military officers in India; when English commercial houses make good businesses. The exchequer has hardly any profit from it, as the annual estimates of the Indian budget sufficiently prove! I compare the rôle of the agents of our Western culture in Asia or in Africa to that of a teacher in a private house; so long as we do not find a teacher who takes an engagement of mere passion and refuses a salary for his troublesome office, so long we have no right to reproach England or any other civilizing power with the material profits gained through the faithful fulfillment of her vocation. This is a just remuneration, and by no means a spoliation dictated by egotism!

If, therefore, my critics will admit the motives here enumerated, I hope that they will modify their opinion with regard to the tendency of my writings. Of those who impute to me base motives, I do not speak at all; my memoirs, which will be published after my death, will show them what allurements have been offered in order to silence my pen; and that there was a time when my publications and my lectures in England did not remain at all unnoticed on the banks of the Neva.

Strange to say, however, it was not only the Russian press in which I was vehemently attacked, and it is not only in Russia where I am looked upon as Diabolis rota; in England itself I have to meet sometimes with the most passionate antagonism, and am often exposed to a severe and unjust criticism. I have received during late years dozens of anonymous letters in which I am called an insolent intruder, and in which I am advised, not in very flattering terms, "to paddle my own canoe❞—to look after the politics of my own country, and not to meddle with the affairs of England, which has no need of my experiences, and which has got authorities better informed and more able to judge on Central Asian matters than I am. I need scarcely say that these warnings came mostly from those persons known as enraged Liberals, who find fault with my stanch adherence to the cause of the Conservative party of Great Britain. If my connection with the said party arose in consequence of my views on the interior politics of England, then my impolite adversaries would be decidedly right, for neither have I got sufficient knowledge

in that regard, nor do I feel a particular interest in the home affairs of England. The preference I give to the policy of the Conservatives is mainly based upon the fact that all the steps which have led Great Britain to extend her influence over Asia are more or less owing to the political views of that party, a party which has got a better appreciation of a truly imperial policy, and whose larger views coincide the much more with my own desires, as England is being brought by them in the foremost line of the countries to civilize Asia. The second reason for my adherence to the Conservatives lies in the fundamental principles of Conservative politicians in general, who, according to their motto, "Festina lente," have always manifested a particular care not to tumble topsyturvy institutions sanctioned by old age; with them the necessary changes are gradually worked out, and under their guidance the feelings of the stationary and strictly Conservative Asiatics are less hurt than by the feverish activity of the over-hasty Liberals, who very often chase wild illusions, and naturally run the risk of causing great confusion, as may be seen quite recently by the introduction of the disastrous "Ilbert Bill."

I fully understand that in Europe, and with our thronging and pressing desire for progress, the Conservatives are not always in the proper place; but it is quite different in Asia, where their principles are the best guarantee for success, and where they alone can produce that change so much desired for the sake of humanity, liberty and enlightenment. In order to quote a striking example, I must point to the great difference between the harshly proceeding Russia and the gradually progressing England. Russia is looked upon in Mohammedan Asia as a destructive and annihilating Power, whilst England has been called until quite recently-until indeed the last Turko-Russian war-a benignant Power which spares and protects, and which will never try to absorb foreign elements into her national body. Everything solid and truthful was connected throughout Turkey, Persia and the north of Africa with the name of England; and if those Liberal Hotspurs had heard and seen what I experienced in my travels, they certainly would have considered twice before they filled their mouths with all kinds of invectives against

their "unspeakable Turk;" before they put "The Comedy of Dulcigno" upon the stage; and before they entered into the venturesome affair in Egypt. Considering the valuable services which England can render to the cause of civilization in Asia, it is most desirable that this good reputation of hers should be kept up as long as possible; and since the Conservative statesmen of Great Britain have been identified with this policy of indulgence and of a slow but sure progress, I have always given preference to their rule, and I shall always side with them in questions relating to the civilizing influence of England in the Mohammedan East.

I may conclude with the saying, "Dixi et salvavi animam." I have exposed to the reader the reasons which have brought me into the arena of political contest; I have shown the motives which have led me hitherto, and which will lead me also in future, in my views on England's mission in the East-a part of our world for which I shall always feel the deepest interest. There is scarcely anything in the world which would shake my conviction with regard to these opinions of mine. Having already behind me a half-century of hard struggles, and being inured and hardened by the continual fight with the most singular freaks of fate, I shall probably maintain my actual position in the defense of my own views to the last moment of my existence. I hope I shall never have to repent the extraordinary fatigues and troubles with which I had to proceed on the thorny path; and if the last rays of the parting sun of my life approach, I still shall say, "It was a hot, but a fine day, sir!"

END OF THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF VAMBERY