Connecticut western news., 1873-07-25
Russian Policy in Asia.
How Central Asia is being Gradually
 Eaten Up by the Russians--V Why Russ

IhOS. Knox 1n a magazine article on the encroachment of the Russians into Central Asia, says: It is the fate of the Asiatics to be in perpetual quarrels, and thatgreatly favored the Russian schemes. Now the Emir of Bokhara was at war i, with Khokan, next there would be trouble between Khiva and Bokhara, , and again Khokan and Khiva would be , at each others ears. Unruly soAs made unpleasant family jars, and subordinate heads of tribes were constantly in re- volt. Not year passed without expe- ditions of some sort, and frequently there might be a dozen of them in as
 many months. The ruler might go out
 to chastise refractofy neighbor, leav- ing his son or brother as regent during his absence. Every thing would be serene at his departure, but on his re-
 turn, especially if he came back defeat
 ed, he would very likely find the gates
 of his city closed against him, and the
 regent converted into an actual ruler.
 Sometimes a commander would go over
 to the enemy, and sometimes the enemy
 would go over to him. Assassination
 was not uncommon, and occasionally an
 ambitious son, tired of waiting for his
 father to die, would administer poison
 to the old gentleman, or insert knife
 into his jugular vein. Every occupant
 of or heir to throne was anxious to
 achieve the fame of Gengis-Khan or Ti-
 mOur, and become @ "Wor Con-
 queror," and was rarely fastidious
 about the means of achieving it. And
 so 1t went on year after year, and the
 willy Muscovite watched his opportuni-
 ties, and never neglected to embrace
 them too.
 In 1926 there died at Bokhara (city)
 Emir Said, and immediately after his
 death his son Husein ascended the
 throne, and became Khan. His younger
 brother Nasrullah was ambitious of
 honor, and so he caused Husein to be poisoned, after reign of less than three months. Another brother, Omar, came into the field as claimant, natu- rally thinking that he had as good right to steal O throne as any body else Nasrullah captured Samarcand, and then marched upon Bokhara, which he
 besieged and took. Omar fled to Kho-
 kan, where he died of cholera soon after. Nasrullah was determined to
 have peace, and so he executed in cold i blood three of his younger brothers and
 great number of the adherents of his
 former rivals. This was sufficient to
  sired, and he announced that he was de-
 termined to follow in the footsteps of
 his father-whom, by-the-way, he was
 suspected of having poisoned-and make
 the happiness of his subjects and the
 strict supervision of religious observ-
 ances the great object of his life. He
 was pious old scoundrel, and while in-
 dulg1ng ln the greatest atrocities he always prated about his love of Islam ism and his reverence for the Prophet of God. He made his ministers faith ful to him by helping them to amass fortunes, but as soon as they had gained a sufficient amount of this worlds goods he ordered them to be beheaded, and app . priated the property to himself. He was model family man, as he had facetious practice of murdering his wives whenever he tired of them, and consequently was not regarded as a "good catch" in the matrimonial line. He kept 8 secret police so numerous and so watchful that nobody dared say any thing against him to his most inti- mate friend, and it is said thrt at one time man dared not even think any thing except good of the emir. He had all the vices that were ever possessed by any ruler since the days of Adam ill any country on the face of the globe, and the story of his indulgences would hardly be suited to the pages of any ! modern publication. Those who of ! tended him were burned in ovens, fayed I alive, flung from towers, or otherwise . of. One of his favorite enter tainments was to bind victim hand and foot, and then throw him into a '' cell CT box which contained many thou sands of sheep-ticks. The sufferings of .. the poor wretch would be horrible be- | yond description. ::
 It was while Nasrullah occupied the | throne that Russia, having absorbed the | wide region between Bokhara and the valleys of the Obi and Yenisei. made ' her appearance on the borders of his s territory. While occupied in the most | i1sgraceful prohigacy and tyranny, N Nasrullah had been constantly at war now with Khlva, now with Khokan, and now with various tribes and divisions of Il lis own subjects. Though no man in u lis reach dared breathe word against )! Jim, bis power had been greatly weak Il ened, and his subjects were discontent- ,d with his rule. He had sent several Q against Khokan, and though s 'ome of them were successful, the ma ority were defeated or given up through " reachery. s
 While one of the expeditions was re- 6 urning defeated from Khokan, and g mother from Khiva, Nasrullah heard O. hat the Russian outposts were on the fight bank of the Jaxartes, river form n ng the northern boundary of Bokhara, D nd flowing into the Aral Sea. Russia s' lad several times attempted to negotiate [, with him, and had sent ambassadors u with valuable presents, but in every as ase he treated the ambassadors with 1t lsrespect, and sometimes threw them St nto prison. Two English ambassadors, It Colonel Stoddart and Captain Connolly, vent to BOkhara, and were murdered U y the emlr, the former after four years | during which he was ire II ie uently tortured, and the latter, more n' ortunate, after an imprisonment of bout year. Stoddart was at one time
 his freedom if he would &C., ept Islamism, and to save his life he IT, onsented. But the treacherous emir ,a, ontinued to torture him, and on the A 7th of June, 1942, according to the ac- th ouut given by M. Arminius Vambery, ;- ne two victims were ordered out for W. xecution in the open square of Bokhara. ~, First the head of Stoddart was struck ere il. Then the executioner paused be- h( ore Connolly, and the emir told hlm IT, IT, is life would be spared if he would td n, mbrace the faith of Islam. "No." st st aid Connolly "I prefer to die. Stod- A, ait became Mohammedan, and still 1n 1n. ou have executed him. Complete your fo ork" to to As Nasrullah advanced in years he tp tp eems to have become more blood Sh lirsty than in his youth, if such a ;s, ling were possible. He fancied that r~ onspiracies were going on around him, 1n nd consequently he doomed hundreds nr ) death. While in his last illness ta ews reached him that his brother-in- ba w, who had long been in open revolt, N