Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/211

eussia's eelations with bokhaea. 191 India, and wherever else we are called upon to face superior numbers and the brute force of semi-civilised peoples. ConoUy's brave words are still ringing in our ears, and they, more than any feeble language I can use, should teach his countrymen never to forget his fate. The day must come when Bokhara shall dearly repay the wrong she did our countrymen, and when the inevitable punishment which England exacts for wrongs inflicted upon her subjects shall be meted out to the city of the bloodthirsty JSTasrullah. Until that deed of retribution has been wrought, England's prestige can never be great in Central Asia, but we may confidently expect that, when the citadel of Bokhara goes up in the air with a loud explosion to the manes of Charles Stoddart and Arthur Conolly, all the peoples of Turkestan will remember that, though they are separated from this country by a great distance, by mountain ranges, and steppes, and mighty rivers, yet they are not safe from the just wrath of England. The day may be nearer at hand than we at present suppose when we shall be sufficiently near to Bokhara to deal out that retribution which, no matter how long put o:ff, must most assuredly be exacted eventually; and if we then abstain from exacting it, we shall have failed in the duty England owes to herself and every one of her subjects.