No. 518.
Mr. Jewell
to Mr. Fish.
St. Petersburg , December 31, 1873. (Received Jan. 24, 1874.)
Sir: I have the honor to inclose to you a copy of the treaty concluded between Russia and Bokhara on the 10th October last, which was pulished yesterday in the Government Messenger. You will [Page 808] notice that Russia cedes to Bokhara a portion of the right bank of the Amu-Darya, or Oxus, as proposed in the recent treaty with Khiva. The navigation of the Oxus within Bokharan limits is opened to Russian vessels, with the right to build wharves and warehouses. The chief provisions of the commercial treaty of 1868 are renewed, although some of them have never been carried out by the Bokharans. The chief merit of the new treaty is, that by it the slave-trade is abolished in Bokhara. I may mention here that Russian official accounts for the last few years had agreed in stating that the slave-trade there had ceased, all unofficial statements to the contrary being disbelieved. It was not until after Mr. Schuyler purchased a Persian slave openly in the bazaar in the city of Bokhara, who was taken from him by the Bokharan authorities, and then purchased another and brought him to Samarcand and Tashkent, as an incontrovertible proof of the Bokharan slave-trade, that the efforts of the governor-general of Turkistan were directed to repress this shameful traffic. It is to be hoped that the Russian government will insist on this article of the treaty being strictly observed.
The lad purchased by Mr. Schuyler for 700 tengas, or 175 rubles, was brought by him to St. Petersburg and lives under the care of Mr. Schuyler in his rooms at the legation, of course as a freeman. He is affine intelligent boy.
Thinking it may interest you, I also inclose, marked “B,” a translation of the passport for the lad, given to Mr. Schuyler by General Abramoff, the governor of the Zarafshan district, on his arrival at Samarcand.
I am, &c.,