Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/130

110 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA. induced the Czar to authorise the formation of a fresh district beyond the Caspian. This district was placed under the control of the Lieutenant of the Caucasus, and Trans- Caspiania, as it is called, was made an advanced post of the large army of the Caucasus, Now there can be no doubt that this step, which was one of the numerous results of the Khivan campaign, was of the highest importance. It gave Russia a hold on Turcomania which she had never obtained before ; but at first that hold was purely nominal. As time went on it grew more assured, and Russia's frontier in Kara Kum became one of the most elastic of ex- pressions. We defy anyone to define it, even at the present moment ; and the Russian ofl&cial map, which accompanies these volumes, admits its own inability to perform the task. It would be quite a mistake to suppose that the ambition of invading India is confined to the head- quarter staff of General Kaufmann. That general was not the inventor of the phrase that " the cost of absorbing the khanates is to be recouped in the spoil of Delhi and Lahore." The sentiment of which it is the expression exists wide-spread throughout the Russian army. Long before Russia had reached Khokand or the Oxus, she had broken ground in Persia, and with considerable effect. She had suc- ceeded so far that on two occasions nominees of hers were supreme in Herat ; and supremacy in Herat alone was worth more than all the conquests Russia has made in Turkestan since Peroffsky first advanced along the Jaxartes. But there can be no doubt that