Page:Ossendowski - The Shadow of the Gloomy East.djvu/24

8 diplomatists and bankers, had been arranging for timber concessions in the valley of the Yalu, on the Korean-Chinese border.

Japan and China took offence, and the results were the fall of Port Arthur, the defeats of Wafangou, Mukden, Laoyan, and ultimately the sinister tragedy of Tsushima.

Bezobrazov's enterprise had enjoyed the gracious financial and moral support of the Romanov family!

Count Witte could say: "I have built a railway round Asia, I have conquered China by peaceful means and opposed Japan; whilst they have lost China and are defeated in the eyes of the Asiatics for ever, even before cutting down a single tree."

Such was the deep-rooted corruption and depravity of the higher Russian classes. And the bureaucracy followed in their footsteps.

It was as if a malignant and venomous parasite had chosen for its nest the huge body of the people of 140 millions, sinking ever lower its deadly roots.

Its influence made itself felt in the political thought of the nation. This power was not connected with the nation at large by any common link. Neither comprehending the purport and the gloomy soul of Russia, nor on the other hand being understood itself, it descended like an octopus to the darkest depths in order to form and fashion the lowest instincts. Upon such a background of political aspirations was it possible for such sinister figures to appear as the priest Gapon, the