It is difficult to estimate the exact cost of the line, but it was at first reckoned at over £40,000,000 sterling,[[13]] of which unfortunately a considerable percentage was absolutely wasted, if not worse. Grave charges have been brought against a great number of people in connection with this line, and doubtless with reason; for it must not be forgotten that the notions of honesty entertained in Asiatic Russia are apt even now to be distinctly Byzantine. However, be this as it may, Russia can be congratulated upon having completed a brilliant achievement, which no other nation, except perhaps England or America, would have dared to undertake, especially in so short a time.

CHAPTER X
THE RAILWAY THROUGH MANCHURIA

Concessions granted by China to construct the Manchurian Railway—The East Chinese Railway Company and its statutes—Method of construction and utilization of the waterways—Military and political advantages—Branch to Port Arthur—Rapid progress already made.

The completion of the Manchurian Railway will take place in a few years, and if there has been an apparent delay in its construction, it must not be forgotten that the harder work had already been finished on the Trans-Siberian line when the plans for the Chinese scheme were only just drawn up, and also that the obstacles to be overcome in Manchuria are infinitely greater than any that presented themselves in Siberia. These obstacles are mainly the result of the natural formation of the soil. As to the alleged political difficulties, they are very unimportant, although the line does pass through a Chinese province.

Notwithstanding that it was nominally conceded to an anonymous society, the line is absolutely in the hands of the Russian Government, to confirm which statement we have only to study the statutes of the East China Railway Company, which were drawn up by the chief promoter, M. de Witte, and formulated by the Russo-Chinese Bank between August 26 and September 8, 1896, after the signing of the Convention between the Russian and the Chinese Governments. According to these statutes, which were approved of by the Russian Government on December 4 to 16, 1896, and published in the Messager Officiel de l’Empire, ‘the shareholders must be either Russians or Chinese. The concession lapses at the end of eighty years from the day of the opening of the completed line. The bonds can only be issued on demand, and then only with the consent of the Russian Minister of Finance. The Russian Government guarantees payment of the interest and the redemption of the bonds. The company is managed by a committee, comprising a President and nine members, of whom one is Vice-President, divided between Peking and St. Petersburg. The President is chosen by the Chinese Government only; the other members of the committee are usually elected at a general meeting of the shareholders. The chief duty of the President is to watch over the interests of the Chinese Government. The Vice-President is supposed to interest himself exclusively in the management of the company. The Russian Government has a right to superintend the progress and development of the works, both during the period of construction and of exploitation. The Russian Minister of Finance has, moreover, the right to ratify the nominations of the Vice-President, chief engineer, and of all other officials, and to approve or otherwise of any modifications which may be suggested during the construction of the line.

These and other regulations, to which we need only allude, prove the preponderating influence of Russia in the undertaking, and we should, moreover, remember that the majority of the shares are in the hands of the Russian Government. It is therefore obvious that the Chinese President is but a mere figurehead, and that the whole enterprise is exclusively Russian. As a matter of fact, the only important reservation made in the interests of China is the following: ‘After a lapse of thirty-six years from the date of the completion of the line, the Chinese Government will have the right to repurchase it, and to assume all the responsibilities of the said company.’ If China does not avail herself of this right of repurchase, she will not enter into possession of the line and its dependencies until the conclusion of the eighty years from the date of its inauguration originally stipulated, under which circumstance she will certainly have a very long time to wait. The statutes also declare that the works must begin not later than August 16 to 28, 1897, and that they must be finished in six years, that is to say, in 1903, but, as a matter of fact, it is not likely that everything will be ready by that time, owing to the many obstacles the engineers have to overcome.

According to a project accepted in 1897, the Manchurian line from Onon to Nikolsk will be 1,200 miles in length, of which 890 miles will pass through the Celestial Empire, and 310 miles through Russian territory. The total distance by rail from Cheliabinsk to Vladivostok will be 4,072 miles instead of 4,640, as stated in the original scheme, including the 40 miles across Lake Baikal.

Chinese Manchuria is composed of the two basins of the Sungari, the great affluent of the Amur, which joins this river between Blagovyeshchensk and Khabarofsk, and of the Liao-ho, which flows into the treaty port of Niu-chwang in the Government of Pe-chi-li. Between these two basins lies a zone of steppes, quite destitute of water, an eastern prolongation of the great Desert of Gobi, and 130 miles in width. To the east of the north and north-west of Manchuria rises a chain of lofty mountains, which separate the valleys of the Amur and its tributaries, the Argun and the Ussuri, from the great inland and very marshy plain watered by the Sungari and its tributary rivers.

The new line will, after leaving Onon, have to cross a lofty chain of mountains south of Trans-Baikalia, 265 miles in length, at a height of over 3,000 feet, and then descend into the valley of the Argun, to finally enter an absolutely deserted mountainous region, unexplored until the arrival of the engineering mission, some 130 miles long. Thence it will have to be carried over a height exceeding even the 3,000 feet above mentioned, and for another 330 miles will run at a height varying between 300 to 600 feet above the level of the Sungari plain, to again rise to 1,950 feet in order to cross another lofty range before redescending to Nikolsk, which is 130 feet above the level of the sea. To the difficulties thrown in the way of rapid progress by the great height and precipitous nature of the Manchurian Mountains must be added those created by the unstable condition of the soil, which, according to some travellers of my acquaintance who have explored this district, consists of one immense lake of mud. Fortunately, however, it seems that at about three or four feet below this objectionable surface exists a solid bed of gravel, which may afford an excellent foundation for the line. These unfavourable conditions were at first deemed so insurmountable that at one time many pessimists were of opinion that it would be wiser to abandon the Manchurian scheme altogether, and return to the original plan of passing through the valley of the Amur. The Tsar, however, held firm to his purpose, and the order was promulgated by His Majesty in 1898 to forthwith undertake the construction of that portion of the line between Onon and the Argun situated in his own territory. The waterways in Chinese territory have been utilized precisely as those in Siberia. In order to ascend the Sungari a number of flat steam-tugs were ordered from Newcastle-on-Tyne. They are unusually shallow, only drawing two feet of water, are supplied with engines of 500 horse-power, and intended to convey the rails. These are brought from Europe, viâ Vladivostok, over the Ussuri line. I remember in September being at Iman, where the Vladivostok line reaches the Ussuri, and watching with great interest one of these immense boats in process of reconstruction. I cannot help thinking, however, that the Argun would be better for the transport of heavy railway material than the shallow Sungari.

If the Russian Government so promptly determined to carry out the construction of the Manchurian Railway, it was rather on account of important political considerations than of any shortening of the route. This railway, it must be borne in mind, passes at less than 330 miles from the extreme north of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, whereas by the Amur line the distance is double, and even then, after arriving at Vladivostok in order to reach Pe-chi-li, an unexplored and uninhabited mountainous district which extends north of the Korean Frontier would have to be passed. From the plain of the Sungari Russia can easily send troops to Mukden and Niu-chwang, and if necessary even to Peking, whereas from Vladivostok she would find it very difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to transport them by land, and, moreover, there she is by no means complete mistress of the sea.