to construct a permanent bridge across the river at any of the principal passages.

But the means of crossing for an army of large dimensions are ready to hand. The Aral fleet of six steamers, and as many transports, supplies the nucleus of the force, and the native Oxus fleet the bulk. General Kaufmann's whole army once on the right bank of the river would experience no difficulty in crossing over to the left, and would leave behind it the ready means for the transport of reinforcements, or for the retreat of an army which had failed in its attack. The Russians would leave in their rear when advancing on the Hindoo Koosh no such formidable river as the Indus; and the difficulties that they have to encounter in crossing the Oxus would be almost entirely removed by the strongly-built vessels which are to be found in considerable numbers on that river. A little examination is therefore only required to show that one of the supposed obstacles of nature vanishes the moment it is boldly grappled with or considered. The Oxus is the only river of any importance which intervenes between the Russian frontier and the Indus, except the Helmund on the road to Candahar. During ten months of the year this is easily passable at Girishk. In the next chapter a description of the principal roads or routes leading from the Russian frontier to the British will be given.

The government of General Kaufmann is essentially a military government. Strictly speaking, as we have before pointed out, Central Asia is the military district of Turkestan; and military regulations predominate in

the internal administration of affairs. We have seen how civil enterprises are permitted to languish, and how the material well-being of the province is neglected, because the grand desideratum in the eyes of the governing party is military efficiency; it becomes necessary then to inquire whether the Russian army in Central Asia can be held to be efficient? Is it in what may be termed fighting condition? Are its cadres. full, its reserves actual or only imaginary, its supply departments in working order?

It is clear that if the reply to these questions were in the negative, the Russian Government would not have an excuse to offer for such gross neglect or for their indifference to other matters. It has disregarded things civil and peaceful, in order that matters military and warlike may receive every attention; and if the latter are not in the most perfect condition, it is obvious that the indictment against the administration is a very severe one indeed. It is not improbable that the indictment will be some day preferred. There is a growing dislike in Russia to the military penalties which accompany the privileges of Russian citizenship, and there are signs of the times that the day is approaching when the nation will raise a protesting voice against them. These penalties, which consist over and above the law of conscription—a very legitimate law and absolutely necessary to all nations with a land frontierof the military repression of the rights of public speech and of the freedom of the press, are aggravated by the knowledge, which is becoming wide-spread throughout all circles of Russian society, that the military

service is rotten in its higher branches, and that bureaucracy is only another name for dishonesty and corruption. The first symptom of an intention to proceed to extremities in this matter will be shown by an attack against the administration in Central Asia, which is rotten to the core. It is not thoroughly ascertained how far that corruption has impaired the value of the army in Turkestan, but it is known that that army costs a great deal more than it should.

In 1873 the Russian army under General Kaufmann's immediate orders numbered thirty-six thousand men. That was, however, before the war against Khiva, which resulted in the formation of a fresh district the Amou Darya-along the banks of the Oxus. In this dependency of Kaufmann's there are several forts, notably those of Petro Alexandrovsk, Nukus, Chimbai, etc., and the garrison may be computed, at a moderate estimate, at three thousand men. This number is considered sufficient to overawe Khiva, which is prevented from keeping an armed force by the terms of its treaty with Russia. The larger and more important addition to the Central Asian army was caused by the despatch of large reinforcements to meet with the difficulties and dangers of the war in Khokand in the winter of 1875. When, as the result of that war, the remaining independent portion of Khokand became Russian territory under the name of Ferghana, a large addition of troops was made to the existing garrison. This addition was absolutely necessary, for the garrison duties of the army of Turkestan were almost doubled by the conquest of Ferghana.

The correctness of this assertion can easily be gauged by enumerating the fresh towns that had to receive a Russian garrison. These were Khokand, Namangan, Andijan, Margilan, Osh, and several other smaller and less known places. It also brought Russia into closer proximity with Kashgar, and one of the direct results of this conquest was that it opened up a road for Russian enterprise in Karategin and the neighbouring petty khanates, as well as on the Pamir. The natural consequence of Russia's annexation of Ferghana has been that her frontier, by some mysterious process, has embraced the northern half of the Pamir, including the Kara Kul lake, whence there are tracks followed by the Kirghiz, if not actual roads, which lead due east into Kashgar.

A trustworthy semi-official statement* gave the Russian forces in Turkestan and Semiretchinsk at fiftyfive thousand men. It is not clear whether the Amou Darya garrison was included in this force. It may be assumed, however, that it was; as it is improbable that a greater addition than twenty thousand men in all has been made to Kaufmann's army since 1873. The garrison of Semiretchinsk, including Priilinsk (Kuldja), but excluding Naryn, is under ten thousand men, which leaves a force of forty thousand men under the immediate command of the Governor-General. Under anything like the present circumstances, when it is impossible to predict the moment at which a rupture may

*An article in the "Journal des Debats" in the summer of 1878 gave much higher numbers.

94

ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA.

take place between Russia and China, or indeed at any time so long as China's hold on Chuguchak, Manas, and the cities of Eastern Turkestan remains firm, it would be out of the question to think of weakening the garrison of the vast district of Semiretchinsk by a single man. Under certain contingencies it might become even necessary to increase its garrison, either from Ferghana, or from Siberia, or from Europe. To some extent this has lately been done. Therefore as an offensive force it is unavailable. The frontier it has to defend is naturally a very strong one, being a mountain range of which it may be said to command the whole depth. The one weak point is on the due east, where it might be exposed to attack from several quarters if the enemy were of a sufficiently determined character and in strong force.

The Semiretchinsk army is held to be as efficient as any other branch of either the Russian or the Central Asian armies; and its commander-in-chief, General Kolpakoffsky, is one of the most distinguished officers in the army. Mr. Schuyler gives a graphic description of this officer and of his work. He appears to be the most practical of all the Russian governors, not excepting Abramoff. He is thoroughly acquainted with the people over whom he rules; and for almost thirty years he has been intimately connected with Central Asiatics. He possesses an excellent constitution, and his energy is so unwearied that he has obtained the name of "the Iron Seat" from the Kirghiz, themselves some of the hardest riders in the world. There have never been any insinuations against the moral cha