbed by the Baghdad Railway, reached from London and Paris via Munich and Vienna." But far more than this, Asia Minor is to serve for the overflow population of the Fatherland; its grain is to render Germany independent of the United States and Rus- sia; Mesopotamia, irrigated anew, is to overflow with agricultural wealth; tobacco, silk, oil, petroleum, are to be produced lavishly; and a German fleet, at a naval base four days from Bombay, with a railway to Germany behind it. is to alter the balance of power m Asia Ml discussion of these as since (December, '90') happened at Koweit A Turkish official from Busra visited Koweit and hoisted the Turk.sh flag the e whereupon the commander of a British gunboat hauled ,t down and ho.s.ed Mubarek's own flag. The Porte has repudiated its official's action and assured Eng- land hat t has no desire to disturb the ././». ,uo. The French and Russ.an press is angr)-, but the Russian Government has privately disavowed any aggressive mten- tion in that part of the world. f t\ M a62 ALL IHK RUSSIAS knowledge of ancient economic history, is sufficient to show them plainly. This, then, is the very serious rivalry which Russia has now to face in her cherished policy. It is not surprising that she is genuinely alarmed. Two years ago (November, 1899) the Riisski Trudy a well-informed weekly, since suppressed, prophetically remarked: '' We have repeatedly urged that before great inter- ests have been developed in Persia the whole of this country must somehow or other be drawn into the sphere of Russian influence. What we can now attain without any sacrifices on our side, later on, when the auspicious moment will have passed, would require immense efforts in a struggle with Germany, which has for a long time past been aiming at the Persian Gulf." A month later, when the Turkish concession to (Germany was known, the Novoyc Vremya expatiated with alarm upon the '' terrible blow " which Germany would be able to deal to Russian trade, and upon the prospect of Russia having to fight in Persia '' not only against the British, but against a whole coalition of Western Commercial adventurers," while the Sz'ict saw ivussia face to face not with the Triple but with a Quadruple and even a Quintuple Alli- ance, formed by the adhesion of (ireat Britain and Turkey to Germany, Austria, and Italy. Now the Noroyc rrcmya an- nounces frankly that " before the (ierman Baghdad Railway has become an accomplished fact, Russia's railway projects in Persia will have been advanced to an important stage," and in its alarm even holds out a surprising olive-branch to Eng- land : " We cannot conceal from ourselves the fact that the Near Orient is of immense importance to us. It is absolutely indis- pensable to the final accomplishment of an historical task im- posed by Providence upon Russia. As England is perfectly well aware of this, she has swayed hither and thither, pro and con, in her dealings with Germany with regard to the latter's Baghdad Railway scheme. . . . Had England conferred one-half the RUSSIAN KXPANSKJN IN CENTRAL ASL'\ 26;^ favours upon this country which she has heaped upon her wily and ungrateful German neighbour, there would to-day exist a cordial and durable Anglo-Russian entente, if not, indeed, a complete and lasting Alliance." * I have already described briefly what Russia is doing in the matter of railway exi)ansion toward the Persian frontier, and what her further intentions are believed to l)e.f- In 1898 Count Vladimir Kapnist, cousin of the then Russian Ambassador in Vienna, applied on behalf of an international syn- dicate for a concession to construct a railway from Tripoli to Koweit, uniting the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf, with the double object of developing the marvellously rich country traversed by the Euphrates and the Tigris, and of reducing the journey from Brindisi to Bombay from thirteen days to eight.:}: In spite of very influential support, however, the scheme fell through. The claim that such a railway would have added enor- mously to the wealth of the world appears to be well-founded, * Under the circumstances this overture may be read with a smile in England, but for my own part I believe the assertion in the last paragraph (omitting the adjectives applied to Germany) to be unquestionably true. f See Chapter XIV., and also Chapter XXIV. X The following was the exact route laid down by the engineers to the syndicate. From Tripoli the line would follow the sea-coast as far as the Nahr-el-Kebir, and then up the course of that river over the lowest and easiest pass which could be found through the chain of mountains running parallel to the Syrian coast. The line would reach a summit level of about 2,000 feet above the sea between Tripoli and Homs, on a plateau of hard black basalt. Thence it would proceed to Homs, which is about 1,500 feet above the sea, and on through Palmyra, past numerous villages, to Rahaba, on the Euphrates, following, in the main, the present caravan route. The railway would go down the valley of the Euphrates as far as El Kaim, then over the plains to Hit. where it would cross the river and proceed to Iskanderieh, the junction for Bagh- dad and for Khannikin (on the Persian frontier), and to Kerbela and Nedjef, the famous shrines and burial-places of the Persian Mahomedans, on the south ; thence, m as nearly a straight line as possible, across the great alluvial plain between the two rivers to Kurna, where it would again cross the Euphrates and be continued to Busra, and thence across country to Koweit, on the Persian Gulf. — 7"-^^ Times, December 17, 1898. Another application for a similar railway concession, this time from Alex- andretta to Aleppo and thence to Hit and onward, is said {Daily Mail, April 27. 1899) to have been unsuccessfully made by Mr. Ernest Rechnitzer, a Hungarian banker resident in London, backed by English, German, and Belgian capital. ri] 4 I • « ^ r- *- ^. AM* - ,f -™it Jt ^ .-■*.*■»■>, ' 264 ALL THK RUSSIAS but as it would not have strengthened Germany or Russia to the exclusion of other nations it was doubtless wrecked by the opposition, or failed to succeed for lack of the official support, of one or both of these Powers. Russia has never turned aside from her " historical task," however. Her agents have worked with complete success in the Persian capital; a good road has been built by a group of Moscow merchants, heavily backed by Imperial subsidies, from Resht, on the Cas])ian, to Tehran; the Shah's '' Cossacks " are commanded by Russian of^cers and have recently been increased in number to 2,000; and parties of her surveyors have examined the railway routes to the Gulf. That her present aim is the incorporation of Persia in the Russian Empire admits of no doubt whatever; indeed it was recently openly avowed by the Chief Officer, a personage of princely rank, of the Grand Duke Alexander IMichaelovitch, of the battleship Rostislaz\ at a banquet in Odessa, who declared it to be just as certain that Persia would become Russian as that Manchuria had already done so.* All accounts, official and private, agree that Russia has been extremely active in Persia of late, and she has twice despatched to the Gulf ports a steamship named the Koniiloi\ carrying Rus- sian goods with which to open trade relations, and an investi- gating commission of twenty merchants, and is also stated to have sent a lighter draught vessel, the Azov, to enable her admiralty hydrographers to take soundings of important points. Her newspapers declare that her forward policy in Persia is due to the British preparations for a railway from Quetta to Siestan, and ultimately to Busra— " another base from which she may attack us in Central Asia " !— but, as a matter of plain fact, no direct evidence of Russian aims in this direction need be adduced. Her determination to construct such a railway as is here described follows naturally and logically from her political, geographical, and commercial conditions, and would * See The Standard, July 22, 1901. }■ ■* t • - , /■' * ■■ *t -t d '*•'"*' '' '" RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN CKNTRAL ASIA 265 similarly follow in the case of any other nation so situated. It would be of such enormous value to her, from every point of view, that her statesmen would be poor in patriotism indeed, if they did not make every conceivable effort to secure it.* Other nations, however, may be equally interested to prevent it, but this aspect of the situation is apart from the matter in hand, and I shall return to it later, in connection with the political relations of Russia with her neighbours, great and small. f This somewhat lengthy digression has been intended to show what reasons Russia has, or thinks she has, for linking her Euro- pean railway system without delay to her Trans-Caspian Railway. I return now to Central Asia, with the reflection, to begin with, that the position of this link must chiefly depend upon its im- mediate object. For one of two practical considerations would be decisive; the route would be selected either for its strategical value and to form ultimately the connection with India, or else primarily for the development of new territory. If the former, then the shortest and most direct route would undoubtedly have been from Saratof, on the Volga, to the little town of Alexandrof- gai, one hundred and forty miles to the southeast (the two are alreadv connected by a narrow-gauge railway), bending round the north of the Caspian and the south of the Aral Sea, and running straight by Khiva to the station of Amu-Darya (Charjui) on the main line of the Trans-Caspian Railway. This railway would have the disadvantage of passing through comparatively poor territory, but it would be almost a straight line from IMoscow to Amu- Darya, and, via Merv and Kushk Post, would place the head- quarters of the Russian army within literally a few days of its * "That Russia seriously contemplates such an adventure I do not for a moment believe." Sir Lepel Griffin, quoted by Mr. P. H. Oakley Williams, m ihe Pall Mall Gazette, February 19, 1900. t See Chapter XXIV. * 'ii . (J 111 1 1; • ^'1 it i i 1 f t*-lMw.^V»'<« I. '.^'^t^' , ^1^-^%-* « •^tt •» ». * * • » - . 266 ALL THE RUSSL^S military objective, whether this were Afghanistan, Persia, or Chi- nese Turkestan. The distance from Alexandrof-gai to Amu- Darya station would be 1,128 miles, and the cost of laying this line, which would meet with no engmeering dihiculty of any im- portance, is estimated at £9,500,000 — $46,300,000 — including an iron bridge over the Volga at Saratof, and the widening of the Hne from Saratof to Alexandrof-gai. When it was completed, the distance from Moscow to Merv, which latter we may take as a central point of concentration, would be 1,980 miles, and at an average speed of twenty miles an hour, Merv would be just four days distant from Moscow, and in less than another day the Afo'han frontier would be reached at Kushk Post. If strat- egical and rapid-transit interests were adjudged paramount, this seems obviously the line which should have been con- structed. Russian statesmen have been led by considerations of direct and strategical transit, rather than by commercial and agricultural potentialities, but they have not chosen this route. For reasons difficult to understand they have decided upon a railway from Orenburg to Tashkent. The Russki Invalid, which has just published an account of it, admits that it will traverse a large tract of sparsely populated and l)arren land. After leaving Oren- burg it will pass through Ilentsk and Aktiubinsk and strike the Syr Darya at Kazalinsk. It will then follow the course of the river to Tashkent, passing on the way the fort of Karmakchi, the town of Petrofsk, and the village of Julek. It will be a single line and have a length of about 1,150 miles. The build- ing of the railway is already in full swing; on the northern part, from Orenburg to Kazalinsk, the earth-works and the building of bridges are almost finished, and the laying of the rails will be commenced next spring; in the southern part the work is not so far advanced, but preparations are being made and ma- terials collected. It is expected that the railway will be opened on January i (14th), 1905, and it will then be possible to run RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN CENTRAL ASIA 267 trains from St. Petersburg and Moscow to Tashkent and the whole Trans-Caspian line. The estimated cost of the railway is 115 million roubles — £12,150,000, $58,175,000. When com- pleted, the journey will be: Moscow to Samara, 738 miles; Samara to Orenburg, 260 miles (railway trai^c has long existed to this point); Orenburg to Tashkent, 1,150 miles; and Tash- kent to Merv, by the existing line, 597 miles. Total: 2,745 miles, as against the 1,980 miles via Alexandrof-gai. Wlien I was in Tashkent I was told by the Director of the Topographical Bureau that this decision had been reached, and that the line would shortly be commenced, but after studying the alternative routes I thought that he must be mistaken, and I am still unable to find a reason for the choice that has been made. In each case over a thousand miles of new rails must be laid, no engineering dil^culties occur, and the country traversed is almost worthless for agricultural or commercial development. The one important difTerence is that by the Orenburg-Tashkent route the military centre of Russia in Europe is some seven hun- dred miles further from the military focus of Russia in Central Asia. The chief export of Central Asia to Russia is, and will be in a still greater degree, cotton. At present this goes to the mills of Moscow by the Trans-Caspian Railway, the Caspian Sea, and the Volga in summer, and the Russian railway system instead of the Volga in winter, the former rate being 1.08 rouble and the latter 1.30 rouble per poud. From the centre of the cotton dis- tricts of Fergana to Moscow is reckoned at 3,212 versts, and the freight of cotton at one-thirtieth of a kopeck per poud per verst, which works out at 1.07 rouble per poud * — practically the same cost as bv the existing railwav and the Volga in summer. Thus only in winter will the line to Orenburg be of service * The English or American reader who desires to translate these figures into the currency and quantities of his own country can do so by the equivalents given in the Appendix. I- 26 8 ALL THK RUSSLAS to the greatest export of the country, and tlien only, allcwing fully for all the disadvantages of the present route, l)y reducnig the total cost of cotton in Moscow by 3 per cent.*— a trifle, while on the imports of manufactured goods from Russia, costing much more and paying a higher freight than cotton, the percentage of advantage will be considerably less. A branch will doulnless be run from the nourishing little town of Orsk, 152 miles to the southeast of Orenburg, in the centre of a cattle-breedmg district, to Chelyabinsk, on the Siberian side of the Urals, the commence- ment, properly speaking, of the Trans-Siberian Railway. This will bring grain and iron to Trans-Caspia, and thus to some extent afford a commercial justification of the choice of route, but even here I cannot see that the advantage over the present line of transportation will be anything like great enough to lead us to believe that the interests of commerce dictated the choice of the new line. If commercial and agricultural development were really the paramount consideration, then beyond any (juestion a line con- necting Turkestan with Western Siberia would confer the great- est benefit. This would run from Tashkent, z'ia the town and Russian fort of Aulie-ata, one hundred and fifty-five miles to the northeast; Vernoye, the capital of the province of Semiryechensk, with a population of nearly 25,000; Kopal, one hundred and seventy miles further on; Sergiopol; Semipalatinsk, capital of the province of that name, on the Irtysh River, with a population of nearly 20,000; and thence to Omsk, the town probably destined to become the most important on the Trans-Siberian Railway. This railway would run. as shown, past large and growing towns, through districts with an industrious and prosj)erous population of nomads, through a fertile corn-growing country, where the best wheat to-day sells for eight kopeks the poud (twopence, or • For this calculation I am indebted to an essay by Mr. D. Zhoravko-Pokorski. a Russian merchant resident in Central Asia, and to the author himself for interesting information and some statistics given elsewhere. RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN CENTRAL ASIA 269 four cents, for thirty-six pounds) through a rich cattle-raising steppe, and past known deposits of both coal and gold. More- over, It would enormously increase the production of cotton in Turkestan, bv bringing cheap wheat into that country from Si- beria and thus allowing all the land now necessarily given to corn- growing to be devoted to the far more profitable cultivation of cotton. The reader who has followed this somewhat technical rail- way discussion will have gathered that Russia has two inter- twined aims and motives, that she is driving two politico-economic horses abreast, so to speak. She greatly desires to connect her European railwav svstem with the railways of British India, across Central Asia and Afghanistan. And she desires this for tw^o reasons: first, that she may enjoy the great advantages of the future ownership of the great international railway route to the East- and second, that by depriving any prospective railway to the Persian Gulf of much of its raison d'etre she may pre- vent it being built, and thus block the creation of what would undoubtedlv be an almost insuperable obstacle to her protectorate over Persia, and her own railway to the Persian Gulf. Ihis policv mav be thought to resemble Paul Morphy's announce- ment of mate in twenty-three moves, but Russian diplomacy is accustomed to look far ahead and to calculate with wide combinations, and when I say above that such is Russia s de- sire I mean that I know that the men who chiefly direct her policy have these particular aims in view and very much at heart Most readers will bv now have formulated an objection some- what in this shape: it is all very well for Russia to talk about join- ing her Central Asian railways to the Indian railways, and thus securing a great rapid-transit route from Europe to the richest East but what about Afghanistan and the Indian Government- a^^^j^-v., » ^T- ■ * "»-«rritoire Transcasi)ien," with headcjuarters at Askhabad. At the time of my visit this was I.t. -Colonel I^ogo- liubof, one of the most enlightened administrators it has been my good fortune to lueet. He is not only a soldier and a states- man, but a student; the j^ractical problems of his great province, 2~'2 ADMINISTRATION IN CENTRAL ASIA 273 its commerce, its ethnology, its arts, liave all been made by him the subjects of profound investigation, and he talks of them with rare knowledge and enthusiasm. Wdien I had the pleasure of visiting him he was busily engaged upon a great ethnological maj) of Trans-Caspia, the first that had ever been attempted, and I believe he will some day publish an epoch-making study of Turkoman art, particularly as exhibited in the products of Turkoman needlewomen. Trans-Caspia has an area of about 215,000 square miles and only about 360.000 inhabitants. Its scanty population cannot increase, because each Turkoman head of a family requires, to live with anything like comfort, ten camels, four to five horses, fifty sheep, and two cows, and to feed these, ten square versts are needed. Camels cannot be replaced by horses, for only camels and asses can eat the prickly '' camel's thorn " which is the sole fodder available during much of the year. The attempt to imi)rove the condition of Trans-Caspia is therefore a struggle between civilisation and this nomad life, and it is unlikely that civilisation will win. Civilisation has had, at any rate, one bad effect — it has killed the carpet. The carpet woven by Turkoman women in their moving tents, without any pattern to copy, the design being handed down in instinct and memory, was, both for design and workmanship, the finest thing of the kind in the world. Old specimens are now almost unprocurable and fetch huge prices, but the examples which may still be had are eagerly bought up. In fact, carpets furnish one of the chief topics of conversation among Russian of^cers and functionaries quartered in Trans- Caspia. Everybody collects them, and the discussions about price and quality, and the comparisons of ** finds " are endless. Carpets are peculiarly convenient to these nomads of civilisation, as they w^ere to the uncivilised nomads who originally made them, for as both soldiers and civilians may not be long in one place they seldom possess much furniture, since it could not be trans- it ji ii f I i \. 174 ALL TLIL RUSSIAS ported except at an expense which would ruin tlieni, whereas a few empty beer-boxes with carpets and cushions thrown over them, and a few carpets hung on the walls, give you a hue Eastern salon at once. Moreover, carpets can l)e easily taken home, and then if you wisli you can probably sell them for much more 'than you gave for them. There is unfortunately one draw- back — all modern carpets fade. The old carpet, however, is now perhaps the one relic left of a great bygone civilisation, for assuredly the Turk(^mans ni In the New Tashkent. their dirt and sciualor could not have invented ihc beautiful de- signs that their women made till receiuly. The |)attern> and the surroundings are in too great a contrast, d'he ditYerent great tribes of Turkomans— the Sariks, Saliks. and nearer the Caspian the Yumuds— are indistinguishal)le in their dress, their utensils, their habits, etc.; their carpets alone can serve to distinguish them. These are their passports— their visiting cards. Perhaps these very patterns were given them by Nebuchadnezzar! But aniline dyes and loom competition are killing these fast, and ADMINISTRATION IN CENTRAL ASIA 275 soon nothing except their old carpets will be left to tell of a mysterious civilisation of the far past. This whole region, as far as China, is the field of rectangular ornaments, and the details of these patterns recur in the most extraordinary fashion. A de- tail can be traced, for instance, through China, Afghanistan, Per- sia, and Galicia. In Trans-Caspia are two well-marked races, about whom we know almost everything — iu the north the Kirghiz, in the south the Russians. In the farthest south there are two or three tribes of Arabs and Jews, come nobody knows how or when. But the Turkomans are the great mystery, and it will only be from their carpets that the problem of their origin and movements will be solved at last. The magic carpet of Eastern fable, which transports its possessor in an instant to the other end of the earth, has its counterpart in the carpet which will carry the student round the Asian world in the track of its racial design. Xot only cannot the population of Trans-Caspia increase, but, so far as can be foreseen, its productivity is likely to decline. Cotton is its chief, indeed j)ractically its only important export. It formerly possessed the finest race of horses in the world, and the Turkoman, who lived by raiding, esteemed his steed far above all his other belongings, including his wife. But Russian rule has imposed peace upon him, and therefore the need of his horse, and his incentive to breed and cherish it, have gone. So, in spite of Imperial Commissions and the importation of Arab stallions, the fleet and tireless Turkoman horse, with his flashing eye and scarlet nostril, is extinct forever. And the production of cotton cannot increase without an increase of water for irri^a- tion, and instead of more there is growing steadily less. For the Kopet Dagh Mountains, which rise above Askhabad, and are the great source of water supply, are gradually wearing away. Ages ago there was eternal snow upon them; now they are nowhere more than 9,000 feet high. The explanation is that they are of clayey substance. In summer the great heat calcines this clay to 1^6 ALL THE RUSSIAS powder, then the rains come and wash it away. Hence the fecundating- power of the rivers, but hence also their ultimate disappearance. A g-eographical authority has said of this whole region that " both glaciers and rivers continue to lose volume; the lakes are shrinking and the extremes of temperature become more marked, while the sands of the desert are steadily encroach- ing on the cultivated zones." A well was recently sunk three miles from the mountains to a depth of seven hundred metres without striking water. The truth is that this water question. ,' '-- ■ , . \hJk i il t i 1^ A Cossack Pairol in Tashkent. vital to tlic prosperity and indeed to the existence ui 1 rans Cas|)ia, is in the last analyMS a political i^>ue — a pectiliarlv in- teresting example of the forces under! \ing di|)]()niacv and national ambitions. V(^x the water-ba^in of this ])art of d rans- Caspia is in Persia, and the Amir of Afghanistan controls, in the River Murghab. the water sup|)ly of the great Merv oasis and other districts. Therefore if these possessions of Russia are ever to regain their ancient wealth, when Merv, for instance, was reallv '' Queen of the World," Russia must rule in Persia ADMINISTRATION IN CENTRAL ASIA 277 and Afghanistan. Northern Persia — the province of Khorassan — is probably at her mercy, to seize whenever an opportunity or an excuse presents itself, but Afghanistan is cjuite another matter, for the Pritish fleet blocks the wa}- thither. Thus the cotton crop of Central Asia, and ])urchases for Russia on the markets of Richmond and Xew Orleans — for it is Russia's de- sire to grow all her own cotton and buy none abroad — depend at last u])on the number of ironclads that tiy the cross of St. George in the Channel and the 3^1editerranean. It is. I repeat, a peculiarly interesting example of the correlation of sea-power and political history, but it should not surprise the readers of Captain Mahan. The cities of Central Asia to-day are of two widely differing kinds — the old and the new, the world-famous towns of antiquity, whose proud and fanatical inhabitants have onlv been constrained for a few years to tolerate white men among them, and the brand-new settlements which Russia has built up for her admin- istrators, her soldiers, and her merchants. Each kind is the more interesting according to whether you look at it with the eve of the tra\-e]]er and ilie ethnologist, or from the point of \iew of tlie student of contcm|)orary expansion and ])o]itics. Krasno- vo(Pk I have sufticicnily described; Kizil Arwit i< nierelx- the ^ite of the railua}- \\ork.^liops, where a large ininiher o\ I\n.<-ian artisans are employed, whose pale wives and cliihh-en give |)ain- ful evidence of the unhealthiness of the place and climate; Merv is whollv a new citv, the old " Oueen of the World " beins^ noth- ing but a few splendid ruins some distance away, an important military centre where the prevalence of a particularly virulent fever has often suggested the desirability of abandoning the town altogether, and where a few miles to the east, the Tsar has an " appanage " which irrigation and skilful management are making with a most fertile and profitable estate; Askhabad, the 278 ALL THE RUSSL^S |( > military headquarters of Turkestan, on account of the proximity of the Persian frontier and the road to Meshed, is ahuost entirely a new town, where the central railway administration has a range of handsome stone-built othces. None of these calls for any special mention. In ordinary times the entire garrison of Central Asia is ])r(^ba- blv about 30,000 men, with headcjuarters at Askhal)ad, and the chief garrisons at Mcvv, Tashkent, Samarkand, and Andijan. At The B^.ys' College, Tashkent. the present moment this h,i;ure is doubtless largely exceeded. The civil administration, whicli, as everywhere in Russia, is elab- orate and highly manned, brings a population of its own, under a Governor-General of Turkestan at Tashkent, a Governor of the Trans-Caspian Territory at Askhabad, and Governors at Samar- kand and at Margelan, the administrative centre of Fergana. All the public offices are fine commodious buildings, the officials and their families live in much comfort, indeed, often in luxury, and the foreign shops in the chief towns are lar^e and wed stocked. ADMINISTRATION IN CENTRAL ASIA 279 There are admirable schools for Russian children, and many native schools for teaching Russian and elementary subjects. Two prisons I inspected, and that of Tashkent was, so far as I could see, excellent. The other, a mere guard-room in the cita- del of Andijan, was not creditable, for the twenty or thirty prisoners were crowded together in one apartment without dis- tinction of class or crime, the sanitary conditions were oiYensive, and there was no proper supervision. But Andijan is the latest and remotest Russian town, and doubtless a proper prison will be built before long. It was at the village of Mintiuba, close to Andijan, by the way, that an abortive little revolt broke out in 1898, suppressed with the usual thoroughness of the Russians in such matters, the village being wiped out, a col- ony of Russian emigrants planted on its site, eight leaders hanged together, and a large number deported to Siberia — ria Moscow ! One curious little fact about Trans-Caspia. by the way, de- serves mention. The Persians, of whom there is of course a large working and trading population, insist upon being paid with the Persian kraii. a small silver coin now worth 40 kopecks. The Ivussian authorities ha\-e recentl}- prohil)ited its importation, but with, the only effect, so far. of causing its price to ap- j)reciatc. The capital of Russian Central Asia — though no such nominal position exists — is undoubtedly Tashkent, '' the city of stone," at tlie northern terminus of the railway in Turkestan, and presently to be connected with Europe ria Oldenburg. Here the two kinds of city and the two races are best seen side l)y side. Tash- kent was for many generations, and perhaps still remains, the most important strategical focus of Central Asia. An interesting and significant incident is connected with its capture. The gallant ChernaiefY, advancing victorious from the north, attacked it in 1864, but was beaten back with heavy loss. Alexander II., averse to further slaughter in a cause whose importance he had not 28o ALL THK RUSSIAS realised. and perhaps fearini;" coniplicalions with Knoland, forbade him to make a second attempt. The outcome is a striking ex- ample of how Russian officials on remote frontiers drag Russian policy at their heels. Chernaieff appears to have known what was in the Tsar's despatches, so he attacked first, took the city by storm, and then opened his papers. The reply he sent, as given by Xey (((noted by Ross and Skrine), was this: " Your Majesty's order frobidding me to take l\'ishkent has reached me only in the city itself, which 1 have taken and place at your Maj- esty's feet." His career was ruined by this act, l)ut Ta.^hkem was promptly used as a base from which to subjugate Samarkand and liokhara. It is after Chernaieff that the junction of Cher- na\e\() is named. Tashkent is ])rob- ably to-da)- the larg- est town in Asiatic Russia, for in 1885 it w as noarh- as p( .p- nlous at Tith's. ]ia\- ing ijo.ooo inhabit- ant <, and covering an area of twelve sipiare miles. The tirst thing that strikes ytm as you drive from the station is the width of the streets, and the second the mud. The former are often hftv yards wide, and the latter is a foot deej). Through this wades and splashes an extraordinary procession of men and beasts — Tajiks, the chief race, of Persian descent, in turbans and multi- colored khalats, or loose-sleeved robes gathered at the waist with a sash, their material depending upon the wealth of the owner; Kirghiz in skins with the fur inside and tight-fitting caps; women in sad-toned garments and draped from crown to sole in thick, absolutely opacpie horse-hair veils; Russian soldiers, always A Familiar Siirlit in Tashkent. ^i ADMINISTRATION IN CENTRAL ASIA 281 in the same thick grey felt overcoats — in fact, all the eastern liumanity seen by Matthew Arnold in the past: The Tartars of Ferghana, from the banks Of the Jaxartes, men with scanty beards And close-set skull-caps ; and those wilder hordes Who roam o'er Kipchak and the northern waste ; Kalmucks and unkempt Kuzzaks, tribes who stray Nearest the Pole, and wandering Kirghizzes, Who came on shaggy ponies from Pamere. Thev ride on liorses, on donkeys — often two adults on one little beast — on shaggy camels or in the arba shown in my photograph, with enormously high wheels to enable it to ford rivers without wetting its load, the driver seated on the horse in the shafts. The Russian town, which has 5,000 or 6,000 inhabitants, consists of well-built, low houses of brick and stucco, with roofs of sheet iron painted green, and the streets, as everywhere else in these Russian settlements, are planted on each side with shade trees, chiefly silver poplars. In the Russian shops most of the neces- saries and some of the luxuries of life may be bought, though they do not compare with the shops of far Siberian towns. There is no such thing as a hotel, its place being taken. longo intcrvallo, by what are called Xomcra — '* numbers," that is, furnished rooms, to which, if you have nowhere else to eat, you can have a greasy iTieal brought. These are dirty, cold, and uncomfortable. But there is a magnificent military club, with a theatre and ball-room, where you can fmd all the papers, including a local bi-weekly, the I'icdomosti. play cards or billiards, and fare very well indeed, being waited upon by soldier orderlies. The Governor-General — when I was there, the late General Dukhovskoi — who rules over the whole of Turkestan, lives in a charming old-fashioned, wide- spreading residency, filled with precious Eastern objects. On nights of official reception the staircase is lined with picturesque native troops who supply a fitting local colour, and several bands of oriental performers with weird instruments provide local sound. 282 ALL THE RUSSIAS I can no longer thank General Dukhovskoi for all his kindness, but the hospitality so brilliantly (lis])ense(l by Madame Dukhov- skoi will not be fori^otten by anybody who ever enjoyed it. The large staft of officials at Tashkent works in spacious quarters in buildings which, as they were erected thirty years ago, show the foresight that provided accommodation for all the develop- ment to follow. The garrison at the time of my visit consisted of four battalions of sharpshooters (strcllci), two of the line, one of engineers, a regiment of Cossacks, and some artillery. There is an observatory, equipped with instruments brought on camel- i^^^m^' The Arba. back across the desert. But the sight remaining most vividly in my memory is the RcalscJiulc of Tashkent. This was not only wonderful because it was in the heart of Asia, but also because it would l)e an admiral)le school even in Lon- don or New York. The enthusiastic headmaster, l^rincc Dol- goruki, conducted me over it. and a better equipped nr more capably managed educational institution could hardly be found. A complete course of instruction is given, and the class-rooms, museums, lalxjratories, gymnasiums, eic, were on the latest German model. There are two hundred and ADMINISTRATION IN CENTRAL ASIA 283 ninetv-six scholars, all sons of Russian officials and residents except two, the son of the late Amir of Kokand and the son of a rich native merchant. Among the professors was ^Ir. Howard, a Russian subject, admirably teaching the Eng- lish classes, and I was invited to satisfy myself of the ability of his scholars. The school costs 40,000 roubles a year, of which the boys contribute forty roubles each and the State the rest. They take only their dejeuner at school, and for this they pay seven roul)les each per half-year. I saw this meal, and how it is provided for the money 1 cannot tell. Afterward I visited the Technical School, and here, remembering the admirable Austrian native schools of Bosnia, I was disappointed to find but very few native boys. It appears, however, that they in- varial)ly fall behind, and most of them leave after the second year. But any native boy who wishes to learn can attend one of the gratuitous schools in the native quarter where Russian is taught and elementary instruction given by some of the most dexoted educationalists I have seen, who live in discomfort and on a ])ittance, devoted to their work and worshipped by their scholars. Altogether, in fact, Russia is doing more to educate her people, both Russian and native, in Central Asia than >1ie is doing in lun-ope. The nati\e (juarter of Tashkent contains nothing of interest, unless it be the old citadel which Chernaieff stormed and after- ward put in repair for his own defence. It is simply a wide enceinte surrounded by high earthen walls, commanding the city by a number of guns. Within its area are the magazines and barracks, but as a military work it is long out of date. No foreigner has eyer visited it, so I remarked to the Governor-General that I should like to do so. He was surprised, but upon reflection, see- ing no reason why he should refuse, consented, and issued a written order that I should be admitted. The officer in command was the most surprised individual in Central Asia when I arrived with my order. He conducted me into the guard-room within 284 ALL THE RUSSL^S the walls, and then incfuired courteously what it was that I wished to see; for, said he, "There is nothini;- whatever remarkable in the citadel." '* I beg" your pardon," 1 rei)lied, " btit I believe there is a most extraordinary thing here at this moment." ** What may that \)C^ " he asked, in much surprise. '' An Englishman," I said; and he laughed and admitted that it was indeed so. This citadel, however, reminds me of an inci- dent which explains how Chernaieff came to conquer these peo- Father and S<»ii in T.ishkent. pies as he did. After the storming, and e\en before tlie dead natives had all been buried, and almost before the hring had ceased, fmding himself war-stained and uncomfortable from not having changed his clothes for days, he went, alone and unat- tended, on the very afternoon of his victory, in spite of the pro- tests of his staff, to the va])our-l)aths in the nati\'e city. Such extraordinary coolness and inditlerence made a greater impres- sion than all his Cossacks and can.non. This is indeed how na- tives are taught who is their master, as our own earlier Indian annals al)un{lantlv show. I ADMINISTRATION IN CENTRAL ASIA 285 Statistics of Central Asian trade are not easy to procure, for Russia is very jealous of foreign curiosity there. The annual report, for example, of the Trans-Caspian Railway is printed in two parts, one the military and confidential portion; the other the commercial. The director of the railway at Askhabad bluntly refused to give me the latter, though the highest local authority ordered him to do so, without a direct order from the Minister of War, and this of course I did not apply for, as it would have invested my natural and innocent curiosity with a suspicious im- portance. But certainly Russian trade here has grown by leaps and bounds, except with Afghanistan, where it has ceased alto- gether, for political reasons, and by the action of the Amir. Askhabad station was opened in December, 1885. and by Oc- tober, 1886. no less than 360,000 pouds of merchandise had l)a>sed through cji route for Persia. Taking the average of the three years previous to the opening of the railway, 1883-5, and the average of four years, 1893-6, the hiiports of the country nearlv trebled, while the exports nearly (juadrupled. During the vear 1899 (the latest statistical year), the Trans-Caspian kailwav carried 24,999 passengers and 376,000 tons of freight, and hs gross recei|)ts were £j2S,37^^^ ^^' ^59^ P^r mile. And this, be it rememl)ered. upon a railway originally built as a strategical line and until a short time ago under the direct control of the Minister of War. The exception to the development of trade is Afo-hanistan — a fact evidentlv unknown to writers who have pointed morals by the relations of Russians and Afghans in Cen- tral Asia. In 1895 Afghan exports to Russian territory were of the value of 209,000 roubles; and in 1896 of 83.000 roubles; while Russia exported to Afghanistan in 1895, 21,000 roubles, and in 1896 the trade ceased completely. The trade of Persia, it should be added, is with Russia proper; Trans-Casp^a is merely the point of transit and produces nothing which Persia buvs. 286 ALL THK RUSSIAS It will be evident, I think, before I have done with Central Asia, and I may as well set down the reflection now, that Russia has carried out a great task here, and on the whole, most worthily. Not only must the greatness of her concjuest evoke our admira- tion, but the qualities of civilisation she has afterwards imposed, the peace, the commerce, the comparative happiness and well- being of the people, should also win our sincere respect. > I , I . ) \ CHAPTER XIX NEW BOKHARA AND ITS PROSPECTS RUSSIA has been very careful not to annex the Khanate of Bokhara. She had enough on her hands in Central Asia without undertaking direct responsibility for the government of three million fanatical ^lussulmans, who have never learned the lesson that Skobelef administered to the Turkomans. So she made it into a Protected State, therel)y securing all the advan- ages of control and commerce, without assuming the obligation of' good government. She has nothing to fear from Bokhara; the' Amir is a nonentity, mentally and physically exhausted, though not yet forty; her own territory is on both sides of it; her main railway runs within ten miles of the capital and could bring a small army in a day; by her control of the Zarafshan she has Bokhara at her mercy, for she could cut ofi the water-supply and ruin every crop at once; and no trade except Russian is per- mitted. So the Bokharans are left in their original dirt and cruelty and corruption, nominally under the rule of their own sovereign. He, however, does not greatly appreciate his posi- tion, for he spends all his time at a hunting lodge near Termene, the fifth station up the line beyond the capital, 44 miles away, his passion being for falconry— a sport the local importance of which may be judged from the fact that the principal Minister of State is called Khuc Bcgi. " Chief of the Falconers." He receives reports, however, every day, brought by relays of horsemen who cover the distance in three hours— the railway taking four! In his capital his prestige is gone, and he dislikes the vicinity of his Russian masters, but on the rare occasions— sometimes not once 2^7 m K I 'f. \\ a88 ALL IHK RUSSIAS in a year — when he visits Bokhara he sharply reminds his people of h^^. existence hy takino- a dozen cc^ndennied wretches from the prison and haviiii;- their throats cnt in the open ])azaar. 1 said that Russia had left Bokhara in its original cruelty, but this is not quite accurate. She has abolished the open sale of slaves and the native method of execution by trussini^ hapless criminals Hke fowls and thnoing them from the top of the i^reat tower. But otherwise she has left Bokhara as it was, and, above all, she has left untouched the prison of execrable memory. Here it was that the two En<^lish ofhcers, Stoddart and Connolly, sent on a dii)lomatic mission from the Indian (iinernment about sixty years a^^^o, were thmi;- into the pit where sheep-ticks, most loath- some of insects, ornawed the t1esh from the bones of livin^ men. When the Russians reached l)okhara witli their railway they were rather afraid of the nati\es, and as a measure of precaiuion they created New I'okhara. eiL;ht miles from Old Bokhara, and placed the station there. Now they realise that their caution was excessive, and wish they had orio^inally j^one straight to the town, and thus avoided the necessity of buildiuf^ a l)ranch railway to connect it with the main line. New l)okhara consists of a few European houses, the Residency and offices, and a clean and comfortable little hostelry, called the Hotel d'luirope, kept l)y a worthv German and his wife. The Amir maintains a suite of rooms in a native house in the old city for the use of the Resi- dent, who therein- avoids disturbini^ the |)opulace by too nuich show of foreii^n dominion. M. I^natieff was so kind as to allow me to use these rooms, as there is of course no place in the native citv where a foreii^ner can even take a meal. The Resident has a personal escort of about a score of Cos- sacks, and there is a detachment of railway sa})pers. who do technical work and furnish C2:uards for the bank, post-oftice. etc. The Amir, on the other hand — and the contrast is instructive — is allowed to keep a so-called army of 30.000 men in the whole country, 10,000 of whom are in the city of Bokhara. In spite NEW BOKHARA AND ITS PROSPECTS 289 of their scarlet trousers they can hardly be called soldiers, and their best weapons are a few thousand old rifles given them by Russia, with old-fashioned triangular bayonets. Concerning these ritles. and bearing their origin in mind, my meaning will doubtless be obvious when I say that I should be quite willing to let a Bisley marksman shoot at me at a hundred yards with one of them. And while speaking of the Bokharan army I must repeat a pleasant story 1 read somewhere. The Amir's forces were once exhibiting theiuselves at a field-day before a Russian general. Suddenly, to his intense surprise, all the men in the front line threw themselves upon their backs and w^aved their legs in the air. But he was more astonished still when, in reply to his inquiry as to the military purport of this remarkable manoeuvre, he was assured that it was exactly copied from the Russian drill ! The explanation turned out to be that once when Russian troops were attacking, they had been obliged to ford a stream waist-deep, and on gaining the bank they had all lain down and lifted up their legs to let the water run out of their long boots. The Bokharans, attributing the victory which immedi- ately followed to this impressive stratagem, had promptly incor- porated it in their own tactics. Political writers about Central Asia often speculate upon the possil)ility of a Mussulman rising against Russia there, and as Bokhara is undoubtedly the most fanatical country, this seems the place to say a few words on the subject. If there should ever be a real Pan-Islamic movement — if the Mussulman world should ever be inspired with a common religious fervour against the Cross, then of course the Crescent would be raised in Central Asia also, and the Russians would have all they could do for a short time. And such an outburst is not quite as improbable as most people think. It will hardly come from the appeals and intrigues of the ruler of the Ottoman Turks in Constantinople, who enjoys among millions of his co-religionists no loftier title than '' Sultan of Roum," although the fact is remarkable that cer- |] ... »» ^ »- 2i)0 ALL rni: lu sslvs lain cuiumunitio whu IiuIktiu acknnu lol-cl nn alk-iancc to hini. as m Tripoli, for instance, now accept the oMi-aihai ui imli- tary\crvicc tor tlie dciciicc m l.lain. l)iil many liulc H-n^— such as the collcclu.n of £_'.ooo !>> the J;///nm///-/ /.A.'m ni IVm- bav for the projected r)ania>cn>-Mecca raihvay-^^shnw that it is not altogether ont of the .pu-tmn. Alter the revolt in l-er- gana in 1898 the Russian anth..rities were very anxiuu> tor a tune about the state of Bokhara, and the tele-raph line to Tash- kent was monopolised with military conver^allons. CuriouTy enough, at that very moment a Russian railway watchman was killed by a native. The latter was tried by a Court consisting of the Acting Resident and two native Begs, and was condemned to death. And then the Russians played one of those little master-strokes of policy which, insignificant in themselves, con- tribute so largely to their success with Oriental races. Instead of making a mystery and conferring great importance upon the incident by executing the murderer in the Russian town, with all the elaborate ceremonial of a European death-penalty, they simplv handed him over to the Bokharan authorities, who cut his throat in the bazaar in the good old way. This completely reassured the native authorities, who had believed that the Rus- sian would treat the murder as a political offence, and make it an excuse for annexing the country. The war between Turkey and (h-eece. again, produced a con- siderable impression in Bokhara, and the news was eagerly dis- cussed in the bazaars. The Resident discovered some Turks from Egypt, fomenting religious feeling, and the Political Agent at Tashkent told me that he had found and arrested several fanatical nwllahs from Constantinople. On one Eriday evening T was en- al)led by a Russian friend, who is an acute and sympathetic stu- dent of native life, to enjoy the rare advantage of being present at the regular prayers of a widespread dervish sect in one of the chief towns, and nobody could witness the profound attention of the crowd at first, gradually growing into fanatical fervour. NEW BOKHARA AND llS IM^OSPECTS 291 and finally reacln'ng a height of religious madness when anvtiiing would ha\ e been possible, the whole crowd swaying rapidl) and abrujiily back and forth to tlic deafening rhythmic staccato shout of )'(/ hoii! )■(/ lia/c! — and not realise that the tinder and the spark are never very far apart in Central Asia. Eor these men, barking like mad wolves under the temporary swav of religious h}pnolism, were not i)erforming for Christian money, like the dervish mummers of Cairo, but were just pious Mussulmans come to prayers and in many cases plainly drawn into the vor- tex in spite of themselves. But a Russian fort was not two miles away, and at a warning gun four thousand men would have sprung to arms. Pan-Eslamism, even if it should break fcjrth, would accomplish nothing in Russian Asia — unless Russia her- self should be fighting for her life elsewhere. A local revolt in Bokhara, however, is another matter, and upon this I have a decided opinion, namely, that it is more than probable. But it will be a revolt in favour of Russia, not against her. Government in Bokhara under Russian protection is, as I have said, almost as bad as under unmitigated native oppression, and in the matter of tax-gathering — always more considered by a native than life and liberty — it is cjuite as bad. X'ow^ the Bok- liaran looks across the border into Samarkand, and sees that his fellows under Russian rule, men with neither more land nor more fertile land than himself, are contented and comparatively rich, and know precisely what their obligations are and how^ much money the tax-collector will require of them; while they them- selves know neither, and must live at the mercy and the whim of every cruel and rapacious of^cial. Therefore the prospect is that sooner or later, when they have outgrown their dislike of the infi- del, the Bokharans will demand to be taken under Russian gov- ernment. One informant assured me that this would have been done before now except for the fact that wdien the Amir visited the Tsar at his coronation the latter promised him that no change should be made in the status of Bokhara while he reigned, and that i / .^iX-.-* 'x. -«,'«. -, -^.^ '^ -■'. . «-„_. . • j->-5k .=. 292 ALL THK RUSSL\S consequently if the Amir dies l)efore the Tsar another Amir will be allowed to rule. But even in this case a stricter supervision would probably be exercised, especially as regards taxing- the people. Indeed there are other signs that a change in this direction is coming, for a handsome new palace is being l)uilt halfway between New and Old Bokhara, the intention— it was M. Lessar's idea- being that the Amir shall have some luting place in which to receiAe the Russian authorities, who will doubtless take advantage of more frequent interviews to exert a more extended intluence. But meanwhile, Russia has clearly had every advantage in leaving things as they are, and up to the present her tendency has been rather to shift burdens on to the Amir's shoulders than to relieve him of any— as in the cession to Bokhara of Roshan and Shignan from the British sphere. This is not at all to the taste of the mili- tary caste in Tashkent and Merv, who would like nothing so much as an order to march on Bokhara, in view of the ease of the campaign, and the shower of crosses, medals, and promotions that would follow. The Trans-Caspian Railway has, of course, wrought a revolu- tion since it reached the valley of the Zarafshan. In pre-railway days Bokhara's connection with Russia was by the old caravan route via Kazalinsk and Orenburg, when the cost of transport was three roubles a pond and the journey depended on so many accidental circutnstances— a scarcity of camels, for instance- that its duration could never be foreseen, and goods sometimes remained at Kazalinsk for months, spoiling, while all the risks were the sender's, since nobody would grant insurances against them. Up to 1887 Russia sent to lU^khara iron, crockery, sugar, cheap safes, oils and colours, to the extent of about 8,000 tons a year, and P.okhara exi)orte(l to Russia and to Turkestan some 16,000 tons of cotton, wool, sheep-skins, goat-skins and karakul —the lamb-skin we know as '' astrachan." At this time, how- ever, Bokhara enjoyed a trade of over 3.000 tons a year with India, via Afghanistan, imj)orting indigo, green tea, and Eng- NEW BOKHARA AND ITS PROSPECTS 293 lish manufactures, but the new railway enabled }^Ioscow manu- facturers to flood the market with cheap manufactured articles, driving out the better but dearer English goods, a process which the Russian Government completed when necessary by prohibi- tive tariffs. Bokhara was the depot for tea and indigo for the whole country, and it now gets, via Meshed, Askhabad, Dushak, and Kaakhka, the remnant of what used to reach it from Kabul. For sugar Russia has established depots at Bokhara and remits the excise and pays a bounty upon all that is sold there. Bok- haran imports have risen from 8,000 tons in 1887 to over 42,000 tons in 1896, but exports have not risen in proportion, having never exceeded 21,000 tons. This discrepancy is attributed by the local authority I have previously quoted to four causes: the limited sphere which is really tapped by the railway, and the in- difference of merchants to districts distant from the railway, with- out waggon-roads or regular communication by the Amu Darya; the rapid growth of new needs among natives served by the railway; the difficulty in the cultivation of American cotton owine to the uncertaintv of water supply; and the truly Ori- ental carelessness of the Bokharan Government regarding its products — for example, twenty-five years ago the silkworm in- dustry flourished and is now in decay. When these conditions, however, are removed. Bokhara will once more be in a position to export in proportion to its imports, for, thanks to the railway, which carries wheat at the very low^ rate of i/iooth of a kopeck per pond per verst, grain can be bought as cheaply as it can be grown, and the land thus left free for more valuable crops. More- over, as in 1893-4, the railway will render famine from bad har- vests impossible. The principal new objects which the railway has taught the natives to use are kerosene, building materials, passe- menterie. and stearine candles. The consumption of these arti- cles increases regularly, but with the exception of candles, which go as far as Afghanistan, they do not yet reach nearly the whole of the Khanate. i 1 , »»..-iJ.^X. ■^^•^'^•t. •'S^*. ^ a^^-T-'tr'-C^-c: ,^ ^-*# ' -^ 294 ALL THK RUSSIAS Before the railway came, capital could hardly turn over once a vear, because of the difficulty of communications with luirope, and therefore Russian commerce was confined to a few wealthy Bokharan merchants. lUit now that ^oods can l)e deliverod in Moscow in from 35 to 40 days, direct relations are |)c\Nsi])le even to small capitalists, and the natixes take ever}- advantai^e of this, with the result that competition is \er\- keen and the ])eople en- jov the lowest possible prices. The establishment of elementar\- processes of manufacture, on the other hand, such as cleaninp^, packing, tanning-, has ((uadrupled wa^es, and cultivated land has risen enormously in value. My Bokharan authority claims, and rightly, I think, that the two facts (i) that a total annual trade of £3,000,000 is done by a population of 3,000.000 souls, one half of whom take no part whatever either in producing or ptirchasing; and (2) that the imports are 3.000.000 roubles more in value than the exports, show that the trade of ])okhara must necessarily increase largely, as soon as the conditions which prevent the greater part of the mountainous regions of the Khanate from taking any share in the commerce with luiropean Russia are changed. It is confidently held, too, that the mountainous dis- tricts of Bokhara are the nattiral half-way house of trade between Moscow and Afghanistan. At present there are no direct rela- tions, although I>okharan merchants bring every year a certain amount of ])roduce. chietly karahiil, from Afghanistan and send it to the fair of Nijni Novgorod, paying for it in iron, cotton, sugar and candles, but the natural trade route to Kabul, well- known to the Afghans, runs through Bokhara, and therefore in the future Russian mantifacttires should be exchanged for Afo-han raw materials zi'a B(A'hara. Then Bokhara will stand to Afghanistan in a relation similar to that of Trans-Caspia to Per- sia, but more favourably, for whereas Trans-Caspia trades with only one province, Khorassan. lUikhara will exchange with tbe whole rich and densely populated northern part of Afghanistan, beginning with Kabul, which has an area equal to the whole of NEW BOKHARA AND ITS PROSPECTS 295 Bokhara, and which, when the roads are somewhat improved, will be able to seek an outlet for its products in Bokhara, rather than send them over the difficult mountains to the south, to find a market in the direction of Kandahar. So, at least, they believe in liokhara. but apart from other considerations, it is obvious that the development of a trade route over the Murghab branch line to Kushk and Herat, if England and Russia should agree upon it, would upset most of their calctilations. 'i'here is one other industry that should be mentioned, for although it has only jtist been started, its success — and the few who have invested in it have a firm faith in its future — would have an enormous influence upon the development of Bok- hara. I refer to gold-mining. It would seem inherently prob- able that in such a mountainous country as a large part of Bokhara minerals would be found, and gold in paying quantities may well be among them. Two Russian commercial residents have begun the work of seriously developing one district known to be gold-bearing. Their mine is 530 miles from Bokhara city, and at present can only be reached on horseback. They hold a concession of seven properties, each two versts square, and one of these they are working. They have reached the gold-bearing stratum at a depth of fifteen metres, and they were getting one zolotnik of gold from every hundred pouds of dirt washed — say 2 dwt. to the ton. They pay the Amir a royalty of five per cent, of the gold produced, and an annual rent of about two shillings an acre. Against the small returns of gold may be set the fact that labour is ])lentiful and wages are from sixpence to eight- pence a day, and that there is abundance of water. The owners of this concession are very anxious to get foreign capital to help them to prove and develop their six remaining properties. My lady readers may like to know something of the origin of the fur which becomes them so well, known to them as " astra- chan " (Astrakhan used to be its port of entry into Russia) or " Persian lamb," and to those who produce it as karakul. It is 1 I I ' I . ^ J *.k-...» ; ^. »*4/.*.^. ^..*'*. -'S' ll*..-*^^ir'-'*^ ■f *;-^ W. — .^ • •• # , ♦ ^ 296 ALL THK RUSSIAS \ the skin of the very young lamb — not of the unl)orn laml), as is commonly believed — and the best comes from Afghanistan. Its high cost is due to the heavy export duty the Amir of Afghanistan places upon it, which his sul)jects regularly try to evade by smug- gling. In Bokhara the Afghan skins are nnxed in parcels of ten with inferior local skins, and thence they go to Novgorod, to Moscow and especially to the great annual fur fair c^f the world at Leipzig. Only the best are kept for sale in Central Asia, and for these the Russian dealers give about t,2 roubles— £3. 7s., ^i5_^o — for ten skins, though the best single skin will fetch as much as fifteen shillings— $3.60. 1 bought excellent grey skins in Titlis at the rate of 28 roubles for ten. Another curious Bok- haran export, of which also those who use it do not gtiess the source, is sheep's guts, prepared for violin strings under the supervision of Russian workmen. I remarked above that the natives had imported for them- selves since the railway came, and that ])rices of luiropean goods rule very low in liokhara. This is partly due to a very ])eculiar system of trading which prevails there. There is now only one firm of Russian importers in the cUy, and the native merchants, the Sarts, have been accustomed to conduct their l)usincss as follows. Thev go to Moscow themselves, give their orders, get long credit, return to Bokhara, sell their goods for less than they paid for them, and invest the cash thus raised in cotton or silk or skins. In a good year their profits cover their loss and leave a handsome balance. In a l)ad year they fail and pay fifteen or twenty kopecks on the roul)le. The Moscow merchants know that when a man has paid for four or five years in succession he is sure tc go under, but their profits have been so good that if they were paid for four years they could well afford to lose the fifth. Now, however, the Trans-Sil)erian Railway has given them so much more to do that they care less about Central Asian trade and are refusing the old long credit. I I f t I CHAPTER XX OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS T has eleven gates, and a circumference of fifteen English _ miles; three hundred and sixty mosques, twenty-two cara- vanserays, many baths and bazaars, and the old palace called Ark, built by Arslan Khan one thousand years ago, and has about one hundred splendid colleges." So wrote of old Bokhara that singular divine, the Rev. Dr. Wolff, sixty years ago. one of the very few Europeans to visit it before the conquering Russian army, a witness to w^hom I shall presently recur. Like all the East, alas, Bokhara is no longer what it was, but it is a mightily impressive city all the same. And the more so because it is among the rare places where the Oriental does not cringe to the white face. One notices a distinct difference in the attitude of the natives toward foreigners here, from that of the Turkomans of Trans-Caspia and the Sarts of Samarkand. The Turkomans were crushed by Skobelef at Geok Tepe once for all; they will never lift a hand again. The Sarts are urban and mercantile people, and are wholly resigned to the present regime. The Bokharans, on the other hand, are still nominally a free race. They see few strangers, and they dislike them intensely. As you go about the crowded narrow streets of Bokhara you meet with studied in- difference or black looks, except from the Jews, and it is easy to see that indiscreet action would provoke instant reprisals against yourself. This is one reason why the Russian authorities do not encourage visitors to Bokhara, and indeed some passports issued for Central Asia include it with the Alurghab branch of the railway as a forbidden place. 297 i i H i! , v-»> V •'---*'■* ' • «'.. > .»»•'. .»>-—•-. t.- '. »i ■»v».•-.,.^*. •«"*•' .*...». .> ->• ^ r . %. » . ^- . * -^ - ' I ,1 296 ALL THE RUSSL\S the skin of the very young lamb — not of the unborn lami), as is commonly believed — and the best conies from Afohanistan. Its high cost is due to the heavy export duty the Amir of Afghanistan places upon it, which his sul)jects regularly try to evade l)y smug- gling. In Bokhara the Afghan skins are mixed in parcels of ten with inferior local skins, and thence they go to Novgorod, to Moscow and especially to the great annual fur fair of the world at Leipzig. Only the best are kept for sale in Central Asia, and for these the Russian dealers give about 32 roubles— £3. /S., $j5.30 — for ten skins, though the best single skin will fetch as much as fifteen shillings— $3.60. I bought excellent grey skins in Titlis at the rate of 2^ roubles for ten. Another curious Bok- haran export, of which also those who use it do not guess the source, is sheep's guts, pt-ei)ared for violin strings under the supervision of Russian workmen. I remarked above that the natives had imported for them- selves since the railway came, and that prices of European goods rule very low in Bokhara. This is partly due to a very peculiar system of trading which prevails there. There is now only one firm of Russian importers in the city, and the native merchants, the Sarts, have been accustoiued to conduct their business as follows. They go to Moscow themselves, give their orders, get long credit, return to Bokhara, sell their goods for less than they paid for them, and invest the cash thus raised in cotton or silk or skins. In a good year their profits cover their loss and leave a handsome balance. In a bad year they fail and pay fifteen or twenty kopecks on the rouble. The ?^Ioscow merchants know that when a luan has paid for four or five years in succession he is sure to go under, but their profits have been so good that if they were paid for four years they could well afford to lose the fifth. Now, however, the Trans-Si1)erian Railway has given them so much more to do that they care less about Central Asian trade and are refusing the old long credit. 1 r ! I CHAPTER XX OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS T has eleven gates, and a circumference of fifteen English _ miles; three hundred and sixty mosques, twenty-two cara- vanserays, many baths and bazaars, and the old palace called Ark, built by Arslan Khan one thousand years ago, and has about one hundred splendid colleges." So wrote of old Bokhara that singular divine, the Rev. Dr. Wolff, sixty years ago, one of the very few Europeans to visit it before the conquering Russian army, a witness to whom I shall presently recur. Like all the East, alas, Bokhara is no longer what it was, but it is a mightily impressive city all the same. And the more so because it is among the rare places where the Oriental does not cringe to the white face. One notices a distinct difference in the attitude of the natives toward foreigners here, from that of the Turkomans of Trans-Caspia and the Sarts of Samarkand. The Turkomans were crushed by Skobelef at Geok Tepe once for all; they will never lift a hand again. The Sarts are urban and mercantile people, and are wholly resigned to the present regime. The Bokharans, on the other hand, are still nominally a free race. They see few strangers, and they dislike them intensely. As you go about the crowded narrow streets of Bokhara you meet with studied in- difference or black looks, except from the Jews, and it is easy to see that indiscreet action would provoke instant reprisals against yourself. This is one reason why the Russian authorities do not encourage visitors to Bokhara, and indeed some passports issued for Central Asia include it with the Murghab branch of the railway as a forbidden place. 297 i f I i (1 I — ^-. w..^^ '^^fc ^-Mi 11 % ^ iii.'i i La ■ < Wliii^ i»i i '-'■ -'^ ■*' *-Jfc... ^■«a^--^ •''•*»"^B* -f-^ir V~ i • -k> 1 . '. I, . ' W •v«'-.^\* r.w****'^ I *;**->€■*<; »..at...»w. •» m t agS ALL IHi: RUSSIAS When I was there the new ])ranch Hne from tlic Rn^-ian settlement to the native city was not bnih. so 1 (h'ovc ei.i^ht miles alono- a tlat, dnll, dustv road, passing- to the left the new palace the Rnssians are hnildini;- for the Amir— a handsome heteroi^ene- ous sort of strnctnre, half Orientrd, half lun'opean — and to the left an old palace completely hidden behind hii^h nuid wall.-. Midway we stopped at a roadside hovel with a bio- water-trough in front, and while the horses drank, the owner brought out a great gourd water-pipe, with a red charcoal on top, and passed it to mv driver, who drew one deep inhalation and passed it to City and Citadel, Bokhara. another driver, who handed it to a third, and so on till it had been used by the half-dozen teamsters watering their beasts there. No man even wiped the mouthpiece as it passed from mouth to mouth. I mention this incident because it goes some way toward justifying the statement of a Russian ])hysician ([noted to me, that eighty per cent, of the iidiabitants of Bokhara suffer from the worst of contagious diseases. The approach to the centre of the city is through a great gateway in the wall, and then by long, narrow streets, between hicrh walls. In the true fashion of the East, where domestic- 1 •ilV^^ir V.V-*-' '•■>-• * -»■*' ^•^ <• ^.* »> :3«*»fc '«%•*.' OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS 299 itv is of all things most secret, the houses all look inwards, presenting blank backs, broken only by a huge door, to the passers-bv. After a mile or more of these you reach the great covered bazaar, with charming corners where mulberry trees drop their fat berries into shaded ponds, and gossiping men sit sipping coffee or green tea and smoking the inevitable kalian. Alreadv the convenient Russian samovar is in general use, and indeed is made here. Each trade has its own street. Workmen in leather, in iron, brass, tin, are hard at it, stitching, grinding, riveting, hammering, with all the strange laliour-saving dodges of the machinedess East. Much of the bazaar is under a heavy vaulted roof, and here the more valuable articles are exposed — books, stuffs, the eml)roidered skull-caps worn by all, the gay silk kJialats, the universal outer garment like a dressing-gown, rolls of rainbow-like watered silk from native looms, carpets, cottons and crockery from Moscow, exquisite kiirgaus, ewers of chased and hammered brass— irresistible to the foreign visitor, the most characteristic and interesting objects here. The money- chano-ers are as usual conspicuous — Hindus, with the orange flame-shaped caste marks on their foreheads, great heaps of little brass coins and big lumps of silver before them, and a stock of the beautiful Bokharan gold coins in leather bags tucked into their breasts. The Jews are in evidence evervwhere, recognisable by their drab khalats, square hats trimmed with fur, and the cord round their waists. Anti-Semitism has always reigned in Bok- hara, and every Jew is compelled to wear a cord round his waist. The original intention was that this should be a genuine piece of rope, but the Jew of to-day obeys the letter and escapes the spirit of the proscription by wearing a thin silk cord, or if he is poor, just a little bit of string. Twelve or fourteen years ago this bazaar was filled with Eng- lish goods, but the Russians deliberately set about killing that trade"! and the long credits of the Moscow merchants helped. Now nothing is English but the f^ne muslin used for the volu- V .5 y^ U mmr. I <'"!<, I 298 ALL THK RUSSL^S When I was there the new l)ranch Hue from the "Rnssian settlement to the native city was not 1)uiU, so 1 (h^ove ei.^ht miles alonj^ a tlat, (hill, (histy road, passing- to the left the new ])alace the Rnssians are hniUHng for the Annr— a handsome heteros^ene- ous sort of strnctnre, hah Orientrd, hah* lun-opean— and to the left an old palace completely hidden l)ehind hioh mnd walls. Midway we stopped at a roadside liovel with a l)ii;- water-troui^h in front, and while the horses drank, the owner bronj^ht out a great gourd water-pipe, with a red charcoal on top, and passed it to my driver, who drew one (\(^cu inhalation and passed it to City and Citadel, Bokhara. another driver, who handed it to a third, and -o on till it had been used by the half-dozen teamsters watering their l)ea>ts there. No man even wiped the mouthj)iece a> it passed from mouth to mouth. I mention this incident because it goes some way toward justifving the statement of a Russian phvsician rpuned to me, that eighty per cent, of the inhabitants of Cokliara sutter from the worst of contagious diseases. The approach to the centre of the city is through a great gateway in the wall, and then bv long, narrow streets, between hieh walls. In the true fashion of the East, where domestic- I ! OLD BOKHARA AND LFS HORRORS 299 ity is of all things most secret, the houses all look inwards, presenting blank backs, broken only by a huge door, to the passers-by. After a mile or more of these you reach the great covered bazaar, with charming corners where mulberry trees drop their fat berries into shaded ponds, and gossiping men sit sipping coffee or green tea and smoking the inevitable kalian. Alreadv the convenient Russian samovar is in general use, and indeed is made here. Each trade has its own street. Workmen in leather, in iron, brass, tin, are hard at it, stitching, grinding, riveting, hammering, with all the strange labour-saving dodges of the machine-less East. :Much of the bazaar is under a heavy vaulted roof, and here the more valuable articles are exposed — books, stuffs, the embroidered skull-caps worn by all, the gay silk khalats, the universal outer garment like a dressing-gown, rolls of rainbow-like watered silk from native looms, carpets, cottons and crockery from Moscow, exquisite kurgaus. ewers of chased and hammered brass— irresistible to the foreign visitor, the most characteristic and interesting objects here. The money- chano-ers are as usual conspicuous — Hindus, with the orange flame-shaped caste marks on their foreheads, great heaps of little brass coins and big lumps of silver before them, and a stock of the beautiful rU)kharan gold coins in leather bags tucked into their breasts. The Jews are in evidence evervwhere. recogni-^alie bv their drab kJialats, scjuare hats trimmed with fur, and the cord rotmd their waists. Anti-Semitism has always reigned in Bok- hara, and everv Jew is compelled to wear a cord round his waist. The original intention was that this should l)e a genuine piece of rope, but the Jew of to-day obeys the letter and escapes the spirit of the proscription by wearing a thin silk cord, or if he is poor, just a littlebit of string. Twelve or fourteen years ago this bazaar was filled with Eng- lish goods, but the Russians deliberately set about killing that trade, and the long credits of the ^^loscow merchants helped. Now nothincr is English but the f^ne muslin used for the volu- i ^il 4; ■'' '^J ,'1 '^ V-f'"-*'-* «»••>••■'• JiV"/.*,"^'-,* ■<*.*>:••»* VW^- t -x * ' ti W" i »< » ■ il t i 1 1 m < 300 ALL IHK RUSSLAS I' I i'" \ ' 1 nilnous turbans (in Persia for shrouding- tlic dead), which AIcxs- cow cannot make. The natix'C vehet of l)rilHant colours runnini;' one into the other, i^rcatlv achnired bv the IU)kharan, thous^h thin ami poor in qitaliiW is from 14 to ijh inches wide, and costs from three to fonr shillings the ursliiii (_'S inches). 'i"he watered rainbow silk of tlie same width costs ahont Js. the arsliin. After The I'ortal ■.( tlu- P.il.Uf, B<.kh;ira. li'U'^ hat^jLilint;- 1 l)ou.i;ht a hcanlilul lira» kur^^aii. fifteen inches hi,<;h, for six rouhles. Sunday is bazaar da\ in Uokhara. and the crnwil i> extranr- dinar}-. The road from stall to stall is |)acke.«rM*.^kws ■mMMli '^"^ *-.-^' *^v* -fc..^^ N Hi i il 302 ALL THi: RUSSIAS most repulsive ugliness. Doubtless for a performance before an infidel, in broad daxiight, these epicene artists did not !L;i\e the rein to their passion, as otherwise it would be impossible to ex- plain the mad admiration and devotion they excite amoni;" their nati\e |)atrons. But thev would not come for less than twenty roubles, all the same, and the}- were very dear at the mone}. .■\s Mr. Skrine triil>- remarks, the hjH'opcan ne\cr feel> more acutcl) ilic ^uh" l)ct\\cen h'.a^t and W c-^t than w hen he wit- ne>ses the entliii.^ia^-m exciu-f] 1)\- the mimic pa-Mun^ ui >ucli a scene. M\ iilii^^ratK mi i^ a plm- t<',L:ra|>h I i, and * ill rn louml ilu,in wiKiV t/arcful studv, but Bokhara coninlnued little to my notes on this subject — not to be compared for a moment to the charming dancing of Japan, or thai in-" 1 wonderful and elo(|uent dance I witnessed and photogiaiilind in Si< in. the capital of Korea.* A '^B;itch:i" < >f B..k!iar, 1. Kv er\ I'l'-i H-niahic wiMnai i i i' 'oes of cour>c xeiled antl her veil i^ ni hnr^-cliai!- ihu-]\ and !imil: cn«>nL:"]i totalh' to obliterate her perMinalil}. Xnilniig l»ut the htile |M.nitcd tue of a .^carlet or green IwiOt. or a nindjda^tered ^hapele-N cxt remit v, betraxs the presence behind the \eil (^i a woman whose look^ still jtistify cocjtietry, or of a poor old labouring hag. The unveiled ladies have a street to themseUes, where thev sit on * See "The Real Japan," Chapter IX.. and " The People^ and Politic^; of the Far East." p. ;;54 s,/,/. OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS 303 their balconies in velvet robes and weighed down with cheap metal ornaments. As they offer the only opportunity of see- ing what the women of this country look like, I took advan- tage once of having a Cossack with me to get him to gather a mtle group of them together to be photographed — with 'the result vou see. They thought it great fun, and were The Unveiled Ladies of Bokham. „,„le vcTN iian.v u.Hi a rouble or two and some handfuls of cigarettes. Bokhara i> the focus of Mahommedanism itt Cotitral A>.a. since it< teaching here is free of all Christian interference. 1 hcrc- f,„-e the uuulrassas. or theological colleges, are still the homes ot devotion and fanaticism, and enjoy all their ongmal prestige. Therefore also, a Christian cannot e.iter them. I:'.ut their ongmal architectural beauty has vanished, for the two chief ones, which ' .Vitt^*% ^Iw^- "^ *^- ■'* ■Sf**'* <»*'»^' -IJ'.* .*V;i» ^ «. '• ♦ *'^.'*" ..A, . . ^ 304 ALL IHI-, KUSSLAS ;X h Pi face each other iti the iniddK' nt the town, were once cn\-crerl with exciuisite hhie tiles and arc now nieanl_\- repaired wuh i^rcai patches of mortar. At one nin-(|ue in l)okhara two thon^and \\()rship])er> can pra\' at once. Another har- a facade entire!}' formed of dehcatel}' car\ ed wooth now ui that licantifnl L^rex ne^a which nntonchcd wood take- on with ai;e. In front of it there is a (piiet spot where wiho\\> and huadies (h'oop ox'er a trickhni:;" fountain, and here an old man in a hri^ht }ellow kluilai, seated upon a low scpiare stool, was reading- alotid ancient Asian hi-tor}' to scattered groups of deeply attentive listeners, hh'om time to time one of them would rise, walk hy the reader an.d droj) a coin for liim. and silently disa|)pear, while others would as silently join the circle. I stood a loni;- time watching- tliis scene, held 1)\- its charm, the luonotoiious voice of the reader, and the remoteness of it all from one's own world. The genuine untouched luast, exacth' the same to-da\' as it \\a> a thousand \ear.^ aiio, is rare now. I had not been in the city an hour, on my first visit, before there was a coiumotion in the crowd and a huge old j^entleman in a l)rilliant striped kJialaf, mounted on a fine horse and followed by several attendants, came pusliini; his way through the crowd, careless of whom he trod upon or knocked aside. It was evident from the demeanour of the people that he inspired respect if not fear, so when he reined up sharpl\ 1)\' me and began to address me volubly, I was prej)ared for some sort of a scene. It turned out that he was the chief of police, and that he had been despatched by the Kliiiz Bci^i. the ruler of the city in the .\mir's absence, to fi'nd the foreigner reported to be in the bazaar, and recpiest him to present himself at once at the ])alace. I have had so many of these dreary receptions, and my time was l)eing so much luore interestingly occupied, that 1 made e\ er\' excuse I could think of. I was not fittingly dressed to wait upon h\< mightiness, my time was very short, I Ijegged the policeman to present my respects and excuses, and so on. P>nt it was r)f no use. and the worthv \' u t'^ V fe»> ^*- '»• *' -* a*'*-"* •^•^■'•^ • ■ ' ^-^ »■«»■» OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS 305 man became so insistent that I saw it would be discreet to comply without further delay. The nondescri|)t *' palace " to which we made our way may be better iudired from mv illustration than described. It is the old "Ark." l)uilt in 1742, and the clock between its towers was the ransom an Italian prisoner gave for his life. The slope leading to it was lined with soldiery, wearing black astrachan hats, black tunics, scarlet trousers and high boots, and groups of of^cials eyed us curiously and without any obvious ap- proval. The actual entrance l)ehind the towers is up a narrow sloping passage, evidently made to admit a horse, with queer dark celldike rooms off it at intervals— the sleeping quarters of the soldiers, and perhaps places of detention also. At last we were ushered into an ante-chamber, l)eyond wdiich was a kind of banciueting-room, and in the former we were immediately joined by that redoubtable personage, the Chief of the Falconers him- self. He was a short, enormously fat man, with a patriarchal white beard, a colossal white turban, and a splendid kJialat of flowered white silk. A native interpreter, speaking Russian, ac- comi)anied him, so our conversation was done at two removes, through my own interpreter. He greeted me with a string of profuse and variegated com])liments, and begged me to partake of refreshments. As soon as we entered the adjoining chamber I saw that I should be lucky if I escaped in a couple of hours, for a most elaborate and picturesque dastarkhaiL or spread of sweet- meats of everv kind, was on the table, too obviously the prelude to a corresponding feast. And so it proved, the troop of servants swept away course aher course, the well-known sJiaslilik, the shurpa, l)oile(l mutton with rice, the karardik, ragout of mutton and onions, the kchah, grilled knobs of mutton, and the profusion of fruit and sugary cakes: while finding that I did not drink the sweet champagne very fast out of one glass they tried the hospitable but inetTective expedient of filHng several glasses with it and placing them temptingly within reach of my hand. ' 'I w 306 ALL lilL RL^^LVS Tlic coiu'crsatitMi was of a similar siii:-:ir_\- cli::r:ictcr. T a-kcl alter 1]I^ lligliiie:-^ Sa\ni AImiui Ahau, an*! u lie was soon coming to Bokhara. I wa^ informed th.-it lie was vev}^ l^nsy Imt iliat lie would soon come to C()n«luct affairs of >late. I he kini,:: Hc;^! hoped " m\- (Jueen " was in good health, and that the war ni which she was engaged was |)rogressing well. I \\a< ihankfnl to sav the Oueen was well, and I honed the war wotild soon ha\-e a victorious issue. War, remarked my host, was a terril)le thing. 1 agreed, and asked how trade in Bokhara was. Thanks to the wisdom and kindness of the Russians in bringing the railway, it was excellent (O hypocrite!). 1 begged that my respectful greetings might be conveyed to the Amir, with an expression of my profound regret that I had not been able to ])resent my com- pliments in person. A s]x^cial courier should instantly be de- s|)atched to his Plighness. 1 was asstu'cd. to carry my message, dhis, I afterwards heard, was acttiallx done, not of cotu'se for anxthing of the sort, but doubtless to tell Inm tliat a foreigner had arrived, that he had been stnnmoned to the j^alace and enter- tained with food and fair words, and ascertained to be a harmless Englishman, wdio had dtdy paid homage to the great Annr. .\t every compliment, or whene\'er our e\es met. the Kliurj Hci^i rose. i)asse(d hi^ hajid >]owl\' d<'\\n luA beard (the ci niventi* uial salaam, refusal to perform which cr»>t poor Stoddart his life), and l)Owed })rofoundl}', 1 of course doing the >ame. ddie scene would ha\-e been a great success on the stage. I think — at least I had to adjure my Russian companion not to latigh. As a matter of fact, it was rather a shocking farce, for he regarded me as an accursed Christian dog, thrusting my nose into places where I had no business, and was doubtless reflecting that but for those other accursed Russians he would promptly have dropped me among the sheep-ticks, preparatory to letting my blood run down the gutters of the bazaar; while I certainly regarded him as an old monster, given tip to the beastliest vices, and crafty and cruel and rapacious beyond words. We parted I I OLD BOKHARA AM) LFS HORRORS 307 with an ontburst of compliments and affecti wliere general i oris of tlu'iii icil. i >iie w itnc-^ the h> >rrid sight br!« iix- t lie RusbiaiiS stoppled 11 I'jv vvi'v was M. Moser, the well-known French trav- t'ller in Central Asia, who spent some time in Bok- liara, but almost as a pris- oner in his house, for he The T'uvvoi ol l:xvV"utiv'ri.;>, Bokhara. cuURi nul l;u ab*juL iliL cii} wiiliout an escort. Speaking of dull (lavs thus spent hi' writes: '' Comme distrnctir>ii, je voyais, les jour- de bazar, dr- patluet^. jcIl;- du haut dii Maiiarkalan, tour- no \-er dai Tail'. OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS 309 The prison of Bokhara possesses an irresistible fascination for anybody who knows the history of Central Asia, and I fear I looked forward to visiting this more than any other place there. It was the scene of three of the most horrible and lonely martyr- doms that Englishmen have ever been called upon to suffer in the cause of Empire. The story is forgotten now, but cannot be separated from the place. In 1840 Colonel Stoddart, of the Indian army, was sent by the British Government on a mission to Bokhara, to make cer- tam political arrangements with the Amir Xasrullah. He was discourteously received, and appears to have acted with indis- cretion. When he was recpiested to make the usual salaam before the Ann"r, he drew his sword— a gross affront, and when a message was brought to him from the Amir he is said to liave replied with the Oriental insult, "Eat dung!" At any rate he was un the worst ternis with the .Amir, and was eventually thrruvii into prison. Later Cajnain Arthur Conolly, also of the Indian arnix , a mail of sii],i:ii]urance lliat unless ^oon released, death must shortly terminate their sunerinus." The British and Indian government.- — to tlieir shame be it said, unless there were circtnn-t:uice> one (\()c> uoi know — took no steps to discover what had l)ecome cf their envoys, and. indeed, placed obstacles in tlie way of se\eral officers who volunteered to risk the journey to Bokhara, by forbiddin.o^ them to wear their uniforms and refusing them official cre- dentials. At this point a quaint hero stepped forward, in the per- son of Josepli Wolff, l).l)., LL.D. This worthy man had al- ready lived throui^h experiences strani^e enough, one would have thought, to satisfy the most adventurotis. liorn a Jew. he had become a Roman Catholic, turned 1 *r« )te>tant, ])n1)lic]y protested against the Pope in Rome, and been escorted out of the city bv twenty-tive gendarme-. He joined the Church of luigland, sttidied at Cambridge, and then, with two ()])iects. tlie conver- sion of his fellow-Jew> and the discovery of the Ten Lo-t Tribes of the Dispersion, he had ]M-eaclie(l a deliaiu and polemical g(r-- pel all over the b-a-i. challcngni- the K/anied ever\-where to dispute with him in nianv longncs. Aninii^-t other remote anil (langerou> lands hi> mi--inii;iry /eal lirid carried liin.i. in 1830. even to Bokhara. v\here \\v " iinderwen! inuoh rigid hire; but iina'hle to pa-- neli ^n £00 a \eaa". he had taken his w n'e and -on to live in Ihaige-. With a ceairage not to be over-|)rairitish army, calling for companions or funds to help him in the enterprise. " I merely want," he wrote, " the expenses of my journey, and OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS 311 not one single farthing as a compensation, even in case of complete success." Tlie money was found, chiefly by a Captain drover, one of the officers to whom, as narrated above, the government had refused ofticial countenance; instructions were given to all British representatives on his route to afford him help; he left London on October 14, 1843; reached Bokhara after many adventures and in spite of the gravest warnings of ^1 The Approach to the Prison. Bokhara. hh certain fate; was detained tlare a |)n-oner for a h)ng time: relumed t«i embrace Islam and finally al:)andoned all hope of esca])ing the executioner; was on!}' allowed to go at la-l in consecjuence of letters demanding his release being sent to the Amir by the Shah of Persia; was in such a condition when he reached English friends again in Persia that he wrote: " For five days poor Colonel Williams was engaged in putting the I lei* ! if 1 312 ALL THK RUSSLAS vermin off my body;" and arrived back in London on April 12, 1845-* His journey established the fact that the two men he sought to rescue had been murdered three months l)efore he started, and also that a third British officer, Lieutenant \\'yl)urd, had been killed by the Amir. " For the (juietude of soul of the friends of those murdered officers, Colonel Stoddart and Cap- tain Conolly," wrote Dr. Wolff, '• I have to observe that they were both of them cruelly slau.^htered at r)okhara, after suf- fering- agonies from confinement in ])ris(^n of the nio:5t fearful character— masses of llicir ile^h ]ia\ii l)cen gnawed \'S had iiii U'cu l)een a I ni o >= t tlie cnii'lle^t C( inccixal ae. The Prison Gate and tlie Gaoler. Bri^on. ( )n one of these occasions the\- had been otTered their h\-e^ it they would embrace Islam, ddie }ounger man boldly |)rotessed * By a curious slip his own narrative gives the tlate of his start wrongly as October. 1844, instead of 184J. 4 \ i OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS 313 his faith in the eye of death, but in a moment of weak- ness, for which he needs no forgiveness, the elder aposta- tised. That they were confined in a dungeon-pit infested with sheep-ticks — the reader who has ever seen a sheep-tick may supply the adjectives — seems certain, though it may be a fable that these insects were fed with meat in readiness for the human prey supplied to them from time to time. At last they were taken out and their heads cut off in public, but not before Stoddart had denounced Islam and declared that he died, as he had lived, in the faith of his fathers. Of Conolly's end Dr. Wolff finely wrote: ''His firm conduct at his dying hour re- minds us forcibly of the bearing of those brave soldiers who died in the persecutions of Decius and Diocletian. I hope to see my Conolly among them at the hour of Christ's coming in glory." .\s the P,ritish Government had done nothing to save its emissaries, so it did nothing to punish their murderer. But the Reverend Joseph Wolff was not without justification when he said: "I have given such proofs to my Jewish friends of my sincerity of belief, as 1 may say whhout boasting no otlier Jew- i'^h convert has yet done. Independent of this, my nation saw that the Jew was prepared to risk hi> life to -nve the ficntile." ShaJoni Icka ! * All thi< wa< vividly in npv memory wlien 1 -et ^- >iit fi .r ilie old jaaM.n of Bokhara. The palace, or as it shouM rather be termed, the citadel or fort, stands upon a l(^w hill <:\u\ u^ be artificial, and is surrounded by a higli mud-wall. Skirting Dr. Wolf! subsequently became vicar of We Brewers, in Somer^ei, an, B- ikiuia. and let in a little light they had |. tilled cnpie. ni the Koran out of their dress and were readinp^ it fa.M as jono a- the light lasted. One man seemed to take a sardonic satisfaction in mv evident horror, for he made a way for me across the floor and invited me by gestures to enter a second chandler, throuoh a low door- way in the wall. I remembered that the vermin-pit was said to have been within a second chamber in the old prison, so I overcame my repugnance and entered. The inner room was like the outer, but its human imnatcs were in even a worse OLD BOKHARA AND ITS HORRORS 317 state, and it is needless to dwell more on filth and horror. The earthen fioor sank in the middle — the pit that was here has been filled up. This, then, was probably the scene of the long agony of Stoddart and the gentle Conolly. Within these very walls the two Englishmen, thinking on the spotlessness and the honour of home, on their comrades and friends, on the women who loved them and were breaking their hearts for them — or were finding consolation, if time had tried troth too high — on the gov- ernment that had sent them and had apparently washed its hands of them, starved with hunger, sickened with dirt, gnawed alive by burrowing vermin, had prayed first for life and then at last for death. But even this poignant memory could not displace the present horror. There is this truth in the Roman playwright's immortal remark, that the degradation of one human being, whether infiicted or self-procured, degrades humanity. I was haunted for weeks by the face of a man I once saw in prison who had just been flogged, and to me, who hate to see a lark in a cage or a monkey tied to an organ, the sight of all these men, with hopes and fears and aftections like my own in kind, positively cliained in rows, robbed of every vestige of human riehts, was awful. All I could do was to buv l)read for them all, and -land l)\- till 1 -aw they reallv had it. and di-tril)Ute :-ome handtuls of small com, in the hope tliat it would aUord a grain of alleviation of their lot. How long had most of thern been there? I asked the old gaoler. Some just come in — some for years. Had they all been tried? Some had — some had not. What were they chiefly condemned to? Some to stay in prison — some to oeath. Would some of them be freed? The old man smiled. I knew what he meant— it depended upon whether thev, or their relatives, could find money to bribe others and him. When would the condemned ones be executed? God alone knew. If the round earth has a spot upon which hope can find no «>- « #•« .>W A..^ -"% %> I 318 ALL THE RUSSL^S foothold, that spot would seem to be the prison of Old Bok- hara. Yet as I looked back I saw that a gipsy woman had followed me in, and that — the soldier at the gaol-door being too interested to shut it — a group of eager prisoners had gath- ered round the step, and she was telling their fortunes for the coppers I had given them. CHAPTER XXI SAMARKAND AND BEYOND AFTER Athens, Rome, and Constantinople, I should rank Samarkand as the most interesting city in the world. A volume might be filled with descriptions of all its sights, but fortunately my photographs, which I venture to think are of unusual interest, tell the greater part of what one would wish to say. It lies 2,000 feet above the sea, and is a desert of narrow streets and silent, mud-coloured houses, surrounded by an earthly paradise of fertile fields, rich vineyards, and blossoming gardens, recalling at once a certain clever imitation of Omar Khayyam — What though the Book you cannot understand ? Drink while the Cup stands ready to your hand ; Drink, and declare the summer roses blow As red m London as in Samarkand. In its midst is the inevitable bazaar, crowded from morning till night by dense crowds of haggling purchasers and gossipers, through which a ceaseless stream of men and w^omen on horses, donkeys, and camels push their way w^ith the greatest difficulty. As in Bokhara, one section is devoted to cloth, another to silk, another to leather, another to arms, another to metal-w^ork, and the most interesting of all to manuscripts. Here I w-as brought all sorts of strange volumes to buy, and although this market had been ransacked of late for rare treatises I could not help feel- ing that only my ignorance of their contents prevented me se- curing some manuscript of value. But probably my ignorance also preserved me from less pleasant discoveries, for much of the 319 •*. i« »^ „ 320 ALL THE RUSSIAS I I' r- 1 !• If t I* i» i reading matter that delights the East would produce a very dif- ferent impression upon a western mind. It is the marvellous ruins of Samarkand, however, that give the city its extraordinary interest. Alexander the Great paused here; long afterward China made it into a great capital; then Mohammedanism, destined to conquer from China to Ttu-kev, converted it into the best loved and most admired spot of the world. Genghiz Khan destroyed it with tire and sword in 12 19, and more than a ceiUury later Timur, the lame Tartar — Tijiiur Loi^, whence our "Tamerlane" — anticipated the heaiitv and the fame of Athens here, and adorned it with the '* grandest monuments of Islam," whose ruins to-day. six centuries later. are worth the long journey to the heart of Asia to see. They surround the Rigistan, or market -|)iace, and consist of se\-eral }U(iiI)\isSi!s, or colleges. Tnimr's tomli. In^ wife's inaii-oleum, and one Wi>nderfui nioscnie. The ;;h,/./rj.vMi called Shir /a/r, nr the f J' aidicarii TL troiii tiii; I ..a >a ana t lie >uu « ^i • K' t ta I a ! ] i - :,tre, a::d i I liaU' 1 <■'■ air splendour, elied iif^ai 11. siaraJ- or> tlic laistern side of U'^ 1:::^ that kiiuwii ai I ila Kan, or ilie Goldeti, froiii tii with, whicli it was once covered, on the north. 1 > t as shown Hi rn\ iihiM rations, niiist be added the clicci of colour, for their tarade- aia; Inuli of coloured tile-, amnnrr wTich the un- e(jiiaHef Per-i:i |a"edominates. These fa(;ades are flariked wall] rniiKiret- tU exireme grace btit ctiriouslv out i-i the per- pendicular, w^hiie wahin, the courtyard is surrounded \Mth two storeys of class-rooms and students' apartments. Foreigners are not welcomed here, but I managed to make friends with the pro- fessors of one of these colleges, and after a theological discus- sion of the prohibition in the Koran of making pictures of the faithful, to take tin- {shotograph of a group of them. A voiiiio- >tiah.ait of the miuh'assa, with the ( )r!cntars eye for !)akshish, vohnnecaaMl to take nie ai) to the roof, an.-.l tlie \-iew of the cH\-, coirihaned watli the riH-Maecih^i ..a its iaar\a:lli!n- jvist, held me lon' b'- /i i^ SAMARKAND AND BKYOND 3^7 with gardens and vineyards. Around these was the bare, sandy desert, rolhnrr up into the Alai range. Behind me was the peace- Interior of Shir Dar, Samaricand. fill courtyard, surrounded l)\ it- tiers of cells for the students, Vvith trec=;. and fotintain^. and ^!.,)\v]\- ster)pinLr. \vI]iie~tiirl,Kiiied .* - • , fc ■■ * t» P I il » 1 1 328 AIJ. lin. Rl -SNIAS }}io!hilis. Once tliis wa^ t1ic iiictrnTinii^ of ilie worM r»f Islam, the home of art and poetry, the >ile ot everything mo-t splenchd that Alohammedairism proihiccd, tlie place of every Miissuhiian's desire, the svmlxd of beatitv and perfection, llafiz of Shiraz be- Heved himseh* to he totichnig- the hii;h water mark of hxperbole when he wrote — If that Turkish ^irl of Shiraz would give me her heart. I would give for one mole of her cheek Samarkand and Bokhara. But the Uzbeq;s were the (ioths and \^andals of this Asian Rome — the Turks of this later Athens. Finally even Bokliara took it and held it till the Rtissians came concpiering- from Tashkent. }Ia|)pily Timur built his monument- s(^ snji.lly tliat neither men n(»r tune haw de-'trt i\-ei| ilicni. and t>-urei his death ni Mohanunedan chronology — A.ic 1 105. Another block is commemorative of his grandson, i;iu-li IU-l:. the [anions astronomer, iii a rece--, below a jaerced stone wand^'U, liani^-- a Hai:', '-tnanounted hv a hor^C'^tail -the syndjul of tiglitnii;- M< iliarnniedani>ni. When \"ici lia\e i^azed upon tlie-e tlie old jnoJlaii liLflU- a irntterini: tai ! < a e itea !-- \'< ai » \ \ SAMARKAND AND BlaYOND 329 down a narrow flight of marble steps to the crypt, where the nngiity eoncjtieror lies beneath a single stone — one of the world's Portal of til;' T nib of Tamerlane, Samarkand. erentest dead, whoic armies ranged victorious over more than e\'e!i Rn.>-ia rides to-day. Nra less iinpressi\a' than hi- r.wai tonil). and probal)ly more beautiful Indore it fell niio hnj)cless decay, is the mausoleum of -^ v% •■■-'■. Y I I •1 t i * 728 ALL IIIL lU S^L\.^ niiuliilis. ( hioc ilii^ \\a> ilic iiu'iru[juli^ ui ilic w'^rld uf Iblani. the lionie of art and |)oetr\-, tlic >!te of evcr\ iliiiiL; ni< If reposes beneath an exquisite fluted dome, flanked originally by two minarets, of which one has fallen and the other is cracked and leans dangerously. In front is an en- trance portal with a Gothic arch, in l)lue enamel, leading to a garden shaded by alders and mulberries and weeping acacias. An aged niollaJi lives in a stone cell within the mausoleum, sur- rounded by paper texts copied from the decorations and tombs, which he sells to the faithful. Beneath the lofty dome, on the ground level, wdthin a kind of palisade of pierced alabaster or gypsum, are half a dozen coffin-shaped slabs, marking the places where the bodies lie in the crypt below. One of these is an enormous block of dark-green jade, almost black, said to be the largest in tlie world, bearing the name of the Amir Timur him- self, and the date of h.is death in Mohammedan chronology — \ o. 1 }»!5. Anuilier block is commemorative of hib grandson, l/hi^h i'ei^ the fatnon< a-trMnomer. In a recess, below a pierced stone winduw, liani^'s a ikii^, surmoimted \>y a lit H--t- tail ^-the symbol of tl^litin^i;^ MnhairnneCuanr-nr When von ha\"e uazed tipoii the^e the old iniuuiii lights a giitlerniL; candle and iead^^ vdu t I SAMARKAND AM) BlAONl) y down a narrow flight of marble steps to the crypt, where the miglit} conqueror lies beneath a single stone — one of the world's IP 4 i 1 1 >*va ■■■■■■BMP^ in Portal r,f the T nib of Tamerlane, Samarkand. greatot dead, wliose armies ranged victorious over more than e\-en Rn---ia rules to-dav. Xot less itripressi\-e than his own totiil). and proljal)ly more beautiful before it fell into iKjpeless decay, is the mausolenm of :Ui: »>•.!►■ ,. « »k, • .* V* v% •■'^ % t . N f^ -«.,,,*, , ■J ' i 'I i# <' va^:>^■i ,.>.v.i. 330 ALL lU! KL SSL\S Bibi Khanum, his wife, tlie daui^hter of tlie Emperor of China. One traveller speaks of it a.> " !c f^lus beau inoiuiniMil qui ait jcuiiais etc clcvc a la fiianoirc (I'luic fcuiiuc adanrr and if one rmf . /:'-ir-.t--';.*.. ^ -<*i-«'^-<"» ■.r^' '"1 3q ^ifell Hilk /I I ^ ■-liK ^C^^- ;:v.--- Ulli^ s Tamerlane, SanrukuiJ. | ' -V- ■.« V' V V* <►% ^ «,■ •• f ,, . «. SAMARKAND AND BEYOND o "1 T goro-eous in red and o-reen and g-ohh is rent across and must soon falh But time and neglect have failed to make any impres- sion upon one thing — the enormous marble lectern in the court-' yard, which used, it is said, to hold a Koran of corresponding proportions read by Bibi Khanum herself from an upper window. Most impressive of all however, to mv wav of thinkincr, is the mosque of the Shah Zindah. or " laving Saint." a martyred saint The Tomb of Tamerlane— Upper Chamber. of Islam, who is to arise again in the hour of the triumph of his faith. You enter it through a blue and white tiled gateway, and pass by a marble stair between a double row of tombs of Timur's relatives and generals. To the left, when I visited it, the very sacred !]]oH|iU' wab crciwded witii knocliiiL:- w* ii'-liippers. all bow- ing togethi r lilvv a wave as the leading uunlali cli:nited the credo of Ibknn. If I caught tlic (kx^jv^rolling- alliterative syllables ariglit, thev were tlic sacred word^ wiiicli MulKumricdi ^av; in letter- nf o..-^ •^«^V»' jm: iK' 33^ AJJ. I I II R I SSI AS Hrc on the tiara of Cahrirl. mikt iliai ^i;i\ iiic pmfc^.son m the "'^'-^^ fanatical "(.od. and laalnn- hni (hmI. an,l M( )liainmi'.] the Pi-ophet (.f (io.l." Then thnai^h a Lui- narn.xN' e-MTnlor tn the entrance of tlie inner nios,jne. on the threshold ..f which a iiiolhi/i was (levoinly prayni-. wnh Us hn-e n]scri])tion. '■ ( ,o(l is Great." and a oreeii text from Mecca, a carved wooden pulpit, and an enormous Koran, live feet scpiare. Then across pachled carpets to the inner sanctuary, where, hehind a pierced stone screen, old green Mags hang, and a faint candle shows the deep SAMARKAND AND BKYOND 3^3 stoned)ui]t hole wliere the Sain! awau^ ilic jo\ nd lU'w^ ui ilie hnal triumph of Islam, r.e.-nk' the screen i- a ]ica\ \ littU- wooden dooi-. leadino- to the vault hel.^w. and fastened witli a nm.t (luaint padlock. "That has never been unlocked since the Saint en- tered the earth, twelve hundred and tiftv-nine vears a-o." said the inoIlaJi who was conductm- int--^\vith a tine disregard, it must he confessed, of historical accm-acv. fnr that would place the (late about six htmdred years before the birth of Tinnn- him- self, who built the mosqtie. This spot, however, does not need the aid of pious fiction, and through these narrow ways and gates and pra\er-chaml)ers one walked in silence, for e\-erv- where worshippers were prostrating themselves in deep devo- tion, and in the innermost room one peered down into the deep and blacl: tomb where the Saint lies until that dav, feeline that one was in truth in a place sanctified by the solemn homage of ages of devout men. One word must be added here in criticism of the Russian authorities. They are apparently oblivious of the sacred re- sponsibility imposed upon them by the possession of these unique monuments of a glorious past. Some rough repairs of common plaster have been made in the walls and dome of the tomb of Timur — and, indeed, it would be a crime to allow so memorable a spot to fall into decay — but, on the whole, the Russians have done almost iiothing to keep these splendid structures intact. They do strictly forbid the selling of the blue tiles, but thirty \ears after they came here an eartluitiake wrought destruction, and the i)iles of brick, and mortar, and smashed tiles lie just as the\- fell. One of the most beautiful domes of Samarkand, that of the Aloscpic of I)il)i Khrminn herself, the c^reat Amir's consort. l!a< a hui^e o|)en rift across it. and may collapse at any momcrT, Tlie cnst of })reser\-atie,n wr.nld noit 1)e great, and it is srirfirising that snine arclueoloijical societv in Russia does not undertake the task which the Go\ernmeiit thus strangel) neglects.* As Samarkand and all the surrounding country is Russian territory, and as the connnerce of the place is important and rapidlv growing, the Rtissian town — which, as in the case of * Since I wrote the above the folh)\vin_n; hiinentable confirmation ot tliis neglect has been telegraphed from St. I'eter.Nbur^ to the Daily Chroiuclc : — " 'Jlie tomb of the ^^reat Asiatic concjueror Tamerhine, was plundered last month in Samarkand. The robbers not only broke the valuable memorial tablet that was on the tomb under the cupola of the -o»yi >^^ ■^*^^^^i;£*g:.i±jtli!l±A K»^ * f» ^^ ^.-mm *»^^-*<# W*^^ ^**'-i^ ■^ rf-w^'— v» * . *^^m •♦-»-# 334 ALL IHK RUSSIAS ? I I) nl Bokhara, is at some distance from the native one — is already of considerable extent and importance. The Governor's residence is large and spacious — indeed, somewhat extravagantly so — set in the middle of a square-walled garden of several acres. The official departments are numerous and well-housed, and there is an admirable school, on an astonishingly large scale, for the chil- dren of the civil servants and Russian residents. The shops are iMiuS( 'k'um (if !',ibi Klianii [11. not like those in Sil)cria. lait all (.rdinary Mii.|)]ios nia\' he |.nr~ chased. The town reniiiided me ininu'tliale supcriMr, the (lov- crrior-lieiieral nf Tiirke-i an. Tin-. 1 1\ ilu' w a\ . and the aeia ei < >[ tile diief of I'ohee of A>kabahi. ..[ which i ha\e ah'eahiy -i)i>ken, were the onl\- two occasion- (hu-ini;- mv whole journey m the Tsar's dominions when I wa^ not treated with the titnio>t cour- tesy and consideration, and wlien every etTort was not made to enable me to see e\erythinii- and learn everythino- that I desired. 1 i;ladlv take this opportnnity to retnrn my cordial Mausoleum and Mosque of Shah Zindah. thanks, and to say that nowhere in the world could a visiting foreigner have pursued his w-ay under happier conditions. But I hi is reference to the club at Samarkand reminds me of a story. As ! havi" said. T Inu w nobody, and the club was the only phice in tlu' frn-eign setliernent where a decent meal could he liad. So. with mv intcr|-n-eter. a vonn-' Rvi--ian gentleman \\h<^ ac~ comfianicd me everxwhere, I made hold to call at tlie clnlv ask for the name of any oOlcer who ]iap|)ened to l)e |)re-ent, and when a lieutenant who was playing- billiards came out. to ex plain to him who I was and what was my plight, and to bej that I might be permitted to use the club during my short sta\ (T Interiisr ni Siiah Zindah. SaniarkniKi. Like every Rtissian, he was the sotil of courtesy wdien coiu'te^ ously approached, and he at once sought another officer on the premises to be my supporter, and our two names were entered as a 33^ ALL IHi: RUSSIAS SA\L\RKAND AND BEYOND 339 guests on the spot. This is one example of many sucli acts of friendly politeness. Now for the story — which shows another side of foreign life in Russia, h wa> during the Imkm- War, when things were not going well for us in South Africa, and anti- British feeling ran very high in Russia and the newsi)ai)ers served up a daily hash of denunciations and lies manufactured in Brus- sels. Things reached such a pass at last that British Consuls, in The H' •ur ■ -i i'r.i'vcr, >afiiai k.iud. i.j.i ,,..,.,.^1,. :„^,,i|p^i J,, full unif. ;rm, on ufflcial occasiouc;. were ilclii'vriiicw m^ii [)ul.Hic b\- Kui^sian ()ftici;ii- nt liigli rank. With tVie timiditv' that lias characterised it (hiring tlie pa^t Uvc vcrir- tiir inni-ii l-(U-i-i-ii Office, instead of ()ffiiciall>- taking ti{) tlie^e insults and tlm^ hring- ing them to an instant stof), ordered all our Coii:-uls to a1)sent themselves on public occasions. 1dh< order was the restilt of an exceeding] V gross insult offered to otir Constil in Moscow ])y a Russian General at an official party given by the (jOvernor-Gen- eral there — an insult which compelled him to rise, seek his wife at another table, proceed to the table where the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess were sitting at supper, make his bows, and withdraw, the most marked action that a foreigner could possibly take in the presence of Russian royalty. This, however, is not the story, which contains one of the most finished diplo- matic rei)lies I have ever heard of. A British Consul-General, The Avenue ot Andijan. \\-iih a niilitar\- title frorn iiaving served in a famc>u- Highland rei^iTiieni, wa:- dining in full tiiiifom] at an otliciai fxtrt}- cm a State occasion about this time. He was seated at a table with a distinguished company, including a prince and princess. Wliile they were talking, a well-known Russian General, covered with decorations, walked across from another table, his glass in his hand, and holding it before the face of the British Consul-Gen- eral exclaimed, ** Jc bois a la santc dcs braves Boers! '' It was a 11 340 ALI. rili: RUSSIAS SAMARKAND AND BEYOND 341 moment that would have tested the nio-t experienced (Hplomacy. But the Scotsman was ecpial to it. d he nisuk was deliberate and gross: moreover, it was ofhcial. and the Consul would have been whollv within his rights if he had treated it as such, left the room, The Native roiu'eman - >f Andn:in. reported it In hi. Aniba--ador. and demanded an apolocrv. ddiis, liowcver, in tlie circnni-tanci--. ai^l cniix,idcrin,u- the relatmiis of the two countrie>, \\<«nld haw- l>een a. blunder, arul the Forei,u-n Office, while it would have been cumpelled to take up his case, would lia\e rejj'arded him as a tactless mischief-maker. Still, some reply had to l)e made on the spot, and a dignitied one. Tlie Consul-General rose instantly, witli perfect self-contrul ig- nored the intended affront, and touchiiiiJ his i^iass to the Gen- erabs responded, ** Aux braz'cs dc tonics Ics uaiioiis, inon General! '' It would 1)6 difticult to beat that reply, and the Russians them- selves were loud in their praises of such consummate tact. The man wdio made it was severely wounded by a Boer shell not long afterward. Beyond Samarkand, along tlie eastern branch of the Trans- Caspian to its terminus at Andijan, lies the cotton country of ddirkestan. The towns themselves — Khodjent, Kokand. Marge- Ian (th.e administrative capital of Fergana), and Andijan — are on a ^mailer scale like those 1 have described. Kokaiitl with a pa^t, ^largcian wnh a present of greater iin|)( -rtance. Xolb^ng in ibeni call^ for additional n-mark, exce]^t cinton. Wdiere there e - is no v.aier, or no system of irrigation, desolation reigns. 1 member well how the tram stopped, late one afternoon, at a station in the middle of the desert. Not a house or a leaf was in sight. A few dogs were prowling about, an old man on a camel was just starting across the trackless sand, and a long- bearded Sart VNas delighting the Russian station-master's little son In- -ettinQ- him upon his ass. A iumdred yards from the station va re seven graves in the sand, eacli with a rough wooden cross above it, and by tlie Mglii ui ilic siatiuii-nia^lei himself, thin, r^ale. bent, witli crooked knees. T nidged there would soon be eiLdu ( diven water, and the scene changes to fat fields, cosey dwellings. bUtominir o-nrdens. pro^perons native-, and nionntanis of l):de- of cottcm awaitini^ tran^])rirt, ddie cr)ttondand is the pro|)ertv of tlio^^e natives who were in occupation of it when the Russians came, and everv eftort is wi^^elv made to keep it in their hands. Before they can sell. ! 34' ALL IHK RUSSIAS they must procure the written ])erniission of three Kacis, or native judges, and tlien the Russian Chief of the District can either give or withhold his consent to the transaction, and ni anv case he onlv gives permission wlien none of the native neigh- hours wish to i)urchase. The land-tax is hased upon a (juin- quennial classification according to croj), and its maximum is () roul)les per dcssiatina (2.7 acres*) for cottondand, and j\ roll hit': ! i'av-kiiiir C' '!'' -n in Andij.m. for ricelaiid. 'Thai which pa\^ 7! roiihie> i> sold at aJMnit ;uo rMul.ic^ ihr (/.o-,oj'///(/ — al)oul £2n an nrre. Land bought twelve }ear> ago f. .r 17 r^^uluv^ i- t^-day w.nnh 300. which explains the prnc;porit\- of ^*tme (.1 tlic oi-lcr (a.tinii aoni- panies. In Fergana tlie croj) a\-erages 60 ponds — ratlicr le^< tlian a ton-— of raw cotton to tlu- drssiiiliiuL or about 800 11)> to the * Murray'^ Handbook to Ru..ui islh cd.. p. [05]. ^ivc^ unc Jo.nAtiuj as equal to 28.6 acres! SAMARKAND AND BEYOND 343 acre; at Merv, 50 pouds, and at Tashkent, 30 pouds. Ten years ago a Sart labourer was paid 17 kopecks a day: now he receives from sixty to seventy. The buyers make an advance upon the crop in February or :\larch, and the harvest is in September and Octol)er; but this system has the obvious disadvantage that the natives, being sure of their money, take less pains with the crop. Several Americans have visited Fergana lately, with a view to the investment of capital. One, who had left three weeks before my visit, had offered to irrigate (wer 450.000 acres of the terrible so-called " Famine Steppe," fn-m the water of the Syr-Darya, on condition that he should be allowed to let the land along tlie canal to natives for a hundred years, at a rent to l)e agreed upon between the Government and himself, the irrigation works to be the pro])erty of the Government at the ex|)iration of that period. Two others were proposing to erect presses to ])roduce cotton-seed oil and cotton-cake. Cotton has been rather unlucky lately in this district. First of all wlien tiic price of grain once rose, the iiativo all ha>teiied to ]nit tluar land im<-1cr grain, instead of cott"]]. with tlie natural result that thev lost heavily. Then the revolt caused niucli land to go out of criiti.atiun lor a iirnc. Tins year locusts have done great damage. But the future of Tr rkestan as a cotton-growing coun- try is assured, and the time will come when Russia wdll realise her ideal of finding in her own territory, beyond the Caspian, all the cotton needed by her mills in Europe and those which w^ill be built 111 the Caucasus. Spinning-mills at Baku. 1 may add, will be high.lx profitable enterprises, for on the one han<]. they will save the cost of iran-port o>f the raw material to central Russia and of A^ia will be at their door. t1 I wished to see wdiat Russian Central Asia looked like lieyoral the raihvay. so after a couple of days spent at Andijan. its ter- minus, I drove fifty versts to Osh, the last Russian town before 344 ALL THL RUSSIAS the Chinese frontier is reached, and the startinq-place for the i^^reat passes leachno;- into Kash^ar. ddie hrst villai^^e on tlie road is curiously called Khartum, and I had not c^one far l)efore I was struck with the busy and prosperous life here on the very out- skirts of Russia's territory. Every few yards on the road I met or passed mounted men, often two on a horse, or an arba — >i . 1 ranee to Osh. tile hi-Ji i\ heeled rnrt- of my illustration, for fording rivers v.ith- out wviuuii iluir loads — piled with sacks of grain or cotton- seed civ lia\ , nr hijci lull «i! \-ei1ed women and prctt\' (Min^liTn, tlie dri\-cr Mttin-- a-indc ihi- ii^q--r ]\] iiu/ -liafts. < )iu.' ».-!i;!i min^- figure went b} — a youn^ ma!]. Ii-litly ih-c^sed tu niii. mi hi> ti-t a yellow hawk, not lioodcd. but tied lu- a string- to its K'^-. ready to be cast off. And a Kirghiz lamil\- pan \ , out slioi)ping. pleased SAMARKAND AND BEYOND 345 P me greatlv. The man was on one horse, with a little son perched behind him, Ids arms round his father's waist and his legs wide- stretched almost to splitting point. The woman was astride of another horse, with a baby before her, and she looked gay in her scarlet cotton gown and white hood, and masses of jingling metal ornaments. On her flat face, of the colour of terra-cotta, A Kirghiz Family Shopping in Osh. could be read the struggle between modesty and intense curios« ity as I approached. Finally the latter conquered, and we had a good look at each other till her husband perceived her fall, and angrily drove her away. The road ran between wide cotton-fields, ther. tuiy canals planted uu either side with pullard willows. Just before the town, at a wavside teadiou-c. there was a little mo^cnie with itr^ minaret. u hence the faithful were called to prayer., in tlie u^rk of a hi-h tree. and. as 1 drove into the tir^t street. I .aw two haystacks apparenth ce.ming mward me and filling the road from side to \ 346 ALL THi; RUSSL^S SAMARKAND AND BEYOND 347 side. These turned out to he ctiorniously laden donkeys, with nothing but their noses and hoofs visible. Then two miles of dee])lv rutted roads, between thick earthen houses, their Ikit roofs bearing great heaps of maize-straw, millet-sheaves, and green hay, brought me to the centre of the town, where a crowd of natives, their horses tethered in a long row against the wall, were sathered in front of the Uxescbwxe f^ravloixc, the office of A M.>ther and D.iui^hter .>f Osh and thc'ir Home. the Russian administrator, and tlie posl-uffice. ( ^h i> rniiark- able for a number of high-walled enclosure^, with huge wooden gates. At first I thought they were old furts of some kind, but they turned out to be for droves of horses and cattle. And the number of chaihannas, open tea-houses, all well patronised, and singularly picturesque at night when white-turbaned grou])S gather round the blazing fire, show that the people of Dsh are what the Germans call gcmitthlich. Nevertheless they often cast l)lack looks at the foreigner, and a man ran at me with a horse- whip while I was taking one of these photographs. But the little girls cheerily cried, Salaam alcikinn! A magnificent, mile-long avenue of silver beeches leads to the governor's residence, on a hillside overlooking the town and a brown range of mountains. The guardian of this outpost is Colonel Zaitzef, the freciuent host of Dr. Sven Hedin during the pauses of his splendid explorations in this part of the world, and I found him feeling much kindly anxiety al)OUt a piano he had undertaken to see safely on its wav to Mr. Macartney, the British Resident at Kashgar, which had cTone astrav somewhere between here and the Caspian. On my homeward journey 1 was fortunate enough to discover it and get it sent forward— a fact which would doubtless be made known at once in Ka>hgar. a- a telegraph line rnii.^ from here rui X'ernoye. I do not tliin.k that C )A\ will loiio itinaiii a Ivussian outpost "Osh and no Mistake"— the End of Mv Juurney. Kashgaria i^ weakly held by China; the rule ot tlu' ]oc:d Chi- nese officials is barbarous, and taxes are collected by tcM'ture when other method, fail; ^reat discontent, therefore, reigns; and Rus- sia has within her l)orders. and under her hand. Mohammedan refugees who could be slipped like hounds to raise rebellion. The Ih-itrsh Resident is compelled, by the deliberate withholding of support from home— going so far as to forbid him to wear a uniform-to plav a minor r61e, while his Russian colleague is almost master in the place. Nor do I see that an arrangement w 34B ALL THE RUSSIAS which gave Kashgaria and Kiilja — for the latter would inc\ital)ly follow the former — to Russia, need raise an\- ol)jections in I^ng- land. It is her natural line of expansion; it is out of any possible sphere of ours; and it would substitute civilisation for extortion and cruelty. For my last word about Cetitral Asia must be — and it was the dominant thought in my mind as 1 deci[)hered the faded word '* Osh " on the official boundary-post and realised that I had reached the end of my long joiu-ney — that Russia has destroyed nothing there — except the Turkoman horse and the Turkoman carpet — that was of any value, and that she has brought peace, prosperity, and probably quite as much liberty as is good for those who enjoy it. ECONOMICS CHAPTER XXU M. DE WITTE AND HIS POLICY FROM the unique and impressive spectacle of absohite autocracy; from the docile, child-Hke masses of the peo- ple; from the vastness of Siberia, slowdy awaking to conscious- ness and productivity under the stimulus of a railway which links Moscow to the China Sea; from the beauty and Babel of the Caucasus; from the conquest and annexation of the proud peo- ples and historic cities of Central Asia — I turn to a wholly dif- ferent aspect of the Russia of to-day. No romantic story intro- duces it; no clash of arms or diplomatic intrigue echoes through it; the camera affords it but one single illustration— the portrait of a man. To my thinking, however, it exhibits the most won- derful Russia of all. '' The Russian State is by far the greatest economic unit on the face of the globe." * To ninety-nine readers out of a hun- dred, this statement will doubtless be startling. It certainly was to me, when I first met with it, yet the facts to justify it are not far to seek. The Russian State draws an annual net profit of 45,000,000 roubles from its forests, mines, and agricultural property. It receives annually 80,000,000 roubles (minus con- siderable arrears) from its communities of ex-serfs for the use of land it ceded to or purchased for them. It is building the longest and most costly railway in the world, and it owns and * For this phrase, and for many of the statistical facts which follow, I am indebted to the Russian Journal of Financial Statistics, an admirable periodical presentation of figures and explanations dealing with every side of Russian economic and financial activity. Although a semi-ofhcial publication, the statistics given in the Journal are absolutely trustworthy. '3 10 tt . yigw wa i Kg^n a dtsprte can a-ree to refer the issue between thetn. .\l thi^ :iine. loo, the O.lessa Railwav, toci-ether w.ili other adioinm- tnK-, w.as conceded by the State to private enterprise, .-md the uh-.le, amunntin- f. -■.ooo mile-, of road, formed int,. the impnrtanl Southwest Kailwav Companv. of which M. de Wuie, uh- ha.l attracted f,-iv,nu-;d.le „,„cia! nntice bv a u-rk npnn the prmcplc^ -i a muNci-.d ra.lu.av tarill, ultimately :vhn >! Petersburg. .\- manager of the South- wx^.t Railw.av ■,! «a. \u^ 'hv.v i.^ -a.pervise tk. arr.in.^.'V.uaits of the Imperial tram. In .pile .u" in- caier-etic w.arnim:- tlu-e were so made a^ In re:^ult m the lernl/le cala-tr^iihe a! I'.-rki. when thcT-ar, theT>,arit-a. and ikeir clnkk.en narn.wlv e-eai-ed .ieath. M. DE WITTE AND HIS POLICY 353 M. de Witte's action in this connection recommended him so strongly to the Tsar that soon afterward M. Vishnegradski's re- peated invitation was backed by an Imperial command, and he His Excellency M, a^ Wittt, .Ntinister of Finance. accepted the post of Director of Railwavs. speciallv created for limi. In March. 1 ><<)-■ be was appointed by the Emperor Mniister of Wavs of (.oinmmiicali(»n: ■'•anng M. \'ishnegradski's long 354 ALL THE RUSSIAS illness he undertook the duties of the Fniance Department; and when the latter was compelled in August to retire from public life, M. de Witte was appointed, provisionally at hrst, and after- ward formally, Minister of Finance. This was in January, 1893, and consequently by his own unaided ability he had reached the highest administrative post in the Russian Empire at the age of forty-four. In the very same year he fought the great tariff war with Germany, and showed the world once for all that he could handle colossal issues of national fmance with the utmost hardi- hood, and that, having once entered upon a struggle, he would stop at nothing to bring it to a successful conclusion. Since that time his high-tariiT neighbours have taken care to give hhii no ground for reprisals. The key to M. de Witte's economic views may be found in the fact that at an early period of his career he published a work entitled '' The PoHtical Economy of Friedrich List." The latter (1789-1846, ''the politico-economic Messiah of two worlds") was an apostle of what may be called " educational protection," and this has been throughout his life, as it still remains, the fundamental principle of U. de Witte's economic statesmanship. Such a principle assuredly needs no explanation or comment for American readers at anv rate, to whom it must be familiar alike in theory and in practice. M. de Witte's statesmanship has been directed', up to the present time, to four ends, of which this edu- cational protection is the i^rst and chief. A brief experiment he made, but dropped as soon as wider knowledge showed it to be unsound, mav be just mentioned for the sake of contrast. He began with a belief in '' rag-baby " currency— the issue of as- signats, irredeemal)le paper money, for the payment of the cost of public works. Of this nothing more need l)e said than that the greatest achievement of his public life has been won in pre- cisely the reverse direction. The second subject to which he turned his attention was the fluctuation in exchange of the gold M. DE WITTE AND HIS POLICY 355 price of the rouble. These fluctuations seem almost incredible to-day, in view of the stability now so flrmly established. In February, 1888, the rouble was quoted in London at 19 pence; in September, 1890, it sprang suddenly to 31 pence; by De- cember, 1891, it had fallen to 21 pence. Between 1877 and 1896 the highest and lowest rates in London and New York, respectively, were 2s. gd. and i^. yd., and 67 cents and 38^^ cents. The most unscrupulous gambling took place upon the Berlin bourse. In 1891 the hundred-rouble note had actually been quoted at rates varying from 245.10 marks to 191.50 marks. Financial reform, or indeed any important financial operation, was almost impossible to a country whose currency w-as thus the sport of the money-gamblers, so M. de Witte resolved to strike, and — perhaps remembering what the tarifT war with Germany had cost him — at Berlin. So he struck, with his accustomed boldness, straight from the shoulder. It was decided that from January i, 1894, to December 31, 1895, the gold price of the hundred-rouble note should not fall below 216 marks, and Berlin was informed that as many paper roubles as she cared to sell would be bought at that rate. Berlin sold gaily for eight months, and M. de Witte bought; then, when the final time for delivery came, her speculators had to go upon their knees to the Russian Minister of Finance and beg him of his mercy not utterly to ruin them all. He consented to let them ofT easily, and there has been no gambling in the rouble since. The Russian statistical historian remembers that not long ago an empty space used to be pointed out in the Berlin Stock Exchange, and questioners WTre told, '' That is where speculators in the rouble stood." Campi uhi Troja furt. The rouble being thus placed upon a stable basis of exchange, the next step was obviously to the gold standard, and this su- preme reform constitutes the third of AI. de Witte's aims. The policy which had stopped the gambling at Berlin was continued till November, 1897, by which time experience had shown con- ^.i 3S(> ALL THE RUSSIAS clusively that the resources of the Russian treasury were suffi- cient to enable it to announce definitively that i)ayments would henceforth be made in gold specie, and by an Imperial ukac of November 14, 1897, every rouble note was made to bear upon its face an undertaking to that effect. The most remarkable fact about this resumption of specie payments is the enormous contraction of paper money by which it was accompanied. On January i, 1892, the amount of pai)er roubles issued was 1,121,- 000,000; to-day it is 630,000.000. That is, over £52,000,000 of paper money was withdrawn from circulation, the public being literally compelled to take gold. And what makes this enor- mous contraction the more remarkable, if not indeed unique, is that as in Russia the State alone issues paper money, these notes were not withdrawn in one form to be reissued in another. M. de Witte's fourth great undertaking— the first in point of time— is under way to-day, but it will not be concluded for several years. This is the government monopoly of the sale of alcohol. Hitherto his official achievements had been in the line of economic science, connected only indirectly with social prob- lems. His latest legislation, however, strikes deep to the very roots of popular welfare. Drunkenness is a great curse in Russia, as everywhere. The consumption of alcohol per head is not so great there as in the United Kingdom, but it does more harm, for there is in Russia an entire class, the peasants— the very class upon whom in the last analysis the prosperity and security of the country rest — which is impoverished and degraded l)y drink to an extent not found in any class of any other country. The very virtues of the Russian peasant— his good-humour, his sociability, his kindness of heart— make him an easy victim, and to these must be added the terrible loneliness of his life, the long black evenings of w^inter, the total absence of any other form of enter- tainment, his ignorance and illiteracy, and finally the poisonous M. DE WITTE AND HIS POLICY 357 filth which has been all that he could buy in the shape of alcohol. To the late Emperor Alexander HI. belongs the credit of seeing that this evil, destroying his people wdiolesale, must absolutely be stopped so far as legislation can stop it, but hitherto no Russian statesman has been found courageous enough to carry the gigan- tic task to its logical conclusion. Already in 1885 a law had been passed prohibiting the sale of spirits apart from the sale of food, except in corked bottles, and forbidding the estabHshments per- mitted to sell spirits by the bottle to consist of more than one room, or to have on the premises any spirits in open vessels. This law killed the drinking-house, pure and simple, but the peasant could still drink all he desired by going to a traktir, or restaurant, where a few bits of fish and bread were also for sale. It did noth- ing to prevent the sale of physiologically noxious spirit, and, most important, it left the publican free to buy the peasant's labour or produce for spirit— the most ruinous course of all. The Emperor Alexander HI. perceived that what had been done so far was after all but a half-measure, and that nothing short of a State control of the retail sale of drink would save the peasant from ruin. But M. Bunge, the first Minister of Finance to whom the opportunity was given, dared not seize it; M. Vishnegradski, the second, determined to do so, but always put off the first step till the morrow; M. de Witte, fresh from his financial suc- cess, and looking for new legislative worlds to conquer, took upon himself the burden of this reform, and by the law of 1894 a gradual government monopoly of the sale of spirit was estab- lished. The principles upon which he has acted are briefly as follows : A man drinks for three reasons : First, because he has a natural desire to do so; second, because he is excited to do so; or third, because he is given credit to enable him to do so. From the first of these reasons drinking is seen to be inevitable; complete pro- hibition is impossible, and the evasion of it only leads to more destructive drinking than that for which a cure is sought. But 358 ALL THE RUSSLA.S J •i i ! / the second and third causes i^iven above can be removed: it shall be no man's interest to excite another to drink, and no man shall be supplied with drink on credit. Incidentally, no man shall drink stuff which poisons him physically and destroys him morally. Therefore it follows that nobody except the State shall make either a direct or indirect profit from the sale of spirit. On January i, 1901. the kiw of 1894 was extended to all Russia except Siberia and the Caucasus, and therefore in a short time the whole manufacture and sale of spirit in the Russian Empire will be a strict i^overnment monoi)oly; the spirit will be of pure quality; it will not be sold by the glass except bona fide with food; and it will be sold for cash only. I have heard not a little complaint and indeed denunciation of this le,gislation, but in my opinion it is a mao-nificent reform, under the peculiar conditions of Russian life, and redounds to the honour alike of the monarch who perceived its necessity, and of the states- man who is carrying- it into effect. In one respect this reform offers far less difficulty in Russia than, for instance, in England. In the latter country a man gets drunk, at his pleasure, upon brandy, or whiskey, or gin, or rum, or beer; in the former the only intoxicant known to the people is vodka. There remains, of course, nothing to prevent the peas- ant from buying his bottle of corn-brandy and drinking it at home, but there, at any rate, as has been well said, " the bland- ishments of the publican would probably be replaced by conjugal remonstrances." Finally, in this connection, what has been the financial result of monopoly so far as it has gone? Monopoly was certainly not introduced into Russia for any profit it might bring — the other reasons for it were so overwhelming as to render that one un- necessary — but it has been a source of additional revenue to the State, all the same, for the net profit for 1901 is calculated at over four millions sterling. The uniform price of spirit is now 6^. — $1.45 — a gallon. 1~^^ M. DE WITTE AND HIS POLICY 359 I have said already that the system of '' educational protec- tion "—in plain language, the development of home industries by means of high duties upon imported manufactured articles and upon raw material which the country itself is also able to produce —has been the central idea of M. de Witte's national policy. With the resulting industrial and commercial Russia of to-day he is more closely identified than any other man. In a recent report to the Emperor he points to this with pardonable pride. Classify- ing the national industrial production under nine heads— textiles, food, animal products, wood, paper, chemicals, pottery, manu- factured metal, and various— from 1878 to 1887 Russia produced 26,000,000 roubles' worth; from 1888-92 the output was 41,- 000,000 roubles; and from 1893-97 it had risen to no less than 161,000,000 roul)les. That is, the progress of the figures of industrial business— the industrial turn-over— during the latest quinquennial period was four times that of the preced- ing period, and six times that which ended ten years ago. The figures relating to the extraction and production of minerals are as striking as those of manufacture. Of coal, petroleum, pig- iron, iron, and steel, Russia produced in 1877 a total of 1,700,000 tons; in 1898 she produced close upon 24,000,000 tons. To take the latest figures of all— of coal, cast and wrought iron, steel, and cotton goods, Russia produced in 1892, 9,000,000 tons, and in 1900 nearly 21,000,000 tons.* Such figures are alone a sufficient justification of M. de Witte's policy, but as, under the Emperor, he controls the economic and industrial future of Russia, and as foreign capitalists will certainly turn their attention more and more to that country, it is worth w^hile to quote from his own lips a lucid summary and defence of his actions. He gave this in an official speech a few years ago, but I have never seen it in English. " History shows," he said, *' that exclusively agricultural countries, even when they are politically independent and inter- ♦ The exact and detailed figures will be found in the next chapter. ti ( 358 ALL THE RUSSLIS J * / r i f* I W' k the second and third causes given above can be removed: it shall be no man's interest to excite another to drink, and no man shall be supplied with drink on credit. Incidentally, no man shall drink stuff which poisons him physically and destroys him morallv. Therefore it follows that nobodv except the State shall make either a direct or indirect profit from the sale of spirit. On January i, 1901, the law of 1894 was extended to all Russia except Siberia and tlie Caucasus, and therefore in a short time the whole manufacture and sale of spirit in the Russian Empire will be a strict g-overnment monopoly; the spirit will be oi pure quality; it will not be sold by the glass except bona fide with food; and it will be sold for cash only. I have heard not a little complaint and indeed denunciation of this legislation, but in my opinion it is a magnificent reform, under the peculiar conditions of Russian life, and redounds to the honour alike of the monarch who perceived its necessity, and of the states- man who is carrying it iiUo effect. In one respect this reform offers far less difficulty in Russia than, for instance, in England. In the latter country a man gets drunk, at his pleasure, upon brandy, or whiskey, or gin, or rum, or beer; in the former the only intoxicant known to the people is vodka. There remains, of course, nothing to prevent the peas- ant from buying his bottle of corn-brandy and drinking it at home, l)ut there, at any rate, as has l)een well said, '' the bland- ishments of the publican would probably be replaced by conjugal remonstrances." Finally, in this connection, what has been the financial result of monopoly so far as it has gone? Monopoly was certainly not introduced into Russia for any profit it might bring — the other reasons for it were so overwhelming as to render that one un- necessary — but it has been a source of additional revenue to the State, all the same, for the net profit for 1901 is calculated at over four millions sterling. The uniform price of spirit is now 6s. — $1.45 — a gallon. M. DE WITTE AND HIS POLICY 359 I have said already that the system of '' educational protec- tion "—in plain language, the development of home industries by means of high duties upon imported manufactured articles and upon raw material which the country itself is also able to produce —has been the central idea of M. de Witte's national policy. With the resulting industrial and commercial Russia of to-day he is more closely identified than any other man. In a recent report to the Emperor he points to this with pardonable pride. Classify- ing the national industrial production under nine heads— textiles, food, animal products, wood, paper, chemicals, pottery, manu- factured metal, and various— from 1878 to 1887 Russia produced 26,000,000 roubles' worth; from 1888-92 the output was 41 r 000,000 roubles; and from 1893-97 it had risen to no less than 161,000,000 roubles. That is, the progress of the figures of industrial business— the industrial turn-over— during the latest quinquennial period was four times that of the preced- ing period, and six times that which ended ten years ago. The figures relating to the extraction and production of minerals are as striking as those of manufacture. Of coal, petroleum, pig- iron, iron, and steel, Russia produced in 1877 a total of 1,700,000 tons; in 1898 she produced close upon 24,000,000 tons. To take the latest figures of all — of coal, cast and wrought iron, steel, and cotton goods, Russia produced in 1892, 9,000,000 tons, and in 1900 nearly 21,000,000 tons.* Such figures are alone a sufficient justification of M. de Witte's policy, but as, under the Emperor, he controls the economic and industrial future of Russia, and as foreign capitalists will certainly turn their attention more and more to that country, it is worth while to quote from his own lips a lucid summary and defence of his actions. He gave this in an official speech a few years ago, but I have never seen it in English. '' History shows," he said, '' that exclusively agricultural countries, even when they are politically independent and inter- * The exact and detailed figures will be found in the next chapter. i irv- ' J*"""""'"^ 360 ALL THK RUSSLAS M. DE WITTE AND HIS POLICY 361 -' i 'I - .; t r I nationally powerful, are economically restricted to the rcMe of tributary colonies to industrial countries, which are, so to speak, their metropolis. In exclusively agricultural countries neither intensive agriculture nor an accumulation of capital is possible. A large spirit of enterprise is never found there. Technical knowledge is rare there, and, as our own exj)erience shows, even the food of the people depends upon circumstances now of one kind, now of another, against which agriculture cannot contend. . . . The best protection that can be afforded to agriculture consists in assuring for it a market at home for its products, and remunerative wages for labour which fmds no occupation on the land. . . . The ultimate aim of the protectionist system is therefore to enfranchise our national production from its de- pendence alike upon foreign labour and foreign markets, and to raise our country to an economic unity of an independent im- portance. Like all other methods of action, protection should only be regarded as a temporary measure, in force until the time comes when its object is reached. " It is not, however, surprising that many persons think this temporary measure should be permanent. Those who benefit by protection are not disposed to let themselves be deprived of all the advantages which it brings them. That is why we see a certain dissatisfaction at the influx of foreign capital for industrial purposes, capital which creates competition, which in its turn lowers prices and reduces profits. We sometimes hear individual interests, shielding themselves behind a sham patriotism, speak- ing of ' squandering the natural resources of our country,' or of the ' enslavement of our people to foreigners.' It is not the first time that such complaints are heard. They arose in the days of Peter the Great, when he wished to ' open the window toward Europe.' The Great Reformer himself had to overcome this * patriotic ' wish to preserve routine, ignorance, the spirit of iso- lation — in a word, all the fetters which confine the vital forces of the country. ... '' The protectionist system has the effect of creating a school for our young industry. Important results have already been obtained in this respect. Doubtless this school costs us dear. The Russian consumer pays a high price for manufactured arti- cles: that is the chief reproach that can be made against pro- tection. But it is precisely for this reason that the present phase must be traversed as quickly as possible, and this again is why we must attract a large amount of foreign capital into Russia. ^ '' Unhappily, the amount of available Russian capital is in- sufficient; agriculture suppHes almost none at all, and hoarded capital can hardly be attracted toward industrial enterprise. Abroad, capital is plentiful, and it is cheap; we must seek it there. Beyond all question it is better to see foreign capital flowing into Russia, than to witness the importation of foreign products. For it is by means of this foreign capital that Russian production itself will be developed, obtaining for its own profit, at the lowest calculation, ninety per cent, of the value of the manufactured article." This speech is not only M. de Witte's reply to the so-called " pro-Russian " party, which detests foreigners and all their ways and works, and to those who charge him with destroying a nat- ural agricultural community in order to create an artificial indus- trial one, but it is a concise summary of Russian economic policy. It deserves, therefore, the most careful attention in other coun- tries. Alongside his invitation to foreign capital, as a counterpoise to the protectionist regime— that is, to replace by it that healthy and necessary competition which a high tariff of itself tends to suppress— M. de Witte has done much to supply capital in Russia with its helpmate, labour. To give one example only, since the emancipation of the serfs every peasant has had the theoreti- cal right to a passport (without which he cannot move outside his native village). In practice, however, he was almost as tightly chained to the soil as before; for passports are issued by the '4 . .' ■«« V; v^.'Ti,--'. **■ ^' ..*^ •**. 4 •-*' ^-4 •!■>' m ' ' *^ y_: - >f «Mk. V '•<' < .'^ **► v.* J( ■■-'-» • •?.,•-.-* ^ V**.. 4 .iS' » ■-<-■ '^-w.« . I — ' » », #*. \M '^ V". '# ■• - ,.•,■»»>, ^ t *-* »m'->m " m» ' i'- '^' * 4 362 ALL THE RUSSL\S >i 'S 1 r ; f ''t ' i ti > \ i ; I 1/ village community, the mir, and the mir gave them only to men whose payments of taxes were not in arrears. But as the mir is always in arrears of payment, for which all its members are jointly and severally responsible, it could refuse a passport to any- body. Moreover, if a number of men were working in a factory away from home, and that factory for any reason were closed, the police of the place immediately shipped all the workmen back to their own communes. M. de Witte has gained for every Rus- sian of the labouring classes the right to a passport for at least one year. This reform, simple in itself, is obviously of the greatest importance in the development of industrial enterprise, although at times of political trouble the police authorities probably ig- nore this yearly passport. Moreover, he has drawn up a code of regulations corresponding to our I'\'ictory Acts, workmen's com- pensation, etc., and is about to present them to the Council of Mmisters. These are of the nature of reforms to assure labour in Russia of consideration and protection analogous to that which it enjoys in other countries. Finally, he is at i)resent turning his attention to the introduction of the metric system into Russia, and to the development of a Russian mercantile marine. Such, in brief, are the career and the views of the most influ- ential statesman of Russia — a man, moreover, if the Tsar's con- fidence continues to be extended to him in the same full measure as hitherto, whose influence upon Russian affairs, national and international, may be even greater in the future than in the past. One obvious danger accompanies his insatiable activity. In or- der to get things done in accordance with his policy he has trans- ferred one department after another to tlie Ministry of Finance, until the work of this office is assuming dimensions l)eyon(l the personal supervision of any one man. Moreover, however great the will, there is a limit to human endurance, and that limit, in M. de Witte's case, must l)e nearly reached. If his health broke down, and caused him to relinfjuish his work half-finished, there is no telling what the consequences might be. ' ^^'f -•"*••• ' '•i.'C'* V '>*"J'» ■'*'••*' *-**^' " ' ' .J V ; -' " • ■ \ ' J- ..V--.'-."V.j ,-. . .1. ,< ,. , 4 ..•. , •.* - ..« .• ~ ■ •^*^. ■. >•■ ^ .:•%• •>^-.,X ''*3 .» *** CHAPTER XXIII RUSSIAN FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY THE finances, national and international, of the Russian Empire form a very complex subject, about which seri- ous misapprehensions exist, even among foreigners who study such matters, while gross mistakes receive popular credence. A volume, not a chapter, would be necessary for a complete exposition, even if I myself possessed the technical quaHfica- tions for so difficult a task. Russian finance, industry, and natural resources have, however, become of late the subject of frequent and familiar public comment, commonly inexact, and therefore, even within the restricted limits of my space and my own competence, I hope to be able to throw some light upon them. The Russian national debt, which is less than those of France and England only, is now £680,000,000 ($3.3ii'- 000,000). Upon this she pays an annual interest of about £27,200,000 ($132,500,000). Now, in view of these vast figures and the long series of Russian loans that have been floated (chiefly in France) during the last few years, popular opinion, and indeed to a large extent educated opinion also, have come to regard Russia as a country which is not paying its way, which is expanding and undertaking new^ enterprises far beyond its financial resources, and which can only keep going by constantly borrowing from its neighbours. And this opinion is often popularly illustrated by pictures of Russian 363 3^4 All. Mil lU SSIAS h 'A J r i ■ i ^ ,1 1 r ! h ( ! 1 lit the world trying to .^tatcMucn and fniancicr.- running. raise loans. In one sense it is perfectly true that Tvtissia needs money; but in the sense in wliich the al)ove opinions are coniirionly stated and believed, they are wholly inaccurate. The Russian public debt is very lar^e, btit it is bein^^ paid off at the present time at the rate of £2,500,000 a year. Darin"- the past ten years no less than £30,000,000 has been paid off. This striking- fact is usually overlooked. Moreover, as security for its debt the Russian State (I am not speaking of the country of Russia: the difference is vital) has natural resources and pro- ductive public works surpassing in value those of any other State in the world. Besides its enormous mineral w^ealth, which has hardly been scratched as yet, it draws, for instance, an annual net revenue of more than five millions sterling from its forests; and while the United States has almost exhausted its timber, and Europe is looking around anxiously to see where its wood and wood-pulp are to come from in a few years, the Russian State has 200,000,000 acres of real forest as yet un- touched. (Official figures give a far larger area than this, but I am speaking of genuine forest, not mere forest-land.) Russia's peasants pay (minus large arrears) the State an annual rent of £8,460,000. It owns and works over 24,000 miles of railway, of which the average net earnings from 1897-99 ^vere £14,- 800,000. Its budget shows a considerable surplus every year — with these surpluses the Trans-Siberian Railway has been largely built. These considerations will place the financial j)osition of Russia in a new light for most people; but what follows will astonish still more all who have not looked care- fully into the matter. I turn now to Russian loans. During the past fifteen years Russia has borrowed enor- mously — that is what strikes the popular imagination. But during these fifteen years Russia has converted and redeemed in cash previous loans amounting to over £440,000,000. In :i^. '< , « «." ■" " >'tr.'..'*. .•*".t\4 *f' '^' -* » . f.HZ^Tt-.'-'*- •»• V* ¥^^•r^^^''^■•m.\'>-^^l^'^^, FINANCK, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 365 fact, from iSSy to 1901 the Russian treasury has not received from nezc loans a single penny of eapital more than the old capital it repaid its creditors.'' How baseless, therefore, is the widespread notion that Russia, like a spendthrift, borrows to fill the gap between her income and her expenditure, is thus seen. But why, it will perhaps be asked, does Russia borrow at all under these cir- cumstances? For two reasons: First, to pay off more costly ^ebts— loans previously contracted at a higher rate of interest —and thus to unify her debt, both for her own economy and for the convenience of her creditors ;t second, to construct pub- lic works necessary alike for the development of her national resources, and in order that many of the great industries which this development has already called into existence, and which largely depend upon Government orders for their support, may not languish and disappear, and thus perhaps fail her when she needs them most. This is what happens : Potential traffic justifies a new railway between two points; either the State finds the money in the first place, or it authorises a company to do so, and as the company cannot dispose of its bonds the State takes them over at second hand; the railway is constructed and gets to work; the State borrows abroad as much as it has lent to the railway; instead of the bonds on, say, blue paper of the railway, there are the bonds on, say, white paper of the Russian pubHc debt. These are precisely the circumstances under which much of Russia's national indebtedness has been incurred. In conclusion, the truth is that the Russian Govern- ment is glad to borrow money, at a lower rate than before, to pav off debts bearing the higher interest, or to carry out productive works, for the reasons I have given above; but it is under no present necessity whatever— and has not been for * See Fcmds d' Etat russes ct autres Valeurs mobilih-es (published by the Bulletin t Between 1887 and 1900 the Russian loans converted and redeemed in cash amounted to a grand total of ^^44 1,000, 000. 366 ALL Tin-: RUSSIAS i twenty years — to borrow at rates which chj not fulfil the above con(htions.* As an offset to licr national debt. Russia — I am speakin.q- still of the State — has the unicjue i^ood fortune to i)ossess an annual income from actual property and investment which alone almost pays the annual chari;e upon the debt. The interest upon her debt is 670 millions of francs. The net earn- ings of her State railways, the revenue from her forests and agricultural domains, and profits of the Bank of Russia, with certain indemnities, etc., form together an annual income of 650 million francs.f And her railways and domains are rapidly increasing in value. No other State has such a real security, as distinct from national credit, to offer its creditors. In 1898-99 the fiscal receipts from all sources exceeded the government expenditure (including £9,516,000 for ex- traordinary naval shipbuilding and £4.315,000 for expenses in mitigation of bad harvests) by £34,458,000. This surplus more than met the demands for the construction of the Siberian and other State Railways and i)urchase of rolling stock, £22,922,000, and advances of capital to railway companies for new construction, £9,000,000. The Russian State, which at the outbreak of the Crimean War had but a thousand kilometres of railway, to-day owns and operates 38.250 kilometres, of which 8,345 kilometres are * In May, 1901, a Russian four per cent, loan for 424,000,000 francs was floated in Paris, according to the Imperial id;7z, " in order to rei)lace in the Imperial Treasury the sums spent in 1900 in advances to railroa*! companies, and to provide for similar advances to be made during the current year." This loan was subscribed several times over, the allotment being fifteen per cent, for jiaid-up bonds, and two-and-a-half for others. It is now stated that another loan for a thousand million francs (/^o.ooo, - 000) will shortly be placed upon the same market. Frophecy, however, alx.ut Russian loans is always dangerous. In fact, even official assurances do not cover very long periods. " I authorise you." M. de Witte i^ reported to have saii\ 1901. page 23. FINANC-K, COMMLRCE, AND INDUSTRY 367 double-track. This is more than any other State ni the world. 1 ast year in spite of financial crises and commercial depression, raihvay passengers increased in number more than a million, ami the amount of freight earned was 86.000,000 tons against 79,000.000 in 1899. The net annual revenue from the btate raihvavs alone pays half the interest upon the national debt.- Such are, necessarily in a very condensed form, the statistical facts concerning Russian national finance which are apparently quite unknown to the host of facile critics of contemporary Russia, and especially to those who believe that Russia spends right and left, upon all sorts of objects, the large sums she has borrowed in France. f , . , , I must allude for a moment to the only way in which these remarkable and impressive figures are directly attacked, namely, by the charge that they are not honest-that the Russian budget, in a word, is " cooked." The allegation is neither fair nor intelligent. It is not fair, because none of those who make it ever give the grounds of their charge or any alternative or comparative figures in disproof of the of=ficial ones. And it is not intelligent, because the Russian budget, though it cannot but be complicated when dealing with such vast sums, does yield to the careful student every fact he desires to extract from it. Some official Russian statistics undoubtedly exaggerate-as, . The eross revenue of all the Russian State railways (excluding the Siberian, but ,1 .ill, into this gross --^^^^^^.j^^:^::::. zl. biassed American engmeertng '--"^, ' J^^"^^" „„^.„„,, ;„dus,rial expansion and '° t tr:::r ' -'w^r^'Vlst n'rUt sigh, of ^or . .o^ent that Russia is „echan,cal ^--^'' J^^'^ , borrow in developing her magnificent resources, spendmg every cent ^^e ca" Poss y ^^ ^^.^ ^^^^^ .^^^^^^^^^ New and m.ghty canals are to be cut r.ver ^jiw^. and workshops are being forests cleared and waste lands reclaimed , cfes, vHage 1 ^^^ built, colonies are planted in new ^^^'^^l^ ^-'arW the who.e'of this :£,r :;V^:r ^st enti:;^;-^ Vha^: lx,ained above Where the money really goes. i^ .>i 368 ALL. IHi', RUSSIAS ,1 for example, iii reckonin- mere k.re.st-land as ,i:^eiuiine timber- forest, but this exaoo-eratiou is ahvays evident to the impartial student, and it does net :ippear in tnianeial statisties. whieh are kept and presented with the titmost mmutene.ss and detaiL Compared witli the JM-ench bud-et. the Russian annual l)aLanee- sheet is ehild's i)hiy. The (hflerenee is that the Russian Ministry of Finance desires for its own sake that its h-ures shall be understood, whereas the bVench bud-et is an elaborate conceal- ment, beneath colossal complications and endless cross-refer- ence, of unwelcome facts.* The memory of weary days devoted to the volumes of the French budi^^et leads me to say that in it only those who hide can find. On the other hand, any statistical financial fioure about Russia can be found withoti't undue difficulty in the i)ublications of the Ministry of Finance, or those issued semi-officially. with its coi^nizance and permis- sion. To suppose that the whole of these is one vast and marvellously-calculated network of deceit is childish. From la Jiaiitc finance to the poor nuijik is a Ioniser step in appearance than in reality. I turn to the Russian peasant here because anyone who wishes, for whatever reason, to disparage the figures T have cited above can l)est do so by emphasising the condition of the masses of the Russian people. In spite of all her brilliant progress in manufacture, and her great indus- trial developiuent, Russia is still chielly an agricultural country. The vast majority of her people draw their living from the soil and must long continue to do so. and the economic ideal of Russian statesmen should be to increase pari passu the material wants of the peasantry and their means of supplying them. Russia may— and I think, will, as the other nation of colossal natural resources developed behind a high tariff wall has done— becoiue an exporting nation, but her best market will always * M. Paul I.eroy-P.eaulicu. the eminent French writer upon economics. "Our unhappy Hud^rets are retouched and altered t., such an extent that it is impossible to reco.crnize them or fnid one's way about in them." And see The Peoples and Politics oj the Par East, pp. 124-127. FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 369 be found under the roofs of her own people. It is but too true that the condition of the Russian peasantry is at present far froiu satisfactory. While the people have rapidly increased in number the amount of land communally owned and tilled by them has remained constant since the Liberation of the Serfs, with the result that the outcome per family has grown steadily less and therefore the standard of physical well-being has slowly declined. Moreover, th.e famous " black earth " districts, the most fertile agricultural portions of the Empire, have been vis- ited, like the poorer lands, by repeated famine. A succession of bad harvests has been even more disastrous in Russia than else- where. It is not without reason, therefore, that the careful observer puts forward the suffering mujik in reply to the splen- did figures of the Minister of Finance. The reply is effective as far as it goes, but it is not conclusive. Other countries have suffered from a succession of bad harvests, and there is no reason to believe that Russia will not enjoy the fat years of the cycle again.* I have taken some personal inter- est in agriculture, and I believe that we are on the eve of great advances in the chemical and even in the bacteriological fertil- isation of land. If this be so, Russia will profit more than any other country, and if I were Minister of Finance I would generously subsidise laboratories of experimental agricultural chemistry. The Government is fully alive to the condition of the peasantry, for it is expending many millions of roubles upon relief, and employing thousands of poverty-stricken peasants up- on the public work most urgently needed in Russia — road-mak- ing. The last budget statement contains the news that the payment of no less than £12,000.000 of arrears of redemption of land by the peasant proprietors has been virtually regarded as a bad debt. Over a million sterling has been wiped off. and * Indeed, the commercial tide seems turning already. The Russian customs re- ceipts for the first half of iQOi. just published, show an increase of no less than twenty-f^ve per cent, over those for the first half of 1900—109,000,000 roubles against 87,300,000. irt n tfiBg'Jgft.') 3;o ALL rHl. lU >>IA:> the paynietU oi ten niiilicuis been '* distributed b\- in-tanneiits. The State niuiiopoly ul aleoliol, aiiil tlie iinpr"ve not tinfortunate everywhere ni Russia last year. Mr. C onsulA.en- eral Michell's Report says that "the harvest of k/X) in sixty provinces of Russia taken as a whole is considered fairly favour- able," it being 10.3 per cent, in excess of the averai^e of the pre- vious five years. The total product of grain grown in 1900 is computed, according to the same authority, at 1,119,019,950 cwts., lentils and beans 4,949775 ^^^'^s., potatoes 513,891,289 cwts., and 19,339 tons of butter were exported from Siberia alone. These figures should mitigate pessimism somewhat. Finally, M. de Witte's economic regime has for one of its main aims to provide a large proportion of the people with means of livelihood other than agriculture, and the production in a year of nearly 5,000,000 tons of steel and iron, and 60,- 000,000 barrels of oil, and the raising of nearly 16,000,000 tons of coal, to sav nothing of the large output of all the mills and factories of Moscow and Poland, means not a little employ- ment for peasants who a few years ago were all agricultural laborers.* Not only in agriculture, however, has Russia recently suf- fered severely. Her commerce and industry are still in a state ♦In order to show that "the results obtained fully justify the policy pursued by the Government," M. de Witte has just published statistics of the increase of produc- tion in four great classes during eight years. They may be tabulated as follows : Output in tons, Output in tons. 1892. J9<^«- (-oal 6.800,000 15,800,000 Cast "iron'. '.''.*. 1,050,000 2,850,000 Wrought iron and steel 984.000 2,000,000 Cotton goods 140,000 232,000 Totals 8,974,000 20,882,000 hINANCF,, COMMhRCK, AM) INDUSTRY .) I of great (le|)ression. P>ritish readers, at any rate, liave not lacked lull information upon this topic, for Mr. Cooke. British Commercial Agent in Russia, has industriously gathered and forcibly presented every fact and deduction that places Russian mineral and metallurgical enterprises in the most discouraging light.* I do not mean for a moment, of course, that he has sought to show the situation as blacker than it is, but only that, in my opinion, his Report would have been of greater service to the interests he represents in Russia if the lights and shadows had been more naturally balanced. Here is one example of what I mean. Mr. Cooke says : '* The Russian iron industry has no market beyond the frontier. Some lOO tons of southern pig- iron, it is lately announced, have just been despatched from the Kertch works to Leghorn This new opening for Russian iron produce has been loudly acclaimed as offering another solution of present difficulties." But Mr. Vice-Consul Wardrop had already reported from Kertch, a fortnight earlier, that '' Perhaps the most noteworthy item in the exports is the pig-iron shipped to Marseilles and Rotterdam" — 2,815 tons. And at the same time Mr. Vice-Consul Walton had reported from Mariupol as follows : '' Some 50,000 tons of hematite have lately been sold to the north of Russia, and trial shipments have been made to Germany, France, and Belgium; thus not only is South Russia no longer a customer for pig-iron from abroad, but she is entering the market as a supplier of this commodity.** I do not suggest, of course, that these small exports of iron from Russia necessarily presage an important new development of Russian industry, but I do say that the incident has its signifi- cance, and that this has been better appreciated by the old- fashioned Consuls in this case than by the modern Commercial Agent. And I think that the facts, if Mr. Cooke had known them, deserved some more balanced comment, for an iron- * "Mineral and Metallurgical Industries of Russia." Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Miscellaneous Series, No. 555. Foreign Office, June, 1901. tn I, r:, h j^.iim. .M ,«», 37'2 AI.L 1 HK RUSSIAS exporting country like England, than "The Russian iron industry has no market across the frontier." Mr. Cooke says that " Russia became the playground for universal Bourse speculation." The word " universal " is too strong, and indeed elsewhere he places the cap where it fits. The present aspect of the industrial condition of Russia, so far as foreign investment is concerned, is, speaking roughly, the work of unscrupulous Belgian company-i)romoters, or per- haps more correctly speaking, of unscrupulous company-pro- moters working in Belgium because of the opportunities af- forded them by Belgian law. These gentlemen have taken advantage of the enthusiasm in Belgium and France for things Russian to tioat company after company, to build iron-works after iron-works, where it was perfectly evident that only bank- ruptcy could result. Some iron-works had no ore accessible, some no coal, some no limestone. The nominal capital was in every case enormous, the working capital absurdly insufficient. The promoters placed their shares, pocketed the huge " rake- off," and are now turning their malevolent attention to the Far East, while the unhappy investors in their Russian companies w^ill lose almost every penny. 1 made careful inquiries on the spot, and I do not hesitate to say that a number of these Belgian and French enterprises were nothing better than swindles from the start. Some of them, as M. de Witte himself has just pointed out, with nominal capitals of millions of roubles, began operations without working capital, and even in debt. " Nine- tenths of the foreign industrial enterprises initiated in Southern Russia during the last decade have in the first place been pro- moted exclusively for the personal aggrandisement of the pro- moters."— Odessa correspon('ent of the Stamhinl August 3, 1901. For these failures Russia is unjustly condemned. She is no more to blame for them than England is to blame for the shocking record of liquidated companies on the Eondon Stock Exchange. As Mr. Cooke himself says, " Firmer or older-es- FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 373 tablished enterprises even in the metallurgical industry, keeping their own steady course, apart from the wild run of speculation, have stood their ground." It is true, of course, that Russia has suffered a financial and economic crisis of the most serious kind. But is she alone in this misfortune? Is not the German iron industry in a similar position? Are there not 50,000 unemployed in Berlin? Are not German workmen being transported by the Government back to the land? Have not German banks collapsed right and left? In France, too, is there not a deficit of 1 10,000,000 francs in this year's budget? Have not the French taxes for the first ten months of the present year fallen short of the estimate by 90,000,000 francs? Are not French wine-growers threatening to plough up their vineyards? And is the United Kingdom wholly without anxiety regarding its own economic outlook? If Russian national securities have fallen, what about Consols? Apart from the injurious effects of the South African War, these epochs of bad trade are cyclic and depression is far less likely to persist in Russia than in countries which possess neither the vast real wealth of her State nor the boundless natural resources of her country. For notwithstanding Russian development and production, the striking figures of which I have already given, her natural wealth is as yet hardly touched. Mr. Cooke says, in the Report already quoted : '' Not that there is not incalculable wealth, more especially mineral, in the vast dominions of the Russian Empire. The natural resources of the country, as is w-ell known, are indeed enormous. The future, with such assets to realise, cannot but be of the most promising." American authorities are even more enthusiastic. Mr. Vice- Consul-General Hanauer says : " The vast Empire offers the best and most profitable field for our promoters of railway, electric, and other enterprises, for the construction of water- works and drainage systems, building streets and canals, works 374 ALL THE RUSSL-\S V ' in iron, making dry-docks and harbours, and opening mines. . I would recommend my countrymen to ' go East,' and employ their talent, time, money, and energy in Russia, which will return them ample compensation."* And IMr. Alexander Hume Ford, an engineering expert, after a journey of investi- gation in Russia for an important American technical review, concluded as follows: "In fact, Russia seems to stand to-day where America stood half a century ago, on the threshold of an industrial prosperity and development which must soon awe the world by its rapid and stupendous growth. It is here that the Goulds, Rockefellers, Huntingtons, Carnegies, and Flag- lers of the future will spring up and become all-powerful." f I myself have certainly become a convinced believer in the future industrial development of Russia, and in this development for- eign capital, which will be welcomed and will receive perfectly fair treatment, judiciously placed, after careful examination and without inflation of values — placed, that is, for investment and not for speculation, should — on one condition — play a large and a very profitable j)art. The directions in which foreign capital has been employed in Russia, or may be, are very numerous indeed. The cotton- spinning mills of Moscow and St. Petersburg are the first ex- ample that comes to mind, and their profits in the past have been enormous — reaching sometimes fifty per cent, and even more. The iron industry of to-day is largely a result of foreign en- terprise, and is certain of enormous development in the future. A commission of four experts, including Professor Mendele- yef, the celebrated chemist, appointed by the Tsar in 1899, reported that there are 2,400,000,000 tons of iron-ore in the Urals alone — ten million tons of pig-iron a year for a hundred years. * Report from IVankfort, June 20, 1899. t EN^i^nnc-c-rin^^- M>r^'i!zinc\ April. 19OI, page 4I. FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 375 The petroleum industry at Baku is almost entirely the work and the capital of foreigners, led by the great names of Roths- child and Nobel. Last year the Russian output of petroleum was greater than that of the United States, it is increasing, and important new fields are certain of discovery. Such a produc- tion in so short a time, would have been impossible unless foreign capital and wise and generous Russian regulations had worked hand in hand. During the ten years 1891 — 1900 Russia produced eleven and a half milHon ounces of fine gold. During the last four years the production has fallen off somewhat, but it is beyond question that there are valuable deposits still untouched in Si- beria, and that under a more enlightened ofificial regime than that at present in force foreign enterprise would be able to ex- ploit them. The world has yet to learn, too, of the gold-fields of enormous wealth of which Russia has — by means also unap- preciated yet — become possessed. Russia has vast deposits of coal, but for some reason or other neither Russians nor foreigners are working them to any great extent. In vain has M. de Witte urged Russian capitalists and coal-owners to greater efforts in this direction. He has just sent the following sarcastic telegram to the IMining Con- gress sitting at Kharkor: '' The owners of iron works and coal mines are continually complaining of the dif^culty of selling their products, and of the consequent restriction of the output. However, the imports of these products during the current year up to October ist amounted to 106,000 tons for cast iron and cast steel, to 54,000 tons for machines made of these materials, and to 2,970,000 tons for coal. In view of the very high customs duties imposed for the protection of home industries, I ask the Congress how it is to be explained that people can speak of a difficult situation in the face of such considerable imports of products which might be supplied by Russian industry." And 376 ALL TFIL RLSSIAS a contract for 60,000 tons of coal for immediate delivery, at $12.24 a ton, is announced from New York as I write. In the great Donetz coal basin there is, I am sure, an important open- ing for foreign enterprise, especially as all Russian properties can be purchased cheaply for cash just now. The manganese industry of the Caucasus offers, so far as I am able to judge, a remarkable opportunity for judicious invest- ment of a certain kind, and, indeed, the mineral development of the whole Caucasus district will probably astonish the world some day. As for the Urals, their extraordinary richness in minerals is a matter of common knowledge, but few people realise what openings they present for foreign capital. Central Asia is as yet an unknown land to engineers and capitalists, but the opportunities there for a combination of the two — and I speak from careful examination on the spot — are great, and cannot fail to be seized before long. The forests of Russia, with the price of timber steadily rising and the demand for wood-pulp always increasing, also ofYer a further opportunity, and joinery mills, since Russian workmen are exceptionally clever carpenters, should be successful. The manufacture of hardware, linoleum, and many small objects now imported from Germany, should pay handsomely. Already an important Shef^eld firm is preparing to manufacture files and tools in Russia.* And there are many openings for imported * I quote the following interesting testimony from the Odessa correspondent of the Standard : " Lodz, known now as the Russian or Polish Manchester, is a prominent example of successful foreign industrial enterprise. F'ifteen years ago it was a place of some ten or twelve thousand inhabitants; its population, wholly industrial, now numbers close upon four hundred thousand. In order to escape the prohibitively high Russian duties, and still push their trades in the Russian markets, a host of German, Austrian, Belgian, and French manufacturers have, so to say, brought their mills and factories over the Russian frontier, and, with scarcely an exception, they are all flour- ishing. As, generally speaking, all Ikitish manufactures have an exceptionally high reputation in this country, there is no reason why British manufacturers should not start operations in Russia with even greater success than that which has so abundantly crowned the enterprise of the Lodz cosmopolitans." ■ FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 377 British goods, if uitelligently brought before the consum- ers.* This summary by no means exhausts the directions m which M. de Witte's policy of educational protection invites foreign capital to come and establish a healthy competition with men and means in Russia. So far only a few capitahsts have dis- covered Russia and her economic regime; they are chiefly Eng- lishmen and Belgians, with comparatively few French and German companies. Not that joint-stock enterprise does not already exist on a large scale, for of Russian companies no fewer than 580 declared a dividend during the first nine months of 1901, their total nominal capital being £105,000,000, and their average di-idend no less than 10. i per cent. But it may be regarded as certain that unless some international catastrophe should interrupt peaceful relations, men and associations with large sums of money to invest will turn their attention and their talents more and more toward Russia. After so many general considerations it may interest the reader to see a foreign company in Russia actually at work. I will therefore try to picture for him the best I saw. In the south of Russia there is a large flourishing town, ♦ I cannot do better than to copy here the printed letter which Captain Murray, the energetic British Consul-General at Warsaw, has prepared to send to his many unintelligent British correspondents : -I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the price-list which you have been good enough to send me, but of which I regret that I am unable to make any use, as it is m English, as are also the details and prices given in it. . - \, "To bring goods to the notice of buyers in this country price-lists must be m the Russian. Polish, or German languages, and all dimensions and prices must be m Russian weights, measures, and money, and moreover, the prices given should be those at which the goods can be obtained from your agents in Russia, or if Y^" j^^^'^ no regular agents, full details should be given as to probable cost of freight, duty, etc., to give the buyer some idea of what the goods will cost him if he imports them himself." 'J 37^ ALL IFLK RUSSIAS owned entirely 1)y Enj^Hshinen, the scat of a great and pros- perous industry, created by Englislniien, the most striking example of how foreign enterprises, wisely conducted under Russian laws, may thrive in l^ussia. Few people know of this, nor did I until 1 began to investigate the conditions attaching to foreign investments in Russia and to look for a typical case to describe. Yet such is the town of Usofka, the site of the New Russia Company Ltd. You will not, by the way, find its shares in the list of quotations; they are all privately held, and nobody who has any would l)e likely to sell. The founder of Usofka w^as the late John Hughes, the son of a blacksmith of Merthyr. He was at one time manager of the Millwall Iron-works, on the Thames; he built the Plymouth Breakw^ater Fort; and he made his first acquaintance with Russia by building the Constantine Fort at Kronstadt in 1864. His friendship with Todleben, the defender of Sevastopol and the saviour of the situation before Plevna, had something to do with his interest in Russia. Under Imperial protection he was sent to the south to search for coal. He found it, and the New Russia Company is the outcome. Now the management of the great concern is in the hands of his sons, and to them 1 have to express my warm thanks for hospitality and most interesting opportunities of inspection. The railway station of Usovo and the town of Usofka are both named after John Hughes. They lie in the extreme south of Russia, just north of the Sea of Azov and about a third of the way from Rostov to Odessa. IMuch thumbing of the time- table is necessary to get there. As I came up the Black Sea from Batum. I left the steamer at Novorossisk (where there is the largest grain elevator in the world) and w^ent by train to Rostov. Thence to Khartsisk, and thence again to Yasinova- taya — fairly unknown country, as you see. There at dusk a phaeton and dashing pair awaited me, and an eighteen-verst FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 379 drive, quickly covered, across the steppe, brought me to my destination. As I entered the house a valse of Chopin was being plaved on the piano. ^ You will find us in the billiard-room, when vou have dressed," said my host. It seemed Uke a dream, so much civilisation, all of a sudden, after months spent in pro- vincial Russia, in Siberia, and in Central Asia. The New Russia Company's estate, owned, not leased, ex- tends to some 60,000 acres. Half of this is coal-bearing land, and one-half of this half shows enough coal to last the company for two hundred years. In fact, the company sells coal, and no iron-works would do this unless there was plenty to spare. Some distance away there are 2,700 acres of limestone property. The supply of iron comes from the hematite mines of Krivei- rog, where the ore averages from fifty-eight to sixty-five per cent, of metallic iron. These mines, of which the New Russia Company's share is 2,500 acres, are about three hundred miles away. There is enough ore in sight to last the company for from fifteen to twenty years. After that a fresh supply must be found. Its source is hardly a secret. The manufacturing side of Usofka is like a huge iron-works anywhere else— a forest of chimneys, belching forth smoke and steam; a row of blast-furnaces, clouding the day and illuminat- ing the night; great stretches of coke ovens; mountains of slag; acres of workshops; miles of railway with banging trucks and shrieking engines— the whole familiar industrial inferno. Be- side it are two of the coUiery pit-heads, and adjoining it on the other side is. the tow^n. This has no resemblance to a Russian provincial town; it is regularly laid out, its houses are solidly built and neatly kept, indeed many of them are luxurious; there is a whole street of capital shops, a co-operative store, a public garden, a branch of the Imperial Bank, a Cossack barrack. The streets are numbered on the American plan, and are called '' Lines "—there are fifty " Lines," if I remember aright. The whole place, as a glance shows, is prosperous and well gov- I 380 ALL THK RUSSIAS erned. It has no fewer than 30,000 inhabitants, and no other raison d'etre than the New Russia Company, Ltd. Close the iron-works, and next week this town, as big as Colchester or Topeka, would be deserted. The pay-sheet of Usofka contains 12,000 men, and £50,000 a month is paid in wages. This gives some idea of the scale of the company's operations, and of the benefit to Russia which this foreign enterprise confers. But the figures of output are perhaps even more informative. There are six large blast- furnaces, five working, and one kept in reserve. These are worked with what I believe is called a " ten-pound pillar." In 1899 the output of pig-iron was 335,000 tons. For the produc- tion of steel there are ten open-hearth furnaces (into which the metal is carried hot — an improvement, unless I am mistaken, upon English methods) and two Bessemer converters. During the year preceding my visit 50,000 tons of steel billets were produced. The rolling-mills, in which I noticed that an electric trolley carried the red-hot ingots from one rolling-table to an- other — a very useful little time-saver introduced locally — turned out last year 150,000 tons of rails. Besides this, 10,000 tons of '' merchant iron " and 8,000 tons of '' Spiegeleisen " were pro- duced and sold. From the company's coal mines, six in all, 650,000 tons were lifted, of which about 30,000 tons were sold. The company made and used 350,000 tons of coke, and bought more besides, and it raised from its own mines at Krivei-rog 500,000 tons of iron ore. One other interesting item is that the company has a large farm adjoining the town, for the pro- duction of vegetables and forage, and that it ploughs every year some 8,000 acres of land. To complete the appreciation of this great industrial enter- prise, and its significance for Russia, two other facts should be borne in mind: first, that in 1870 there were only a few huts on the steppe where now this busy town thrives; and second, that the whole of the output during these thirty years has been FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 381 used in Russia, and not a yard or a pound sent to any other country. The workmen at a Russian place Hke this present many contrasts with labour elsewhere. Originally they were all from the land, attracted for a time by the higher wages, or actually driven from home by poverty. They worked in the mill for a few months and then took their savings back to the village home Many of them are still of this class, but now these stay as a rule for three or four years, and there has in addition grown up a regular working class, dissociated forever from the soil. The growth of this proletariat is one of the most striking devel- opments in modern Russia, and in time will undoubtedly trans- form many old conditions. Their wages are both low and high —low in actual money, high because the labour is inefficient. The lowest rate is 80 kopecks, about is. Sd. or forty cents, a day, and this rises, with the skill and responsibility of the recipient, until rollers and fitters and furnace-men draw from three and a half to four roubles, say 7s. 6d. to 8^. 6a^.— $1.75 to $2— a day. Moreover, any factory in Russia is handicapped by the great number of saints' days and Imperial fete-days, when work ceases by official order. In fact the working-days only average about twenty-one a month. The character of the labourers may be judged from the fact that they occasionally take a nap upon the railway line! I myself saw a man stretched on his face fast asleep on the iron plates which form the roof of a blast-furnace, with his head a few inches from a shaft up which at any moment poisonous gases might burst. Foreign enterprises in Russia usually either fail or pay what would be regarded in England, at any rate, as very large divi- dends; and if they fail it is generally from their own fault. But they have to face a good many conditions which an English or American employer would consider intolerable at home. For instance, the precautions they have to take against accidents are infinite, and if a man is killed the poHce procedure which follows I 382 ALL THE RUSSIAS is a perfect inquisition. For example, the foreign head of the department in which the victim worked cannot leave the country until a verdict is reached and penalties inflicted, and the various trials and inquiries may last a year or more. Again, in Russia the State imposes upon private enterprise obligations which elsewhere it discharges itself. At Usofka, since I am taking this as a typical business, the company has to support schools in which are eight hundred scholars; a hospital, in which there are one hundred l)eds and six doctors; a force of police consisting of three head constables, four sub-constables, and seventy-six men; and even to make a contribution to the guard of one hundred and fifty mounted Cossacks quartered in the town. Besides these obligations, the company has two Russian taxes to pay. First, the zcmstvo taxes — call them rates. These amount to £10,000. Second, a new cumulative tax on general profits, and, as the New Russia Company had paid a dividend of fifty per cent., this tax was ten per cent. Third, as this is an English company, there is the income tax at home. But even yet I have not touched upon the severest handicap of all. This can only be explained rather technically. Iron- masters will understand it, and others must believe that it is far harder than exists elsewhere in the world. I allude to the tests which the material supplied to Government, of course a customer much larger than all the rest put together and doubled, has to pass before it is accepted. Take rails, for instance, very much the most important item. First, a 35-foot rail must not vary in length more than three millimetres from the standard. Second, a 5-foot rail, previously frozen, placed upon supports 3 feet apart, receives two blows from a half-ton '' monkey," falling from a height of from 8| to 9i feet according to the weight of the rail, and must not break or show any defect. Third, after a deflection test of from 14 to 17 tons pressure the rail must not show a permanent *' set " of FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 383 more than .75 millimetre. Fourth, a tensile strain of 65 kilos. to the square millimetre (about 40 tons to the square inch) must not produce an elongation of more than six per cent. And fifth, the figure produced by this strain, added to the elongation and multiplied by 2, must reach eighty-two. I am assured that a British or American railmaker would refuse a contract requiring these tests, which at Usofka are scrupulously applied by a com- mittee of Russian engineers. Still I have not done with the hard side. After all these conditions, obligations, taxes, and tests, it might be thought that the company could put its own price upon its output. But it is not the company which fixes the price — the Minister of Finance fixes it for it. When I was at Usofka the Government was giving its orders for steel rails at the price of one rouble ten kopecks a poud, which I work out as the equivalent of £7 4?. per ton. A year previously the price was 1.35 roubles. The Government gives its order and you take it or leave it. Poor foreign enterprise in Russia ! Well, not exactly. Mr. Hughes went off to look for a fresh cue when I hinted a curi- osity concerning the dividends of the New Russia Company, but I had a suspicion that if anybody could buy its shares at many times their par value he would think .himself lucky. I afterward looked up these dividends for the last ten years and found them to be as follows: Nineteen per cent., sixteen per cent., twenty-eight per cent., thirty per cent., twenty-four per cent., one hundred and twenty-five per cent., fifteen per cent., twenty per cent., twenty-five per cent., twenty per cent. And at one point in this pleasing record the share capital was doubled ! Indeed a list of the concerns working in Russia, with foreign capital, which have paid between fifteen and fifty per cent, dividend would make the foreign investor's mouth water. In conclusion, since I have described foreign enterprise in Russia as typified in this great English business, I must add one word of reservation. The New Russia Company was founded * . * ■ »- *J^ .' ' ■:,»ir"^-^ ■•> 382 ALL THE RLSSIAS is a perfect inquisition. For example, tlie foreign head of the department in which tlie victim worked cannot leave the country until a verdict is reached and penalties indicted, and the various trials and inquiries may last a year or more. Again, in Russia the State imposes upon private enterprise obligations which elsewhere it discharges itself. At L\sofka. since I am taking this as a typical business, the company has to support schools in which are eight hundred scholars; a hospital, in which there are one hundred beds and six doctors; a force of police consisting of three head constables, four sub-constables, and seventy-six men; and even to make a contribution to the guard of one hundred and fifty mounted Cossacks quartered in the town. Besides these obligations, the company has two Russian taxes to pay. First, the zcmstvo taxes— call them rates. These amount to £10,000. Second, a new cumulative tax on general profits, and, as the New Russia Company had paid a dividend of fifty per cent., this tax was ten per cent. Third, as this is an English company, there is the income tax at home. But even yet I have not touched upon the severest handicap of all. This can only be explained rather technicallv. Iron- masters will understand it, and others must believe that it is far harder than exists elsewhere in the world. I allude to the tests which the material supplied to Government, of course a customer much larger than all the rest put together and doubled, has to pass before it is accepted. Take rails, for instance, very much the most important item. First, a 3S-foot rail must not vary in length more than three millimetres from the standard. Second, a S-foot rail, previously frozen, placed upon supports 3 feet apart, receives tw^o blows from a half-ton '' monkey," falling from a height of from 8| to 9i feet according to the weight of the rail, and must not break or show any defect. Third, after a deflection test of from 14 to 17 tons pressure the rail must not show a permanent '' set " of rl:l FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 383 more than .75 millimetre. Fourth, a tensile strain of 65 kilos, to the square millimetre (about 40 tons to the square inch) must not produce an elongation of more than six per cent. And fifth, the figure produced by this strain, added to the elongation and multiplied by 2, must reach eighty-two. I am assured that a British or American railmaker would refuse a contract requiring these tests, which at Usofka are scrupulously applied by a com- mittee of Russian engineers. Still I have not done with the hard side. After all these conditions, obligations, taxes, and tests, it might be thought that the company could put its own price upon its output. But it is not the company which fixes the price — the Minister of Finance fixes it for it. When I was at L^sofka the Government was giving its orders for steel rails at the price of one rouble ten kopecks a poud, which I work out as the equivalent of £7 4^. per ton. A year previously the price was 1.35 roubles. The Government gives its order and you take it or leave it. Poor foreign enterprise in Russia ! Well, not exactly. Mr. Hughes went ofY to look for a fresh cue when I hinted a curi- osity concerning the dividends of the New^ Russia Company,, but I had a suspicion that if anybody could buy its shares at many times their par value he would think himself lucky. I afterward looked up these dividends for the last ten years and found them to be as follows: Nineteen per cent., sixteen per cent., twenty-eight per cent., thirty per cent., twenty-four per cent., one hundred and twenty-five per cent., fifteen per cent., twenty per cent., twenty-five per cent., tw'enty per cent. And at one point in this pleasing record the share capital was doubled ! Indeed a list of the concerns w^orking in Russia, with foreign capital, which have paid between fifteen and fifty per cent, dividend would make the foreign investor's mouth water. In conclusion, since I have described foreign enterprise in Russia as typified in this great English business, I must add one word of reservation. The New Russia Company was founded 384 ALL IHl', RLSSLAS '(' W' when foreign capital was admitted under easier conditions than exist nowadays, for to-day the Government would not sell such properties outrii^ht, as it did in 1S70. ^Moreover, John Hughes, who founded it, had the foresight of a conniiercial ]*rometheus. But I do not hesitate to say that for the foreign ca{)italist, if he knows where and iiow to go to work, there are op|)ortunities to-day as promising as those whic'i Mr. Hughes foresaw and utilised thirty years ago. As so much ignorance prevails about Russia, and the general opinion of the world takes an unfavourable and unjust view of her economic position and her connnercial possibilities, I have naturally been led to give prominence to facts favourable to her and attractive to others. But I would not be thought to suggest that fortunes are to be picked up in Russia more than elsewhere, or that it is sufficient merely to bring capital into the country to reap an immediate and rich pecuniary harvest. Far from it. In Russia, as elsewhere, plenty of people are waiting to sell vou the worthless thing at the top price. Moreover, the conditions of Russian industrial and commercial life are peculiar, and no enterprise can succeed which does not take them closely into account. Every country presents its own particular difficulties, and Russia at least as many as any other. There is here a way to do things, and a way not to do them. The openings for for- eign capital are naturally known to comparatively few. More- over, if the present policy of the State were to change its direction or lose its vigour, all the future relations of Russia and foreigners would be different. Foreign faith in Russian economic freedom is as yet a tender plant, and it might easily be blighted. So far, however, Russia's record is a good one. Nobody ihas ever lost a farthing by trusting the Russian State. The official conditions of tlie investment of foreign capital are more liberal than those of the United States, and the official atti- FINANCK, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 385 tude is one of sympathy and intelligence.* And so long as his Majesty Nicholas II. rules over All the Russias, and ]\I. de Witte is his Minister of Finance, or the successors to Tsar and ]Min- ister are equally far-seeing and wise-minded, there need be no fear that these conditions and this attitude will be altered. In- deed, among the many reasons Russia has for substantial grati- tude toward her present Tsar, the fact that he should so clearly perceive M. de Witte's patriotic genius and firmly uphold him against his many enemies, constitutes by no means the least. In conclusion, however, I must pen one word of frank and serious warning. I have previously expressed the belief that foreign capital will play a large and a profitable part in Russian industrial development — on one condition. That condition is if greater official expedition and more business-like meth- ods — the methods of the western world, in fact — are employed in dealing with the foreign investor. At present the weari- some delay often experienced in conducting negotiations with the Russian authorities is a most serious obstacle. Foreign capital is ardently desired; the greatest intelligence is shown in examining any proposal; if the latter is found good, official promises of help are freely and sincerely given; and then the foreigner believes that he is about to accomplish something. Great is his disappointment. Delay after delay, for no conceiv- able cause, supervenes; months pass, and he is not one step nearer his goal; a definite conclusion of any kind seems the one thing he cannot obtain. Not seldom he abandons his enterprise in despair, and goes away with his money and his indignation. All this, so far as it is not temperamental in the Russian, is due * The following paragraph occurs in a letter recently addressed officially to the Tifues by M. Tatistcheff, the representative of the Ministry of Finance in London : "The Imperial Government, far from putting obstacles in the way of foreign, and es- pecially British, investments in Russian commercial and industrial enterprises, is, on the contrary, in every way disposed to encourage and favour and to authorise to operate in Russia those companies which are based on sound commercial principles and solid capital being able by their financial organisation to guarantee the successfully carrying out of their undertakings." < '. .' " ■ k »,.»,. t - , j^ ■■*^' - • iA,--^.*p- .*»...». ^ m -^ ^ m^'^^^-m w^* ^ -* » -%-»"i- -^ 9>k^.% 388 ALL Tin, RUSSL\S I'' ' i i It: 1 1 it, if u h If I- k friendly Power, the I'lnted Siaie:> max- be ^ai lia\'e no fron- tiers at all. 1 he map of lun-(»j)e nii^ht })e rejiaintcd wuhout affeetint^ them. Hiere r^ no ^reat nation, except England, whose fall or agorran(.h>ement wonld make it a whit tlie m<)re or less sectire. In a much smaller degree this is true of Great Britain, whose only frontiers are in Canada and along her Indian boundaries. Japan, too, is a Power which, except in so far as she considers Korea to be ultimately her own, has no borders that her battle-ships cannot protect. The converse is truer of Russia than of any other nation; with the exception of the United States, France, and Italy there is no Great Power whose frontier does not run with her own. A glance at a small scale map impresses this vital fact. Beginning at the North, the Russian land-frontier skirts successively Sweden,* Germany, Austria, Roumania (and through Roumania, the other Balkan countries of Bulgaria and Servia), Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, India, China, and (in Korea) Japan. Moreover, Russia has created an intimate relationship with the one Great Power whose frontiers do not touch her own — France; and by mar- riage and by protection she has interwoven her affairs with the two remaining countries of the Balkan chessboard — Greece and * As I shall not have occasion to mention Sweden a^ain in this connection I may say here that a curious disquiet, probably without any real basis, exists at present in Scandinavia regarding Russia. A number of Russian spies or surveyors are said to have been discovered lately in Scandinavia, disguised as pedlars, knife-grinders, etc., or accompanying genuine specimens of these. This seems incredible, but I have been assured by Swedes that it is undoubtedly true. It is certain, at any rate, that the Swedish Government is giving remarkable attention to its own military position, having under consideration, amongst other matters, a bill, to take eflPect immediately, to aug- ment the period of compulsc^ry military service from ninety days to twelve months. So noticeable is this military movement that the Russian press has remarked that " if the dual Scandinavian kingdom were hastily preparing for war it could scarcely mani- fest a more feverish energy than it is now applying to the increase of its offensive and defensive power." The correspondent who quotes this adds that "money is being lavishly spent on the improvement and strengthening of old, and on the construction of new, fortresses. A new first-class fortress and a camp capable of accommodating sixty thousand troops will shortly be completed at Boden, the most strategic point in the north of Sweden." •_»<£» »«-»-»^.»~.,» m- •■.•»^-» »-.«»*..» •-.- r-****. ^» ,-» RUSSIA AND THE NATIONS J 89 Montenegro, and through the latter, which is virtually a Rus- sian dependency, she is in close touch with the House of Savoy. Thus, no political or status-threatening question can arise in any nation of the world — always excepting the United States — which does not immediately and vitally affect her own inter- ests. Therefore I say that the future of Russia, far more than that of any other country, depends upon her relations with other nations. What is for the rest of mankind a merely humani- tarian motto, nihil humani a me alienum puto, is perforce for Russia the first axiom of foreign policy. The strange bridal of Russia and France — the alliance of autocracy and democracy— has been familiar to all the world since the bands of the French warships at Kronstadt played the Marseillaise, the hymn of the revolution, before Alexander III., whose father had fallen at the hands of revolutionists. This momentous event was the direct result of the change of German policy, marked by the downfall of Bismarck and the refusal of Count Caprivi to renew the secret treaty with Rus- sia by which Bismarck had unscrupulously sought to '' hedge " against his allies of the Triple Alliance. Germany, moreover, turned to Turkey — thereby adding to a negative anti-Russian policy a positive and indeed, in Russian eyes, an aggressive one — and Russia turned to France. Only since the Tsar's last visit to France ihas there been pub- lished what appears to be a correct account of the contents of the document constituting the Dual Alliance.* After the first development of the Franco-Russian entente, when a French fleet under Admiral Gervais visited Kronstadt, M. Ribot being Min- ister of Foreign AfYairs, a Military Convention was signed, in 1891. This stipulated that if either nation were attacked by Germany, the other should come to its aid with a certain speci- * JVinifr Allgemeine Zeitung, September 21, and La Liberty, an interview with M. Jules Hansen, September 26, 1901. 390 A If. nil HI SSI AS w i ill I4-I ^f.: i-^ I I; ^^ I fied force. The word '^illiancc " did not occur, nor was it used in any of the ofticial s|)ceches. d1ii,> Convention ajipcars to have l)een extended in, iS()4. hnt it was not nntil President I^Y'lix Faure's visit to Rn-sia. m iScjC). that th.e tinal stej) so mnch desired by France was taken, a formal treaty of alhance being- signed in 1897 ^'i»^l annonnced to the world bv the Tsar's famous words, nafioiis amies ci alliccs, in his speech on board the Pothuau. This treaty gains greatly in scope and significance by the omission of all direct reference to Germany. It declares that if either nation is attacked, the other will come to its assistance with the whole of its own military and naval forces, and that peace shall only be concluded in concert and by agreement be- tween the two. No other casus belli is mentioned, no term is fixed to the duration of the treaty, and the whole instrument consists of only a few clauses. If this account be correct, and there seems no reason to doubt that it is substantially so, a more pacific document could hardly be devised. So pacific, indeed, is it, that as the leading Hungarian paper remarked, it only serves to guarantee to Ger- many the undisturbed possession of Elsass and Lothringen. Its pacific character, moreover, w^as pointedlv emphasised by the Tsar in his last speech at Compiegne, when he described the French army, whose magnificent evolutions he had just wit- nessed, as '' a powerful support of the principles of equity upon which repose general order, peace, and the welbbeing'of na- tions "—a phrase in which some commentators have seen, prob- ably with justice, an allusion to the international Court of Arbi- tration at the Hague. And I may add that from all I learned in Russia I believe the Tsar would be more likely to draw the sword to compel some international dispute to be settled by arbitration instead of by war, than for any other object. The Treaty of Alliance, it is added, had an important financial corollary. In return for the guarantee afforded to F-ance RUSSIA AND did]-: NATIONS 39^ against German aggression, and to free Russia from lier finan- cial dependence upon Berlin, it was agreed that Russia should be allowed to contract loans upon the Paris market to the total amount of 1,500,000.000 francs, in three or four series. The Dual Alliance has naturally had for result to confer upon France a confidence and a calm she had not previously felt — or rather to relieve her from a fear w^hich need have had no terrors for her, while Russia has enjoyed a military prestige beyond that to which her own arms entitle her, for it has been believed that, though she might exert a restraining influence upon France, the latter would be ready enough to make any Russian quarrel her ow^n. But practically the Dual Alliance has had chiefly a financial result — the investment of many hundreds of millions of francs in Russian immovable securities — for it is largely in repaying State advances to Russian railways that the French loans have been employed. The Russian alliance has not saved France from attack, for nobody has dreamed of attacking her; and on the one occasion when she might have drawn the sword — about Fashoda — the influence of St. Peters- burg was, with profound wisdom, used in the interests of peace. It is commonly said that France is growing somewhat tired of this one-sided bargain, and that she is alive to the fact that, while Russia is adding enormously to her sphere in the Far East, she herself stands wdiere she did before the fetes of Kron- stadt and Toulon. I think that in a certain degree this is un- doubtedly the case. The jest that w^hen the charlotte russe was placed upon the mess-table, the French officers rose and cheered, would have no point to-day. Moreover, the genera- tion which fought in 1870 is dying out, and the new genera- tion has forgotten Deroulede's war-poems, and only looks upon him as the rather ridiculous conspirator of an impossible '* plebiscitary republic." The Kaiser, too, ceases not his friendly overtures — witness the distinguished reception of French officers at the German manoeuvres, the abandonment of the annual '' »'fll.«-N - .•••>^»>' y;"^ y**^'* *^* -»-<■>»» to -,--v ,11. .-..,, <./^,, 4 [^ *r^ < ..4 {, "''in-- .. ^infr,.-.>«'i Ui m IN ( ! 392 ALL THK RUSSIAS ffl' »1 military banquet at Aletz in celehration of the surrender at Sedan, and the motor-car race from I'ans to Herhn-— an event inconceivable ten years ai^nx The lunperor William II. has set his heart upon certam aims which are before him now at every waking instant. To the realisation of these Russia will inevi- tably be opposed. Therefore it is of the most urgent importance to him to allay French resentment and if possible secure French neutrality, and to this end he will spare no effort and stop at no step short of the actual relinquishment of territory. Such an attitude on the part of Germany is obviously calculated to undermine the foundations of the alliance of France with Rus- sia. I do not think it unreasonable to suppose that some day the Kaiser will succeed in his earnest desire to visit Paris, and from that moment the Dual Alliance will possess onlv an anti- quarian interest, so far as it regards Germanv. So far as Eng- land is concerned, its French support will be further weakened by the improvement in the relations l)etween the t.vo nations which seems happily in prospect. Finallv, the rapidlv approach- mg financial embarrassment of France herself* mav make it dif^- cult for Russia to raise on the Paris market the remainder of the vast sum mentioned in connection with the signature of the Treaty of Alliance, and is certainly likelv to cause her investors to be more sensible to the great depreciation of the Russian securities they already hold. The following statement recently appeared simultaneously in a number of French newspapers thus having the character of a commumquc inspired from some quarter: fJJ^V'""^^ ''"u^" '" "'°' " ^"""K"' •" ^''""- ^ -™in^' surplus of 7 770 c,g r.ncs. In real.ty, there is a deficit of no less than ,o,.6fio.,Sq7 francs VuZlll ten months end ng October 71 mor .1,. , ■ (/ 'rancs. During the be added, however, that this loan, Z^^l^Z'Z " 7 '"""', " """'' over. Lord Rosebery has ;us. ren,inded s h^ le^^ ^ dtvaT' °"^;^r" 000,000, and that this year there ;.,,(■• ■ , ' "'* " •^^°'- The F.nch national .JZ^^:, 1:^:12:: -''''' "^^^ ^^ ^^-^- RUSSIA AND THE NATIONS 393 " The enormous fall wthich has occurred in all Russian stocks is calculated to disquiet French capitalists heavily involved in them. It is of the highest importance for them to be accu- rately informed on the possible consequences of this fall, which in the case of some stocks is only temporary and may even be profited by, but which, in the case of a large number, is but the signal for inevitable discomfiture." For this reason Rus- sian enthusiasm for the alliance may also wane,* though the Tsar himself will doubtless continue to attach the greatest importance to it for the immense support it gives him in his efYorts for in- ternational peace. On the whole, therefore, though the Dual Alliance w^ill linger long in name, most competent observers believe that its political potency will be a diminishing quantity, unless, through the improvement of relations between Russia and Great Britain, the latter become a kind of sleeping partner in it, or unless those relations grow more unfriendly, and Great Britain allies herself to some other Power. Its moral effect, however, will last as ♦ A significant proof of the very limited scope of the Dual Alliance has been furnished by the attitude of the Russian press (which would not have been tolerated by the authorities if it had run counter to their own views) upon the French seizure of Mitylene to compel the Sultan to satisfy a number of French pecuniary and political claims. "It has naturally been assumed abroad," wrote the St. Petersburg corre- spondent of TJi^ Times, "that France has not acted as she has done without the approval of Russia, even if she has not been guided by the advice of her powerful ally. The attitude of the Russian press renders this view untenable. . . . The action of France in taking direct and energetic measures to punish the Sultan for his insolent evasions is regarded without sympathy, and even with disapproval and alarm." More- over, the charge that Russia, the ally of France, and Russia alone, supported the Sultan against the legitimate and unaggressive demands of France, has just been made with great weight and directness by a high French authority. Professor Victor Bcrard, of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, a well-known writer upon foreign politics, in the /^^'ue de Paris for December 15, 1901, analyses the European situation to find out by whose support the Sultan was encouraged to resist France to the last moment, and this is his answer: "One Power alone appeared to hesitate, and for two months of the ten weeks of the Turk's obstinacy withheld its opinion. It was not till early in November that we learned from an official note that M. Zinovieflf [Russian ambassador in Constantinople] had in person urgently advised the Palace and the Porte to yield to the French injunctions. " -.a <•■ t-/A.'% •.jj^^. ».—^.«.4-f »^'>-«-y .»':.» - *-;_»^_ j»-.-*-.^ » «»-. r •* i» ♦'«. ,. » '-.,,. \]c-'.' . , '<: . It Nf ■I -. 5 IP i., .' ' B I Mi w If, : i! N: «' It* I'll 'i f,' 394 ALL THE RL SSLIS long- as the present Tsar fills the tlinnic of Russia and cnniniues to resist the reactionary and helhcose anions- his own surround- ings. In any case, it has hitherto been an alhance of peace, and on that g-round the future wih call it blessed. The relations of Russia and Germany make a very different Story. They are concerned with the future, and with a coming situation possibly more delicate and more pregnant than any- thing since the fall of the first Xapoleon— a situation, moreover, that may burst upon us any day between night and morning. To understand this, it is necessary to look back a little. The keynote of Bismarck's foreign policy was — keep on good terms with Russia. To that he subordinated, and, if needful, was ready to sacrifice, every other German interest abroad. For that, he went so far as to play a crooked game with Germany's chief partner in the Triple Alliance. For that, he contemptuously declared that the Balkans were '' not worth the bones of a Prus- sian grenadier," because Russia desired to extend her influence there. For that, he even condoned that barefaced outrage, the Russian plot to kidnap Prince Alexander of Bulgaria, a Ger- man prince. For that, he inspired his reptile press to stir up ill-will with England, and himself even launched a most offen- sive insult against the British royal house, because he knew that Russia would be instantly alarmed by a rapprochement be- tween Germany and England, but would remain on good terms with a Germany which occasionally growled across the North Sea. At the same time, he took g^ood care to keep Russia convinced that if Germany wished it. she could at any time have an alliance with England, and therefore he managed that the relations of Germany with England should remain at the stage of a vague irritation, and not take on such an aspect of irre- mediable rupture as would naturally tempt Russia to seek in England an ally against Germany— the astonishing and almost RUSSIA AND THE NATIONS 395 J shocking obsequiousness of British policy toward Germany mak- ing his task an easy one. So strongly were both States per- meated with this Bismarckian policy of a Russo-German under- standing that a dying Tsar and a dying Kaiser alike urged it upon their successors. Indeed, it appeared rooted in German policy, and when the Russian Foreign Minister once remarked to Bismarck that he had every confidence in him, but was he sure that his own position was secure, the Iron Chancellor re- plied indignantly that his Imperial master had perfect confi- dence in him, and that he would assuredly only lay down his office with his life. Such were the relations of Russia and Germany up to a short time after William II. ascended the throne. How sim- ply and suddenly he " dropped the old pilot " in 1890 is well known. The dismissed and astounded Bismarck never forgave his Emperor, and the closing years of his life were deeply stained by an unparalleled series of malevolent interviews, in- spired articles, and deliberate breaches of confidence, all in- tended to prove that Germany's policy had become anti-Rus- sian, and that nothing but disaster awaited the Fatherland in consequence. But William II. went on his way unmoved, and bit by bit his policy and his ambitions have been revealed to students of European affairs. They are original, daring, and gigantic. Moreover, he has, up to the present, succeeded at every step. But the crucial time has not yet come. When it does come, he will possibly be found to have been aiming at nothing less than a transformation of the map of Europe, and an extension of the German Imperial sphere, in comparison with which the annexation of Elsass and Lothringen was, from the standpoint of national economics, but like adding a potato- patch to a dukedom. I do not mean that after he had dismissed Bismarck the Kaiser adopted a frankly anti-Russian policy. That would have been as contrary to his own diplomatic methods as it would i % ''•*-x\--- ■% .«»*«.- »■■*■*..''. ■ «»; W 9^ trlM .m-'-M m «•■ 396 ALL MIL KLS.sLAS '•1' 'J i It. i" I ».< It'* ]r y ' r .» liavc been di>ta>tfU,l to li,> people nnd .lancreroii. tn tlie =ecnri.v nt In. Empire. On tlic eor.tran. lie en,leavo„re.l t,, cun>l„ne all the advantages of a -(km] nn.lerMan.lin- wnli Rn.fia, „ith the advantage also to be found ni complete free,ln„i of pe,]itical action. ■•The nicessant movement of lu.s imai^niatK.n.- as an anonymous writer has recently .sa,d. '• presents lum m turn with equally persuasive pietures (,f me(impatii)le designs." But Ale.xander III. was no lover ,,f (iermanv and the Ciermans as Alexander II. !,a <"s toh.l,. I- u ° "^'^t'^"'" form- He thereupon proceeded to help himself to a.lvantages in the Ear East which he had -led to sectire by the goo.l-wil, of his ten,porarv allv. With TzedT'r t"""?""""' '~— -^ a pretext, he boldly seize.l upon Kiao-chao an.l announce.l that Shan-tung was a German sphere of interest. The Foreign Offices of Europe were led to believe that Russia was a consenting partv to this m *w, • ■ # ^ # i* •> * *■ 'k (# J» ». ' «- .• •' . i. ■•■ ■- ■'■■' - ... -I, **^**«' *^ ^^( RUSSIA AND THE NAllONS 397 course, and consequently they failed to unite in ilie protest which would assuredly have been made if they had known that Germany was taking isolated action. This incident strained Russo-German relations very severely, as (to depart for a mo- ment from chronological order) did the precisely similar strata- gem by which the command of the international forces in China was secured for Count von Waldersee. On this occa- sion, too, Europe was given to understand that Russia's con- sent had been obtained — indeed, that the suggestion of the German Field-Marshal had originated with her. The German version was specifically repudiated later in a Russian official document, and the circumstances are believed to have been the subject of a private and personal explanation by the Kaiser to the Tsar. From all these events — to say nothing of the two visits of the Emperor William to England and his enthusiastic recep- tion there — it will be clear that the relations between Russia and Germany must now be widely different from what they were in Bismarckian days. And to complete the picture so far, must be added the conviction in St. Petersburg that Ger- many is about to impose an increased duty upon the import of Russian cereals. If this be done, Russia has alreadv bluntlv declared that she will retaliate — a tariff war. In the foregoing, however, we have hardly yet touched upon the real and fundamental causes which are moulding the rela- tions of Russia and Germany to-day. These are not isolated incidents or personal encounters, but new springs of national policy, new drifts of racial development. The fact — as Russia sees it — is that Germany has deliberately placed herself athwart Russian policy in each one of the three paths along which Rus- sian statesmen desire that their country should enjoy an un- impeded progress. These three paths lie in the Far East, the Near East, and toward the Persian Gulf. Here, then, we at last touch the danger-zone of contemporary European politics, ' ii ;i ■■;>j '•'"''y'5_..!... *•'"*•*'- >*■ J9^ ALL THi: RISSIAS ;f Hi y Iff i M •! i 11 nnd the most important factor in the fnture of the Rt.ssian Lmf)ire. I have already spoken of a German action, ris a vis Russia in the J.ar l-.st. It ,„ay be smnnied up as a clain, to sitare a position which Russia has re.^arded as predestined to be hers alone Germany has come into North China; she has estab- lished a naval base there and ap,,ropriated a province- she sect,red-by sharp ,,ractice, as Russia thinks-the conspicuous leadership of the European nations; she has concluded with England an open Convention which, in spite of assurances to the contrary, means that under certain circumstances she is pledged to join in opposition to Russian designs; she now maintains a considerable naval force in Far Eastern waters- she has, ,n a word, given Russia clearly to understanolof, barred the Russian advance in the Balkans, has been brought back under Muscovite influence Stan^bolof s strong and busy hands, chopped off in front of his oun house, are preserved by his wife in a bottle of spirits- his nninlerers, well-known tc> e^^^ h tie I rirjce Boris was baptised into the Greek Church; Russia has lent Bulgaria monev, and has once more sent her ofilcers to the Buloarian army; Prince Ferdinand has been permitted to entertain a Russian Grand Duke m a Bulgarian port, and RUSSLA AND THE NATIONS 399 the next steps will be his reception by the Tsar in St. Peters- burg, his remarriage with a Russian or pro-Russian princess, and the elevation of Bulgaria into a kingdom. All this has come about precisely as Russia desired. So, too, with Servia, hitherto jealously dominated by Austria. The King and Queen of Servia are about to visit the Tsar and Tsaritsa, and the Tsar was prepared to be godfather to the ex- pected but mythical heir. Panslavism is rejoicing, too, in the coming joint session of the Bulgarian and Servian parliaments, with its probable resolution of affection for Russia. Prince Nicholas of Alontenegro remains the devoted friend of the Tsar, as he was of his father, and his influence is naturally much greater now that his daughter is Queen of Italy. Only Roumania preserves her diplomatic independence of Rus- sia, and indeed, has just concluded a military convention with Austria. With this single exception, the obstacles to a Rus- sian advance to Constantinople had gradually been removed, when suddenly it dawned upon an astonished Europe and an indignant Russia that the Kaiser's " mailed fist " had obtruded itself into the way. During the Armenian massacres Germany, with calculated and placid indifference, declined to speak or act. The Turkish army was supplied from German factories with cannon and ammunition; when she took the ffeld against Greece a German general drew up the plan of campaign; and the Turkish council of war at Elassona followed German advice day by day. (I was a prisoner in that camp for twelve hours shortly before the outbreak of war, so I am not speaking with- out some personal knowledge.) The Kaiser's brother-in-law, the Crown Prince of Greece, commanded the Greek army against the irresistible combination of Turkish troops and Ger- man tactics, while the Kaiser's sister wept bitterly over her brother's ruthless indifference toward her adopted country. For a while Germany contributed one second-rate warship to the blockade of Crete, and finally withdrew even that. The Kaiser m r V ••• . .»i; t fm' It- 1, r .-•r-^ '*»■'• ■■ *».:?"■ «''3^:« :.f' r ft" I J ir III 111 I ' 400 ALL THE RUSSLAS KUSSLA AND THE NATIONS 401 has made a triumphal progress in Constantinople and in Asia Minor. Finally, the way henig thus earelully made ready, Ger- many, with eonhdent au.lacity and entire success, took the step for which all the rest had been but preparation, and openly thrust her line of policy not only across the ambitions of Russia but into the very kernel and heart of Russia's most cherished plan. I allude, of course, to the concession by the Sultan to a German company of the right to build a railway from the Bos- phorus to the Persian Gulf, via Baghdad, the momentous scheme I have already described in detail when writing of Russian rail- way expansion in Central Asia.* Russian official resentment of what is regarded as a deliberate invasion of her own sphere, a project which can succeed only at the expense of her own most cherished ambition, is great, while the Russian press emits a most unusual note of pessimism. " The German invasion of Asiatic Turkey," says the Nozvyc J'rcmya, "goes steadily for- ward, always and undeviatingly forward, whilst Russia, unfort- unately, looks on as a silent and helpless spectator at the grad- ual destruction of her interests and the dissipation of her hopes in Asia Minor." And the Szict is permitted to launch its tiny thunderbolt straight at the head of the Kaiser himself. " Day after day," it declares, " the Emperor William is dealing Russia blows severely felt." " The Persian Gulf," adds the Novosti. " is to be the question of the near future to the exclusion of all other world problems." So acrimonious is Russian criticism of everything German just now that the Novoyc J'rcmya. by far the most important paper in the Empire, recently declared it to be " credibly alleged " that the German agents at Haidar Pasha of the Baghdad railway " fired the properties in order to clear a site for the company's railway station, depots, engme- sheds, etc., and with the further economic purpose of acquiring the land at a very low price ! " • See Chapter XVII., and for Russian expansion towar.l I'crs.u the cndudui;; part of Chapter XIV. To understand this indignation, it should be remembered that it springs not only from this serious direct issue, but al^o from the even more menacing underlying indirect issue. The former is the determination of Russia to secure at any cost the control of Persia and a naval and maritime outlet upon the Per- sian Gulf. Persia is perfectly helpless before her, she is virtu- ally mistress in Tehran, her plans for railway extension from the Caucasus (as shown upon my map) are being rapidly pushed forward, and she has surveyed the route for her own railway through Persia to the Gulf. This extension she regards as a matter of life and death— so much so that her leading news- paper recentlv declared that if England would consent to this, every other i'ssue between the two countries could be settled amicablv and at once. But the indirect and greater issue is the German Emperor's patronage and even protection of the Sul- tan of Turkev, of which this Baghdad railway concession is only one result. Russian diplomacy, usually so perspicuous, failed to foresee this. Turkev, since the Armenian massacres, was believed to have no powerful friend in Europe, and her gradual disintegration was counted as one of the factors of Russian for- eign policv. In fact, the Russian ambassador at Constantinople often app'eare,-"-' ».*.,■• ««"- :j'F" "^'"r-f , «.*•» i<>'*i:'.( '»^j^'~f'"'^t»' ,&■'„».— "*.'*.• ""^ ' ^^^t^i ^^j-*^.* :n i\ ,»! ALL 1H1-. RUSSIAS 402 It will thus be seen that the vclatu.n> of R.i.^ki with Ger- n.anv are highlv crU.cal. li the lunperor N\-,lUanM>er.,>ts ,n ,he ;chcn.e he has so ,M-andly conceue.l an,l, up to the present, pushed forward wkh extraordinary skill-and he .> not tite ntan to be frightened from Ins ardently desired ,oal-a rupture o, the traditional relations between Berhn an ,,. TQOi it is to t>e finished by next February, engineers and navvies are of immediate and dangerous tension v^•ith one or other of h.r ,v^o neighbour ^^r^ help thinking there is some reas^.o Jear that I.rd Salisbury^.. -::f.r.:r .,: ::n ^= ": r;ht;^:af trconc:- .o oerman. RUSSIA AND THI- NATIONS 403 With Austria, no less than with Germany, have Russia's rela- tions recently undergone a rapid and a vital change. For a number of years past peace has been guaranteed in the Balkans —the powder-magazine of Europe— by the common decision of St. Petersburg and Vienna that they would not allow it to be broken. Indeed it was preposterous that these semi-civilised little States, sizzling with ill-digested ambition, ignorant, reck- less, ceaselessly intriguing, should be able at any moment to precipitate a situation in which two mighty empires might find themselves irresistibly dragged into a colossal and ruinous war. Therefore Russia and Austria, having decided that this should not be, proceeded to communicate their decision to Servia and Bulgaria in terms that left no room for misunderstanding, and Europe breathed freely. It was tacitly understood that Austria would not interfere in Bulgaria, while Russia recognised that Servia must be more or less under Austrian influence. It will be remembered that the freedom of Bulgaria was the result of the Russo-Turkish War, and that Servia was saved from Bulgaria during the war between the two by the appear- ance of Graf von Khevenhiiller, Austrian Consul-General at Belgrad, at the Bulgarian outposts beyond Pirot, announcing to Prince Alexander that if he advanced farther he would find not Servian but Austrian bayonets in his front. Thus each of the two Great Powers had a kind of prescriptive right to exer- cise influence over one of the two little Balkan States. Roumania did not come under this arrangement, for though she fought with Russia against Turkey, and, indeed, according to Moltke, saved the Russian army from the loss of the results of one whole campaign, she was alienated by her treatment by Russia at the close of the war, and she has been virtually a mem- ber of the Triple Alliance for a good many years. Roumania -with another to be mentioned in connection with Austria-is not part of the price they will have to pay for the Kaiser's conspicuous and unwavering neutrality during the war in South Africa. The " honest broker " does not usually work for nothing. 11 ll T.:'f*sA.~ JSLOU^. -*",'.- .~X-9m.^t%* f&W^ flir'Vliy'^^ ' -i.-''#*tr*-w ->-r*i**''""IWB' ." . "^Tf "*i>«"TJ* ^w^t0fM^^4 J^rJ^ ^ ■"-.^•"v *"•■.-*. .,^^...,^- -^^^»-"• ill Mi 404 AIJ. 1 HI. RLSSIAS .•II i.;r' ij t If 'I ,1 1*!^ IT i 11! ft » » n II- It* ■ is the most civilised an.l the n,.,.t po^vcrful cf the P.alkan coun- tries and so far from Russia luuius S"i"e.l intluence there, the only' result of the growth of Russian iniltiet.ce .n the P.alkans is that Routnauia has jt.^t couchuled a new m.Utary convention _or more probablv, coulirmed an old one^wilh Austria, bo si^nnficant is this last act. that the Rcichs^^cln: the semi-otticial journal of the Austro-Hunirarian army, has published the fol- lowing remarkable comments: " It is only in case a Balkan situation were created which would be directed against Austria and Roumania, as also Greece, which is affiliated to the latter country, that what ,s now de- scribed as the Austro-Roumanian Military Convention, which, perhaps, exists on paper, would acquire practical significance. At the present juncture it is certainly a suspicious circumstance that Bulgaria. Servia. and Montenegro should make such ex- travagant efforts to manifest their devotion to Russia. It is, for the moment, impossible to say how far this policy of flattery will prove successful: but it is conceivable that under Pan- slavist influence it may one day lead to a regrettable disturbance of Austro-Russian relations." But gradually, as Russia has resumed her old paramountcy in Bulgaria, which Stambolof destroyed, this Anstro-Russ.an understanding has worn thin, and Russia has begun to trench upon Austria's sphere in Servia. The Tsar's wedding-present to Queen Draga will be remembered, and I have mentioned his intention to be god-father to the heir who never appeared. The late King Milan had a persona! feud with Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, the fine old mountain-fighter who belongs, body and soul, to Russia, but King Alexander has just withdrawn his military attache from Vienna to send him to Cettigne, the little Montenegrin capital. In fact, the Russian press now uses lan- guage on this subject which a few years ago would have caused the immediate suppression of the newspaper printing it. A leading St. Petersburg journal of Panslavist views, for instance. RUSSIA AND THE NATIONS 405 speaks of the meeting of the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailo- vich and I'rince Ferdinand of Bnlgaria as " the canonisation of Russia's eternal and fraternal friendship with her loyal kindred of the Balkan States " (note the plural), and adds that Russia has now addressed herself to the task of eliminating most thor- oughly " the baneful Hapsburg incubus." not only from the in- dependent Balkan States, but even from the peoples which still " languish under the oppressive sway " of Austro-Hungary. Frankness could go no farther, unless it be in this precise sum- mary of the Balkan situation published in the Sviet: " The present grouping of the Powers— that is to say, the union of Russia. Servia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and France in one idea afi'ords ample protection against the union of Austria-Hun- gary, Germany, Roumania, and Greece. Russia must keep watch on the whole of Slavdom, and cannot allow it to be either wholly or partly Germanized or Magyarized." Rumours of wars form such a large part of the atmosphere of the Balkan Peninsula that it is never wise to attach much importance to them there, but beyond question there is at the present moment a stronger feeling of alarm among serious observers than has existed for many years, and this is caused not so much by an obvious weakening of the Austro-Russian agreement as by the actual events which have ensued. Rus- sia has increased her troops along the Pruth— river of fateful memory— and in other places and ways, including a curious dis- ])lay of' her naval power along the Black Sea coast and on the low'er Danube, has shown an activity which is difficult to recon- cile with a desire to maintain the status quo. And the Austrian press draws pointed attention to the frequent meetings of Gen- eral Larovary, the Roumanian Commander in Chief, and Baron von Beck, chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Stafif. Prob- ably neither on one side nor the other is there anything more than the development of ordinary military preparations, but even these, amid so many explosive elements as the Balkans contain, 4o6 ALL THE RUSSL^S are causing a new and distinct uneasiness and putting a certain strain upon the relations of l\nssia and Austria. There is, however, one otlier impending (|ucstion, rarely men- tioned yet in current comment, which may affect — and at any moment — the relations of these two nations. I allude to the situatior' which will arise upon the death of the aged Austrian Emperor and the consequent action that Germany may take. We enter here upon the region of political speculation, though not without several dcfniite and striking utterances to guide us. The Austrian Empire is of course a congeries of States of widely differing origins and language, for the most part on bad terms with one another, only held together by the purely political and accidental bond of the Ilapsburg Crown and, to an even greater degree, by the personality of the Emperor Franz Josef. Even Hungary, which is luditically a se])arate Kingdom, having its own King crowned in Buda, and only sharing its foreign afifairs, customs, and army with Austria, cannot agree with the latter over the periodical Aitsglcich. As for the other races of the Dual Empire — Germans, Czechs (Bohemian Slavs), Poles, Ru- thenians, Serbs, Croats and the rest, all hope of peace among them is now virtually abandoned. Every kind of concession and coercion has been apjilied in turn, but the abominable scenes of disorder in the Parliament at Vienna are a reflection of what exists throughout the land. Austria is in a state of general ill- veiled rebellion. The next and only remaining step will be the suppression by the Crown of representative institutions, fol- lowed by absolute government. Now the great racial struggle is in Bohemia, between two milHon Germans and four million Czechs. Other warring in- terests are comparatively unimportant. The Czechs are of course backed by their fellow Slavs in the Empire, and the Ger- mans by Vienna, with its almost exclusively Hebrew and ex- tremely influential capitalist ring. Between Czechs and Ger- RUSSIA AND THE NATIONS 407 mans nothing less than a deadly hatred prevails, and both are disloval to Austria. Each of the rivals, it must next be observed, is mcluded m a great politico-racial movement outside its own country. Rus- sian Panslavism of course includes the Czechs, though they do not altogether reciprocate the feeling, as Panslavism carries with it the doctrines of the Russian Greek Church, and the Czechs are bv no means all orthodox. But they are infinitely nearer to this than to German Lutheranism. What, now, is the corre- spondin% and the extension of the German Empire to the Adriatic. And another well-informed writer upon this topic, Mr. W . B. Uul- field, savs : " The successful prosecution of German ambmon means that Trieste is to be a German port, and the Adriatic a German lake," and with this " the imposition of a universa monarchv in German lands." And the latter truly remarks tha it is impossible to read these words which the Kaiser spoke at Bonn on April 24th in any but a Pan-German sense : ^^ hy did the old Empire come to naught? Because the old Empire was not founded on a strong national basis. The universal idea of the old Roman Kingdom did not allow the German nation developments in a German national sense. The esscni,al of he nation is a demarcation outwardly corresponding to the personality 4o8 ALL THE RUSSIAS of a people and its raeial peeidiarityr One must be stupider even than Heine said the Germans of his day were, to misun- derstand such a plain hint as this, and, indeed, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, the Archduke I- rdinand, under- stood it well enough, for he retorted in a si)eech which startled Europe, calling upon the Roman Catholic forces of the h:m- pire to rally to its defence. For this racial and political strug- gle involves a religious contiict also. The Pan-German propa- ganda is evangelical, and one of its wings is the Los von Rom —"Cut loose from Rome ! "—movement, directed against the Catholicism of the House of Hapsburg and its adherents, and the great majority of the Czechs. Dr. Pjigel, one of the Czech leaders, characterised this movement by the remark that as (kr- many has no use for Austrian Catholics she is trying to convert Austria to Protestantism, and Dr. Lueger, the famous Anti- Semite burgomaster of \'ienna, declares that by proselytism it is intended to facilitate the absorption of Austria by the (icr- man Empire. This politico-religious propaganda is carried on in Germany with a frankness almost amounting to effrontery, for in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar a house-to-house collection for the Los von Rom movement has been permitted, and at the recent General Assembly of the Evangelical AlHance held at Breslau a resolution was passed beginning as follows: "The fourteenth General Assembly of the Evangelical Alliance ex- presses its grateful satisfaction at the blessed progress of the evangelical movement in Austria " ! It is not surprising that the heir to the throne of Austria, the strongest remaining royal support of the Papacy, should sound a call to arms in face of such an attack, from beyond the frontier, on both the dynasty and the official faith of his country. If the ambition of Germany has really assumed these gigan- tic proportions, the situation in which it must seek realisation may arise at the death of a monarch now aged seventy-one. It RUSSIA AND THE NATIONS 409 is therefore impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the pros- pect, or indeed the extreme delicacy and danger of the inter- national complication that would be thus produced. Russia is not prepared, either from a purely military or from a financial point of view, to fight Germany; but such considerations have never kept her back vet, and it may reasonably be doubted whether she would not plunge the whole Balkan Peninsula into war, and perhaps even the whole of Europe, rather than see her mightiest military neighbour so vastly aggrandised in territory, in population, in wealth, and in sea-power. At any rate we see here Panslavism claiming the Austrian Czechs, and Pan- Germanism claiming the Austrian Germans, and this definite rivalrv alreadv constitutes one of the most momentous and puz- zling 'factors in the relations of Russia with the nations. Two other countries may be more briefly mentioned in con- nection with Russia. There has been for long in the Lmted States a belief that Russia is a genuine, sympathetic friend, moved by admiration for the American people and their in- stitutions. This has grown up chiefly, 1 suppose, from the apocryphal narratives of the readiness of Russia to intervene on the side of right during the war of the Rebelhon. Therefore the American people have frequently made public profession of their friendship for Russia, which Russia, needless to say, has cordially accepted, for who would refuse such a gift? But the whole belief is a political soap-bubble. It is nothing but a bright film in the ether. Russia likes to appear a friend of the United States, because the effect of that is to postpone any co-operation of England and America in world af¥airs-a contingency which Russia is not the only Power to fear. But beyond this, she seldom thinks of the United States, except to admire and envy its vast prosperity; among the official and reactionary class, to regard its institutions with profound dis- 410 ALL THE RUSSIAS approval; to anticipate tlie time when enoup^h cotton will be grown in Turkestan to make it safe for her to put a prohibitive tax upon every American l)ale; or to wish that the American billionaires would invest a few spare millions in oovernment guaranteed 4 per cent, bonds of Russian railways — and, let me add, if I were a billionaire 1 should meet the Russian wish in this respect, for there is no better investment at such an in- terest in Europe. Beyond these things, America does not exist for Russia, except when a troublesome Secretary of State puts a series of direct ((uestions about Manchuria or the Open Door, and insists upon answers in writing. In fact. Russia, with no ill-will at all, thinks about America precisely what a great re- ligious autocracy ;;///.s7 think al)out a huge secular democracy four thousand miles away. The rest is mere flag-wagging, and for my own part, when 1 see an American newspaper lauding Russian love for the Ignited States, I cannot help asking my- self, knowing what I know, why that particular newspaper goes out of its way to disseminate that ])articular view. About Japan, on the contrary, Russia thinks night and day. When, with the helj) of iM-ance and (ieriuany, she had uncere- moniously kicked Japan out of Port Arthur and off the main- land of China, Russia probably thought that she had done with the little island- hanpire for a long time. But Ja|)an thought otherwise, atul proceeded to lay otit a programme of naval and military expansion due to luature a short time before the Trans- Siberian Railway was to be completed. Many things have conspired to hinder the progress of the great railway, l)ut Japan's military and naval schemes have gone steadily onward, in si)ite of all fmancial ditbculties. To-day she has a magnificent navy, including soiue of the most powerftil battle-shij)s afloat, stronger than any tleet Russia could safely send to the Far ILast, while her armv is at least equal in ntimbers. and superii^- in e(|uip- ment and scientific training to the land forces Russia could muster on the Eastern side of her vast dominions. And be- RUSSIA AND THE NATIONS ^n tween the two nations there lies Korea— a territorial deadlock, a political antinomy. Russia cannot allow Japan to have it, for that would give her Eastern border a land frontier to a mili- tary Power. Japan cannot allow Russia to have it, for that would leave her island-home almost within gunshot of the troops and the naval bases of the Colossus of the North, and deprive her of an outlet for her overflowing population. At present Japan is gaining, for her influence and her people and her trade are increasing in Korea every day. Russia has not failed to propose a division of interests to Japan. The latter was assured that war with Russia meant ruin, whereas an understanding meant a long era of tranquillity. Japan, it was proposed, should have a free hand in Korea, and in return should undertake not to impede Russia in Alanchuria. But Russia must have a naval base on the south coast of Korea, as a half-wav house between Vladivostok and Port Arthur. With striking unanimity the Japanese press has declined these semi-oft^cial overtures. In the first place, they say, Korea does not belong to Russia to give away; on the contrary, other Powers are interested in the Far East, and Japan and Russia have a treatv guarding each of them against the aggression of the other in ihat country. And a Russian naval base m Japanese waters is preciselv what Japan most strenuously objects to. Finallv, Japan does not wish Manchuria to be closed to trade, and does not herself desire to annex Korea, being quite satis- fied with its present status and her own position there. And as if to clinch this last argument, comes the news that Korea has ceded to Japan, for a special settlement, 650 acres, formerly surveved and pegged out by a Russian warship, at Cha-pok-pho, near Ma-sam-pho, to be policed by Japan. It is a verv delicate situation, and Russia would give a good deal for a diplomatic escape from this naval and military anxiety. * See an interesting letter from the well-known Tokyo correspondent of TA. Times, November 8, 1901. r 412 ALL THE RUSSL\S Her view of it is shown by the fact that the best part of her navy is in the Far East. Japan, too, would be thankful to be relieved from the financial 1)urden thus imposed upon her. But the question of the closing of Manchuria to non-Russian trade, with all its consequences, blocks the way, more even than that of. the status of Korea. Russia is unlikely to forego this, and Japan will not forego her freedom to join any international action that may ultimately be taken— indeed she will not do anything which would prevent her from taking single-handed action, if her fate should so cast the die. Such, then, in necessarily brief outline and with one excep- tion, are the relations of Russia as a great whole, with the different nations surrounding her, upon whose attitudes and actions her future must in large part depend. It will have been seen that the problems awaiting her — perhaps close at hand — are neither few nor simple, but that they will demand all her judgment, all her diplomacy, all her prestige, and possibly all her resources, to solve them to her advantage, while some of them are so bound up with her national security and well-being that a mistake in handling them might throw her back for generations. The exception is, of course, the future course of events between Russia and the British Empire, and this, with certain broad conclusions about Russia which must affect it, is naturally the subject of my concluding chapter. CHAPTER XXV RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 1 1 f ot.rl o-reatest of Russia's foreign THERE remains the last and greatest oi , • . i:no-land-what of this long-exibtent and relationships. Lnglana xv 1 • nirx-^^ Is not mutual enmity rooted m me traditional rivalr . I. ^o ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^.^ ^.^^^^^^^ of both peoples. J^^ ^^ \^.^^, ^,,,, ..ery night, and wake of predestined ^^^/"^ ^^^^^^'^^^^.^^^ ,pon their pillows? Has every n.orning to ^^ ^^^;^^ ^^ languages to show not a library of ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ...^covite must inevitably to demonstra ion that Briton ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ come to the death-grip? In tact, are by the eternal nature of things— I Have ion. heUl and advocated ^^^^J^^^. Tat now that I have seen nutch more of Rt,s J^ P ^^^ -en confin.ea ah.ost to t e P ;^ ,of c.ta ^^^.^^^^^^^^^^^^ ,^^_ foundly convniced tha a go ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ tween the tNVO nations is not onl> ^^^^_ but also well within the range of PO ^ dit . ^^ he ^^^^^^^^^ ,err,s government was ^^^^^^^^J ,, p.nage. ^vas virtually m sight. ^ous son m ^ -1 a great Rtissian -^^^^^^ dossing the situa- offica, friend of -^ ^ ; °;; ,, ,,e latest books on the uon. Moreover, n^'^^* 1^1\" ;\' ^ ^,,, „,„ber of people shar- -^'^^"/^^ .'^'""ZXTZL.. and if our statesmen ino- th s opinion has largei\ ''**« 414 ALL im: RLSSL-\S RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 4^5 had been stronger (and Noun.^cr) men, we shonld ere this have been on the road to an nnderstan(hn,o. for Lord Sahsl)ury has confessed that the anti-Rnssian. pru-Tnrkish poHcy of Lord Beaconsfield was "putting;- onr money on the wrono- horse;" and Mr. Bah'onr has pointedly remarked that " A^ia is bii; enon^di for both." Their words tlew np, bnt their thonghts remained below, and officially we are as snspicions of Russia as ever, and Russia is eciually disgusted with our unformed, incaL culable, spasmodic policy. Therefore she goes calmly ahead, doing what she pleases, taking what she wants, knowing that in all probability when England alone desires or oi)poses any- thing, a few acid despatches and a little calling of names in Parliament will be the worst she has to fear. In diplomacy Russia plays a strong game, and plays it sometimes without scruples; but she both respects and likes an op])onent who plays his own game strongly too, and she does not demand in others a higher standard of scrupulousness than she follows her- self. Before I had set foot in European Russia my conviction rested upon examination of the various (Hvergent and conver- gent interests of the two countries; to-day it rests also upon positive knowledge that the ablest and most powerful states- men of Russia would welcome a detnute and far-reaching recon- ciliation and adjustment, if tliey could be convinced of British sincerity and consistency. Anvbody, moreover, who knows what the Noz'oyc Vrcmya is will see what a change has come over Russian opinion when that journal publishes a series of lengthy articles from the pen of M. Siromyatnikof, a much- respected publicist, advocating an Anglo-Russian agreement and warning his fellow-countryruen against the '' costly assist- ance of the ' honest brokers ' in P.erlin." At any rate, the greatest personal forces in Russia are on the side of such a I)olicy, upon the condition 1 have mentioned above. I assert this as a fact within my own knowledge. There are only three parts of the world where serious ob- ,,ades are heUl to exist-Ch,na, India, -^^^--' ^ ^ ^ of these calls for distinct consideration. In China Ru..ia has vl any got what she wants, namely, the control ot Manchuria r a fre'e rail-route to a fortified harbour ^^^^^ ■ The ^---^^^;::^^ ^:::u- tr Lr h^enJi will be m some iorm or otner, uiul ^^ ' »,. l>v .1,= *a.l. ol Li H,.ng-cta..g. «ho was a pa.d Rus- , .,„ in the „e<.otiatlons ior the settlement, was "Tas ,.«..... .lone bel"". »">' - =""» '""f^ "f° ;,,,,,. l,e would' The tmnttfactttring nations oi the T ■,>,.,- grave nt.stak. i. .hey perntit Russia to 7 : Ma c,t r a to':„n.R„ss,an trade, as .hey will discover ,n ; :; 'so i:;,: d„ .hey ca,e .or the,, own co»™ercial intet^ts <'r--n;.'''°s,:r';::re.— s;Vor:;'Brri: still unreconciled to ^'^^J^^' ^^, ,,,,g, „egotia- ,etween «;-- J^^,^ r:„ 7, subject. Of the conduct of ,ions are s t.ll ^^^^ToLs. question during the past f^ve British policy '^ ';<^J;'^ .^^,j \^ .peak: I believe that the years I can hardly trust m>selt ^ P ^^^^^^^ historian of the next generation .ill regard 't as S reelect of the national interests within his 1^> «- "^^^^ negieci ^^^^ virtually has -Man ,, all aPP-a"ces t^ e id ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^_ chuna, and ^"^^^ ^^,, by a semi-official Rus- """"• '"" Zia being thus palpably replete in China, there Zr^JT^ "-ulty ■: persuading her to adnrit the See riu P.-OPU and PoUtus of the Far East, p. 246. 1) .*--»-•• '^v^' .1 -... 41 6 ALL I HI Rl SSL\S fact. The losers in the _i:\'inie nia\- i^erliaps find <> niic cnn-iv lation in the retleetiuii that Russia — a> ?t,)nie of her ^tateNinen keenly realise — has inidertaken a responsibility the end of which is not yet. Idie "yellow peril" exi.^ts in tnuh for her. with thousands of miles of frontier coterminous with (.'hina, and to he colonised by scattered settlements of Russian |)easants hardly superior in cixilisation to the ("hinese, with whom thev may well develop relationships far more intimate than will he pleasing to their rulers. And Cdiina has protited in military matters from her late experience; she has by no means lost prestige in her own eyes — rather the reverse; she is arming with speed and with knowledge; and Russia, with its sources of human and material sup})ly on the other side of the world, is her neighbour. If one were looking for a motto for Rus- sia's triumphal relations to two Chinese provinces, I am not sure that it would not be, Habes tota quod mente pctisti, infelix. I turn to India, where most people believe that the real strain and danger between the British and Russian Empires lie. The intention of Russia to invade India has l)een for gen- erations an accepted commonplace, due probably most of all to the idea expressed in Sir Henry Raw linson's remark that " any one who traces the movements of Russia toward India on the map of Asia cannot fail to be struck with the resemblance w hich these movements bear to the operations of an armv opening parallels against a beleaguered fortress." This is very true, but it must be remembered, first, that some of these movements date back a considerable time, when the situation of Russia in world-politics was very different from what it is to-dav; sec- ond, that in many of these movements commercial develop- ment was beyond question the chief, if not the sole, aim — an aim wdiich, l)e it added, results have abundantly justified; and third, that others of these movements have been forced uj^on \\' RUSSL\ AM) ENGLAND 417 Russia In tlie necessity of keeping order beyond her borders a natural and inevitable process to which much of the ex- pan-ion of the P^ritish lunpire has also been due. This (juestion of Russia's intentions with regard to India lias l)een present to my mind in every conversation I have ever held with a Russian whose opinion was worth hearing. I have endeavoured to study every fact bearing upon it, and after long consideration I have come to the conclusion that the colossal and perilous undertaking of an armed invasion of India, with a view to conquest, is not part of the plan of any really respon- sible Russian, either statesman or soldier. Of course a great many Russians, nearly all their newspapers, and a large ma- joritv of Russian officers, believe not only that Russia intends to do this, but that she will. In Russia, however, public opin- ion and newspapers count for very little, and ninety-nine per cent, of officers not at all, so far as national policy is concerned. It would be roughly true to say that every Russian officer up to the rank of colonel believes firmly that the invasion of India is possible, probable, and desirable, wdiile everyone above the rank of colonel has learned that as a military operation it is practically impossible, and that as a political move it would be the climax of folly. In Central Asia almost every Russian knows to a month or two when he will get his marching orders for Kabul — the time is generally close at hand; in St. Peters- buro- the verv few men wdio really influence the course of Rus- sian affairs will not waste their scanty leisure in discussing the question with you— they sincerely regard you as quite an out- sider, diplomatically speaking, if you desire to raise it. I have talked with some of these really responsible men, and I sm- cerely believe the most influential of all would not have India at a gift. Above them all, too, is the Tsar, compared with whose decision little else matters, and his Majesty is a man of peace, not only from the deep conviction that Russia, like other countries, needs the sunshine of peace for her own growth, but 41 ^ ALL 1111. RLSSLAS RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 419 al-o from the liii^licr^t iiiural and iiiiiiianitanaii rn.aixa-. I p<'n tliis point tliere arc not two opinion^; anKmu" tla-c m a posi- tion to know. Mears of perfect opi)ortnnit> ? \\"e ha\e had no army in luii^dand; onr armv in Africa conld not >pare a man; our army in Iniha, though more seasoned and ])etter trained owini^- to its pro- longed absence from home, has not been at its normal peace stren<:^th; the entire Continent has been rai^ino^ and ima,^ining vain thino-s acrainst tis; we were without an ally in the world; the death of the Amir of Afi^hanistan made everythinir in that country uncertain for a moment; never was there — never can there ai^ain be — such a chance for an unscrupulous enemy to strike at us by land. And in spite of all the warring naval schools we cannot defend the Northwest frontier by sea. Yet Russia has not shown the slightest desire to take advantage of our embarrassment or our defeats, and it is certain that her commercial crisis would not have kept her 1)ack if she thought her national policy demanded action. 1 venture to say that the Emperor of Russia and his princii)al advisers have by their attitude since October, 1899, given England a striking and unequivocal proof of the absence of any hostile intention, if not of the presence of positive friendliness. I should be happy if I could point to any similar evidence of British consideration for Russia. The truth is, in my opinion, that Russia regards her posi- tion on the Indian frontier as a lever to bring pressure to bear, whenever necessary, upon England in other matters. If the re- lations between the two countries grow strained l)eyond a cer- tain point, you hear of troops from the Caucasus crossing the Caspian; if the situation gets worse, you learn the precise num- ber of troops of all arms gathered at Kushkinski Post on the Afghan frontier; if a serious rupture occur, or were about to occur, I should expect the Russians to seize Herat, which they I cuuld du witlKait mncli diiYiculty.* Then there would be peace, or war all round. I have no (lou1)t Ivussia is ready enough to use tlie powerful leverage conferred by her position on the Afghan frontier, and she would be foolish, in her own interest, not to do so.f BtU the notion of invading India to annex and administer it does not seriously exist in Russia. It would, from any point of view, including the merely technical one of men and transports, be far beyond Russia's means, considering the vast tasks she has undertaken and the vast aims she cherishes in other parts of the w^orld. Finally, this must be considered. India no longer looms in Russia's eyes as the El Dorado of the world; she sees plainly the prob- lems of finance and population that are assuming such grave dimensions there; she observes the almost mechanical recru- descence of famine; she realises what the strain of adminis- tering India is likely to be for England in years to come; she has not the least desire to add that burden to the many she alreadv has to bear. Therefore I hold that India ofYers no insurmountable or even serious obstacle to a solid and friendly understanding be- tween England and Russia, covering all points where their national interests appear now to be at variance. * On the other hand, a friend possessing unusual sources of military information assures me that the Afghans could delay the Russian seizure of Herat for a consider- able time— for as long, he believes, as it would take an Indian force to reach there, if the Afghans desired us to assist them in that part. The late Amir, he adds, had a force in and near Herat of 22,000 men, with modern armament, especially in guns. t When I returned from Central Asia during the South African war I was assured in oftkial military circles in London that large bodies of Russian troops had been con- veyed across the Caspian Sea or forwarded by railway to the frontier. In reply I informed them that I myself had been travelling up and down the line between the Caspian and Merv during those very weeks, talking freely with all sorts of people, and had not seen or heard of a single man being moved-except one shipload of re- cruits always sent at that time of year, very raw and very sea-sick. The canard does not nest in newspaper of^ces alone. Readers of Colonel C. ?:. Vate's Khurasan and Sistan will remember that a high Russian officer (since stated by Major Vate to have been a Minister of State) said to him of the Merv-Kushk railway, "We are building it to protect our interests m China and the P)Osphorus." 4'2o AIJ. I ill lU ShlAS TIrtc rcinaiii:^ IVi-'^i;!. :i'v\ here flu- (|iu'-tir)n i- one of nuu;li difFiciilu and pcrplcxit) , iin-r^iiiK -^'veral i-ik- ni ihu -realcM inipnrtai! :c ami ranire, M-a-cnvrr, unak.' iho^e r>t i lima aiai India, It 1- nnc with which haiL;!i-h la/aders arc ii*.! \cl lainihar. It must tluTcfnrc he c« ni-aUaa'u ni ^^aiie aciait. Russia (K-sirr- tn hcconic iiiiMro— of rcr.-ia. and to possess an cAitlct upt)n the Pei'-ian ( nih. and bhe i- deiernnned to n-e all her slren,i;th to earr\ out hef de-ire. That i< tlie poxtulate. She has nowhere, su far a> 1 know, -et forth ni dictail either the ('Touiid or tlie itistificatinn of tin- de-ire. I ha\e alread}' de- scribed some of her rea-oii- at len-th -in fact. I i)elieve 1 have stated her ease, as re.L;ard- one a.-pect of it. more fnllv than she has ever stated it her>elf. Her writer- n-nall\ eonlme them- selves to as.^everatini; the fact, adduem-- no lietter ar^i;aiments tium " hi.^torie aim," "national necessitw" or " inevita1)le ex- pansion." Wdien they descend to detail they are often on very unsafe ground, ddie latest of them merely remarks that " Rtl^- sia . . . must be the predominant Power when her |)olitieal security and vital interests are involved." * It is needless to point out that lupoiand cotild make out a better case upon tiiese two grounds for her predcMiiinance in the Persian (mlf. The St. Petersburg Bourse Gacctfc, under^tof^d to express the views of M. de Witte himself, contained a ty})ical Russian state- ment of claim twa) months ago. as follow.^: The final decision rests neither with lai^land nor Germany nor with Turkey, which reckons upon the support of the latter Power, t3ut with Russia, whose merchant navy is now in re.c:ular communication with the ports of the Persian Gulf. It was not in order to secure for the British Fleet this important strate.i(ic point on the shore of the Persian ( ailf that Russia has latterly devoted immense capital to the economic revival of Persia and that Russian diplomacy has done so much to emancipate western Persia from British servitude. Inasmuch as Russia's diplomacy roused her neii^hbour Persia to a new existence and strenj^th- ened the moral and economic link between that country and Russia, it put an end once for all to the idle talk about dividing Persia into a northern sphere of * a A Russian Diplomatist," A'///.v;,// A^t/Vtc'. January, 1902, p. 6S7. RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 421 influenre hclon-m:,^ to Russia and a southern sphere of influence belonging to 1 :nL!'an(l. There can hv no division of spheres <.f mtiuence. Persia, together ,,.an ihe waters that baaie its shores, must remain the ob:ect of Russian mate- rial and moral protection. Thi^ magniloquent ahti^ion to the fiasco of the Koriiilut and to '• Prltl^^h servitude" is. it niii-^t be confessed, rather ])Oor stnfT, ^^^^ -^ !<, t]^e best we ,^et. Tlierefore, as Russia does not state her case, we nnist state it for her. Russia's desire fur Tersia, besides the possession of the future raihvav route to the East which I have previously described, i< part of her -eneral and vague, but perfectly estabhshed, niovement toward the warm water. She feels suffocated, and is strugglino- for air— which in her case means sea outlets. She has secured one in the Ear East free from ice; she has created another m her own North; she will beyond question force open the Dardanelles for her Black Sea fleet; and to complete the circle-to open a window in every wall-she must have an egress into the seas of the ^luldle East-the Mediterranean of the future struggle. And, be it remembered, the strength of her desire is not less,, but more, because it is of the nature of an instinctive impulse rather than a calculated plan. A man gasping for breath will smash things that he would not venture to touch deliberatelv. The desire seems to me natural and legitimate; I feel convinced that every reader will admit that he would share it if he were a Russian. This much at least is certain • it will ride rough-shod over conventions and protocols and treaties. One thing, and one alone, will keep Russia per- manently from the Persian Gulf; some force stronger than her own. 1- 1 1 1 In pursuance of her aim she has already accomplished much. From Resht. on the Caspian, practically a Russian port, she has ma.le a good road to Tehran, and is reaping a rich com- mercial reuar ^ ^ ,^.Jt.-* ^^*-^ -W.* -.^ * t ■•• . -^ » * > Uj^jf**-! 424 ALL 1H1-. RLSSIAS Foley) is able to - paralyse anv tra.le by the (}uetta-Xushki route by keeping caravans and travellers unnecessarily long at any station before granting praticpie." Tlie Russian agents also, amongst other restrictions, forbid Indian merchants, car- rying goods and money, to enter with arms, although the road in Persia is unsafe and every Persian is armed, and the Indian traders have offered to give any guarantee that no arms shouUl be sold, and even to register every weapon and produce it again when thev leave Persia. Thus a new and promising Indian trade outlet— which might be greatly developed by a railway from Quetta or Larkhana to Seistan— is in imminent danger of being blocked. So much for the nature of Russia's claim upon Persia, and what she has already accomplished there. What now are Eng- land's position and title in the same sphere^ In Northern Per- sia we have neither right nor result to point to, beyond certain financial and other relations which give us no kind of special interest, and our indirect concern with the trade of .Afghanistan, our sphere of influence. In Southern Persia and the Gulf, on the other hand, our interest is both great and intimate. The present situation in the Gulf is the e essential part of whose business is largely connected .1 h the essential pai t collection and transfer of Gov- Government hnances, such as tne co. ,ti» icsiip of naner monev and the nickei com ernment revenues, the issue 01 pape. .^ nfre the import of silver for the mint, etc. ' Thir exists, however, a ground for the status ,no m Persia of fl greater importance from the standpoint of international r 1 ions than anv commercial achievements or prospects- Simg le!: n. fa., than an en.agemei. betw... t^^^^^^^^^ -r "1 "nf"":;ni -rftiX^^^^^^^^^^^^ inf enendence ot 1 ersia. mi^ i^ «.i v made and confirmed in X834. .838. 1839, ^^^jf /^^ our knowledge of it is conveyed in a despatch from L rd Sal bury to Sir Robert Morier, British Ambassado ^t St. Peters V, g, dated March t., 1888, in which he states that M. de St^al Russ an Ambassador in London, called at the Foreign Of^ e tiXt afternoon and read him a despatch " written ,n very friendly terms." Lord Salisbury continues : , ,V,P first Dlace as regards our desire for an assurance that the engage- t b^ ve : the two GovLments to respect and promote the integrity and ment betv^een h t ^o ^^^^.^^ Government as remaining ' ZtlTu e Crstates that, 'although, in their opinion, there are no iresl grounds for apprehending any danger to Persia, and although they have o, Russia as ^,,.00,000. These figures can ^^^:^::':r;::^i::^::^. ably impossible ,0 get the correct fig-- ^^^'t iTsotly f cm which merchandise not tt^rnish them, and m ..s returns l^^^^^, ,,,^,„d )- On the other hand, actually starts for Persia are g,ven.-(Mr.t on ul^G nera Wood ) ^^^ ^^^ a Renter telegram from Tehran g.ves the total fore gn "^e <> ^ ^^^^^ i„g March ... .90.. as ^S -0.000, an .ates th. oH . fi.yj_x p ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ with Kussta, and twenty-four per «" ' '""^^J ''', ^„ „,,„, ,« be accepted without figures of the Russo- Belgian customs staff, and b> '"".'"Mr. Consul-General C. G. Wood, A'.fort for O. V^ar „oo on ike Trade of Azalmijan, p. 19- ^.lfj%p!' ««#«*.- ^' ^rf ^ . „. *»',»— ...'•^-- * '-~ *"- T*- * •* ^ ^ . 4^6 ALL THK RUSSIAS received no communication on the subject from Tehran, yet the Russian Gov- ernment have no objection to placing again on record that their views on this point are in no way altered. The Persian Government, his Excellency adds, have on more than one occasion had tangible proof of this, and he alludes to a military demonstration made at the request of the Shah in 1880 on the Cauca- sian frontier, when a portion of the Province of Azerbaidjan was suffering from the incursions of bands of Kurds. RUSSL^ AND ExNGLAND 427 I have expressed in M. de Staal. and I request your Excellency to offer M. de Giers, my best thanks for this frank and courteous communication of the views of the Russian Government. It has been highly satisfactory to Her Majesty's Government to learn that those views are so much in accordance with their own, and they owe their acknowledgments to M. de Giers for enabling Sir H. D. Wolff to inaugurate his mission by an assurance to the Shah that tlie engagements between Great Britain and Russia to respect and promote the integrity and independence of the Persian Kingdom have again been renewed and confirmed.* au- This important despatch shows, on the liii^hest possible r thority, that an eno^agement of long standing |)et\veen the Brit- ish and Rnssian Governments to respect the " integrity and inde- pendence " of Persia was declared by l)otli to be binchng ui)on them fourteen years ago. This engagement still holds good, for in reply to an inquiry by myself, in a speech in the House of Commons on January 22, 1902, Lord Cranl)orne, Under- Secretary of State for Foreign Aftairs, made this important statement : The Hon. Member for Wolverhampton referred to an exchange of notes which took place in 1888 in regard to Persia, and he quite accurately quoted what passed on that occasion. It was that mutual assurances had been given that the policy of England and Russia was the maintenance of the integrity of Persia ; and I have special reason to believe that on both sides that assurance is maintained. • Treaties containin^^ Guarantees or Fnoa.emeuts hv Great Britain in Kelatum to ihe Territory or Government oj other Countries Miscellaneous Series. \o 2 (i8q8) p. 130- ^ . V y ,;, The whole question of the future of Persia, however, is one of undoubted urgency. There is in existence an arrangement be- tween Russia and the Sultan regarding future railways in Asiatic Turkey; there is some ground for the belief that Russia has secretly acquired from Persia a lease of one of the ports on the Gulf; Germany has the concession of a railway from Constanti- nople to Baghdad, and her agents have already once applied in the name of the Sultan for a harbour on the Gulf; * British gun- boats have forcibly prevented the cession of a coaling station to France on the Gulf, and the landing of Turkish troops at another port there; the Indian Government is being strongly urged to construct a railway to the Persian frontier; the Russian and Con- tinental press sees an imminent contest between Great Britain and Russia over the whole issue; and the subject of the fate of Persia in the future relations of the two nations has been raised in an acute form by several English writers. In its frankest form this urgent question is, should England consent to the an- nexation of Persia by Russia in order to effect an Anglo-Russian settlement of all matters of possible conflict between the two nations, and to replace the present relations of suspicion and veiled hostility, with the possibility of a ruinous conflict, by an amicable and inclusive understanding? The question is of the greatest importance and delicacy. Those who answer it in the affirmative begin by laying stress upon the relief every British statesman, and, indeed, every thoughtful citizen, would feel if all chance of a war with Russia were removed— the possibility of which dogs our foreign policy at every step. Upon this we are all agreed. They then pro- ceed to offer us a choice between fighting a Continental coali- tion, to be created by Germany, and coming to an arrangement with Russia. And some press this point with the peculiar con- fidence which attaches to anonymity. " Unless by conscription, a fleet at the three-Power standard, and service estimates rising * See page 258. tVi^jf .»•*-•** 428 ALL THi; Rl SSLAS at no distant date to ejohty or ninety millions a year, there can i)e no adeqnate insnrance a-ainst the appearance of Germany and her fleet at the head of a ho>tile lun-ope hnt a settlement with Russia })y the unreserved relin(|nishment of I'ersia to her influence. There is no diplomatic alternative worth considera- tion/' * This course has also been stron-ly ur-ed bv a -roup of anoiiymous writers in the " National Review," but their plan is not so bold, for it consists in offerino- Russia a conmiercial outlet on the Persian Gulf, " in return for an undertakino- on the part of Russia to respect the political status quo alon- the shores of the Gulf." This is a case of Mr. Balfour and Port Arthur over again, and would be followed, in my opinion, by a similar result; namely, that we should give away everything and provoke ill- will to boot. Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, who writes upon foreign afTairs with much knowledge and sobriety of judgment, has also strongly advocated a complete al)an(lonment of our in- terests in Persia, as the only way to avoid a " desperate war," and further " deplorable results " from surrenders to Germany of the kind we have recently experienced in the Far East. It cannot be denied that there is much force in the conten- tion that England could hardly fight Russia in Persia without military sacrifices to which the nation would be most loath to submit on such an issue. This is a question for militarv experts, of course, but the dif^culty of the situation that would arise if Russia simultaneously seized Herat and advanced an army to Tehran (where it would meet with no local opposition whatever), may surely be appreciated by any thoughtful Englishman' .Moreover, we should almost certainly not be ofTered the decision of any such clear-cut problem as this. Russia would assuredly follow her usual tactics of advancing step by step, no one step being sufificiently hostile in appearance to furnish a direct chal- lenge to a war in which the fate of the British Empire would be at stake, but all of them forming at last the fait accompli envis- * "Calchas," in the Fortm^htly K^view, December, 1901, p. 947. RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 429 aged from the first. The recent history of Central Asia affords a precise precedent. On the other hand, there is weighty authority against the abandonment of our position on the Persian Gulf. Captain Mahan, for example, has made the following observations upon this question: Progress through Persia would not only approach the gulf, but if success- ful would turn-would outflank-the mountains of Afghanistan, avoiding the difficulties presented by the severe features of that country, and by the character of its inhabitants. Russia would thus obtain a better position both in itself and in its communication with the north, for beginning and sustaining operations in India itself. Unless Great Britain and Germany are prepared to have the Suez route to India and the Far East closed to them in time of war. they cannot afford to see the borders of the Levant and the Persian Gulf become the territorial base for the navy of a possible enemy, especially if it appear that the policy of the latter in the Pacific runs seriously counter to their own. * And Lord Curzon committed himself some time ago to a most uncompromising attitude. After describing the results of British surrender of the control of the Persian Gulf, he says : ^' I do not think there can be two opinions among Englishmen that there is no justification, either in policy or in reason, for exposing India to such a danger, or for allowing South Persia to fall into Russian hands." f And in another place he has declared that he would regard the cession to Russia of a Persian Gulf port as '' a wanton rupture of the status quo, and as an in- ternational provocation to war, and T should impeach the British Minister who was guilty of acquiescing in such a surrender as a traitor to his country." X And Major Francis Edward Younghusband has put the ob- jection in a concrete form : * T/if Prod/em of Asia, pp. 56- 77- t Russia in CcJitral Asia, second edition, p. 378. \ Persia (1892), vol. 11. p. 465- 43 o ALL THK KUSSLAS Some will .ay there is room enou,i;h in Asia for both England and Russia and why not let Russia go to the I'ersian Gulf ,f she uants to '^ There is room of course, but Russia already has much the larger share of it. While we have' less than 2.000,000 she has 6.500.000 square miles, liesides this she is just absorbing .Manehuna with another 360.000 square miles, and we adnm that she must have Mongolia with ,.300.000 square miles and Chinese Turkestan with 580.000 square miles. In addition to all this, which antounts in the aggregate to 2,250.000 square miles, we recognise that she must control Northern Persia Is not this enough room without conceding Southern Persia as well ? • These are all opinions entitled to respectful consideration; but upon examination, it will appear that the authorities pro- fessing them contradict themselves or one another. Captain ALahan. for instance, says in one place that Russia established m the Persian Gulf would he a " perpetual menace in war," and that England " cannot afford to see the Persian Gulf become the territorial base for the tiavy of a jKissiblc enemy •'; vet in another he declares that the maintenance there, by Russia, of " a navy sufficient to be a serious consideration to the fleets of Great Britain, and to tho.se who would be her natural allies upon the sea in case of complications in the farther East, would involve an exhausting effort, and a naval abandonment of the Black Sea. or of the China Sea. or of both." f It may fairlv be argued that we do not run much risk in affording to a possible enemy an opportunity of whicli he cannot make use without exhausting hmiself. Lord Curzon, again, .says that "The absorption 0I N. E. Persia and Khorasan will provide an alternative route of advance, either upon Herat or, through Seistan, upon P.eluchis- tan and India itself." ^ Yet acconling to Major Younghus- band. in the letter previously cited. ■' we recognise that Russia must control Northern Persia." and therefore what Lord Cur- zon fears for Herat has already happened ! And surely the in- vasion of India through Seistan is a contingency remote enough to be disregarded. It appears to me. therefore, that the opiti- Letter to YVu- I'lmes, December 5, 1901. t The Prohlt'fu of Asia, j) 119. X Russia in Central Asia, second edition, {>. 377. H' RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 43^ ions even of these authorities do not bring the solution much nearer. Moreover, there can be no great and far-reaching arrange- ment between two Powers m which some risks are not incurred. The question must be whether the advantages greatly outweigh the dangers. A Russia naval base and fleet in the Persian Gulf would necessitate a strengthening of our sea power in Indian waters, for the safeguarding alike of India and our routes to the Far East and to Australasia, and the building of certain strategi- cal Indian railways, e.g.. from Ahmedabad to Karachi. But friendly relations with Russia (including, as they necessarily would, a similar settlement with France), placed upon a perma- nent and defined footing, would be cheaply purchased at the price of an additional squadron in those waters, and a railway or two. And would it not be rather an advantage than otherwise to us, who must for our very existence retain the command of the sea, that Russia should come down to the sea and thereby offer a fresh vulnerable place and a new trade-route to our nat- ural means of attack, if ever friendship failed? The more the elephant comes to the water, the better the chance of the whale. And, to recur to the kernel of the question, can we, a sea power, prevent Russia, with her vast army, carrying out these land oper- ations in far-off Asia whenever she may choose to do so? This question can no longer be regarded as one between England and Russia alone. Upon its decision hang two other international issues of great gravity. If we come to terms with Russia, our relations with France, already happily upon a better footing, must also necessarily improve. To us this would be easy and natural, but France would follow Russia's lead in such a matter, where she would hesitate, from old suspicion and recent sharp divergence of interest, to take action by herself. French- men, usually so alert to perceive national movements of sympa- thy or the reverse, would then probably at last learn that there is no countrv except the United States for whom so much good- — T-r ,„», 43 2 ALL IHL RUSSIAS 1^ will is felt in Iinoland, or ai^ainst whom national passion conld only with so nuicli difiicult) he aroused, as h^rance. And to nine Kno-lishmen otit of ten the faet that a Russian understaiM- inor would necessarily uivolve a settlement with iM-ance also, would he an additional and stron^- aroument in its favour. The other international issue is unhappily of a dilYerent char- acter. The feelino- of the liritish people toward (Germany has undergone a serious change of late, and althouo-h it would be mipolitic to exaggerate this, it would he even more unwise to ignore it. Several causes have brought about the change. The masses of the people, acting ui)on simple impressions and instinctive impulses, have been deeply affronted by the indecent caricatures of King and Oueen whicli have enjoyed absolute immunity in a land where Irsc-)>iajcsfc is officially regarded as a I)eculiarly heinous offence, and by the veritable campaign of invective and " foul and hlthy lies," as Sir Edward Grey has rightly called them, directed against our ofhcers and men in South Africa.* .\t first this was confined to that consider- able portion of the German press known to l)e corrupt, and It was fed by the ample means of which the Boer rei)resentatives in I'russels at first (lis|)osed. But later it spread to more re- spectable German journals, until virtually the whole press reeked with it— the Socialist fin-wurfs being the chief honourable ex- ception in this as in so many other matters — the insertion of indecent advertisements, for example. It is easy to analyse the origins of this seemingly volcanic u|)heaval. Bismarck system- atically corrupted the press, and poisoned the atmosphere of Ciermany with suspicion and hatred of England. There are his chickens coming home to roost. The extraordinary growth of national sentiment after the war of 1870, legitimate and natural * Lord Rol)erts, ( ■ommander in-chic-f. has even thou^du it necessary to ^nve his " most positive assurance " toaCerman lady correspondent that the statements that Boer women and .^irls have been Molated hv British officers and soldiers, and that all Boer tenudes over twelve years of a.^e m a certain rctu-ee camp were "despatched to Pretoria for immoral jnirposes " w.-re "absolutely without foundation ".' RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 433 enough, has now run to excess in that fatal pride which was the favourite theme of the Greek dramatist. The unparaUeled de- velopment of German commerce and the sudden accretion of wealth has been accompanied by a distinct lowering of the old German standards of mental sobriety and severe morality, with the result that serious Germans have not hesitated to write in alarm of certain recent events and tendencies both at home and in the Colonies. This analysis, however, though it may explain the origin of the anti-British campaign, cannot mitigate its in- tense effect upon the minds of innumerable Englishmen, who have seen their country befouled by a dirty torrent wdiich even the example and speech of the Emperor himself are powerless to stem. The anger in the minds of the British people at large is matched, unfortunately, by the alarm with which thoughtful observers have noticed certain revelations of modern German policy. The repeated declarations of the Emperor concerning the part to be played in the immediate future by the German navy, his dictum that " Our future lies upon the water," the official definition that the navy must be able to " keep the North Sea clear," its rapid growth, officially insisted upon in the face of every pecuniary and Parliamentary obstacle, and a recent revelation that it is being pushed forward even faster than the German public was aware— have naturally raised acutely the question, what role, against wdiom, is the German navy in- tended to play? And the geographical situation of Germany, her rapidly increasing population, and her over-production, demanding new and protected markets, together with the fact that only two countries, England and Holland, possess over-sea territories corresponding to the German demand, supply the answer. Holland is surely destined to come under German influence, and if the German fleet to be is not in- tended — alone or by judicious alliance — to neutralise England's command of the sea, with its natural commercial consequences 434 ALL TH1-, F-IUSSLAS RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 435 fv t which Germany feels restricting- her ambition and needs at so many ])oints, and to sectire for her a position on the water analof^-ous to that site enjoys on land, then a foreii^ner can liardly see what reason it has for comin 1 ^e " 'he "-.^^^'J^^'^- J^^y^ ^^e partition of influence in Pers.a between I<"^f'^J,f^^„",fto„W be imposed upon the bopleTofl^i^^'^^..r:r;;ot:cXMnar^^^^ by the needs of the Persian people. ' The obvious comment upon the last sentence is that tf no ™P^<^™™'^,;"! PIT,^ upon British trade in a Russian Persia, it would be the one exception to a hitherto invariable rule. * The Problem of Asia, pp. 68 and 57. 442 ALL THL RUSSL^S RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 443 underst(X)(l to be accepted. For the United States, hardlv less than for Eno-Iand, oi)en markets for manufactures are an essen- tial condition of future welfare, and it is irrational in this aov when steam and electricity have annihilated distance, that this mterest should be insisted u|)()n in one part of the world and set aside as contrary to tradition and policy in another. If the Open Door in China justifies an American Secretary of State in sending- a strong despatch to all the European governments and to Japan, why does not the Open Door in Persia? In logic, therefore, as well as in the pursuit of legitimate and imperative national interest, I fail to see why the United States should de- cline to be a party to a multidateral agreement giving great geographical and transit advantages in Persia to the Power which most desires and needs them, in return for an equality of trade for all the world there. Similar considerations should bring- about the adhesion of France, Italy, and Japan. I omit Germany, because she is apparently already engaged in an at- tempt to extend her own high tariff to that part of the world, but France has not received from Russia such treatment in the matter of tariff as to cause her to welcome the extension of Rus- sian duties to another great part of the world, and the fact that she has concluded a military alliance for mutual defence with Russia is no reason why she should not do all in her power to extend the market for her own people's manufactures and products. This suggestion opens up a wide f^eld for discussion, and it would be foreign to my general subject to review the arguments for and against it. I hope to return to it elsewhere, so here I will only point out that if once adopted anywhere this policy of international commercial equality in reg-ard to the future dis- posal of undeveloped countries would acquire an almost irresist- ible moral momentum, and would go far toward removing from mankind the shadow of several imminent wars. Finally, let us consider for a moment what is the British alternative' policy toward Persia, and on this point a recent debate in Parliament enables us to speak with conhdence. In two debates in the House of Commons Lord Cranborne has spoken for the British Government upon the Persian ques- tion. I take these passages from his speeches: Our position in the Persian Gulf, both commercially and politically, was one of a very special character, and his Majesty's Government had always con- sidered that the ascendency of Great Britain in the Persian Gulf was the foun- dation of British policy. This was not merely a question of theory ; it was a statement of fact. Our trade interests there far exceeded those ot any other countrv Our recognised maritime supremacy secured our political ascendency. The policy of the Government with regard to Koweit was to maintam the sta/us quo and this they had put forward with some insistence. ' You may roughly lay down that our object in Asia is to maintam the status nuo I do not mean to say that that is a statement to which there may not be some exceptions, but taking it generally, the policy of England throughout Asia is to maintain the status quo. That is an advantageous policy. It was not always our policy, because at other times a different policy was more suitable ; but at the present moment, with the very great extension which our Empire has had of late years, undoubtedly the policy of maintaining the status quo is the right one for this country. This is a policy which may be mistaken for what was called by one of the honourable members who have spoken, a policy of drift. It' does not follow that it is a policy of drift. It is a difficult policy to mam- tain because as other countries advance a purely defensive policy must always present much greater obstacles than any other. What is true of the East generally is true of Persia. We have very large interests there. Far be it from me to minimise them in the least. They are interests of the highest political order vast commercial interests which it is our wish and our duty to maintain. We see no reason why that should lead us into anything but friendly relations with Russia ; but although we seek friendly relations, I must remind the House thar those friendly relations are not to be sought at the cost of any treaty rights we possess Whether to Russia or to any other country, it does not become us to ,o cap in hand for an understanding. Our policy is the integrity of Persia. That unselfishness is not due to any elaborate moral motive, because it is our mterest that Persia should remain in its present territorial condition. But, when 1 state that, I ought to add that there are limits to that policy. That policy cannot be pursued independently of the action of other powers Wt are anxious for the integrity of Persia, but we are anxious far more for the 444 ALL THK RUSSIAS balance of power; and it would hv inipossihlc for us. whatever the eause. to abandon what we look upon as our rij^htful position m Persia. Especially is that true in regard to the Persian Culf. as I had the honour to state to the House a few days ago. It is true not only of the Persian (iulf, l)ut of the Southern lYovinces of Persia, and those provinces which border on our Indian Empire. Our rights there, and our position of ascendency, we cannot abandon. In the gulf itself, as I ventured to state on the previous occasion, our ascendency is not merely a question of theory, but a question of fact. Our position of ascendency is assured by the existence of our maritime supremacy. More information is often seciired in the House of Com- mons by carefully worded (juestions to Ministers than from their speeches, and the above exposition of policy is usefully supplemented by two answers which Lord Cranborne made about the same time. Here is one: The occupation of a port in the Persian Gulf by any Power would be incon- sistent with the maintenance of the s/a/us quo which, as I have already informed the House, is the policy of his Majesty's Government. And in reply to an inquiry whether any exchange of views had taken place between his Majesty's Government and the German Government as to the selection of a terminus on the Persian Gulf, Lord Cranborne said: His Majesty's Government have intimated to that of Germany that they are in no way opposed to the scheme, in which it is probable that British capi- talists will wish to take a considerable share. There has already been some discussion of the point referred to in the second part of the question between the two governments ; and no decision with regard to it will be come to without a further exchange of views.* The situation is therefore this: England's policy is the status quo in Persia and the Persian Gulf: but this means the political and not the commercial status quo; and the latter is •These quotations are taken from 77:^ Times Parliamentary reports of January 17, 23, 24 and 25, 1902. RUSSIA AND KNGLAND 445 co,n,«tiWc with a German raiUvay to the guh" an.l a German ternnnns there, which is aetually un.ler discussion at th,s nionieni l^etween luioland an advanced until British interests found themselves between them like a nut m a nut-crlcker. In conclusion I am strongly of opinion that if the British policy is simply to keep out Russia, more particularly by means of any understanding e"refor otherwise, which would let Germany into the Persian Gulf then we Ire preparing for ourselves in the^ future not only grievous commercial injury but possibly also imperial disaster.* Our policy, in a word, is simply that deprecated so neatly by Sir Edwa'rd Grey (Under-Secretary for Foreign Atlairs in the last Liberal government) in this debate-" a ,>olicy wh^h combines in a most extraordnnary way the disadvantages both of vielding and of resistance, without getting the advantages of either course." Lord Cranl>orne says that we must not go " cap in hand" to Russia. Precisely: but my own contention •This speech was of course made before Lord Cranborne had adn.i..ed that Eng^ land had prLica.ly consented lo a ^^^^ ;^-;:^^l^:Z^tLl:r T^e admitted. 446 ALL THE RUSSIAS is that we shall only arrive at <;()0(1 relations with her by g^oing; boldly cap on head — in Mr. ^leredith's delightful phrase, With hindward feather and with forward toe. In considering this most grave question of the relations of Russia and England, we must never hide from ourselves the fact that it is no easv matter for two nations so dissimilar in condi- tions, opinions, institutions, and ideals, to arrive at harmony of purpose. Russia is an autocracy : so long as a strong and con- sistent autocrat rules, absolute continuity of aim is probable. In Great Britain, though persistence of view is to be expected, rep- resentative institutions, reflecting a gust of national passion or modification of national conviction, may quickly register a change of policy. The accession of a new autocrat, on the other hand, may substitute a feeble will and a tickle atti- tude for strength and consistencv. At anv rate, a foreig-n nation may naturally hesitate before staking some of its most vital interests upon the will, or perhaps only the life, of one man. I have cited the opinions of leading Russian states- men, but for my own part I can see no sure foundation for Anglo-Russian good-will except a sincere conviction upon each side that such would be for its own good and the advantage of mankind. I shall be ridiculed by some for attributing any weight to the latter consideration in the case of Russia, but closer observers will probably support me in the view that the Rus- sians, not less than ourselves, are a nation of sentimentalists, and even more sensitive than ourselves to broad philosophical ap- peals. Between us and them there is not, in my opinion, any innate, permanent instinct of hostility. The present i)opular hostility had its roots in the Crimean War (a painful memory to every Englishman who has studied its diplomatic origin) and has developed of late from causes easy to analyse if space per- RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 447 mitted. Russia has one deep-rooted and ever-present national antipathy, probably dest.ned to exhibit Uself some day .n flam- ,„g colours to the world, but it is not toward England. She has sharp suspicions, and n.deed anxiet.es, regardmg the a>ms of another nation, but this is not ourselves. If a conflict ^Mth us were as likely as her newspapers profess to believe, her news- papers would never be permitted to chronicle their behe m ex- cited language day by day. They fling their sparks into wha is non-exi^osive; if it were gunpowder, their pyrotechnics would speedily be damped down. Indeed, the hand of authority has turned the hose on this fiery press once or twice when there has been real danger of a conflagration. At the present moment the conditions are perhaps not favour able for a reconciliation and settlement. We should gravely err, however, in my opinion, in -S-^ing ourselves as more iso- lated •' than others, whether our isolation be splendid or the reverse The prestige of our government-of a group of in- d duals-has suf?ered_not the prestige of the British peop e.* fwould go so far as to say that respect, not to say fear ent rs Lre often into the feeling of foreign statesmen toward us to- day than at any previous period of our modern history. The spectre of isolation makes more wakeful couches than ours. If e roofs could be lifted off the Foreign Offices of Europe and a glance cast into their recesses, I fancy that the uneasiness pre- vailing in unsuspected places would go far toward reassun g Britons concerning their own position in the world. Therefore we may await with comparative equanimity the development of a rapprochcmcut based upon geography and upon history, upon sentiment and upon interest. I believe it will come m time-if cember. 1901, p. S^i- I ' i! r vl % 448 ALL THE RUSSIAS not to-day, then to-morrow. When it comes it will show how little exaggeration there was in the words of the Tsar Nicholas L to Sir llatnilton Seymonr he fore the terrihle hlnnder of the Crimea, ''Let England and Rnssia arrive at an nnderstanding : the rest is nothing." And with its inevitahle conseqnences it will do more than any other conceivahle event in I^nrope to bring abont a realisation of the ideal of the Tsar Nicholas 11., and to connect in imperishable glory with his name a new secu- lar era from which to reckon human progress — A.O.P., Ab orbc pacificato, " From the Pacification of the World." Postscript. — On the day that the foregoing chapter is passed for press, the Brit- ish Government has issued a most momentous Agreement between (ireat Britain and Japan, signed in London on January 30, 1902. relating to the maintenance of the s/iUus quoin China and Corea. After declaring that the two powers are "entirely unintlu- enced by any aggressive tendencies in either country," and defining their common in- terests to be "the independence and territorial integrity of the Empire of China and the Empire of Corea, and in securing equal opportunities in those counfies for the commerce and industry of all nations," the Agreement proceeds as follows: Article II. — If either Creat Britain or Japan, in defence of their respective inter- ests as above described, should become involved in war with another Power, the other High Contracting Party will maintain a strict neutrality, and use its efforts to prevent other Powers from joining in hostilities against its ally. Article III. — If in the above event any other Power or Powers should join in hostilities against that ally, the other High Contracting Party will come to his assist- ance and will conduct the war in common, and make peace in nmtual agreement with it. Article ir. — The High Contracting Parties agree that neither of them will, with- out consulting the other, enter into separate arrangements with another Power to the prejudice of the interests above described. CONCLUSION CHAPTER XXVI RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT AFTER four journevs made under the most favourable concnah\- (>l' cniiraiiNatit m — (jui tri^p cmbrassc jual iirciiit-- iiui:-t \k in |)r<*rc>> wf (lc\ cl' ipmcnt. Tlic Russian Junpire. from it> \(T\- ^i/c and pr* •miscnnw nin>t l)e sliuwing- signs o\ i^'miii^ t'» pieces? dlicrc arc tliou^luful Rus- sians wlu) sec daui^er in this direction, and declare it would l)ec()nie acute if Ivussia took Constantinople. 1 can onlv say that few such sii^ns are outwardlx' \isil)le. The sacred person- ality of the Tsar and the hea\y hands of the authorities in St. Petersburg- are just as e\ident and jusi as niexitahle on the circumference as at the centre. RusMa rexoKes as sni(K)thly as the well-welded tly-wheel. So lonj^- as no flaw dexelops, nothino- cou'd be more impressi\e or more powerful than the tlv-wheel. After the vastncss of country, the mixture of peo])les, and the centralisation, comes the im])ression of streni^th,. Russia is in(lescril)al)ly strong. Her strength makes you nervous. It is like being in the next field, with a golf jacket on, to an angrv \oung l)ull. The bull does not realise that the gate is there to stop him — therefore it will not sto}) him. Russia walks rougli-shod over and through obstacles that an older, a more civilised, a more self-conscious countr\ would maudnivre around for half a century. She wants Siberia — she takes it. She wants Central Asia — she takes it. She wants Port Arthur — she takes it. She wants Manchuria — slie is taking it. She wants Persia — we shall see. A constitutional Mnland is in her wav — con- stitutional iMuland must become a Russian |)rovince. Russia has suffered of late from an acute fuiancial and connnercial crisis, intensified by tlie hea\\- cost of the rising in China and the relief of famine. In view of this, one would expect to see all expensi\e national enterprises |)ostponed, or at least cur- tailed. Xot at all. hAerything proceeds as regularh' as tliougli a million roubles came iloating down the W'va everx morning. The Great Siberian Railwax is being pushed along at all speed. RETROSPFCr AM) PROSPECT 451 Tlie arniv is ])eing increased. The navy is being strengthened raj. idly. Railways are building to the ( lerman frontier, to the Austrian frontier, in the Southern Caucasus, ni Central Asia. ])nring the ten years ending in 1899 iS,000 miles of railway were constructed. In 1899 alone the increase was 2,640 miles. And evervwhere that Russia reaches she erects handsome and permanent buildings— railway stations, cathedrals, administra- tive otlices, barracks. Few ])rovincial towns in PAirope or America have theatres and museums as fine as those of far-off Irkutsk and Titlis. Tlie strength of Russia, again, strikes you in the inex- haustible masses of her common people. They are physically vigorous, they can live on a Chinaman's daily expenditure, they are wholly illiterate, wholly superstitious, absolutely obe- dient, even to death, to what they are told is the will of the Tsar, and they are increasing in numbers at an astounding ])ace.* Recruits may be seen with a band of straw twisted round the arm to show them which is their right hand. If a couple of hundred thousand of them are needed to increase the army, they weep and go. If they must be sacrificed in shoals to win a battle, well, they are never missed except each group in its own village, and not much there. There are two countries in the world where flesh and blood are cheap— China and Russia. This is the strength of the one; it will be the strength of the other if ever she is organised. I was once discussing the relations of England and Russia with a travelled Russian officer as we walked through a barrack square. "Do you know whv we should always beat you in the end?" asked my companion. As he spoke we came to the sentry, who was * In the fortv-six years from 1851-1897 the population of the Russian Empire increased (Pper cent 'in the last-named year, according to Prince Krapotkin, it was 123.- o.i 113 of which 94 millions were in European Russia proper, and 35 millions m t^he'non-Russian provinces of the Empire, divided as follows: Finland, 2f millions; Pcl.md. 9i millions; Caucasia. 9! millions; the Kirghiz Steppes, 3^ millions; Trans- Caspia and Turkestan, 4i millions ; Siberia, 5^ millions. o 45- Al.l. IHl, Rl ^NlAS stanain- ngid at tiic -alutr, ToiK-hirt- tlu-' mati upMii tlie hrea^t/hc oniUuucd: "iVcaiiM; we can lu.c a iiuiiarcd ili^^i- saiui (.1 tliesc witlieiit Icclm- it m any way." The hrnlal but true remark sug--e^l> the relleelion that a pecuhar ^trenoth belnnos to KusMa frnni the fact that the more eivihsed her neio-hbuiirs become, while she ^tan(l^ stih— that i>. the -reater the value they set upon human life m general and the higher the respect attaching- to the individual man— the stront^er m proportion does Russia become, for the more dearly in compari- son are her rivals ever paying for their counters in the game of war. Up to a certain point, in other words, the civilisation of Russia's enemies is a millstone about their necks, it must not be supposed, however, that this brute force— this cheapness of flesh and blood— is the only strong side of military Russia. The enthusiasm and contklence of all her officers, and the intelli- gence and training of a large number of them, are also striking factors. A competent haiglish military critic wrote of the last army manoeuvres: " Certainly no class of men conld be more whole-hearted in their work than the staff officers with whom I have come in contact. With a great enthusiasm for the routine of their i)rofession, they appear to combine a wide interest, not only in military history, but in even the minutest details of contemporary war." Among the impressions left by study of contemporary Russia, however, perhaps the most interesting is that of an approaching social change. Hitherto, speaking generally, there was no artisan class— no great social stratum below the nobility except the illiterate, stupid, kindly, superstitious peasantry. The growth of industry is ])roducing such a class— a proletariat. Association in large numbers, the discussion of affairs, the influence of the fluent speaker, the circulation of the news- paper, the use of machinery, residence in towns— all these com- bine to confer a certain education. With this rough education come new aspirations and the consciousness of ability to realise Ri;TROSi>!XT AM) iTiO^RirT 453 ^1,em Wii'^n a dozen men insist upon something hnlierto aeni.d tlaan. a i.niceman UK. n.ove them O.U a luu.lred m^ ,,,- he di.persed by a troop of ^cndanncs: hve hnndreu nu-n ,,,;, be .urrounded bv a regiment of Cossacks. l>ut when ,,;, r,r three thousand men demand a change, for m^tance. m ,o,r. of labour, and not n. one town only hut n. half a dozen towns sinufltaneously, their demand must l)e considered on us „,erit. This means a new class and a new era n. Kussia- , ,,,al modtflcation of a society hitherto resting upon the two ;fllars of autocracy and theocracy. The labour question has been born in Russia. In this there is. so far. little of a revolutionary tendency. The share of the workmen in the students" disturbances has b "/exaggerated, and the students themselves are wuhout IhtK-afons to lead any great n.oven.ent. The.r v.ews are L the drean,s of disordered intellectual d,gest,on-the workers Ln^selves will soon leave then, behind. The trans.t.on from l.r.culture to industr.aUsm has been so sharp a change that some labour .liff^culties were inevitable at the outset. The Russian peasant does not easily accommo.late himself to r,ew conditions, nor. on the other hand, does the Russian employer. Both have to modify their habits to suit their new env.ron- ment Rut this industrial development was both right and inevitable in a country possessing the boundless natural re- sources of Russia. Perhaps it has been unduly burned, but that ,s the Russian way-to be very slow in adoptmg a new principle, and then to embody it in act and fact w.th a rapuh y that takes away the breath of an observer rom less confi en cou,Uries. The Russian authorities have the great advamage of beginning with the accumulated experience of other nations^ Mreadv their attitude toward labour is far more modern and emanci,,ate her the greatest of all calamities in the present stage of her development. But I am certain RKTR()SPl-,Ci- AND PROSFKCT 455 that il i^ her rulerV fixcl resolve to - seek peace and i)ur^ue it." C ertam nnnor antl distinct .litiiculties undoubtedly await her. For example, her nol)ility as a class is virtually insolvent, its great estates gone through mismanagement, its fortunes prodigally squandered. \ast areas of land are mortgaged to the Agrarian Banks, and many millions of acres have been sold under foreclosure. In 1899 these banks had advanced 1.351-- 518.884 roubles upon landed estates, in number 89.084. and in total area over 117.000.000 acres. During the previous t^ve years the number of mortgaged estates increased by 22.675. and 'the amount of the mortgages by over 300.000,000 roubles. In most of these cases the original owners have no longer a rouble of interest in their properties. Societies of peasants are in many cases the purchasers, and the State, which has often helped the proprietors before, is considering a scheme to assign large grants of agricultural land in Siberia to the now landless class. But the Siberian peasants will naturally not view this process with favour, and the men who have failed to make land ])ay in Russia would hardly succeed better in Siberia. Here, then, is a grave problem, the solution of which is not apparent. Another is presented by the inability of the Cos- sacks, the pioneers and guardians of every Russian advance, to a.ljust their peculiar feudal institutions to the circumstances of modern life, and the consequent decline in their numbers and prosperity, and the difificulty in which many of them find them.selyes even to provide the horse and equipment (the State furnishing only their rifle and ammunition) which, with their personal service, is the return they make for their land. Above all there is. of course, the danger that further bad harvests may render whole districts finally desolate. Still another dan- ger is the corruption and peculation which prevail m many public departments among underpaid officials. Mv own conviction, however, is that these and other dift- culties and dangers are small in comparison with Russian ^ -n It * 454 ALL ■Till-: RUSSIAS RKIVROSIMXT AND PROSPi;CT 455 for want of a hi-tlcr \\.n-\:iniv, ni ilic fact that tlic nio>t ])o\vertnl MuiistcT the hanpna- h:i-^ c\cr ha.l hes^-aii as a modest cmf'lin'i' ni a (h>tam |)rovnicial railway station. 1 should not he surprised if I hved to >ee in(hi-tnal co-i)artiiership, for example, adopted a^ a primary eondition of production and distrihution in Russia before any otlier nation has advanced so far on the road to the st)lution of the old antag-onism of money and men. 1 know that such a view will sound Utopian to many, especially to the " old resident " in Russia, but it should be borne in mind that Russia starts m this matter from the point we have reached with so much diffi- culty and at such cost, and that to her a new theory, practical or ethical, of social relationships is not the suspected and dis- quieting thing it is to us. If I have said comparatively little in this book about the difficulties and dangers which may beset Russia in the future, to warp her line of progress and mar her prosperity, it is be- cause most writers seem to me to have dwelt overmuch on such topics and to have done less than justice to her achieve- ments and her prospects. But I would not have it thought that I am blind to such considerations. 1 am no believer in any revolutionary upheaval, though, of course, the i^ossibility of social disorder cannot be overlooked, but in si)ite of her indus- trial progress and natural resources, it may be that the financial and commercial task she has undertaken will prove too great for her strength without foreign financial assistance, that her own action may prevent tliis being given, and that therefore a long period of stagnation is before her. I do not think so. Indeed, T am convinced to the contrary, but T recognise the possibility. She may, of course, fall upon war with an equal Power, and this would be t(. her the greatest of all calamities in the present stage of her development. But I am certain tliat it i> luT ruler':- fixed re>ol\-c to "seek |)eacc an<.l fiiir^ue It." L'ertam rnnior and distinct difficulties iiiKhjiibtedl} await her. For example, her nobility a^ a class l^ virtuall)' m^ol\■elll, its great estates gone through mismanagement, its fortunes prodigally sqtiandered. \'ast areas of land are mortgaged to tlie Agrarian Banks, and many millions of acres ha\e been sold under foreclosure. In 1899 these banks had advanced 1.35^-' 518,884 roubles upon landed estates, in number 89.084, and in total area over 117,000,000 acres. During the previous live years the number of mortgaged estates increased by 22.675, and the amount of the mortgages by over 300,000,000 roubles. In most of these cases the original owners have no longer a rouble of interest in their properties. Societies of peasants are in many cases the purchasers, and the State, which has often helped the proprietors before, is considering a scheme to assign large grants of agricultural land in Siberia to the now landless class. But the Siberian peasants will naturally not view this process with favour, and the men who have failed to make land pay in Russia would hardly succeed better in Siberia. Here, then, is a grave problem, the solution of which is not apparent. Another is presented by the inability of the Cos- sacks, the pioneers and guardians of every Russian advance, to adjust their peculiar feudal institutions to the circumstances of modern life, and the consequent decline in their numl)ers and prosperity, and the difficulty in which many of them find themselves even to provide the horse and equipment (the State furnishing only their rifle and ammimition) which, with their personal service, is the return they make for their land. Above all, there is, of course, the danger that further bad harvests may render whole districts finally desolate. Still another dan- ger is the corruption and peculation which prevail in many public departments among underpaid officials. My own conviction, however, is that these and other diffi- culties and dangers are small in comparison with Russian ' - -• W-- 4s6 ALL I Hi. KLSSLAS strength and reMunxcs. Xo one who rciiicnihcr-. the past can duubt of her future. A glance at the inap d the u.uid is ahiiost a sufticicnt basis for optinii>lic foreca^t^ eniuennn- her. The character and aims ot the Tsar luniself warrant the hap- piest auguries. Russia is going aheail— that is my conclusion,* It is foohsh and unscientific to judge her solely by the foot-rule of our older and .lifferent civilisation. She should be measured by a standard deduced from her own past, her own period of existence, and her own racial character. Then it will be seen that she stands, so far as virtue and vice go in a national devel- opment, very much where the rest of the nations do— that only the Judge who is able to cast u]) very long debit and credit accounts, in a very grea. ledger, can strike a true bal- ance. For the rest, she excels most luiroi)ean nations in her vivacity of intellectual outlook, in her insouciant courage to affront' great diiflculties. in her freedom from traditional anerv, whose insight into foreign affairs is unequalled hy that oi any statesman of our l.me, has recently written ..I Rus>ian poUey as f, allows : •• 1 here is one signal qual.ty which I specially admire in the policy <.f Russ.a. It .s pract.cally unaffected l>v the life <.f man or the lapse of lime-ii m..ve>. on. as u were, by u- own impetus; it 'is silent, concentrated. perpetu.al, and unl.ruken; it K, theref.ire. success- ful." — Qiiiilti'iu of l'.ml''ri, p. 27. .# *■»» J»' 5M* %»* afi! IJft ^ *IM ffK ■ APPENDIX I rouble = lOO kopecks. I rou])le = 2s. 1.3765(1. or f 0.1057; £i. = 94575 roubles. I rouble = $0.5145; $i. = 1.9433 roubles. I verst = 0.6628 mile; i mile = 1.5085 verst. I poud = 36.1 128 tbs. or 0.0161 ton. I ton = 62.0278 pouds. I kopeck per poud = 1.31 17s. per ton. I rouble per poud = o.7027d. per tb., or £6.5585 per ton, I rouble per poud = $0.1.425 per tb., or $31.9175 P^r long ton. I kopeck per verst = £0.001595 per mile. I rouble per verst = £0.1595 per mile. I poud moved one verst =:: 0.01068 ton moved one mile. 457 ■bWirfbrfB»'*x..« ,. •— ». -„•■-«,.. » •*" ■**.T; * .- INDEX Abkhasians, 176 Accicienls in works and manufactures, precautions against. 381, 382 Adana. Britisli railway from, to Medi- terranean, 259 Afghanistan — Bokliaran trade with, future pos- sibilities of. 294 Distance of Moscow from frontier of. via Alexandrof-gai. 266. 267 Herat fortified by. 419, iiotc I\3sition of. 270 Russian relations with, 242; de- cline of Russian trade with. 285 I'rans-Caspian water-supply con- trolled by. 276 Agriculture (sec also (irain) — Bashkirs of. 129 Black earth districts. 369 Cereals, production of, 42: decrease in yield of 1901. 386, note Depression in, 369. 386. note: ex- penses in mitigation of bad har- V. >ts, 3r)6 Important position of. 368 Aigun. Convention of. 100 Aksakof. ^^2 Alcohol- Poisonous quality of vodka, 2>?^- 358 Price of. 358 State monopoly of. 356-358 : hope- ful prospects from, 370 Alexander II., Tsar — Apartments of, 15-17 Chernaieff's disregard of, 280 Church in commemoration of. 8, 18 Germany, attitude toward, 396 Alexander III., Tsar — Alcohol monopoly advocated by, 357 Germany, attitude toward. 396 Alexander. King, of Servia, 404 Alexander, Prince, of Bulgaria. 394 Alexander Michaelovitch. Grand Duke, cited, 264 Alexandretta - Hit railway scheme, 263, }iote t Ambassadors, credulity of. 439 America — Fergana, enterprise at. 343 Foreign capital, condition ^ for in- vestment of. compared with those in Russia. 384 Isolated position of. 388 Persia, interest in. 441 Russian attitude toward. 409, 410 Trans- Alaskan railway project. 154. note Amer-Darya. Alexandrof-gai route from Moscow to. 2(^'^'2()'j Amer-Darya (Oxus) Ri\er — Arnold's lines on. 24^) Bridge over. 244. 245 Amur River — Discovery of. by Russians. 98 Navigation on. 123. 124 Ananur, 198 Andijan — Cotton district of, 341 ; export from, 254 Garrison at. 2'/'^ Prison at. 279 Railway to, 249 Annenkof, General. 237 " Appanages," Imperial, 180, zyy 459 '» , '^ ' "^ * , jp^'^^ *.tj«*^%» ^*Mef#i<'4 ^immk ,--, J» -».!...»X IV li ». ..'.» J »»^ ».« f^.t.'.V .-' 460 IN DFX Apsheron Peninsula, oil areas in, 224 Arabs in Trans-Caspia, 275 .Irha. 281 ArclKeological treasures. Russian neg- lect of, 333 and note Area of Russian lunpire, vastness of, 449 Armenia, massacres in, German atti- tude toward, 399 Armenians — Characteristics of, 214 Trading by, at Kushk Po.^t, 242 Army — Characteristics of. 44 Length of service in, 89 hkirs. 129 luitehas. 301. 302 l-5ath at Titlis, 213 Batraki. 130 Batuin— Military road between Kars and, 217 Railway from, protit^ of. 180 Begg.ir and general'^ wife, anecdote "f. .^!^. 39 Belgian C(»inpany-proni<»terv, effect of, on Ru'>:>ian industrial condition, ^72 Bender Jes>eh, 2^(\ note t Bimetallists, O2 Bismarck — P>riti^h antipathy of. 433 Russian policy of. 389, 394. 395 Blandain, 3 Blennerhassett, Sir Rowland, quoted, 407 ; cited, 428 Bobeikof. General. HH Boer War — China, influence on British position ill. 435 Foreign policy generally, influence on. 258. 437 German comment^ on, 432: pr(v posed anti-British coalition, state- ment regarding, 434 India's risk during. 418 Mahan. Captain, view of, regard- ing, 447. note Russian general's reference to, 339 Bogolinbof, Lieutenant- Colonel. 272 '.:..t,-i' '.,'".■-- <^ .v.. »■•■.'>■- •••^.» « ; > f /^, V^K, . f ^. «* V,'*"'.* *'" '^■.•* .*'■ "*%) «^*** ^ %„,*?■.-■- A .» r*" $\ INDKX 461 Bokhara — Amir of. 2^7. 288. 291 " Ark " of. 305 Army of, 288. 289 Aspect of. 246 Barbarities of, 288 Bazaar of. 299-301 ; throat-cutting in, 247. 2SS, 290 Brass work of. 299. 300 Costume of. 247 Disease in. 298 Foreigners disliked in. 297 Freedom of natives (jf, 247. 297 Gold mines near. 295 Grain imports to. 293 Hotel d'luirope in. 2SS Jews in. 2()g Khuz Begi of. 304-307 Manufactures established at. 294 Minar Kalan (tower) of. 308 Mohannnedanism in. 303 Prison of. 309. 313-31^ Revolt in. against Amir, not im- piobable. 291 Russian relations with. 287, 288. 290-292 Silk and velvet of, 299. 300 Trade with. 287. 292-296 Women in. 302. 303 Borki catastrophe. 352 Brass work of Bokhara. 299. 300 Brest-Litovsk fortress. 402. note * Brunnhofer, Professor Hermann, quoted, 256, note t Budget, see under Finance Bulgaria, Russian inHuence in. 398, 403 Bunge, M.. 352. 357 Bushire, Russian influence in. 422 Busra, British shipping at. 425 Calendar. Russian. 42. 61 Camels. 191. 192. 239. 273 Canada. b""innish emigration to. 84 Capital and labour problem, 30 Carpets, 27y27S Caspian, crossing of, 229 Caucasus {see also Georgia) Cauca-U'-— Alcohol, sale of, not a State iiiijn- opoly in, 358 Climate of. 179 Mineral wealth of. 178-180, 376 Oil-wells in. 219-22O Political condition of, 213. 217 Races of, I7() Railway development in. 217, 218 and note, 401 Routes to, 164 Wine of. 180. 193. 209. 210 Cellulose industry in Finland, 77 Central Asia — British trade in. decline of, 239. 255. 293. 299. 440. 441 Foreign capital, field for. 376 Foreigners, dislike of. 297, 320. 347 Garrison of, in ordinary time'-, 278 Mussulman rising in. possil)ility of. 289 Railway routes in — direct strategi- cal. 265, 266; proposed. 20(). 2()7 ; best commercial. 268; Russian and Indian connection. 270, 271 Trade statistics in. Russian secrecy regarding. 285 Centralisation of Russian Govern- ment. 449. 450 Cereals {see also Grain), production of. 42 ; decrease in yield of ( 1901 ) , 386. note Chahel Dokhteran, railway to. 240. note Charjui (Amu-Darya). Alexandrof- gai route from Moscow to. 265- 267 Chelyabinsk. 134, 135. 268 Chernaevo. 248. 280 Chernaieff, General, 279. 280, 283, 284 China — British policy in. 415. 435 Development of, 416 German claims in. 39(). 3(>S. 434 Japanese war with. Furopean inter- vention after. 396. 410 Russian anxieties regarding fron- tier with, 416 ft' 462 INDl X Cliinesc — l*""ir>t contact of l\.ii-.>iaii^ with, Irkutsk, in. 149. 150 Kashgaria, rule in. 347 Ciiurch, Orthodox — Position of. ()i Tolstoy cxcomnumicated by. 56 Churches in Russia, number and wealth of. 9 Coal — Donetz basin. i)r()-pects in, 376 Imports of. j>7S New Russia Comiiany's possessions in, 379^ .V'^o Production of. statistics of. 33<) ; production in ICS92 and 1900, 370, note Siberia, in. 155 Cole. Rev. Mr.. 313. note Conunerce. see Trade Conolly, Captain Arthur — - Letter from, quoted. 309 Mission of. 30() Murder of. 2^S, ^\2. 313. ^l7 Convicts — Irkutsk, at. 159-1^'! IJcense of. in Siberia, IJO Sakhalin, at. 162 Siberian railway, emphnnient nn. 119 Train of. T3<^. T39 Cooke. Mr.. British Commercial Agent in Russia, quoted, .\7^'.^7^ Copper in Siberia. 156 Cossacks, decline in numbers and prosperity. 455 Costliness of living — in Russia, in: in Irkutsk. 149 Cotton — Freight charges on, 267 Goods, statistics of procUiction of. 359: production in 1892 and k/X). 370. note Profit of. in Turkestan, as com- pared with wheat. 2fK) Route of exports of, from Central Asia, 267 Spninmy ;in(l wea\ nig of, 28-.^!; ])ri>lits (ii, _^74 'i ran- C a'-pian e.xp'Tt of, 275; ex- port trom Andijan. 254; from Bokhara, 292 Turkestati. growth of. 30, 31, 341- 343 I'nderclothing of. 21 Country lite in Riis'^ia, 65 Courtesy df Russian otticials. 231. 236 CranbdiiK'. \'i-c at, 100 Sali-bury, Lord, \ lew of, regartl- mg. 414 Cur/on. Lord. (jUntrd. 420. 430 Custom ilouse ohicials. 5 Cu->tom^ — Per-i;m, Rn^-^iaii control of. 422. 423 Ru--i;in. high, .^v.; : increase in. dur- ing 1 00 1 , 3()<), iidte Czech-. 40O 4()() D.xRiKi.. dorgt' of. 172. 173. i8S-]()0 l)ebt, iiaiKinal. .vrr under b^inance 1 )e])orlat!( in. 102 and ;/('/,- Dervi-h sect. religifus case. the. T'tl^ioy'^ view of, 54 Drinks, hars for. non-existent in St. Petersbtirg. 21 Driving — Charges ft)r, 19. 22 I ' u 1 N D i:x 4^3 Driving — Georgia, in. 181. I97, ^9^'^ ^^^^^ ^'^' 181. note Method of, 14 Drunkenness — Measures against. 357. 35^ Prevalence of, 21, 43, 44- 50^ y:)^y Dual Alliance — French view of. 391 Nature of. 3^9- 390. 442 Result of, 390. 391 Scope of. 390. 393. f^^^f^' Tolstoy's view of. 54- '^^'f'-'' Duffield. Mr. W. B.. quoted, 407 Dukhobortsi. tenets of. 41 Dukhovski. General. 281. 282 Dushet. 200 E.\STER GREETING. CUStOm of, 39 Eastward movement of Russia, lOO, 101 Economic policy of Russia, summary of. by M. de Witte. 359-36i Education — Cost (»f. in Russia, :^^6. note Deficiency in. 2, 19. 39 fl"<^ ''^^^^- 40. 356 Finland, in. 80. S^ Tashkent, in, 2S2, 283, Ekibas-tuz. coal at. 155 Elbrutz. Mount, 191 and note England, see Great Britain Exhibition of British Arts and Indus- tries to be held in St. Petersburg. 376. note Exiles to Siberia, number of, in 1898, 161 Export of iron. 371 Eydtkuhnen. 3 F.xMixF.s IX RfssLV. 4-2. 369 Fash(^(la incident, Russian influence regarding. 391 Eaure. President Felix, visit of. to Russia. 390 Ferdinand. Archduke. 408 Ferdinand. Prince, of Bulgaria, 39<^ Fergana — Administrative centre of. 278, 341 American enterprise in. 343 Revolt at. 290. 343 Fever in Central Asia. 240-242. 277 Finance — Budget — Character of, 367, 368 French compared with. 350 Report on Budget of 1902. by M. de Witte. 386. note Surplus in, 364. 3>(io Customs duties, high. ^7'^ '• increa-e in, during 1901, s6g. note Debt, national — Amount of, 363 Decrease in, during last ten years, 364. 386, note Interest on. 366 Security for. 364. 3^>6 Foreign capital — Baku petroleum industry due to, 374. 37S Conditions afforded to invest- ment of, 384, 385 and note Openings for. 374. 37^^ Russian attitude toward, 360, 361 Loans — France, floated in. 391 Official assurances regarding. 366. note Reasons for. 365. 366. n.ote Redeniption of. 364- 3(^5 «"(^ notes Ministry of — de Witte. M.. appointed to. 354 Scope of work of, 3(^2 Misconceptions regarding. 363. 3^7- 384 Revenue — Alcohol, from sale of. 358 Forests, mines, and agricultural property, from, 349- 3^^ Peasants' land, from. 349. 3^M : arrears of rent written off. 369 Railways, from, 350. 364. 367 ^"^ note * Taxes. 382 \ ^1 t * '* L Id t ll gijpnnr^j'^rw^'''*^ 4 I iL - 464 INDEX INDEX 465 IL Finance — Taxes — Trustworthiness of Russian State, 384 Finland — Alcohol, sale of. prohibited. 65. 80 Annexation of. by Rus>ia. po>>i- bility of, 94. 95 Area of. 74 Cheapness of living in, 91 Civilisation of. 64 Climate of, 64. 74. 79 Constitution of, terms of, 86, 87 Exports of, 74, 77 Helsingfors, ()8. 69. 71-73 Landscape in, 74. 75 Languages of. 67 Military regulations for. 88. 89 and note Poetry of. 70 Population of, 74 Races in, 79 Rapids of, 76 Religions of. 83 Russia, relations with. 84-93 Saima Canal, 67 Savings in, 83 Schools in. 80. 83 Sveaborg, 71 Tariff of. 91 and note Towns in, 83 Viborg, 67 Women, position of. 80 Wood-pulp industry of, 76-78 Finns — Characteristics of. 64. 70 Customs of. 80 Devotion of. to Alexander IL. 71 Emigration of, to United States and Canada, 84 ■VLiritime ability of, 79 Types of, 79. 88 Foley. Mr. (Indian Tea Association representative), quoted, 423, 424 Food — Peasants, of. 44 Restaurants, in. 21 Force jnajcurc sanction, 90 l'"or(l. Mr. Alexander Hume, quoted, 367. jiotc t, 374 I'oreign cai)ital — Baku petroleum industry due to, 374. .^7S Conditions afforded to investment of. 384, 385 ajui note Openings for. 374, 376 Russian attitude toward. 360, 361 Foresight of Russian methods. 22, 231. 2},7, 2>^2, 334 Fore>ts — Foreign capital, opening for, 376 Revenue from, 349, 364 France — British relations with. 432 Budget of — arrangement (^f, 368 and note: deficit in, ^73>, 392. note German attitude toward. 391, 392 Mitylene, seizure of, 393, note Persian Ciulf. acquisition of coaling station on. prevented by Great Britain, 427 Rus>ia — Loans to. 3(^)6. note, 391 Relations with. 54. note, 389-391 Tariff of. 442 Frontier-post l)etween luirope and Asia. 132 Frontiers of Russia, 388, 416 Furnished rooms (noinera) — at Tash- kent, 281 ; at Samarkand. 335 Galicia. Russian railways toward, 402, note * Gatchina, 7 Genghiz Khan. 174, 320 Geok Tepe, 235-237 Georgia (see also Caucasus) — Military road in, 181. 182. 187. 188, 196-198 Political condition of. 214-217 Russian acquisition of. 174 Women of, 209 Germany — Austria, attitude toward. 407-409 Baghdad railway scheme of. 256, note t, 257-259. 400. 402. 4-^7 I Germany — British attitude toward. 394. 397^ 398. 432. 435. 445 ; German atti- tude toward Great Britain. 43^* 435 ; British understanding with, 402. note t. 446. note China, claims in. 396, 398. 434 Financial condition of, ^7^ '- finan- cial relations wdth Russia., 354' 355 France, attitude toward. 39i. 39^ Frontier of. 3 Los Ton Rom movement in, 408 Naval development of. 433 Pan-Germani>m, 407-409 Persia, aim> in. 445. 446; railway scheme in. 256. note t. 257-259, 2()i, 262 Russia — Attitude of. 400. ^o\ and note, ^i^ Attitude toward, 435 Exports to, 2)7^ Relations with. 394-398. 400-402 Turkey — Assistance to, in Greek War, 399 Policy regarding, 389 Goats, 183. 184. 248 Gold mines — Bokhara, near, 295 Blicit buying of gold at Irkutsk. 150 Mongolian. 415 Output of. in Russia in ten years, 375 Siberian, 150-152. 155, 375 Gold standard, reforms of M. de Witte regarding. 355. 35^ Goremykin. General. Governor-Gen- eral of Irkutsk Government, 119. 157 Grain — Central Asian imports of, 269. 2Q3 Elevator for, at Novorossisk, 378 Low price of wheat in Eastern Rus- sia. 129 Production of. 42 ; decrease in yield of (1901), 386, note Siberian production of. 154: prod- uct during 1900, 370 Great Britain — Afghanistan secured from Russia by, 277 Alcoholic consumption in. compared with that of Russia. 356 Baghdad railway scheme subject to consent of. 402; understanding regarding. 402. note, 446. note Central Asian trade of, decline in. 239. 255. 293. 299. 440. 441 China, policy regarding. 41 5- 435 Consuls of. attitude of Russians toward, 338. 339 Exhibition of British Arts and In- dustries to be held in St. Peters- burg. 376. note Foreign policy of — Boer War's influence on. 2}.^, 435. 437 Russian view of. 414. 437 France, relations with, 432 German attitude toward. 43^. 435 : British attitude toward Germany. 394. 397. 398. 432. 435. 445 Merchants' p'. ice li.sts from, 2^77- note * Persia, see that title Quetta-Siestan railway project of, 264. 424 Russia — Attitude of, 385. "^^^^ 4I4. 4^8 Entente with— possibility of. 413: form of, 440; importance of. 448 Overtures from. 262. 263, 385. note Suspicion against. 414 Greece. Turkish war with. 399 Grey, Sir Edward, quoted. 446 Griffin, Sir Lepel, quoted. 265. u.>fe Grover, Captain. 3^1 Growth of industry in Russia. 452 Hanauer, Mr., Vice-Consul-General, quoted, 37^ Handy, Mr., 119 Heather in Russia, 6 Helsingfors, 68. 69. 71-73. 84 f^ ; n \ I c ^^tewMmm 466 INDEX INDKX '6^ !.• f: F,.,, Herat, 419 and note Hilkoff, Prince, 234 Horse, extinction of Turcoman breed of, 275 Hughes, John, 3/8, 384 Ignatieff, M.. 288 Illiteracy in Russia, 2, 19. 39, 40, 356 India — Diplomatic value of, to Russia, 241, 418 Hours' distance of, from London, if railway connection between Kushkinski Post and New Cha- man, 271 Responsibilities in administration of, 419 Russian invasion of — Expectations as to, 416 Opportunity for, 418 Russian view of, 417 Industrial development of Russia — Drawbacks of, 50 Efifect of, 44 Importance of, t>2 Outlook of, 374 Statistics of, 359- 370- "<^^t' Tolstoy's view of, 52 Irakli the Great. I74 Irkutsk- Costliness of living in. 149 Crime in. 148 Founding of. 08 Gold laboratory in. 150, 151 Goremykin, General, Governor- General of, 1 19. ^57 Importance of. 146-148 Journey to, from Moscow, time of, 114; time-table of, 115: ^^^^ '^f- 1 16 Mountainous district of. 113. M^ Population of. 146 Prison of, 157- 161 Iron — Belgian company swindles regard- ing. 372 Exports of, 37 T Imports of. 371. 375 Iron — New Russia Company's works. 379- 384 Outlook of the industry, 374 Price of goods fixed by Govern- ment, 383 Production of, statistics regarding, 359; production in 1892 and 1900, 370, note Tests imposed on manufacturers of, by Government, 3^2, 383 Ural Mountains ricli in, 133; Ural works, 156 Isolation not peculiar to Great Brit- ain, 447 Japan— Chinese War, European interven- tion after, 396. 410 Isolated position of. 388 Korea, position in. 4' ' Manchuria exclusion of trade, atti- tude toward, 415 Naval and military .strength of, 410 Russian overtures to, 411 Jasper, 134 Jew< — Bokhara, in. 2o<) Tra^^-Cas]>ia. in. 2JS Wolff. Rev. Dr. Joseph— quoted, 2^)7, 313; career of, 3ic^-3l3 Joint-stock roinpaiiies, Russiiui. ^^^yj founial ('/' Vnianchil Statistics cited. 34<), lu^tc Journey to St. Petersburg. 2^8: to Irkutsk. 102 11^)-. to Tashkent. 228-249 K.M^ri-, area of. 204 Kamchatka. coiKiuest of, q8 Kamenoi. 13 Kapnist. Count Vladimir. 263 Karachi, distance of. from London, if railway connection between Kushkinski Post and New Cha- man. 271 Karakul, 292, 295. 296 r n h Kar< — Military road between Batum and, 217 Railway to. 203 Kasbek. Mount. 173. 191 and note, 196 Kashgar. telegraph to. via WTiioye. 347 Kashgaria — Chinese rule in. 347 Russian line of expansion through, 348 Katkof. M.. 351 Kazalinsk, 292 Khaharofsk — Founding of, 98 Railway from, to Vladivostok. 123 Khaidalovo, 124 Khaketia. wine of, 180, 209, 210 Kharbin, railway from, to Port Ar- thur. 124, Jiotc, 125 Khartum (near Audi j an). 344 Khorassan — Russian relations with, 255, 277 Trans-Caspian trade with, 294 Kiakhta, possible route of Siberian railway through, 125 Kiao-chao, seizure of, 396 Kirghiz — Costume of, 280 District of, 275 Travellers, 344, 345 Villages of. 2t>7 Kizil Arvat. 277 Koenitzer & Co., Messrs., 165, 166 Kokand, 341 Kolymsk. 161 Kopek, value of. 268 Kopet Dagh Mountains, 275 Korea, situation in. 411 J\i>niiIoz', activity of. in Persian Gulf, 264. 421 Koweit — Demonstration at, 260 Flag incident at, 261. note German aims regarding, 259 Tripoli railway to, scheme of, 263 and note t Kraii 1 Per-iaii coin). 279 Krapotkiii, Prince, (jiiotcd. 452. u('>:e Krasnovodsk. 230. 231. 234; route from (journey and distance^,), to Tashkent. 249 Kremlin, the. 24. 2^. 27, 2^2 Krivei-rog. 379. 380 Kuroitatkin. (ieneral. 88. 236 Kushk. distance of. from Moscow \ ia Alexandrof-gai. 2()6. 267 Kushkinski Post — Diplomatic demonstrations at. 418 Garrison life at. 242. 243 Railway to. 240: railway to. from Indian frontier, suggested. 270, 271 Laboi'r — Capital and. problem of, 30 Question, birth of, 453 Supply of, reforms of M. dc Witte regarding. 361. 362 Land — Imperial (''appanages"). 180. 277 Peasants, revenue from, 349. 364 ; arrears of rent written off, 369 Tax on, in Turkestan. 342 Landscape — Finnish. 74. 75 Russian. 6. 7. 167 Siberian. 135-138. 140. 141 Trans-Caspian. 234. 2y:.. 243 Ural mountain district, 131 Larovary. General, 405 Leroy-Beaulieu, Tsl. Paul, quoted. 368, note Lesghians, 176, 207 Lessar. M., speed of journey to Vla- divostok by, 124. note Levey, Mr. George Collins, Secretary for Exhibition of British Arts and Industries to be held in St. Petersburg, 2^77. note Li Hung-chang, 415 Listvenitchnaya, crime in. 120 Loans, see under Finance Lodz, 376, note \ % i Jjn r « #• *"»■'#*(»■-■»*- w-^w r T J'T'*' #^»* #-,♦•#»-.* i m'-'^kT^' i^*- "?^*'*<» ■ \r- 'i I* if', 468 INDKX r INDKX 469 ^i 1 1 / - ♦ T „ n T.' ( * ritt'il _'^<>. 'if-''*- Long. K. !-• V •• '^'t'-^'* --^ Lucgcr. Dr.. cited. 4<^8 Machines, imports of. ^7S iMahaii. Captain, (luotcd-^- Aniericaii foreign policy. "H. 44^ Great Britain, foreign o\nmoxi> re- garding, on, 447. ''"^'" Persian Ciulf, on, 4-'9- 430 T^lalachite, i.U ;Mancburia— Area of. 430 Japanese intUience in. 4^, 4^^ Rail vv ay through. 123- 1-^5 Russian annexation of. .V)<>. 4i? Manganese industry. I7M. .'>7^' Manufactures. Mo>c.)w the centre ot. 28 Th e. '> March of the Biorneborger 70 Margelan, 27^^ 34i Maruchak. railway to. building. 240. Meal'times. Russian indefinitenes. re- garding. 1 10 • Mendeleyef, Professor, cited 374 Mercantile marine, contemplated de- velopment of, 362 Merv— Acqui>ition of. by Russia. 23O Bokhara, attitude toward. 2<)2 Fever prevalent at, 240. 241. -^77 Garrison at. 27^ .. " Moscow, distance from, vki Alex- androf-gai. 266: via Orenburg- Tashkent. 267 Railwav from, to Ku.hk < Murghab branch). 240 ami note 241. 24.^- 2Q5; Russian statement regar> At- ghanistan. 27^1 Meshed — Importance of. 23B Railway to. projected. 218. note Metric system, contemplated intro- duction of. 3^2 Michael, Tsar, house of. 45 AT- u .1] Mr 1 Con-ul-Gencrul, Micnoil. All- J- (lU.UiMl. 1 17. *'"'''• -'^"^* Military mtvicc, .v.v Army MmeraN-— l-:xtraction and producimn ot. .^ta- ti>tic> of. 3.^9 Wealth in. 32. .V'4. .^JA-.^^J^^ ^ Mine, iscc also Gnld MmeO. btate profit from. 34'> Mintiuba. revolt at. 27O Mi>()vaya. 122 Muvlene. French seizure of. 303. hWc MohammedaniMU m Bokhara. 2S.). .^03 Mtiiigolia — Area of. 43" Ru-^sian control of. 4^5 Montenegro. Ru^^an relation, with, 3«9. 3^>:)- 404 Morchansk. i2(). 1.^0 ,\b)rtgaged estate> in Ru>Ma. 455 Moscow — Amu-Darya. 7 Bokharan trade with. 2()(>. 2(^9 Cannon and hell of. 2':.. 2b Chinese city in. 28. 45 Churches of. 24 Commercial activhy. 28. 2()6 Fergana, distance from. 2(^7 Kremlin, the. 24. 23. 27. .''^ Merv distance from, via Alexan- drof-gai. 2()6: vii Orenburg- Tashkent route. 2^7 Population of. 24 Siberian Railway terminu: 102 ^b.scr. M.. quoted. 308 Mtskhet. 200. 201 Mtijik, sec Peasants Muravief. Count. 4.^8 Muravief. General. 90. TOO T^lurgbab Railway- Diplomatic value of. 241 Future possibilities for. 243 Route of. 240 and note Russian statement as to. 419. note Secrecy regarding. 240 in, 2^,, \ /; I\;!ihvav — I r.idc route by. possible develop- ment of, 295 Murgliab River. 240. note, 276 Murray, Colonel, Consul-General at Warsaw, quoted, 377, iiote * Mussulmans in Bokhara, 289, 303 Navy — German, development of, 433 Russian, expenditure on. 366 Xercliinsk. treaty of. 98 Neva River — Dungeons on, 10 Floods of. 14. 15 Shallowness of, 14 New Russia Company, Ltd., 378-384 Nicholas II., Tsar — de W'itte, M.. confidence in. 362. 385 Peace desired by, 390, 417. 448 Siberian Railway, interest in, 113, 124. note Nicholas, Prince, of ^lontenegro, 399, 404 Nikholsk. 125 Nikolaiefsk. founding of. 100 Xonu'fd (furnished apartments) — at Tashkent, 281 ; at Samarkand, 335 Novogeorgicvsk fortress, 402, note * No\'orossisk. ^,7^ " Numbers," 281, 335 Odes.sa — de W'itte. M., connection with. 351, 352 Trains snov.ed up near. 43 Oil. see Petroleum Oil -worked steamers. 168, 169 Omsk, 142. 145. 146 Onions and mutton. 193 Open- Door policy in Persia. 440. 442 Orenburg-Tashkent railway project, 266. 267 Orsk. 268 Osh— Approach to. 343, 345 0^h-^~ A-i)cct of. 346 Foreigners disliked in, 347 Gu\ern()r of. 347 Oxus (Amu-Darya) River — Arnold's lines on, 246 Bridge over, 244, 245 PaxX-Germanism, 407-409 Pan-Islamism, 289-291 Pan-Slavi.sni, 39O, 409 Paper manufacture in Finland, 77 Paper money, withdrawal of large proportion of, 356 Passports — Forging of. 148. 158 Peasants, for. 361. 362 Peace Conference. 38 Peasants — Characteristics of. see Russians Condition of. 42. 128, 369 Passports for. 361. 362 Relief works for, 369 Rent paid to the State by. 349. 364; arrears of. written off. 369 Pen j deb, railway to Maruchak through, 240. note Persia — American interest in. 441 Commercial freedom in, essential, 440. 442 Customs. Russian control of, 422, 423 Division of north and south for po- litical control. Russian view of, 421. 441, note German railway scheme in. 2^7- 259, 400. 402. 427; terminus for, 445 Great Britain — Commercial disabilities of. 424; trade with, in 1901. 425, note Gunboats of. action by, 427 Interests of. 424. 443. 444 Imperial Bank of. 422. 425 Loans to, 422. 423, note Military possibilities in. 428 » f 4 470 IN 1)1' X INDEX Ku.>>ia — Anil of, tor outlet on IV-r-iari (ailt. J3«., ~'37- -'04. 4'H). 4^)1- 4_>o : >ugge-tc'(I offer ot com incrcia! oiillct for, 4-''^- 43^ Inllucncc of, 2*>4. 4-'-^ 4-'3 Trade with, JS5. 422 Silver c()in> of. m 'rran--Ca-l>ia, -7') Status quo in. maintenance ol, 4-<>» 427. 443. 444. 445 Tariff of. for Ru>Man good-. 4-- Trade with, 294. 4-'3. ""^^' Trans-Casi)ian water ha-m m. -7^^ Persian lamh (wool), -">-'. JM5- -''/> Peter the (ireat — Cottage of. 10 Etfigy of. 13 Influence of. 22 Siberian affair> in time of. 09 Petroleum industry-- Baku, at, i7')- 374- MS Cauca>n> district, pro-pect m, 1 7«'^- 179 Fountain^, 223. 225 Output of od compared with that of United States. 375 Statistics of. 22A-22(\ :.y). 37" Working of well-, 220 22^ Petropavlof-.k. 100 Pictorial representation, lo. .'^0 Pig-iron, .stati>tich of production of. Police. Ru-ian. iS; >carc!ty (^t. m Siberia, 120. 14') Political pri-oner-, I'n Population of Ru»ian banpire. 4.-5- ]U)tC Port Arthur— Ac(pii>ition of. too. 3f)<» Railway to. from Kharhm. 124. ;/(>/(', 125 Route to. from Tnited State> via Siberia, 125 Poud. equivalent of. 2^'H. 2^0. 342 Poverty in Russia. 42. 128. ^(^) ■ Prisoners, political. i^H Prisons — Andijan. at. 279 Prisons — Hokhara. at, y^.). yy^^ IrkntdN, ;it. 157 i''^ d'a-hkeiit. at, 270 l'r(^tection. e!r Alexandretta - Hit scheme, 2(\:^. i!(>tr X AUxandrof gai route to Merv sug- Lic-ted. 2()5-2(>7 R.aghdad scheme of (".ermans . 236. ,i,,tc t. 237 230. 4'>f>- 4<^2. 427 ■• !"■'•- ]M)-ed route of. 23S. 239 Cauca-ian Ime-. 217. 21S .;;;3. 2()(>: ])ropo-ed route. 2()(>, 2(^7 \ ue-t c<»mmercial r,,mc. 2(>S; Ru-ian and Indian connection. J70, 271 Construction of new hue-. 4-' de Witte. M.. appointed Director f>f. 333 I^are- < >n. 1 i^>. i '7 Freiglit trafhc. increase in. a'^C Calician fronluT, toward, 402. !u>tr * (iaiiu,e of, 3 Indian and Ru--ian connection a, yi. de Witte'- former con- nection with. 33_' Orenburg-Ta-hkeiu project, 266, 2(^7 Pa-scnger traffic, increase in, 367 Per-ia. Russian monopoly in. 35 Quetta-Siestan project, 2()4, 424 Siberian, sec under Silieria State- Extent of. 330. 3f>4. 366 Revenue from, 364, 367 a}id ncfc ''^ Tashkent-Omsk route, 268 Trails- Alaskan i)roject. 134. uutc Trans-Caspian, sec that title Travelling by {sec also under Sibe- ria), 5, 8 Tripoli-Koweit scheme, 263 and note ''' Rank in Russia. 36 Rawliiisoii, Sir Henr}-. cpioted, 416 Rechnitzer. Mr. l^rnest. railway scheme of. 2()J,. note t Recruits, illiteracy of. in Rus>ian army. 431 Reeds. I3(). 137 Reformers. O2 Relief works. 309 Religious fanaticism in Rus-ia. 40. 41 Renton. Mr.. 1 19 Rcsht, road from, to Tehran. 264. 422 Re-taurants, 21 Re\enue. see under Finance Road-making as relief works, 369 RonianofY — Establishment of, as rulcr-^. 99 d\)nibs of. 24. 43 Roseber}-. Lord, quoted. 436. note Roslian. cession of. to Bokhara. 292 Rouble — cqui\alent value of. 118. note; M. de WitteA reforms re- garding. 354-356 Roumania — Austria, convention with. 399, 404 Russia, relations with, 403 Runeberg, statue of, 69 Rn: -Ki. 454 tiifficultie- and daneer- of, Rusvian Empire, strength of, 430 Vastness of. 449 Russian slafif ofticers. efficiency of. 43 j Rus>ians, characteri-tics of — l)rlmke^nes^. 21. 43. 44. 30. j^^ix 337 Geniality. 21. 44. 35O Idealism. 47, 02 Superstition and religious fanati- cism, 40. 44. 130 Time, inexact sense of, 109 Untruthfulness. 44 Sai.ma Ca.val, ()7 St. Peterslnirg — Bars and saloon^ non-existent in, 21 Character of. 8. 9 Churches of. 9. 10 Costliness of living in. k; Exhibition of Briti-h .Arts rtnd In dustries in. 376, note Floods in. 13 Hotels in. 19 Island Pcirks of. 13. 14 Police of. 18 Shops in. 19 Unheal thiness of. 15 Sakhalin, 162 Salisbury, the Marquess of — China, despatch regarding German action in. 434: Anglo-(ieririan Convention regarding China con eluded by. 433 Pro-Turkish pohcy, opinion of. 414 Russian assurance as to Per-i.'i, des]iatch regarding. 423 Samara. 130. 1(14. 163 Samarkand — Asi)ect of. 248 Initclias of. 301 Pazaar of, 319 Discourtesy of Governor of. t,^,^ Foreigners disliked in, 320 Garrison at. 278 Industries of, 335 Manuscripts of, 320 , "ir ■ '* ■ r ft • I- -SSI 47^ INDKX INDEX 4 73 Samarkand — Military club at. 333-33^ MosqiK' of the Shah Zindah at. 33 1- 'Xonicra at. x^S Prosperity of, 2()i Rig. -.tan of. 3-^-3-M Russian (juarter of, 33,V335 Saratof, 167-i^K); suggested railway via Alexandrof-gai to Anui Dar- ya from, 2()S-^^^7 Sarts. 2()7: wages of. 343 Scenery, sec Landscape Schlussenlturg. 10 Sea outlets. Ku-Man de-ire for, tot. 256. 421 Sei-tan, project of railway to. from Quetta. 2()4. 4-M Servia — Austrian relations with. y)(). 4<^3 Russia, relations with. 3<)<); Kus-ian attitude toward, 403. 4^4 Shamyl. .75 Shan-tung, (iernian claim lo, 39^> Sheep, 182 iS(. Shignan, ce-Mon of. to Bokhara, 2^)2 Shilka River, navigation on. 123. ! -'4 Shops, pictorial adverti-ement> of, 19. 39 Siberia i f<'r rirrrs. /i'ich.v, cti'.. sec their titles ) — Agricultural production of. 1.^4; dc^ velopment of agriculture. 370 Alcohol, sale of. not a State monop- oly in. 35S Area of. 130 Climate of. 1 18 Co{)per nnnes in, 1 56 Crime in, 120, 148. 162 r)eforeNtati(»n in, 141 Immigrants to. 135- C^O. 136 Exiles to. 139: nmnber of, in t8q8. 161 [export of butter from, in IQOO. 370 First expedition to. 97 Gold mining in. 1 50- 1 52. 15.=^. 375 Journey to. and through. 127-141 Muravief's work in, 99, 100 Siberia- - Nature of country. 2 Feasants of. 455 I'olice in. scarcity of, 120, 149 Siberia. Railway of — Heginning of. i(X), J 10 Bridges of. i 13 Caravan road through Kiakhta a posNit)le route f(»r, 125 Constr\iction of. 1 13 Cost of. 12(); fund- for. 3^4. 3^>6 luigines on. 10.^ Fares on, i i(\ i 17 F'reight charge- oii, 153. 154 Length of. 125 Light rail- on. i i7 Manchunan -ection of, 123 1 25 Opinion- regarding. 1.-3 Rate of -peed ou. 10.^, h/k ll^'. T4T Station- on. 118; biiffels. 118. 138. 14-'. 143 Trattic I '11, 1 17 dud ih'te. 1 18 Tram- on -«lai]>. 102; weekly train de lieve. 10-' 1 10, 127. 130 Trail- C"as|)!an Railway compared Willi- m comfort. 2,W ; in -peed, 250 : in imp< irtaiice. 254 WatciuT- oil. I 18. I 19 W'aUTway- of, 140 Silk of l-.okliara. .^oo Singing 1><'\- ''f li'ikhara and Sainar- kand, .^oi. ,>o .' Sipiagin. M., In-pector ( ieneral of Irkm-k i>n-Mn. lOo. ihi Sir<) Social change in iiKxlern Rii — la, 45-' Social fabric, cliaracteri-tic- of, 38, .V). 45 Soldier-— Characteristic< of, 44 Length of service of, 8() and note ^b)bilisation of. for diplomatic pur- poses, 241. 4''^ Pay of. 44 ft \ Staal, M. de, cited. 425 Stamp, mourning, is-ued in Finland, 79. 85 Statistic> of increa-e of population in Russia. 451. note Of railv.ay construction in Russia. 451 Steel — Imports of, T>7S Production of, statistics of. 359; jjroduction in i8c^_' and Kpo. 370. note Stevens. Mr. Patrick. British Consul at Batum. quoted. 180 Stoddart. Colonel — hidi^cretions of. 306. 309 Murder of. 2HH. 312. 313. 3^7 Stretensk. railway route from Miso- vaya to. 123 Students. Russian— Disturbatices of. 453 'Jdieoretical views of. 62 Uniforms worn by. 20 Sugar, depots for. at Bokhara. 293 Superstition. 40, 44, 130 Sveaborg, 71 Sweden — Language of, spoken in Finland, 67 Russia, attitude toward, 388, note T.\i(.A, 140. 145 'llijiks, 280 Tamara. Queen. 174. 190 Tamerlane, tomb of. 3-'0. 328. 329, 333 and note: mausoleutn of his wife, 329-33 L 333 Tashkent- Bokhara, attitude toward, 292 Citadel of, 283. 284 Furnished rooms in. 281 Garrison at. 278. 282 Governor-General of Turkestan res- ident at. 278 T^Iilitary club in. 281 Native quarter of. 283. 284 Observatory at, 282 Tashkent — Orenl)urg-Ta.->hkent railway project, 266, 2(}7 Population of, 280, 2S1 Prison at. 279 Rcalschiile at. 282. 283 Route (journey and distances) to, from Krasnovodsk. 249 Russian cpiarter of. 281 Seizure of, 279. 280 Shops of. 281 Tatars. 207 Tatistcheff. M.. quoted. 385. note Taxes. 382 Tea plantations at Batum, 180 Tehran, road to. from Reshi, 204. 422 Tiilis— Bath of. 213 Bazaar of. 205 Buildings of. 204 Characteristics of. 202 Costumes of. 207-209 de Witte. M.. educated at. 351 Fiotel de Londres. 177. 204 Importance of. 203 Languages of. 178. 202. 205 Old quarter of, 206 Timber {sec also Wood) — Barges of. on the Volga. 168 Price of, increasing. 376 Siberian port for. 141 Timur. sec Tamerlane Tobolsk, 98 Tolstoy, Leo. Count — Appearance of. 51. 52 Etiiigration of Dukhobortsi assisted by. 41 Exconmiunication of. 56-61 Home of. 49. 50 Influence of, 61 Opinions of. 52-58. 61 Title of. 48 Visit to. 49-62 Tolstoy. Countess, protest of, to Holy Synod, 58 ; reply to, 60 Tomsk. 145 Treaties — Aigun, 100 . i\ i , ««*••»• • • • » ^ A I 472 M)t-,X INDIX 4 73 Saniafk.tiitl - Militar}- I'luli :a\. s^' 3^ .MnMiiu- (>i tik Sisali /iiulah at. ,^,'i- 333 A ij-iii-rd at . .vv'i ProsptTit) "i, Ji)! Kigistan < -t. /v-'o-.U'.'s Russian <|uarter of. .i^.v.\v=i Saratnf. in- l'^): -vi^gc-tr7 Sarts, 2Q7 : wagc-> of. 343 ScfiuTy, .saa' Laii(l><:a[)C ScliUisM'iiburg. 10 Sea outlet^, Ru^-iaii desire for. loi, 256. 421 Sci>tan. project of railway to. truin Quctta, 204. 424 Serv ia — Austrian relation^ with, 3()<). 4^^ Russia, relations with. 3()<; ; Rus-ian attitude toward, 403, 404 Shaniyl, 175 Shan-tung, German claim to, 3(/) Sheep, 182-186 Shignan, ce>Ni(Hi of. to Bokhara. 2g2 Shilka River, navigation on. 123. 124 Shops, pictorial advertisements of, 19, 39 Siberia ( f(>r rk'crs, toicns, etc., sec their titles) — Agricultural production of, 154: de- velopment of agriculture. 370 Alcohol, sale of. not a State monop- oly in, 358 Area of, 139 Climate of. 1 18 Copper mines in, 156 Crime in. 120. 148, 162 Deforestation in. 141 Immigrants to. 135, T3Q. I5^ Exiles to, 139; number of, in 1898, t6i Export of butter froiu. in r()00. 370 P'irst expedition to, 97 Gold mining in. 150-152, 155. 375 Journey to. and through, 127- 141 Muravief's work in, 99, 100 Siberia — Xattire < >f coiititr}-. 2 Peasants of, 455 Police in, scarcity of. i jo. 140 Siluria. Railway of — llcLiinnnii: - >\. hm?, i lo I'lriiliir- < if , 113 ('ara\an mad llnaaiul! Kiakltta a postal 'Ir la aile 1" -r. I -'5 Coi!-t nu-fii >u 1 >t. I ! 3 ("i.-i (.f, 120; tiind- for, 3''4. ^(^) lAigine- f ai. 103 I'kare- < ai. i 10, 117 l-'reight eliarge- *i!i. i '.v I "4 l.rni;tli 111. 125 Eight raiK on, i 17 Manchunan -.(.-eliiai nf, 123-125 ()l)mion^ regarding. 153 Rati' of >pta'd on. 103. io'». 116. 141 Station- on. 118; butTet-. I iS. 138, 14-'. 143 nV.atVic on. 117 and note, 118 Train- (tn — daily. 102; weekly train iie lii.ve. 102- 1 10. 127. 130 Tran-C'a>pian Railway c(Hiii)ared with m comfort. 2^2\ in speed, 250 : in importance, 254 Watcher- (in. i 18. i 19 Waterway- of. 140 Silk of Bokhara. 300 Singing boy- (d' Intkhara and Samar- kand. 301. Ml '. Sipiagin. M.. ln-pector-(ieneral of Irkut-k i)ri-on. i(>o. lOi Siromyiitnikof. M.. cited, 414 Skobelef. (ieneral. 2T,() Sho^^tsi -ect. 40, 130 Smuggling, 66 Social change in modern Russia, Social fabric, characteristics of, 38, 39. 45 Soldier- — Characteri-tic- of. 44 Eength of -ervice of. 8(; and note Mobilisation of. for diplomatic pur- poses. 241. 418 Pav of. 44 Staal. M. de, cited, 425 Stamp, mourning, issued m Finland, 79, 85 Statistics of iiu rease of population in Russia, 451. note ()i railway construction in Russia, 451 Sterl — import- of. 375 Production of, statistics of, 359; production 111 iS»j2 and 1900, 370. note Ste\en-. Mr. I'atrick. l')rili-h Consul at Batum, (ptoied, 180 Sto(l(lart. Colonel — Indi-cretions of. 306. 309 Murder of. 288. 312, 313. 31/ Stretefi-k. railway route from Miso- vaya to, 123 Students. Russian — Disturbances of. 453 Theoretical views of. 62 Cniforms worn by. 20 Sugar, depots for, at Bokhara, 293 Superstition. 40, 44, 130 Sveaborg, 71 Sweden — Language of, spoken in Finland, 67 Russia, attitude toward. 388. note Taiga, 140. 145 Tajiks, 280 Tamara, Queen, 174, 190 Tamerlane, tomb of, 320, 328, 329. 333 and note ; mausoleum of his wife, 329- 33h 333 Tashkent — Bokhara, attitude toward, 292 Citadel of, 283, 284 Furnished rooms in, 281 Garrison at, 278. 282 Governor-General of Turkestan res- ident at. 278 Military club in. 281 Native quarter of, 283. 284 Observatory at, 282 Tashkent — Orenbiiig-Tashkent railway project, 266, 267 Population of, 280, 281 Prison at. 279 Realschide at, 282, 283 Route (journey and distances) to, from Krasnovodsk. 249 Russian cjuarter of. 281 Seizure of, 279, 280 Shops of, 281 Tatars, 207 TatistchelT, ^l., quoted, 385. note Taxes, 382 Tea plantations at Batum. iSo Tehran, road to, from Resht, 264, 422 Tilli>— Bath of, 213 Bazaar of, 205 Buildings of, 204 Characteristics of, 202 Costumes of, 207-209 de Witte, M., educated at, 351 Hotel de Londres, 177, 204 Importance of, 203 Languages of. 178, 202, 205 Old quarter of, 206 Timber {sec also Wood) — Barges of, on the Volga, 168 Price of, increasing, 376 Siberian port for, 141 Timur, see Tamerlane Tobolsk, 98 Tolstoy, Leo, Count — Appearance of, 51, 52 Emigration of Dukhobortsi assisted by, 41 Excommunication of, 56-61 iHome of, 49, 50 Influence of, 61 Opinions of, 52-58, 61 Title of, 48 Visit to, 49-62 Tolstoy, Countess, protest of, to Holy Synod, 58 ; reply to, 60 Tomsk, 145 Treaties — Aigun, 100 J 474 INUl.X. INDEX 475 ) Treaties — Anglo-German Convention regarci- iiig Cliina. 433 : regarding i'er- sian (inlf, 44(). note Berlin. 440, note Nerchin>k. 98 Trade — Afghani>tan, with, decline in. 285; futnre possil)ilitie> of. 294 Bokhara, with, J^7^ 292-296 F3riti>h. in Central Asia, decline of, 239. 233' ^9^' ^99. 440. 44 J ■. Briti>h merchants' price lists, t,77, note Persia, with, 285. 294. 4-'5, note Price of iron goods fixed hy dov- ernment. 383 Statistics of, Russian secrecy re- garding, 285 Tests imposed by Government, t,?'2. 383^ Trans-Caspia— Cotton export of, 275' export from Andijan, 254; from Bokhara, 292 Extent of, 272 Grain imports to. 293 Population of. 27;^, 275 Scenery of, 234. 2^3, 243 Water basin of, 276 Trans-Caspian Railway — Boat connection with, 234 Construction of, time employed in, 250 Fever in district of, 240, 277 P^inancial success of, 253. 255, 285 First class non-existent on, 232 Map of, 232 Murghab branch of, sec Murghab Railway Rate of speed on, 249, 250 Revenue of, 180 Sand drifts on, 243, 244 Siberian Railway compared with- in comfort, 2^2; in speed, 250; in importance, 254 Starting-point of. 230 Trade facilities effected by, 292, 294, 296 Trains and post trains on. 232, 23:^ Tree-> in Ru-^ia, 6 Tripoli ' Military -ervice obligation acceptetl by. 2fX) Railway between Kuweit and, pru- lected. 2()^^ and n(>te t 'rrutli-tellmg m diplomacy, 438. 439 'r>ar. pea-^aiit wor-^hip ot, 45^ T-^arlt'^lll, K><; T>ar.s — Coronation of. 27. 32^,6 Intluence of. increasing. ^,7. 38. 45 1 Sentiment for. 35. 36, 37- "^'^'' Titles (if. 35 'bombs of. 10 Tula, 47 Turbal. Russian force at. 34 Turkestan — Cott(»n pnnhict of. 30, 31. 2^)9. 341" Imports and exports of. 254 Land tax in. 342 Military headcpiarters of. 278 Turkey — Decay of. 398 ]>ench claim against. 393- "'^/'' Germ.-m relations with. 258-261, 389. 399-401 Mollahs from, in Trans-Caspia. 290 Russian understanding with, as to railways in Asiatic Turkey. 4-^7 Sultan of. Moslem attitude toward. 289 Turkomans — Art of, 273 Carpets of. 273-275 Costume of. 246, 247 T burses of. 275 Russian conquest of. 2}6. 237, 297 Tweedy, Mr., oil wells of, 219-224 Underclothing, 21. 22 Uniforms, 20 United States, see America University students- Theoretical views of, 62 Uniforms worn by, 20 I i. ' If ' i I 1! ' I Ural Mountains — Iron works in, 156 Products of. 133. 374, 37^ Scenery of, 130 I'rjumka, 132 Usofka, 37^-383 I'zum-Ada, 230 \'ami!Kkv, Arm I NIL'S, 228 Velvet of Bokhara, 300 Vermin — .Murder by, 228, 288, 312, 313, 31? Prevalence of, 44, 23^, Vcrsts, equivalent of, 118, note Viborg. 67 Vierzhbolovo (Wirballen), 4 Villages in Russia, poverty of, 42, 43, 128 Vilna, 7 Vishnegradski, M., 353, 354, 357 Vladikavkaz, 170, 171, 181 Vladimir Alexandrovitch, Grand Duke, 88 Vladivostok — Distance to, from Moscow, 123 Founding of, 100 Volga River — Bridge over, 130 Journey down, 164-170 Navigation of, 170, note Scenery of, 167 Traflfic on, 168 von Beck, Baron, 405 von Waldersee, Count, leadership of allied forces secured for, 397, 398, 434 Wages of New Russia Company's employees, 381 Walton, Mr., Vice-Consul, quoted, 371 Wardrop, Mr., Vice-Consul, quoted, 371 Wei-hai-wei, 396 Western modes, modern attitude of Russia toward, 8, 9 Wheat (see also Grain) — Low price of, in Eastern Russia, 129 Wheat- Siberian production of, 154 William IL, Emperor of Germany — England, visit to, 397 France, attitude toward, 391, 392 Navy, declarations regarding. 433 Pan-Germanism of, 407 Russia, attitude toward, 395-397 Turkish policy of, 389, 400, 402 Williams, Colonel, 311 Windt, ]\Ir. Harry de, railway scheme of, 154, note Wine. Caucasian, 180, 193, 209, 210 Wirballen (Vierzhbolovo), 4 Witte, ]\L de, Cerge Julievitch, Min- ister of Finance — Address of, to the Tsar, regarding Manchurian railway, 124. note Budget of 1902. Report on, 386, note Career of, 350-354. 454 Coal industry development advo- cated by, 375 Finland, military proposals for, dis- approved by, 88 Imperial confidence in, 362, 385 Loans, statement regarding, 366, note Policy of, 354-356, 370 WolfY, Rev. Dr. Joseph, career of, 310-313 and notes; quoted, 297, 313 Women — Bokhara, in, 302, 303 Finland, in, position of, 80 Georgia, in. 209 Wood (see also Timber) — Cost of, 30 Fuel of, on railways, 5, 7 Wood-pulp — Demand for, 376 Finland, industry in, 76-78 Workmen, 381 Yakutsk, 98 Yasinovataya, 378 Yate, Colonel C. E., cited, 419, note Yelagin, 13 Yenisseisk, 98 u~. I 476 INDKX Yermak, exploits of, 96, 97 " Yermak " (steamer). 122 Younghusband, IMajor F. E., quoted, 430 Zaitzef, Colonel, 347 Zcnistro taxes, 382 Zhoravko-Pokorski, Mr. D., cited, 268. Jiote Zinovieff, M., attitude of. toward French claim on Turkey. 393, note Zlataoust, 131, 133 .1 ;l i ^ - M £ a g cr §1 m i g t I DATE DUE 947.01 Norman A T -» 94-201 N78 cop. f ■■iii wr i rnw i r- w iiiirrrffl i -—*-'■ T-^ ■ r* - Mig«lMmiHWIiift>i i1iitf!l-i,4iiiii. ' ' MAR '^ 9 19*6