Russian anxieties with regard to the state of matters in
Central Asia, if they were ever genuine, have been soon removed. The battle with the disturbers has been fought and won. Nothing, indeed, could have served the purpose of General Kaufmann better than that the Khokand revolutionists should have ventured to meet him in the field. Instead of awaiting and molesting his
advance, they attempted to capture Khojeint, and relying on numbers, fought an action in the open. As was foreseen, rifted cannon, trained troops, though few, and breech-loaders, speedily rented an unwieldy, ill-armed mob. Thus the road to the capital was effectually opened, and thaaka to Khokand impulsiveness, the Russians are more firmly rooted in Turkestan, up to the frontiers of Kashgar, than they were before. Will they pass them ? That is the next question.
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