Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/55

Rh only be found in Persia, China, or India, and on the question of which it is to be hinges the whole Central Asian controversy. The problem is rendered more complicated by the fact that neither in Persia nor in China could England permit Russia to encroach any further. By encroachments in the first country our empire in India would be menaced more nearly than before ; and by any change in the second, other interests, scarcely less important, would be seriously jeoparded. But it is evident that all recent Russian explorations tend to show that the Russian Government has sanctioned them only for the further- ance of its own selfish ends. Science owes nothing to them, for not only have they not been undertaken in its interests, but their principal results have also been concealed. Russian explorations are but the pre- cursors of an advancing army; and those travellers whom we have mentioned are only the scouts of General Kaufmann's battalions. When Russia begins to perform her duty to the nationalities upon whom she has forced her rule, then we shall be more willing to do justice to the enterprise and courage of the by no means undistinguished band of Russian travellers. But until then we can only refuse to consider that they have conferred any service on mankind in general.

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