But the prize obtained after such expenditure of effort and diplomacy was far from satisfactory.  Of what use was a naval station which was not only ice-bound half the year but from which, even when ice-free, it was impossible for ships to reach the open sea except by passing through narrow gateways controlled by Japan?  How to overcome these obstacles, how to circumvent nature in her persistent effort to imprison her—­this was the problem set for Russian diplomacy to solve.

The eastern slice of Manchuria, which now had become the “Maritime Province of Siberia,” was a pleasant morsel, six hundred miles long.  But there was a still more desired strip lying in the sun south of it—­a peninsula jutting out into the sea, the extreme southern end of which (Port Arthur) was ideally situated for strategic purposes, commanding as it does the Gulf of Pechili, the Gulf of Liao-Tung and the Yellow Sea.  Who could tell what might happen?  China was in an unstable condition.  Her integrity was threatened.  England, France and Germany, quickly following Russia’s lead in the Ussuri strip, had already wrung privileges from her.  Circumstances might any day justify Russia’s occupation of the entire peninsula.  She could afford to wait.  And while she waited she was not idle.

The post-road across Asia was no longer adequate for the larger plans developing in the East; so the construction of a railway was planned to span the distance between Moscow and Vladivostok.  At a point beyond Lake Baikal the river Amur makes a sudden detour, sweeping far toward the north before it again descends, thus enclosing a large bit of Manchuria in a form not unlike the State of Michigan.  Many miles of the projected road might be saved by crossing the diameter of this semi-circle and moving in a straight line to Vladivostok, across Chinese territory.  It did not seem wise at this time to ask such a privilege, the patience of China being already strained by the matter of the Ussuri strip, that much-harassed country being also suspicious of the railroad itself.  So with consummate tact Russia proceeded to build the road from the two extremities, leaving this gap to be adjusted by time and circumstances.  She had not to wait long.  In 1894 an unexpected event altered the whole face of the problem.  War was declared between China and Japan.

The three Oriental nations involved in this dispute—­China, Japan and Korea—­offer three distinct and strongly contrasting types coming out of the mysterious region the world used to know by the comprehensive name of Cathay.  When we read of 160,000 Japanese soldiers in the year 1600 tramping across Korea for the purpose of conquering their great neighbor China, it has a familiar sound!  But China was not conquered by Japan in 1600, and remained the dominant power in the East, as she had been since she struggled out of the Mongol yoke which, in common with Russia, Kublai-Khan imposed upon her in 1260.