would naturally be effected with the commercial routes opened up by the Karun River concession, to which it would constitute the appropriate corollary. The policy thus recommended is not difficult, and would in time be enormously remunerative. It involves no offence, and would be the salvation of Southern Persia. There is not the slightest reason why it should not be carried out, if the consent of the Shah were forthcoming; and powerless though he be in the clutch of Russia in the north, I am unable to see why, in a matter affecting the southern portion of his dominions, with which Russia can profess no straightforward or legitimate concern, Prince Dolgorouki should be the sole custodian of the royal ear. of this In bringing this chapter to a close, I am conscious Summary of having covered a wide area, from the Pamir to chapter Persia, and of having inadequately touched upon many important topics. My object, however, has been, to the best of my ability, to expose the present character and dimensions of the Anglo-Russian problem, nowhere, so far as I know, discussed in its entirety; to supply the material for a horoscope of the future by a careful examination of the antecedents, the position, the designs, the advantages, and also the drawbacks, of both parties in the possible struggle, and to indicate to my readers some of the precautionary measures by which that struggle may either be averted, or, if not averted, may be contemplated by this country without apprehension. CHAPTER X RUSSIAN RULE IN CENTRAL ASIA demerits Not but wut abstract war is horrid I sign to thet with all my heart; But civlysation does git forrid J. R. LOWELL, The Biglow Papers. Merits and demerits of Russian rule-Abolition of raids and gift of security-Russian power firmly established-Its causes-Memory of slaughter-Overpowering military strength of Russia-Certainty that she will not retreat--Popularity of Russia-Laissez-faire attitude-Treatment of native chiefs-Conciliation of native peoples-Defects of Russian character-Low civilisation-Attitude towards Mahometan religion-Towards native education-Bravery and endurance of Russian character-Military ease of Russian advance-Contrast between English and Russian facilities-Comparative security of dominions-Seamy side of Russian civilisation --Bad roads-General conclusions as to Russian government-Schemes for regeneration of the country-Irrigation-Diversion of the Oxus to its old bed-Cotton plantation-Sericulture and viticulture-Colonisation -Attitude of Great Britain-Responsibilities of Russia. Merits and FROM a discussion of the rival interests of England of Russian and Russia in Central Asia, I proceed, in conclusion, rule to give some account of the strength, and if anywhere it be so, of the weakness of Russian rule. No possibility of future collision, no fear of ultimate conflict, need deter an Englishman from an honest recognition of national merit, or of services rendered to the cause of humanity. In a sphere distinct, and yet not alien, from that in which Great Britain has herself achieved many successes and perpetrated some failures, friendly criticism is permissible, while jealousy is absurd. First, then, it cannot be doubted that Russia has conferred great and substantial advantages upon the Central Asian regions which she has reduced to her sway. Those who have read descriptions of the state of the country from the Caspian to the Amu Daria, in the pre-Russian days of rapine and raid, when agriculture was devastated, life and property rendered insecure, and entire populations were swept off under circumstances of unheard-of barbarity into a life-long servitude, can form some idea of the extent of the revolution by which peace and order and returning prosperity have been given to these desolated tracts; and the traveller, who once dared not move abroad without a powerful escort, is enabled to wander with impunity over the unfrequented plain. The experiences of Vambéry, of MacGregor, of Valentine Baker, and of every English voyager in or near the Turkoman country, contrasted with my own modest narrative, illustrate the immensity of the boon. At a comparatively recent date the members of the Boundary Commission reported that, till within three or four years before their visit, Turkoman marauders used to scour the country as far as Farrah, 150 miles south of Herat, that between Sarakhs and Kuhsan the land was utterly depopulated, and that raidingparties were pushed to the very walls of Meshed.1 1 Vide Captain A. C. Yate's Travels with the Afghan Boundary Commission, pp. 150-159. Abolition of raids and gift of security Except among the Persian Turkomans of the Atrek border, the alaman may be said now to be a thing of the past. Let me quote here the words of Sir Henry Rawlinson on the subject, spoken at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society in 1882 No one will question but that the extension of Russian arms to the east of the Caspian has been of immense benefit to the country. The substitution, indeed, of Russian rule for that of the Kirghiz, Uzbegs, and Turkomans throughout a large portion of Central Asia has been an unmixed blessing to humanity. The execrable slave trade, with its concomitant horrors, has been abolished, brigandage has been suppressed, and Mahometan fanaticism and cruelty have been generally mitigated and controlled. Commerce at the same time has been rendered more secure, local arts and manufactures have been encouraged, and the wants of the inhabitants have been everywhere more seriously regarded than is usual under Asiatic rulers. This is at once a significant and a handsome admission, coming, as it does, from one whom Russian writers are never tired of representing as choregus of the choir of English Russophobes and Jingoes. Voyaging through the country myself, and seeing on all sides the mouldering fortalices and towers that spoke so eloquently of the savage tenure of the past, I could not repress a feeling of gratitude to those who had substituted peace for chronic warfare, and order for barbaric anarchy. The desolation from which the land still suffers is the product of natural causes, whose operation may be checked but cannot be altogether reversed; and not of human passions, which were so long and ruthlessly devoted to making still more terrible the terrors of the desert. If we still meet with but a scanty population, if the towns are more like villages, and the villages like clusters. of hovels, and if civilisation is still in an embryonic stage, let us remember that it is only a decade since there was neither sedentary population, nor town, nor civilisation; and that thus a land is being slowly won to the service of man which man himself has hitherto rendered a byword and a curse. The Russian eagle may at first have alighted upon the eastern shores of the Caspian with murderous beak and sharpened talons, but, her appetite once satisfied, she has shown that she also came with healing in her wings. power tablished. Its causes Turning to the dominion of Russia and the Russian means by which it is assured, I make with equal firmly espleasure the acknowledgment that it appeared to me to be firmly and fairly established, and to be loyally accepted by the conquered races. Though we hear a good deal in books of the fanaticism of Mussulman populations, and might expect still more from the resentment of deposed authority, or the revenge of baffled licence, revolts do not occur and mutinies are not apprehended among the subjugated peoples. I attribute this to several reasons: to the ferocious severity of the original blow; to the powerlessness of resistance against the tight military grip that is kept by Russia upon the country; and to the certainty, which a long course of Russian conduct has reasonably inspired, that she will never retreat. A few words about each of these. CC |