General Abramoff completed the pacification of Bokhārā by subduing Shahrisabz, the last refuge of highland independence. He then politely invited the Amīr to assume the sovereignty of the pacified territory.
So effectually was Muzaffar ed-Dīn’s proud spirit crushed by adverse fortunes that he humbly received his province as a boon from his Russian suzerain. He saw the once hated and despised infidels in possession of Samarkand, the richest inheritance of his fathers, and masters of the Zarafshān, the source of Bokhāran prosperity. He knew that it was in their power to divert its life-giving waters and render his capital a prey to the ever-advancing desert sands. Thus the remainder of his days was spent in vain repentance, in indulging “sorrow’s crown of sorrow”; and the Tsar had no more obedient vassal than the man who had aspired to sit on the throne of Tīmūr. His later policy has been adopted by his son, the present Amīr `Abd ul-Ahad. With the conquest of Bokhārā and the annexation of Samarkand the fourth great stride in the Russian advance was completed. She was mistress of Central Asia, from the confines of China to the Amū Daryā, that historic river which rises in the Pamirs to empty its waters into the Sea of Aral.
These immense accessions to an empire which already rivalled that of ancient Rome served but to open up a vista of future possibilities.
“Since the reign of Peter the Great,” wrote a contemporary Russian author,[556] “we have advanced with diligence and at the price of immense sacrifices across the steppes which barred our passage. They are now left behind. Our dominion has reached the basin of two great rivers whose waters lave thickly peopled and fertile regions. We have a right to seek compensation for sacrifices and labours endured for more than a century. We have a right to attain a secure frontier by pushing our colonies up to the summit of the Himalayan range, the natural barrier between the Russian and English possessions. When this point has been reached, then only can we look calmly on the development of Great Britain’s empire.” The reduction of Khiva was a corollary of that of Bokhārā. The Khānate stretched northwards as a wedge into the newly acquired territory and dominated the lower reaches of the Amū Daryā. Its ruler and its entire population were bitterly hostile to Russian designs. A Khivan contingent had fought side by side with the hosts of Samarkand during the recent campaigns, the result of which did not intimidate them.