. The "Overland" to China. for several years, in spite ofthe passive dissatisfaction of the Chinese officials. On the 16th of May, 1857, Mouraviev Amurskysself-appointed task was crowned by the treaty ofAigun—practically a Chinese cession to Russia ofthe whole of the north, or left, bank of the the next year Russia commenced the compul-sory colonization of the Amur province; and with-in two years time twelve thousand colonists and six-ty-one Cossack posts, or stanitzas, were establishedin it. Finally, in the year i860, while in ChinaFrench and English were winning, by force of armsand
. The "Overland" to China. for several years, in spite ofthe passive dissatisfaction of the Chinese officials. On the 16th of May, 1857, Mouraviev Amurskysself-appointed task was crowned by the treaty ofAigun—practically a Chinese cession to Russia ofthe whole of the north, or left, bank of the the next year Russia commenced the compul-sory colonization of the Amur province; and with-in two years time twelve thousand colonists and six-ty-one Cossack posts, or stanitzas, were establishedin it. Finally, in the year i860, while in ChinaFrench and English were winning, by force of armsand at great cost, bare treaty rights to be as barelyobserved, Count Ignatiev, alone and unsupportedsave for Russian prestige, concluded the treaty ofPeking, giving into Russian rule the whole of theAmur and Ussuri basins forever. Simultaneously with her advance towards the Pa-cific, and many other achievements above hinted at,Russia had been extending her Siberian conquestsouthwest — slowl)^ but surely driving a wedge 32. 5 w O w CO Pi O M s o 02 SIBERIA through the very heart of Asia. The methods em-ployed were distinguished by a predominance ofofificial over private enterprise, marking the impor-tance of political as compared with industrial inter-ests, of strategic over trading lines of advance. Ina great measure, of course, these interests coincided,and the establishment of Russian rule was synony-mous with the planting of Russian colonies. Butin the main the arid steppes and salt, treelessmarshes of Central Asia, though vitally importantpolitically—as an etape in the Russian southwardextension scheme—could offer but small induce-ment to the settler. It was in the year 1731 that Russia commencedher advance into the steppes sparsely inhabited bythe nomad Kirghiz race. From that date she movedforward step by step, sometimes halting but never re-tiring from a position once taken up. Tribe aftertribe, weighed upon by her advance, and threatenedon flank and rear by other t
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