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The Russian Government was as keenly alive as it could
be to the dangers that might arise from the activity of
English officers among the Turkmen tribes. Captain
Butler's movements were followed with close attention;
and at last, early in July, when the peace of the world
was being placed upon a new and a firmer basis at Berlin,
M. de Giers felt strong enough to call the attention of
Lord A. Loftus to the acts of this English officer. In a
dispatch, dated the 3rd of July, 1878, to the Marquis of
Salisbury, Lord A. Loftus says: " M. de Giers, the
head of the Russian Foreign Office, admitted that he had
sent M. Bakouline, the Russian Consul at Astrabad, to
Meshed, to watch the movements of Captains Butler and
Napier, who were reported to be inciting the Turkmen
tribes to hostilities against Russia. I (Lord A. Loftus)
stated to M. Giers that Captain Butler was a mere
traveler on his own account, and no agent of Her
Majesty's Government, and that urgent orders had been
sent to him by the Commander-in-Chief in India to return
forthwith to his military duties. M. de Giers, who
appeared to be well informed both in regard to Captain
Butler and Captain Napier, stated that he was aware that
Captain Butler had been recalled, but that, nevertheless,
he had refused to obey the orders he had received, and
was persisting in his intention to visit the Akhal
tribes. He referred even to the letter which Captain
Butler had addressed to certain Turkmen chiefs, of which
His Excellency had evidently received copies."
This complaint on the part of M. de Giers was to some
extent intended as a reply to the inquiries our
Government had been making as to General Lomakine's
movements, and the remonstrance’s which, on that
information, Lord A. Loftus had addressed to the Russian
Government.
Upon his return to Karachi, Captain Butler was ordered to
join his regiment at once, and, without receiving any
acknowledgment for his services, this officer has been
sent back to regimental duty, when he possesses
information, such as no other man possesses, of one of
the most important phases of the Central Asian Question.
It cannot be supposed that this treatment is to be more
than temporary that is to say, until the Indian
Government can find some other service for this most
resolute and courageous officer to perform for the
benefit of his country. Should it be otherwise, the
Indian authorities would have committed an act of
ingratitude which could only be compared to that evinced
by Russia to wards Vickovitch forty years ago. There is
considerable indignation in India at the gross neglect
shown to Captain Butler, as the following passage from a
leading Indian journal clearly indicates. It is quoted
here, although it is to be hoped and expected that before
these lines are in the hands of the reader the injustice
will have been undone, and the blunder, which is not the
least serious matter, repaired. No Government will secure
such faithful and useful service as that rendered by
Captain Butler, if, at a pinch, it deserts its servants,
and repudiates acts which it has encouraged when it was
thought some advantage might be derived from them. The
passage referred to is from the “Civil and Military
Gazette," and is as follows : — " We
regret to hear that the distinguished explorer of the
Kuren Dagh has been ordered to rejoin his regiment, under
circumstances which appear to himself, and to us, harsh
and not creditable to the Government of India, which
employed him on a peculiarly delicate and dangerous
mission, and now shows a disposition apparently to
disavow him. "
Major (?) F. W. H. Butler, of the 9th Regiment, the
officer to whom we allude, is one whose services to the
State assuredly deserve public recognition. Employed
under the immediate orders of the Governor-General of
India, he was sent a year ago to explore the little-
known regions lying between the Caspian Sea and the gates
of our Empire. Within that year's space he has surveyed
some thousands of miles of country hitherto unknown, has
brought back admirable maps of districts, which may prove
of incalculable value; he has literally carried his life
in his hand for months together in regions where the
slaughter of an unprotected traveler is regarded rather
as a meritorious action; he has undergone trials,
fatigue, and exposure which no ordinary man could have
survived ; and he has returned to India triumphantly
successful in the objects for which he was sent, only to
be received with marked official disfavor, and to meet,
for sole acknowledgment, with a curt order to rejoin his
regiment.
Not a word of thanks, not an invitation to recount the
story of his exertions, not even an offer to reimburse
him for the expenses to which he has been put, is
tendered to him. What misunderstanding or cause for
treatment, on the face of it so unworthy, there may be,
we do not know. "
We cannot conceive that Lord Lytton should be capable of
behaving to an English officer of Major (?) Butler's
merit as a Russian Czar behaved to the gallant Vickovitch
on his return to St. Petersburg from Kabul. It is not
yet, we hope, an English custom to repay exceptionally
gallant services with contemptuous neglect. Even
supposing that the very strong convictions gathered by
this energetic traveler should be unwelcome to the tepid
temper of British statesmen, and supposing his political
impressions to be opposed to departmental prejudices, we
cannot understand why he should be personally neglected
or unrewarded. A step in rank, an indulgence of leave,
and a liberal reimbursement for expenses incurred, should
have been the least return for his good service. Whereas
it would appear that he has met with nothing but a most
ungracious and chilling absence of all acknowledgment on
all sides, civil and military, and has been even left out
of pocket as regards travelling expenses. "
So patent and obvious was the personal risk and peril
dared by Major (?) Butler, that the Government actually
took from him an undertaking in writing, that he absolved
them from all responsibility in case of his death by
violence, before he started in obedience to his orders.
He has returned after fulfilling them to the letter, and
he is not even thanked. There is gross wrong here, which
we trust for England's sake may be righted."
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