lliant and
adventurous countryman, O'Donovan, while captive there, sought to open
their eyes to the coming danger. But England's influence had fallen to
zero since Skobeleff's victory and her own withdrawal from
Candahar[337].

[Footnote 337: C. Marvin, _Merv, the Queen of the World_ (1881); E.
O'Donovan, _The Merv Oasis_, 2 vols. (1882-83), and _Merv_ (1883).]

In 1882 a Russian Engineer officer, Lessar, in the guise of a scientific
explorer, surveyed the route between Merv and Herat, and found that it
presented far fewer difficulties than had been formerly reported to
exist[338]. Finally, in 1884, the Czar's Government sought to revenge
itself for Britain's continued occupation of Egypt by fomenting trouble
near the Afghan border. Alikhanoff then reappeared, not in disguise,
browbeat the hostile chieftains at Merv by threats of a Russian
invasion, and finally induced them to take an oath of allegiance to
Alexander III. (Feb. 12, 1884)[339].

[Footnote 338: See his reports in Parl. Papers, Central Asia, No. 1
(1884), pp. 26, 36, 39, 63, 96, 106.]

[Footnote 339: _Ibid_. p. 119.]

There was, however, some reason for Russia's violation of her repeated
promises respecting Merv. In practical politics the theory of
compensation has long gained an assured footing; and, seeing that
Britain had occupied Egypt partly as the mandatory of Europe, and now
refused to evacuate that land, the Russian Government had a good excuse
for retaliation. As has happened at every time of tension between the
two Empires since 1855, the Czar chose to embarrass the Island Power by
pushing on towards India. As a matter of fact, the greater the pressure
that Russia brought to bear on the Afghan frontier, the greater became
the determination of England not to withdraw from Egypt. Hence, in the
years 1882-4, both Powers plunged more deeply into that "vicious circle"
in which the policy of the Crimean War had enclosed them, and from which
they have never freed themselves.

The fact is deplorable. It has produced endless friction and has
strained the resources of two great Empires; but the allegation of
Russian perfidy in the Merv affair may be left to those who look at
facts solely from the insular standpoint. In the eyes of patriotic
Russians England was the offender, first by opposing Muscovite policy
tooth and nail in the Balkans, secondly by seizing Egypt, and thirdly by
refusing to withdraw from that commanding position. The important fact