Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/206

186 base a Court as that* of the Ameer of Bokhara. In those days that ruler considered himself to be a great prince; and he had^ already had some experience in dealing with European nations in his long-standing diplomatic relations with Russia. Our representative treated him in a manner that was at once imperious and dictatorial. The personal character of ISTasrullah, the Ameer at the time, made this mistake still more unfortunate, for of all Central Asian despots Nasrullah was certainly the most tyrannical and unreasonable. His antipathy once roused was most difficult to be appeased, and he readily believed all the tales that were brought to him of those who had fallen under his displeasure. There can be no question that Colonel Stoddart, in setting all the customs and etiquette of the strict Bokharan Court at defiance, behaved very foolishly, and rushed upon his fate. He might well have taken a leaf out of the book of Sir Alexander Burnes, that most accomplished of all Asiatic travellers, and by humouring the Ameer have advanced the cause he had so dearly at heart more than he possibly could by any rashly-bold demeanour. But those were the Givis Bomanus sum days, and no one had a higher opinion of the superiority of England over every other country under the sun than Charles Stoddart. From one mistake he passed to the commission of another. He refused to abide by the Court forms, he assaulted the palace officials, he treated the Ameer with defiance, he insulted the vizier, and to all these acts he added the crime of coming without presents, and the weakness