the Khokandian
has, more or less, at all other times been paramount. But whenever a
native dynasty had attained a certain degree of security therein, it was
always threatened by the ambitious designs of the Khan of Khokand, who
had generally contributed most towards its successful establishment. The
Russian government resolved to avail themselves of this historical fact
to pour into the ear of Khudayar Khan insidious counsels as to his
claims as feudal lord over Eastern Turkestan. There once more, so they
argued, had a Khokandian subject formed an independent and rival
administration, and all his victories had been won by Khokandian
sympathies, and by the good right arms of Khokandian subjects. And how
had this soldier of fortune acted towards his own country when he had
received everything from her that he needed? By offering an asylum to
all those who had participated in the plots against Khudayar Khan
himself, by encouraging sedition in the state itself against the
Russians and their nominee, Khudayar, the legal ruler of the state. As
if these crimes were not sufficiently serious, he had added thereto the
insult of having refused to recognize in Khudayar his liege lord; and
Khudayar's own personal fears were worked upon to yield that
acquiescence to the Russian proposal that was necessary to secure its
success. It was pointed out to him that a strong military power in
Kashgar might give an impetus to the plots then fermenting in the active
brain of Aftobatcha, the ambitious son of Mussulman Kuli, the prime
minister and vizier of thirty years ago. The arguments were specious,
and it cannot be doubted that they made some impression on Khudayar
Khan. This much-to-be-pitied ruler, forced by the necessities of his
position to humour his Russian advisers, still had the courage to refuse
to assert his claims as lord over Kashgar. With a gentle irony he
pointed to the map, and showed how Khokand's frontier should extend
farther to the west than it did, and that a conquest over the barren
regions of the Kizil Yart would be but a sorry equivalent for the loss
of Tashkent and Hodjent. He, however, promised to make use of his best
means for inducing Yakoob Beg to make overtures to the Russian
government for the ratification of a treaty of commerce. So Khudayar
Khan indited a letter to Yakoob Beg, at the dictation of his Russian
friends, to this effect; but he silvered the pill by a private message
giving information of the Russi