'The Russians in Akhal' [‎35r] (21/68)

35
1873.
Henvey’s Precis, 1872-75, p. 88.
Abstract, No. XLIII., 25th April 1873.
* “ The Persian Minister here was instructed
by telegraph to ask explanation of the cross*
ing of the Attrek ” (properly Gurgan) “ by
the Russian troops. Imperial Govern
ment have replied through their Minister
at Teheran that an amicable warning of
the possibility of such an incident had been
made two months ago to the Persian Govern
ment and had elicited no remark, but that
the frontier being unguarded by Persia, law
less bands were free to make inroads on
Russian temtory with impunity; that the
incident in question must be regarded as an
act of necessity and not of aggression, and
that the Imperial Government fully recog
nized Attrek as the frontier between Russia
and Persia. It is presumed that the fore
going explanation will satisfy the Persian
Government. The Persian Prime Minister,
however, denied the alleged fact of the ‘ ami-
‘ cable warning.’ ”
Home Correspondence, April and May
18(3, VoL 73, p. 279 ; and Sir R. Hertslet’s
Memorandum, Foreign Office, 1877.
Henvey’s Precis, 1872—75. pp. 74 and 76.
■
Henvey’s Precis, 1872—75, pp. 87 to 89,
Abstract, No. CIL, 19th June 1874.
1874.
Abstract, No. XCV., April 1874.
Home Correspondence, Yol. 74, p.
21
C£ number of camels belonging to the Attabai
" tribe.”
Colonel Markozof was after this guided back to
the banks of the Gurgan, and allowed by the
Persian authorities to recross that river at Ak-
Kala, receiving the ec most gracious thanks ” of the
Persian officers at that fort “ for having punished
“ the Turcoman raiders who so constantly troubled
“ them.”
The Persian Government remonstrated against
this flagrant violation of Persian territory, but the
Russian Government in reply reminded that of the
Shall of the fact that some three months previously
the Persian Minister at St. Petersburg had been
requested to represent to his Government that, if
the Russian troops should happen to be engaged in
a conflict with the Turcomans and be obliged to
cross the Gurgan, it should not be considered that
such operations against the nomads had been
planned “ beforehand,” and it was added, that “ as
“ nothing was said against this at the time, the
<c Russian Government took silence to mean con
sent, more especially as no great importance
could attach to an accidental passage of troops
“ over an unpopulated country.”*
During the rest of the yea* 1873 the Russian
forces in the trans-Caspian region were employed
in operations directed exclusively against Khiva,
in which the column under Markozof all but com
pletely perished in the desert.
Nothing more in this region was undertaken
until the spring of 1874. Colonel Lomakin as
sumed the command of the trans-Caspian forces in
November 1873, when on arriving at Krasnovodsk
he addressed letters and sent emissaries to all the
Turcoman tribes from Krasnovodsk to Merv, and
to the Gurgan.
He announced to all those people that he was
authorized by the brother of the Emperor (the
Grand Duke Michael, Viceroy of the Caucasus), to
claim their allegiance and obedience as subjects of
Russia, and he summoned all the head men of
Akhal and of the Gurgan and Attrek regions to
appear before him, appointing the time and place
for their gathering.
In the meantime Colonel Lomakin elaborated a
pioject foi the organization of a separate governor
ship in the trans-Caspian region, which should be
subordinate to the Viceroy of the Caucasus. The
report was forwarded from Krasnovodsk through
the Grand Duke Michael in December 1873, having
been preceded by a recommendation submitted to
the Emperor by the Grand Duke in November
1873, for the conversion of the steppe region East
of the Caspian into a military section of the mili
tary circuit of the Caucasus.
The result of this was the Ukaz, dated 9th (21st)
March 13/4, which ran as follows:—
“ The trans-Caspian country, within the lim
from Mertvi-Kultuk Bay to the Attrek (the fr
6662 . p