Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/121

EUSSIA*S MILITARY STEENGTH IN CENTRAL ASIA. 101 tral Asiatics will have been as firmly welded into the body of the empire as the Cossacks are now, and they will have as much affection for the Imperial Grovern- ment as the bold riders of the Don and the Yolga entertain at present. If nothing untoward takes place, no doubt can be held on this point, and the people of Turkestan almost imperceptibly will become merged in the mass of the other Russian subjects. Although we may be prepared to indulge in sneers at Russia's short-sightedness in not turning to im- mediate account the valuable fighting-material she possesses in Central Asia, let us not too hastily con- demn her for what a little consideration must show to be a very prudent abnegation. The safety which Russia feels against any intestine revolt far more than counterbalances the loss she temporarily incurs in not having a native standing army. There is no danger from the mutinous dispo- sition of her soldiers ; for all her soldiers are her own. There is no apprehension from the armies of semi- independent potentates within her frontier, because there are none. They have been all, with the exception of Bokhara, swept away. Let anyone compare these things with what obtains in India, and he must find that in many ways Russia's position is more assured in Central Asia than England's is in India. At the least her triumph is complete, whereas ours is founded on, and made secure alone by, the dissensions which keep races and religions divided into hostile camps. It hardly seems worth while to notice here the remark that a cor- respondent recently ventured to make in a daily paper,