Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/518

 494 RUSSIA some of the tribes submitted to the Russian rule, but for two centuries no one could say who was the real master of the vast tracts of land which lay between the rich and fruit- ful khanates of central Asia and the banks of the Ural and Irtish. There was much trade between these khanates and the towns of Astrakhan and Orenburg, but it was car- ried on chiefly by Bokhara merchants com- ing across the steppes, not by Russian mer- chants venturing abroad ; for while the former managed to get safely with their caravans through the wilderness and to make good bar- gains with the Muscovites, the latter ran great risk of being robbed and killed in the steppes, or robbed and sold into bondage in the khan- ates themselves. So great was the desire of the Russians to get the silk and cotton of Bokhara and Khiva in exchange for their own products, that the merchants of the khanates trading in Russia were exempt from all taxes and duties, notwithstanding the bad treatment the Russian merchants underwent in the khan- ates and the heavy duties levied upon their wares. Under the emperor Nicholas the first attempts to compel the khanates to a fairer way of trading were made, but with little suc- cess. The expedition of Count Perovsky in 1839-'40 perished under the combined influ- ence of want of water and food and of con- stant flghts with the overwhelming forces of the khans and the hostile nomadic tribes. But toward the end of the reign of Nicholas the steppes beyond the river Ural came, some- how or othor, to be considered as Russian territory; they were called domains of the Kirghiz of Orenburg and of the Kirghiz of Siberia respectively, and some outpost settle- ments were established, not only on the steppes, but even beyond them on the banks of the Sir Darya. Of these Fort Perovsky, which was almost a fortress, was both the most distant and the most important, since it enabled the Russians to launch two steamers on the sea of Aral, and thence to navigate a portion of the Sir Darya. Yet occasionally whole settlements were exterminated by the wandering tribes, and many of the fortified outposts were regu- larly besieged by the united troops of the khan of Khokan and the emir of Bokhara. A spe- cial committee appointed to investigate the state of affairs in the Asiatic dominions pro- nounced it absolutely necessary to " unite the new outpost lino on the Sir Darya with the advanced posts on the southern frontier of Si- beria." This resolution practically meant the erection of new fortified places further along the Sir Darya to the foot of the Thian-shan mountains and to the lake of Issik-kul, and had been approved by Nicholas when the Cri- mean war caused the government to postpone all its projects in Asia. About 1860 the pro- ject was resumed, the first steps being taken from Siberia by the construction of Forts Vier- noye and Kastek at the foot of the Thian-shan. A double advance was executed in 1863 by small detachments toward and along the Sir Darya. The Khokan fortresses Pishpek and Tokmak, and Yeni Kurgan, were occupied. About the beginning of 1864 the two detach- ments were comparatively near each other, and in June the western, commanded by Col. Verefkin, took Hazret-i-Turkistan ; while about the same time the eastern, commanded by Col. Tcherniayeff, captured the fort of Auliet. The ends of the two lines were thus nearly joined, and in October Col. Tcherniayeff, commanding the united detachments, entered Tchemkend. The original object of the Russian government was thus accomplished, and it was Alexander's intention to stop any further advance of his troops; but the khans of Bokhara and Kho- kan, and subsequently of Khiva, by their con- stant attacks on the Russian outposts, com- pelled the generals to advance further. Tash- kend was taken in 1865, Khojend in 1866, and Samarcand, by Gen. Kaufmann, in 1868. The same general vanquished the khan of Khiva in 1873 (see KHIVA), and in September, 1875, after another victory, took the city of Khokan. The cessions which the khan of Khiva was forced to make brought the entire E. coast of the Caspian sea into the hands of Russia, so that she can now keep her military lines of operation in perfect order by constant supplies by rail, river, and the sea, from St. Petersburg and the Baltic. The Russian government has determined to connect the Caspian sea and the sea of. Azov (and through the latter the Black sea) by a canal 750 m. long, which, it is esti- mated, can be finished in six years at a cost of about $62,000,000. By it the military strength of the whole southern coast region will be ma- terially increased, for through it fleets will be able to penetrate from the Black sea into the Caspian, and there unite for a combined attack or a common defence. Such is the military importance of the Caspian sea in the estima- tion of Russia, that while reserving to herself the unrestricted use of its waters, she has im- posed a treaty on Persia which prevents that power from maintaining any vessels of war upon it, notwithstanding that its S. and S. W. snores are part of its territory. There is an active commercial movement on the Caspian, but it is almost exclusively Russian. More than 800 vessels annually enter its ports, engaged in trade with Persia, Tartary, and the Caucasus. But the greatest event in recent Russian history is the emancipation of the serfs, de- creed by Alexander II. on March 3 (Feb. 19, O. S.), 1861. The early history of Russia was marked by unlimited despotism on the part of the princes, and equally unlimited insurrec- tionary tendencies on the part of the subjects. The murdering of princes was common, and it was only by organizing large body guards that they maintained their power. These guards subsequently became nobles and were largely endowed with territorial possessions. The peasants worked on these estates, with per- fect freedom to move from one to another,