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CHAPTER III.

THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT OF TURKESTAN.

Ir is not easy to determine the modifications that have taken place since Mr. Schuyler penned his graphic description of the Russian administration in Central Asia, and it is almost impossible to say whether there has been progress or retrogression. The Russian possessions in Turkestan at the present moment cover about four hundred and sixty thousand square miles, and the population of this vast region is at the highest computation under three millions. Yet within the confines of the Russian possessions are to be found the ruins of several powerful kingdoms, and the representatives of great conquering races and families, such as the Kipchak, the Usbeg, and the Kirghiz. The kingdom of Khokand has been completely absorbed, those of Bokhara and Khiva have been stripped of some of their possessions, and a province of the Chinese Empire has been retained at the cost

"Turkistan," by Eugene Schuyler, vol. ii. chapter xiii.

of incurring the resentment of its Government and people. The total subjected population is between two millions and a half and three millions of human beings, scattered over a region which exceeds Western Europe in size. Among the subjected races there is no connecting link save that of religion, which has always in their case proved singularly valueless, and the Russian garrison is very nearly as large as that which is stationed in India. It will be more convenient to discuss the military situation in another chapter.

Up to the year 1867 affairs were conducted in Central Asia in what can only be called a hap-hazard fashion under the control of the Governor of Orenburg; but the triumphs of Generals Tchernaieff, Krjihanoffsky, and Romanoffsky, had resulted in the advance of Russian arms from Kazala at the mouth of the Syr Darya to Tashkent and Chinaz. It became necessary to constitute some definite authority in this new region. Whereas before that year the military and civil authority had been reposed in separate hands, they were henceforth to be wielded by the same functionary. A ukase (see Appendix), which appeared on the 11th (23rd) of July in that year, and which was published by the "Journal de St. Petersburg" a few days afterwards, announced the formation of the Central Asian possessions into a governor-generalship, with the seat of government at Tashkent. For the first four months General Romanoffsky filled this new and much-coveted post; but it was in November found convenient to recall him in accordance with some State

necessity, and on the 17th of that month General Kaufmann arrived in Tashkent as the representative of the Czar.

Before that time Kaufmann had been an officer attached to the staff of the Czar. He had never been in Central Asia, and he possessed no knowledge of the subject over which he was henceforth to exercise supreme control. But these were not his only faults, for, being naturally of an extremely vain disposition, it was not long before he became persuaded of his own special qualifications for the high office which he held, and strove in many ways to add a lustre to his administration by the prosecution of numerous campaigns, and by a series of conquests that have so far been unprofitable. The state which he maintains at Tashkent, his Cossack guard, the strict etiquette which fences him around, and the court balls that are given in close imitation of those held at St. Petersburg, all these are now well known, thanks to Mr. Schuyler, and have earned for the Czar's representative the nickname of Yarim Padishah, or half-king. But the actual result of all this sham State ceremony is that in practical affairs General Kaufmann is a cypher. He knows nothing of the subject which he is supposed to decide upon, and is consequently bound to guide his own impulse by the advice of such men as Abramoff and Kolpakoffsky. There are others in the civil administration who are equally influential, though less honourably distinguished, and in all directions in Turkestan an autocratic officialism works its own way and for its own ends, seeking only to flatter and to pander to the

weaknesses of the Russian general, who is by a Czar's patronage supreme.

There have been many unfortunate results of this delusive condition of affairs, and disclosures have been made that the work of administration was not being conducted in a proper manner-only, however, to be hushed up again as quickly as possible. During the year 1877 there were circumstantial reports that serious discrepancies and errors had been discovered in the official returns from Tashkent; and officials high in the confidence of Kaufmann were said to be incriminated. The peculation referred to was of too systematic a kind to admit of the explanation that it was accidental, and a commission of inquiry was sent out to investigate the matter on the spot. From that day to this nothing has been heard of that commission, or of the result of its investigations.

It was understood at the time, on what was supposed to be good authority, that the peculations had been of the most systematic character, and had principally been carried on in fictitious transfers of land. But after all, this is only one instance of the discretion which is left, under General Kaufmann's regime, to subordinates; and there are many others. Ambitious officers have been permitted to undertake explorations -scientific and otherwise-which were far from being necessary or prudent, and there are even instances of wars having been sanctioned to propitiate inconvenient rivals. It is the system, however, that is rotten throughout. The service, military and civil, throughout the Russian possessions in Central Asia, aspires to

make things pleasant for all of its members rather than, by any self-denying ordinance, to maintain the efficiency of the service at its highest point. There is undoubtedly an esprit de corps, but it exists at the expense of patriotism. Some travellers* have said that there is a laxity of morals among Russian officers and officials, which greatly detracts from their claims to be considered representatives of a civilised nation. Without pressing this charge home against them, there is abundant evidence on other points to prove that the Russian who seeks a career in Central Asia does so in a desperate mood, and never aspires to display any higher purpose than that of a somewhat reckless adventurer. He leaves the pleasures and luxuries of Moscow, or the capital, to find beyond the steppe that place of refuge which his folly or his crime in Europe has compelled him to seek. By such men as these is the vast dominion of Russia in Central Asia administered, and how can it be expected that such a governing body could be respectable, or respected by the sedate and dignified Mussulmans of Khokand and Samarcand? There is nothing in the ordinary Russian to attract sympathy or to command respect. Some affirm that under certain conditions he makes an amusing and gay companion; but if he be, as Professor Gregorieff asserts, the modern representative of the all-conquering Roman, it must be allowed that he has lost those personal attributes which were the mark of the coun

Even Major Wood, who cannot be called an anti-Russian writer, supports this accusation.

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