The United Service Magazine for August has an article on
the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is worthy of attention at the present moment. People here talk glibly of the Trans-Siberian Railway being ready in four or five years, of Russia then being able to "pour troops" into Manchuria, and generally as if the railway, when made, would make it as easy to move great bodies of men from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur as from London to Aberdeen. As a matter of fact, the unaccomplished engineer- ing difficulties are very great, and when they are got over Russia will only have a single line, far more useful for carrying mail-bags than large armies. As the writer of the article, Colonel De la Poer Beresford, very truly says : "The civilian mind is, perhaps, somewhat inclined to run riot over the facilities for transport of troops which it [the Trans-Siberian line] will provide." As he points out, though the Germans had the well-laid French lines at their disposition, the authorities in 1870 often found it more convenient to send troops by road. The truth is, there never was a greater bogey than the Trans-Siberian Railway. The notion that it would be wise to go to war with Russia " while there is yet time," and before this terrible instrument of war is completed, is utterly preposterous.
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