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19X41 FINLAND AND RUSSIA 263
towards the Scandinavian peninsula. Deprived of
outlets to the quite open sea, the huge Empire made
persistent efforts to secure such an outlet. But the
route of the Straits was barred to her by Europe; that
of the Persian Gulf by the English; that of the Pacific
Ocean by the Japanese; moreover, the last two outlets
were extremely far away from the Russian centres of
production and consumption. How, then, should Russia
not covet a far nearer outlet, that of the ports—very far
north, it is true, but magnificent and always free from
ice—which open on the Atlantic Ocean through the
Norwegian fjords ? Narwick, Trondhjem, Hammerfest,
these are the ports that Russia ardently wished to
possess; but in order to do so, she would first have to
conquer the North of Sweden, a thinly populated
province, in which, however, huge beds of splendid iron
ore 1 have lately been discovered. The existence of a
more or less autonomous Finland, indeed, hampers the
expansion of the Empire on this side. Hence the task
of Russifying and assimilating this "unfortunate"
province completely has already been begun, and as soon
as this has been accomplished, Russia will seek by force
to extend her domination over the North of Sweden and
of Norway.
This theme, constantly repeated, commented on, and
recapitulated, had a great success in Sweden.2 Stockholm
did not wish to consider the weak sides of the argument:
the great distance of the Norwegian ports from the
centre of Russia, and particularly from inhabited parts
of Russia itself; the existence on the Russian Murman
coast of excellent ports open in winter. " Fear has
enormous eyes," says the Russian proverb: it only sees
what strikes it and rarely goes into details. By the
years 1910-1913 the theory quoted above was accepted
by the whole of Sweden, and as the champion and
populariser of this threatening theory at this period
appeared the celebrated Sven-Hedin.
1 Yielding in the smelting up to 80 per cent, of metal.
2 An infinitely smaller one in Norway.
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