©The trath is that England is real much stronger in the Far East than Russi is, Russia would find it most difficult to keep an army of twenty thousand men long in the field, when dependent on_a base only by a single line of rails. England could draw an almost unlimited supply of splendid fighting men from India, and could maintain them with ease. Nothing would be more practicable than to plant down 20,000 of our Indian soldiers in Weihaiwei, to the great benefit of their health, and the enormous increase of our prestige throughout the Far East. China would prefer to work with us rather than with Russia, if we would only take a firm stand. But we allow Russia to bluff us, time after time. The Russians know the truth about the comparative strength of our two nations. They know that their one hope is to blat, and they have bluffed with magnificent success. From their point of view, I do not blame them."
Mr. Barry does not recommend a trip across Siberia for " holiday jaunt just now. "Tt is not the fault of the railway," he says. "It is not finished yet, and it is overrun with passengers." "But many are his resolutions that the Siberian railways shall not sce him again for some time, if he can possibly avoid it. For there is little fan in being cooped up for some weeks in overcrowded carriages among 2 cosmopolitan crowd, and in trains whose boasted luxury and comfort are mainly imaginary. Me. Barry was able to cross the country under much more advantageous circu stances than the vast majority of travellers. For the ordinary man the Sibe trip is the most effective vin dolorosa to be found in the last year of this century.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.