Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume XLVIII, No. 2480 [‎684v] (18/24)

5&6
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
\June i, 1900.
reason he regretted to find that the paper was
limited to Russian Central Asia, as there seemed a
possibility of Russian expansion very much further to
the East, beyond the Pamirs, towards the high tableland
between the Khokandland Afountains and the Hima
layas, and he wished Mr. Colquhoun had gone a little
into the ethnology of that district, and shown the con
nection between that part which was now Russian and
the region further East, to which, in all probability,
Russia was directing her eyes. He had been much
struck with the passages referring to the Russian
administration, of which a sample was the statement
that no change was to be observed in the bazaars
of Tashkent since the Russian occupation. He
would like to ask if that was typical of the
Russian administration, for as all who had been
in India were aware, the British administration could
not be charged with that sort of neglect. You could
not go into a bazaar in India without seeing—not
great changes in the ways and customs of the natives,
but the beneficent results of the British system, not
merely in preserving order, but in facilitating trade
and business. In another passage a contrast was
drawn between the two systems, which was favourable
to the Russian, which did not allow—as the English
did in India—the land to pass into the hands of mere
moneylenders. No greater weakness existed in the
position of Great Britain in India than that due
to the fact that especially in the Panjab and
the north-west, owing to the introduction of the
English system of law and mortgages, the
Hindoo moneylenders were much strengthened
in their position. Previously the country had been
somewhat disturbed, and the farmers could not
borrow to any serious extent. Under the protection
of British law, the land became more valuable, and the
farmers were able to borrow more largely ; after a few
years the fanner found he could not pay, and then the
moneylender produced his mortgage and got posses
sion of the land. Thus the native farmer, who was a
Mussulman and an admirable soldier, was in too
many cases dispossessed by the moneylender, who
was not a soldier, and was not particularly attached
to British rule. In some parts of India this had been
the cause of widespread discontent, and many were
hoping that some change would be effected during
the present vice-royalty.
Mr. F. H. Skrine said he had listened to the
paper with great interest, because he had travelled in
Central Asia himself, and last year in collaboration
with Air. Denison Ross, wrote a book called “The
Heart of Asia,” in which they described the scenes
related by Mr. Colquhoun. He could bear testimony to
the accuracy of his description in the main, but noticed
one or two minor inaccuracies. Air. Colquhoun referred
to Kuldja as being within the tropics; he was not quite
sure of the latitude, but it was at a great elevation, and
was as healthy as any part of Europe. The speaker
had seen at Samarcand, Askabad, and other Central
Asian towns, Russian colonists from Kuldja who
looked the picture of health; but that did not
apply to all parts of Central Asia. His friend,
General Kurapatkine, the Alinistcr of War, had
founded thirteen or more military colonics towards
the frontiers of Afghanistan, which had proved
failures; the children were ricketty and the men
took to drink, and he believed it was in contem
plation to break them up or move them eastwards.
Again, it was said that no good coal was found in that
region, but he had seen in the museum at Samarkand
lumps of coal equal to the best Welsh, and was told
by a young Scotchman, who has settled there, that
mountains of coal of the finest quality were to be
found in the valley of the Zerafshan. There were
also other minerals, and he believed there was a
veritable Klondike lying buried in the mountains
beyond Samarcand. They had heard a great deal about
the Khirghiz, but, in his opinion, they were not
nearly so interesting a race as the Turkomans, who
had a nobility of character and mien which recalled
their ancestors, the Parthians, who at one time set
the whole empire of Rome at defiance. Amongst
them women had a high position ; they were treated
as equals, and bore the mark of independence in
their queenly gait. With the Turkomans alone in
Central Asia did women take their proper place,
and it would be a great less to civilisation if a
type like that were allowed to perish. The Russians
had found it necessary to show great severity in
putting down signs of Turkoman independence, and
the result was that they were disappearing like the
red men described by Fenimore Cooper. Another
matter for regret was the disappearance of the Turko
man horse, which within living memory was superior
to any animal ever foaled for his endurance, docility,
and affection for his master. The breed was now
dying out, because the raids in which it were so impor
tant a feature had been sternly repressed. The horses
now bred in Central Asia were very poor creatures
indeed, and, in fact, the Cossacks were mounted on
ponies from the Caucasus and the Don. He was pleased
to see that Air. Colquhoun had shown an impartial
spirit in dealing with the Russian administration.
He (Mr. Skrine) had gone from the bottom
almost to the top of the Civil Service in Bengal,
and had governed millions in his time, so that he
went to Central Asia with some knowledge of
how to manage Oriental races; and his impression
was that the Russian Government w'as bene
ficent, and sought the well-being of the subject
peoples. Alany mistakes, of course, had been made.
\\ ith regard to the Kirghiz, it was unfortunate that
the native chieftains had been superseded by a sham
system of election ; but those chieftains had
too much power for an autocratic Government.
With regard to Turkestan proper he must say
the Russian administrators had shown a sympathy
and consideration for the people, such as was only to
be paralleled in British India, the administration of
which he believed was to a great extent copied. In India