Asia which has never ceased, and which
forms to-day the sole barrier to a good understanding between them.

After the Crimean War circumstances favoured the advance of the Russian
arms. England, busied with the Sepoy Mutiny in India, cared little what
became of the rival Khans of Turkestan; and Lord Lawrence,
Governor-General of India in 1863-69, enunciated the soothing doctrine
that "Russia might prove a safer neighbour than the wild tribes of
Central Asia." The Czar's emissaries therefore had easy work in
fomenting the strifes that constantly arose in Bokhara, Khiva, and
Tashkend, with the result that in 1864 the last-named was easily
acquired by Russia. We may add here that Tashkend is now an important
railway centre in the Russian Central Asian line, and that large stores
of food and material are there accumulated, which may be utilised in
case Russia makes a move against Afghanistan or Northern India.

In 1868 an outbreak of Mohammedan fanaticism in Bokhara brought the
Ameer of that town into collision with the Russians, who thereupon
succeeded in taking Samarcand. The capital of the empire of Tamerlane,
"the scourge of Asia," now sank to the level of an outpost of Russian
power, and ultimately to that of a mart for cotton. The Khan of Bokhara
fell into a position of complete subservience, and ceded to the
conquerors the whole of his province of Samarcand[280].

[Footnote 280: For an account of Samarcand and Bokhara, see _Russia in
Central Asia,_ by Hon. G. (Lord) Curzon (1889); A. Vambery's _Travels in
Central Asia_ (1867-68); Rev. H. Lansdell, _Russian Central Asia,_ 2
vols. (1885); E. Schuyler, _Journey in Russian Turkestan,_ etc., 2 vols.
(1876); E. O'Donovan, _The Merv Oasis,_ 2 vols. (1883).]

It is believed that the annexation of Samarcand was contrary to the
intentions of the Czar. Alexander II. was a friend of peace; and he had
no desire to push forward his frontiers to the verge of Afghanistan,
where friction would probably ensue with the British Government. Already
he had sought to allay the irritation prevalent in Russophobe circles in
England. In November 1864, his Chancellor, Prince Gortchakoff, issued a
circular setting forth the causes that impelled the Russians on their
forward march. It was impossible, he said, to keep peace with
uncivilised and predatory tribes on their frontiers. Russia must press
on until she came into touch with a State whose authority would
guarantee order on the boundarie