The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-27 00:00:00

KHIVA.-.RUSSIAN AGGRESSION,

A recent traveller in the East gives the following par-
ticulars respecting the territorial acquisitions of Russia
in her Eastern frontier. They derive additional interest
from the announcement lately made by telegraph of the
alleged taking of Khiva by the Russians :—The policy of
territorial aggrandisement which has ever characterised
the Russian cabinet has not been confined to Europe
alone. A powerful motive has never been wanting to
stimulate aggression in the east. The Russian frontier
has been advanced for a thousand miles along the western
shores of the Caspian from the Don to the Araxes, while
upon its eastern coast, and upon Khivan territory, two
forts have been erected, with the ostensible object of
protecting Russian fishermen from Khivan slavery. It
is difficult to define the precise limit of the progress of
Russia in this direction, but an irregular line drawn from
the south-western angle of the Sea of Aral, west by south
to the Caspian, may be laid down as the boundary beyond
which the influence of Russia over the wandering tribes
who inhabit the steppe is no longer predominant. The river
Emba, is, however, professedly the southern frontier of the
recently-acquired Tartar province, which extends in an
easterly direction to the borders of China, comprising an
area equal to the whole of the south of Europe. This
vast territory contains a wandering population of about
four millions, composed for the most part of Kirgheez
Cossacks, Calmucks, and Turcomans. Nothing can be
more cheerless than the aspect of the steppes upon
which these nomadic tribes pasture their camels—
throughout its entire extent not a tree is to be met with
or a single fixed habitation to be seen, with the exception
of a few recently established Cossack posts. Camel-
thorn and wormwood scrub afford but a scanty herbage ;
water is extremely scarce ; a distance of 200 miles often
intervenes between the brackish wells, while extensive
saline deposits are to be met with in every direction. In
winter the cold is intense, and the snow covers the ground
to such a depth that cattle are sometimes starved to
death before the return of spring. Then for a short time
all is verdant and fresh, and caravans leave Khiva
and Boukhara with merchandise for the Russian fairs.
During summer the burning heat parches up every green
thing, and the arid desert is almost impassable. In
autumn the caravans return. There are two principal
routes from the east of Russia into the countries of Cen-
tral Asia. It is not long since I myself witnessed upon
the borders of Orenburg the division of a large party of
Khiva and Boukhara merchants returning laden with
the spoils of the west. The greater portion took the
route by Astrakhan and Mangishlak, as involving a
shorter land journey. Miserable native craft ply be-
tween Astrakhan and the landing place on the eastern
shores of the Caspian, near which is the small Russian
fort of Alexandrofski. It is about 480 miles from this
fort to Khiva, one of the most _trying deserts for
camels in Central Asia. In some places the road
attains a considerable elevation, water and pasture
are both unusually scarce, and for eight or nine days
not even the black tent of a Kirgheez is visible. The
accounts which Mouravieff and Abbott give of this desert
are such as might fairly strike dismay into the heart of
the most intrepid traveller, and much more of a Russian
general at the head of an invading army. Indeed,
although this route was preferred on account of its short-
ness by my Asiatic travelling companions, the difficulties
which it opposes to the transport of an army are so great
as to render the invasion of Khiva from this direction a
matter of utter impossibility. This has been long re-
cognised by the Russian Government, who have concen-
trated all their "materiel" at Orenburg, and who, ever
since the celebrated expedition of Peroffski, have been
bent upon again attempting under happier auspices the
enterprise which then so signally failed. Fortunately
for Khiva nature has interposed such stupendous ob-
stacles in the way of the scheme of invasion that even
Muscovite perseverance and hardihood can scarcely be
supposed already to have overcome them. Although
Orenburg is the most fruitful province in Russia, and is
therefore the best adapted as a starting point for an in-
vading army, the desert which intervenes between it and
the Sea of Aral is almost precisely similar in character to
that between Khiva and the Caspian. The pasturage is in
parts finer, and the banks of the river Emba form a sort
of oasis in the desert, and nearly divide the distance.
The time occupied by caravans in making the transit
of this desert from Khiva varies considerably, but it is
never less than five weeks. The Kirgheez supply the
camels, and are the cause of innumerable delays to the
unfortunate merchants, who are not unfrequently robbed
by them into the bargain. This miserable race, how-
ever, though too restless and independent in their
to do more than own a nominal allegiance to Russia,
however ill-disposed they might feel towards an invad-
ing army, could never be formidable to it in a warlike
point of view. Weak and cowardly, they are treacher-
ous and vindictive, and would no doubt content them-
selves with removing their flocks and herds from the line
of march. The inclemency of the weather and the dif-
ficulty of feeding his men compelled Peroffski to retreat
after he had reached a point half-way between the Emba
and the Sea of Aral. At whatever time of year the
expedition might be undertaken, the latter difficulty
must always exist to a very great extent, for even the
Cossacks at many of the posts which must necessarily be
well garrisoned to keep at bay the Kirgheez and Turco-
mans, have occasionally run short of supplies. Unless,
therefore, the inhabitants themselves can be induced to
sacrifice all their worldly wealth to a power which can
exercise no real authority over them, and voluntarily
deprive themselves of their only means of subsistence to
satisfy the wants of a host of invaders, I cannot see how
the march can be accomplished; for to suppose that
the entire commissarist of an army sufficiently strong to
capture Khiva can be conveyed from Orenburg across
the most terrible country in the Na orld to that city seems
to me, in any case, and more especially from what I
know already of Russian commissariat arrangements,
absurd. The Khivan army consists of upwards of a
hundred thousand men, and though, from what little we
have heard of their prowess, they do not seem the bravest
troops in the world ; yet if the condition of the Russian
army, after some months of intolerable hardship, be con-
sidered, even the cowardly but savage Khivans might
prove their equals. Under any circumstances, an expe-
dition such as that against Khiva would be heard of long
before it could reach that distant city, and after the ex-
perience of Peroffski would certainly not again take
place in the depth of winter. Of 10,000 men that ac-
companied the Russian general on that ill-fated enter-
prise 8,000 are said to have perished in the snow-drifts.
I am, therefore, inclined to look with considerable suspi-
cion upon these floating rumours, and to regard them as
having been originated in the usual way by Russian
agents. But that there is an expedition contemplated
on the part of Russia, I have no doubt, and, probably,
in a few months, we shall hear more authentic accounts
of its progress. Of its political importance there is no
occasion to speak. The tendency of Russia has been to
encompass the Caspian, and by uniting the provinces of
Ghilan Mazenderan and Astrabad with Turcomania, to
consolidate her influence upon the northern frontier of
Persia, and gradually to absorb that kingdom in pursu-
ance of her systematic policy until, pressing upon the
northern slope of the HindooKhoosh, and after having
crossed impassable deserts, she may deem her armies
all the more competent to climb impassable mountains,
and find their reward and repose in the sunny plains of
India.