Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/12

 viii They are brought to a close when a widely different condition of affairs obtains. We have concluded a successful campaign. Our foe has expiated his folly with his life. The Russian Embassy, which was the original cause of the war, has been withdrawn. The credit of Russia has been lowered. The reputation of England has been exalted. Fortune has been on our side in every respect, and the machinations of our foes, secret and proclaimed, have been thwarted. The mission of General Stoletoff has been proved to be what the more skilled observers of Central Asian affairs at the time pronounced it to be, "a huge mistake." Yet none the less for this happy conclusion of an involved and dangerous business is it incontestable that the rivalry of England and Russia is as keen as ever, possibly more keen, because of the failure of the Russian scheme. For that reason the following pages, which claim to be based upon permanent truths, relate to as active a force as if they had been produced last November, when the want for information on the subject first made itself perceptible. The conclusions at which the writer has arrived are expressed without hesitation, and while they point to a very bold line of policy, it is in the full conviction that there is an absolute necessity for such plain speaking that they have been stated in these volumes. The time must come when