“The completion of the Trans-Caspian Railway to Samarcand marks another stage in the Russian occupation of Asia. That city was the objective point of the earlier campaigns from Orenburg and the sea of Aral, which ended in the conquest of Khiva and Kokan and the establishment of Tashkend as the military headquarters, with railway connections northward. Bokhara was reduced to the condition of a protected province and Samarcand was virtually converted into a Russian centre of trade on the border of China. An interval of twelve years has elapsed, during which Samarcand, already within easy reach from Tashkend, has been gradually approached from the Caspian Sea. The Trans-Caspian Railway is now in operation from Michailovsk to Samarcand, a distance of 885 miles, by way of Askabad, Merv and Bokhara. This narrow-gauge system, built at a cost of $21,000,000, gives Russia control of the commerce of Turkestan and completes the circuit of conquest on the borders of China, Afghanistan and Persia. In future military operations in Central Asia this railway, with the northern line running from Tashkend, will be a most useful base of transportation and supplies. Meanwhile, it binds together a straggling series of conquests separated by broad reaches of desert. It is already rumored in St. Petersburg that the Czar intends to visit during the summer the great Empire in Central Asia which the valor of his soldiers and the skill of his engineers have created. An imperial journey to Merv, Bokhara and Samarcand will illustrate the wonderful progress made by the Russians during the last twenty years in overrunning Asia. “The Russian engineer who has completed the Trans-Caspian system is now to undertake a new and colossal undertaking. This is the trunk line through Central and Southern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean. Surveys have already been made for a railway from Tomsk to Irkutsk, and this line when finished is to be extended to Vladivostock, on the coast. As the Trans-Caspian now makes a close approach to Western China, the Siberian will complete the circuit of the Celestial Empire on its northern border. If the consent of the Chinese Government can be obtained, branches will be built from Irkutsk to Pekin, Shanghai, and other centres of population. Within five years it is expected that this gigantic enterprise will be accomplished and St. Petersburgh brought into direct communication with Vladivostock. The journey from the capital to the Pacific can then be made in a fortnight; and if Chinese markets can be opened to Russian traders, a marvelous change in the conditions of Asian commerce and intercourse will be effected.” * * * * * And only a few weeks ago the same journal printed the following, as a sequel to the above: