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THE

BOKHARA VICTIMS.

BY

CAPTAIN GROVER, UNATT., F.R.S.

1

"Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum."-HOR.

LONDON:

CHAPMAN AND HALL, 186 STRAND.

MDCCCXLV.

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HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY,

THE QUEEN.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY!

My object in presuming to dedicate the following Narrative to your Majesty, is the hope of directing your Majesty's attention to the cruel sufferings and alleged murder of two British officers, who were sent on an important diplomatic mission, on your Majesty's service, and who appear to have been abandoned in an unaccountable manner, by your Majesty's Government.

I consider it my duty to state to your Majesty, that the circumstances attending

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this extraordinary case are degrading to the British nation, and are of a nature to dim the lustre of your Majesty's crown.

I consider it my duty also to add, that Lieutenant-Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conolly are not the only officers who have been sent on diplomatic missions to Central Asia, and then abandoned.

Trusting the peculiar circumstances of this cruel case will be deemed a sufficient apology for

my boldness in presuming to dedicate this narrative to your Majesty,

I have the honour to subscribe myself,

Your Majesty's faithful

And devoted Subject,

JOHN GROVER,

Captain Unattached.

London, April, 1845.

PREFACE.

In the month of July, 1843, I published an "Appeal to the British Nation" on behalf of my friend Lieutenant-Colonel Stoddart, and Captain Conolly, British Officers, who were imprisoned by the Ameer of Bokhara while employed in the service of their country on a diplomatic mission. I then stated that these officers had been abandoned to their wretched fate by the British Government, "which had not even taken the trouble to ascertain the simple fact of their existence."

Now, after a lapse of nearly two years, and having collected information from every accessible source, I openly and publicly repeat to the world that assertion; and I am quite sure, that any one

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