Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 99 (Color Image)

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0099	Among the Celestials : vol.1

a

CHAP. iv.] MANCHURIA'S FUTURE. 73

Nowadays, however, the railway has brought

the Russians in force on to the northern

frontier, and with the completion of the Great

Siberian Railway, 'a few years hence, in place

of the weak and scattered tribes of the last

century, Manchuria will find a strong civilised

military power weighing down upon her.

Similarly steam navigation has not only

strengthened the position of Russia on the

Manchurian border, by enabling her firmly to

establish herself on the northern ports, which

she filched away from China, at a time when

she was fighting both ourselves and the

French ; but it has brought military and com-

mercial powers like Japan and Great Britain

right up to the doors of Manchuria. Distant

powers, which in themselves are yearly growing

more powerful, have been brought as it were

into almost direct contact with the country,

which is thus being compressed by a number

of forces never felt before.

The result of this new pressure must in-

evitably be advancement and development.

It may mean the effacement of the present

rulers, and the substitution of rulers with more

capacity for military organisation. But in