the district around the new settlement, which was soon to receive the
name of Vladivostok ("Lord of the East"). He also acquired for the Czar
the Manchurian coast down to the bounds of Korea (November 2, 1860).
Russia thus threw her arms around the great province which had provided
China with her dynasty and her warrior caste, and was still one of the
wealthiest and most cherished lands of that Empire. Having secured these
points of vantage in Northern China, the Muscovites could await with
confidence further developments in the decay of that once
formidable organism.

Such, in brief, is the story of Russian expansion from the Urals to the
Sea of Japan. Probably no conquest of such magnitude was ever made with
so little expenditure of blood and money. In one sense this is its
justification, that is, if we view the course of events, not by the
limelight of abstract right, but by the ordinary daylight of expediency.
Conquests which strain the resources of the victors and leave the
vanquished longing for revenge, carry their own condemnation. On the
other hand, the triumph of Russia over the ill-organised tribes of
Siberia and northern Manchuria reminds one of the easy and unalterable
methods of Nature, which compels a lower type of life to yield up its
puny force for the benefit of a higher. It resembles the victory of man
over quadrupeds, of order over disorder, of well-regulated strength over
weakness and stupidity.

Muravieff deserves to rank among the makers of modern Russia. He waited
his time, used his Cossack pawns as an effective screen to each new
opening of the game, and pushed his foes hardest when they were at their
weakest. Moreover, like Bismarck, he knew when to stop. He saw the limit
that separated the practicable from the impracticable. He brought the
Russian coast near to the latitudes where harbours are free from ice;
but he forbore to encroach on Korea--a step which would have brought
Japan on to the field of action. The Muscovite race, it was clear, had
swallowed enough to busy its digestive powers for many a year; and it
was partly on his advice that Russian North America was sold to the
United States.

Still, Russia's advance southwards towards ice-free ports was only
checked, not stopped. In 1861 a Russian man-of-war took possession of
the Tshushima Isles between Korea and Japan, but withdrew on the protest
of the British admiral. Six years later the Muscovites strengthened
their grip on Sagha