seemed at first suspicious to me, but since I have heard that he is a poor man I believe in his fanaticism." The insular separatist, the proud Englander, had in the end to submit to a foreigner mixing himself up with his national concerns, giving his unbidden opinion about Great Britain's foreign policy, and finally, by dint of perseverance, influencing public opinion in England. Of course all this was not the work of a few weeks or months, but of a whole series of years. Between 1865 and 1885 I published a quantity of letters, articles, and essays on political and politico-economic affairs in Central Asia, Persia, and Turkey in English, German, French, Hungarian, and American periodicals, which, if collected, would make several volumes. In England it was chiefly in the _Times_, and sometimes in other daily papers, as also in periodicals such as the _Nineteenth Century_, the _Fortnightly Review_, the _National Review_, _Army and Navy Gazette_, the _New Review_, the _Journal of the Society of Arts_, the _Asiatic Quarterly Review_, the _Leisure Hour_, and _Good Words_. In Germany I wrote in the _Münchener_ (formerly _Augsburger_) _Allgemeine Zeitung_, _Unsere Zeit_, _Die Deutsche Rundschau_, _Die Deutsche Revue_, _Welthandel_, and in a few other daily and monthly papers, long since discontinued. In Austro-Hungary I often wrote in the _Pester Lloyd_, but only seldom in the _Neue Freie Presse_ and in the _Monatschrift für den Orient_, while in France I contributed to the _Revue des deux Mondes_, and in America to the _Forum_ and the _North American Review_. Only when the Central Asiatic question became acute--as, for instance, on the occasion of the taking of Samarkand in 1868, the campaign against Khiva in 1873, the conquest of Khokand in 1876, and the Pendjdeh affair--was my pen in actual request. For the rest I had to force myself upon the public, and not only on the Continent, but in England also, I often had difficulty in getting a hearing. As long as the Russians had not so far consolidated their power that it was dangerous for foreign travellers to be admitted in the conquered districts I was able to maintain myself as chief and only authority on Central Asiatic affairs. Later I had gradually to relinquish this privilege. The number of writers versed in Central Asiatic concerns constantly increased, but my knowledge of the Oriental and Russian languages, and also my prolonged and intimate acquaintance with the theme, always gave me a certain amount of advantage over my literary competitors. From time to time, when the Central Asiatic question came to the foreground, I entered the arena with larger, more substantial essays. Thus, for instance, my _Power of Russia in Asia_, which appeared in German and Hungarian, depicted the gradual progress of the Russian conquests in Asia. As foundation for my article I used MacNeil's _The Progress and Present Position of Russia in the East_, which appeared at the time of the Crimean War. This I