The miscalculation was natural.  The rapid extension of trade in the Pacific Ocean seemed to invite Russia to claim her full share in a development that had already enriched England, the United States, and, later, Germany and France; and events placed within the Muscovite grasp positions which fulfilled all the conditions requisite 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 of the line, 244 versts (162 miles) long, has involved enormous expense.  In fifty-six miles there are thirty-nine tunnels, and thirteen galleries for protection against rock-slides.  This short section is said to have cost L1,170,000.  The energy with which the Government pushed on this stupendous work during the Russo-Japanese war yields one more proof of their determination to secure at all costs the aims which they set in view in and after the year 1891[486].