halting places for Russian traders were soon turned into small forts, garrisoned by soldiers; from the walls of which loopholes for cannon looked far into the desert, and overawed the restless nomads more than any imperial ukase, written with gold ink, and all the sacred oaths of the chieftains sworn upon the Koran had done. By extending this line of fortifications into the country of the Kirghises, Russia succeeded in thrusting a formidable wedge into the body of her adversary. Disunion amongst the Kirghises did the rest, and in spite of temporary risings, Russia could safely assert soon after the Crimean war that she had become the undisputed master of the whole Kirghis country as far as the right bank of the Yaxartes, including the Aral Sea, where her operations by land were supported by a small flotilla.

While these large operations were going on, Europe, always happy to engage Russia in Asia and to keep her off from European politics, cared but very little for the doings of the northern colossus in this outlying part of the eastern world. But little oozed out concerning these new conquests, and that little generally came through the channel of European travellers, savants, delighted at the warm reception they got from Russian officials, and full of praises of the humanitarian work Russia was doing in those outlying barbarous countries, where

every step was accompanied by the civilisation of the West, and where every flash of cannon was said to be a new rising sun of our European culture. Happy delusion for our careless diplomatists! But still happier means for aggressive Russia, and but for these treacherous lights beginning to throw a rather dubious reflex beyond the Suleiman range, our blissful Europe would still send fervent prayers to heaven for the civilising columns of holy Russia, as the imbecility of our diplomatists continues to do to this very day.

England, justly disquieted by the Russian move towards Khiva, had found it advisable to try whether any diplomatic transactions with the three khanates of Turkestan could not produce such an effect as to stop the Russian progress. Lord Auckland imagined, that by calling the attention of the rulers of the three khanates to the impending danger, a union might be effected which would prove a barrier against Russia. This was the origin of the mission of the late Sir Alexander Burnes, an accomplished young Scotchman, who was well received at the Court of Nasrullah Khan, the father of the present Emir of Bokhara. His transactions secured to England a treaty of commerce; they produced also relations of amity between Bokhara and India; but neither Khokand nor Khiva could this clever diplomatist

visit, and no sooner had he returned to Europe than, with the death of the chief minister at Nasrullah, the effect of the happy journey vanished, and Bokhara remained as before, utterly heedless of coming events, and continuing, as before, to weaken the neighbouring States instead of giving them strength and support against the approaching danger.

Russia, at the same time, was not slow to counteract this stroke of policy by a similar approach to England's nearest neighbour, namely, Afghanistan. First of all, she began to meddle with Herat through the intermediary of the King of Persia, whom she made her involuntary ally after the treaty of Turkman-chai. The King of all Kings of Iran, a sickly man, had, together with his half-crazy minister, for a long time back cherished the idea of re-conquering the large dominions of Shah Abbas the Great. The Keyanian Cap, representing the Crown of Persia, looking shabby and worn out, was sadly wanting in new jewels. Wooden inlaid with brass were soon got ready; and Count Simonitch, the Russian ambassador, had only to stir the fire to bring the Persian army, a crowd of beggars clad in rags, before the walls of Herat. Fortunately England, aware of the imminent danger, selected the proper man to frustrate the machinations of her rival-Eldred Pottinger, an English officer of

guns

rare talents.

One man alone was sufficient to annihilate all the grandiloquent schemes of Persia. The fire of the wooden guns had no effect; the balls hewn of marble, invented by the ingenious Persian prime minister, were smashed to pieces on the walls erected under the lead of the clever and brave Englishman. The Shah got the dysentery instead of laurels, and the half-emaciated and decimated army of the King of all Kings, together with their Russian advisers, returned to Teheran. Herat was made secure once more against the immediate attack of Russia.

Whilst this was going on, a young Russian officer of Polish extraction, named Vitkovitch, had to perform at Kabul, at Dost Mohammed Khan's, the same part which Sir Alexander Burnes had so cleverly played at Bokhara. In the "Memoirs of the late General Blaramberg," a German officer in the Russian service, we read, among other interesting details regarding the Russian doings in Herat and Kabul, how Alexander von Humboldt had met with a young Polish gentleman exiled to Siberia, and how this young man, of high education and refined manners, succeeded in gaining the sympathies of the great German scholar to such an extent that he interceded in his favour with the Emperor Nicholas the First, and obtained his pardon from the Czar on the condition of the gifted young Pole's entering the

Russian service and devoting his abilities to Russian interests. This young Polish gentleman was the afterwards famous Russian secret agent, M. Vitkovitch, at Kabul. A great linguist, fully versed in the way of dealing with Asiatics, and therefore a competent rival of Sir Alexander Burnes, he had to gain over the sympathies of Dost Mohammed Khan for the Court of St. Petersburg.

As the last named Afghan prince failed in his endeavour to secure British assistance for the reoccupation of Peshawur, then in the hands of Rendjit Singh, he very naturally lent an eager ear to overtures coming from the rival of Great Britain. Vitkovitch was listened to with particular attention; but owing to the great distance Russian outposts then stood from Afghanistan, all that the Envoy could afford to give at that time consisted in empty promises, totally inadequate to satisfy the astute greywolf of Afghanistan. The transaction, therefore, turned out an empty bubble. Vitkovitch returned to St. Petersburg re male gesta, and being disavowed by his Government, the unfortunate young man committed suicide in the very blossom of his life. Thus are things in Russia. Successful generals and diplomatists, publicly declared to have acted against the will of the Czar, are not only acknowledged, but rewarded; whilst those who remain unsuccessful are