fact that the governments she displaced were bad governments, and
that she substituted one far better in itself and of a simplicity
which was well adapted to the people with whom she was dealing. She
aimed mainly at three things--the establishment of order and of
confidence and the obtaining of some return for her own heavy
expenses. From the establishment of order and of confidence sprang a
prosperity which enabled her to obtain a certain revenue, though
entirely inadequate to her expenditure. Thus we beheld her pressing
solidly on, and we knew not where she might stop. Pretexts, such as
it was difficult to find a flaw in, were never wanting on which to
ground a fresh absorption of territory. And seeing behind this
advance a vast country--almost a continent--which was not merely a
great Asiatic Power, but a great European State, under autocratic,
irresponsible rule, with interests touching ours at many points, it
is not to be wondered at that we watched with anxiety her progress
as she bore steadily down toward our Indian frontier."

General Hamley says that England became particularly suspicious of
Russia in 1867 when she absorbed Turkestan, and this feeling was
intensified in 1878, while the Treaty of Berlin was still pending.
General Kaufmann assembled a small army of about 12,000 men and
thirty-two guns on the frontier of Bokhara, and although upon the
signing of the treaty all threatening movements ceased, yet the
British commander then operating in Afghanistan knew that Kaufmann
had proposed to march in the direction of Kabul, and menace the
British frontier.

It has ever been the practice of Russia, in her schemes of
aggrandizement, to combine her diplomatic with her military
machinery; but, unlike other nations, the ambassador has generally