around them to have their chains removed. This is no figure of speech, as it was the custom of the Khivans to load their slaves with chains to prevent their running away. The sound of chisel and hammer, as the links were cut, or the grating of the file opening the rivets, were audible all over Khiva for several days after the arrival of the Russians. Slavery in the oasis was at an end. The Russian slaves in Khiva were liberated just before Kaufmann started from Tashkend, but too late to prevent the departure of the expedition.
A few days after taking possession of the city, General Kaufmann drafted a treaty to be made between the Khan and the Emperor. It was sent to St. Petersburg, where it received the imperial sanction, and was then returned to the general. On the 23d of August it was signed by General Kaufmann and the Khan in presence of the full staff of the former and a proportionate number of Khivan dignitaries.
By the terms of the treaty, the Khan became a vassal of the Emperor, surrendering the right of holding direct relations with neighboring khans and potentates, declaring war, or making commercial treaties, without the Emperor's permission. The boundaries were carefully defined; the Oxus was to be navigated exclusively by Russian vessels; the Russians had the right to establish ports and posts wherever they pleased; could build warehouses for the storage of goods, and all Russian merchants could have their commercial agents in Khiva, or other towns of the khanate. Slavery was to cease forever, and the khanate agreed to pay a war indemnity of 2,200,000 roubles in twenty annual instalments, with interest at five per cent.
The conquest of Khiva pushed the boundary of Russia some 300 miles to the south, annexed a territory of many thousand square miles, and gave complete control of the navigation of the Oxus. The moral advantages of the conquest were of more consequence to Russia
