Page:England & Russia in Central Asia,Vol-I.djvu/96

76 76 ENGLAND AND EUSSIA IN OENTEAL ASIA. Russian people will not consent to the continuance of that outlay unless some ultimate reward — shoAvy or substantial — is placed very tangibly before them. With regard to the dispensation of justice, we find that there is a law for the ruling and another for the ruled. So long as it is a matter of litigation between two persons, each equally a Russian subject, there is a civil court, presided over by a Russian official, which decides the dispute in accordance with the law of the empire. And if the ruled quarrel inter se they are allowed to decide the matter in dispute in their own courts and before their own judges. But in all criminal cases the Russian court exercises supreme jurisdiction ; while for treason, murder, and other extreme offences there is the military court, which is above all. In this court cases are judged with military brevity and decision. In former times the kazis, or local magistrates, were appointed by the ruler ; but now the Russians have lowered the old influence of these officials by deciding that they were to be elected by the people. The kazi, as an official created by their suffrage, lost all the claims to respect which he could claim as a ruler over them independent of their good will. Few Asiatics have yet learnt to regard representatives chosen by themselves as worthy of esteem and support. They appreciate force and superior energy alone. The amount which figures in the estimate under the head of " Education " is, perhaps, the best proof that Russia has done literally nothing for her subjects in this matter. She has left them exactly as she found them, under the influence of their unlettered mollahs,