Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/89

THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN TURKESTAN. 69 authority lie exercises supreme power without control of any kind whatever. The military governors of Semiretchinskj Syr Darya, Ferghana, and Amou Darya, are all equally subordinate to him, and although the appointment to these posts is vested in the hands of the War Minister, they possess no independent authority. The salary of the Governor- General is supposed to amount to only seven thousand pounds a year, but there appears to be an indiscriminate custom of setting down against the State revenue all expen- diture. By this means General Kaufmann's salary becomes pocket-money. The principal points to be considered in the Russian administration are the sources, and the amount, of the revenue ; the expenditure ; the dispensation of justice ; the means of education that are placed at the disposal of the natives ; and, lastly, what the effect of these various circumstances is upon the relations between the ruler and the subjected. Let us consider these in detail, and in the order given. When Russia ad- vanced into Central Asia it was supposed that the khanates were naturally rich countries, and that they only required a very moderate amount of labour to become highly productive provinces, which would not only be self-supporting but would also contribute a handsome surplus either directly or indirectly to the State coffers. When it was found that the reality was of a completely different hue, and that the agri- cultural, commercial, and mineral resources of the country were all at their lowest ebb, the Russians, dis- appointed as they were, loudly proclaimed those