The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-08-01
RUssIR,s FtOys
A Review sthe siA9gnsg R7piaity of
BIusiovitesl'fssy ess.

Tho extenf of. tia R Qsgsan acquisi-
tio3s Of Territory fl'Kzshtral Asia Is as
littIn ,n57ors-+t,od' aStae ct~sous chan.
fer half Of deliherss elicH and half
of accident whichsos1&a<as the history
Of the acdui sitioHss q cerebral state
mert that IN a.SoSF4SE of "a century
Russia has advsScz2lef sbntier 700
milo to the'soutlr 81 .p3es to the
s0uth. east. eivea5bgf g vagpe impress
;o, of The startiind sst3isf of Mus
ooyite progfessf Ii Sist9sh an empire
of nagnEiceft. daaees," and the
mention Of It's sSsfEs Hing frontier sug-
gests the aeSlis5Ii i51kf barren steppes
or frozen deSksfe. 3 it must be re-
membered ~. ahe hArallel of latitude
under which e. lib would but pass
through the cAriter xihe Russian ter
ritory in Western -~skestan. The
three great. Khan 80 z3okhara, Kho-
kand, ~ snK l'Iy - Russia has
virtuaily -, r the presopt
highly cir E.
formed the subject ~ "a contest be-
tween dynasties who SeSl9nsss are among
the foremost Of 1ssiatig potentates.
Gan2hiz Khan, the noon Attill, once
raled vast dominion fDm Samareand,
which has now beeome : Russian mu
mcipallty, and a successor OF Timour,
the Iurcoman, foundedthe Empire of
the Great Mogul in Indh.
territories both wealthy and pros
porous had, however, sunk into that
peculiarly hopeless style Of barbarism
characteristic OF the effete of Mussul-
man rule, long before Russia crossed
the hirghlz steppe, or began to con
tlnue her Siberian forts southwark to-
wards the Jaxartes. At every stage of
her advance she has replaced the most
debased forms of tyranRy with a sys
tenn OF administration which, if tainted
with the wees Of military arrogance and
clvlilan rapaclty, Is at least a guaranty
OF 6ocnl security, and an immense
stride toward civilization. The ambi-
tion OF her generals, operating at i'm
meDse distances from the central au-
thorlty, and nenessarily invested with
very ample discretion in dealing with
semi hrbarOus foes, has had rather
more TO do with Russia advances in
Asia tam any steadfast line of policy
traced st st. Petersburg. Nothing is
more ltrlking than the ridiculous small
ness o tine armies with which Russia
las subjugated Turkestan. Tashkend
was tasen with less than two thousand
Of an issaulting force, though the town
1000 inhabitants and gar
rison d 10. 600 to u, 600 men, and so on
with dber celebrated actions OF the
last twenty years. The late expedition
against Khiva was planned with more
delibention and carried ont with
greater display of strength than any
previoB advance against the other
Khauat.s. The causes which led to
that expedition are, however, fair
sample IF the reasons that have COM
PEELED tle conquest Of the surrounding
States. As the civilized nation ad
vanced lis protectorate, the tribes which
it c0wed became less fitted than before
to resist ne atta cks of their independ-
ent neighbOrs, ana in sheer seif-defense
the Russian outposts had to be pushed
further, and further into territories
which were used chiefly for the conceal
ment OF organized bands OF armed rob
bers. o., the envoys, the merchants,
the soldiers OF the dyepei1g power
: thest6e OF conq5ess, 'ss7iSils
exsss 80. for their rescue and the
pti1s -; + their captors, led, by
na ssH ugh series Of events, to per
ma - scuDatiOn