ite for commercial
prosperity and military and naval domination.

For many years past vague projects of a trans-Siberian railway had been
in the air. In 1857 an English engineer offered to construct a horse
tramway from Perm, across the Urals, and to the Pacific. An American
also proposed to make a railway for locomotives from Irkutsk to the head
waters of the Amur. In 1875 the Russian Government decided to construct
a line from Perm as far as a western affluent of the River Obi; but
owing to want of funds the line was carried no farther than Tiumen on
the River Tobol (1880).

The financial difficulty was finally overcome by the generosity of the
French, who, as we have already seen (Chapter XII.), late in the
eighties began to subscribe to all the Russian loans placed on the Paris
Bourse. The scheme now became practicable, and in March 1891 an imperial
ukase appeared sanctioning the mighty undertaking. It was made known at
Vladivostok by the Czarevitch (now Nicholas II.) in the course of a
lengthy tour in the Far East; and he is known then to have gained that
deep interest in those regions which has moulded Russian policy
throughout his reign. Quiet, unostentatious, and even apathetic on most
subjects, he then, as we may judge from subsequent events, determined to
give to Russian energies a decided trend towards the Pacific. As Czar,
he has placed that aim in the forefront of his policy. With him the Near
East has always been second to the Far East; and in the critical years
1896-97, when the sufferings of Christians in Turkey became acute, he
turned a deaf ear to the cries of myriads who had rarely sent their
prayers northwards in vain. The most reasonable explanation of this
callousness is that Nicholas II. at that time had no ears save for the
call of the Pacific Ocean. This was certainly the policy of his
Ministers, Prince Lobanoff, Count Muravieff, and Count Lamsdorff. It
was oceanic.

The necessary prelude to Russia's new policy was the completion of the
trans-Siberian railway, certainly one of the greatest engineering feats
ever attempted by man. While a large part of the route offers no more
difficulty than the conquest of limitless levels, there are portions
that have taxed to the utmost the skill and patience of the engineer.
The deep trough of Lake Baikal has now (June 1905) been circumvented by
the construction of a railway (here laid with double tracks) which
follows the rocky southern shore. This part