The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1885. Arbitration.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1533, 6 May 1885, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1885. Arbitration.

Public anxiety in reference to the Anglo-Russian difficulty has been considerably allayed by the cablegram we published yesterday stating that England and Russia had come to a mutual agreement to submit to arbitration the recent Penjdeh incident and the dilimitation of the Afghan frontier; but we doubt whether British subjects, with the exception of the “ peace-at-any-price ” party, will regard the announcement with unmixed feelings. Our cablegrams to-day inform us that during a long and animated debate which took place in the House of Commons yesterday, Lord Randolph Churchill, whose persistent energy and merciless castigation of Mr Gladstone’s policy have won for him considerable promin ence in the ranks of the Conservative party, characterised the agreement come to with Russia as a “cowardly surrender of England’s rights.” We are not prepared to fully endorse the opinion so forcibly expressed by Lord Churchill, nor can we at this distance from the arena of operations estimate with any degree of certainty the weight to which it is entitled, but, reviewing the circumstances of the past six months, we must regret that the British Government has not shown less vacillation in dealing with this important crisis. Much as we value peace, much as we should deplore the general conflagration which, we fear, would fo'low war between Great Britain and Russia, we could not congratulate the nation upon a peace secured by the sacrifice of the Empire’s honor and prestige. It is not consistent with our national traditions nor agreeable to our national instincts for Britain to give way to every Russian advance, but,so far as we canjudge from the information at our disposal, Russia has firmly maintained every step she has taken towards our Indian frontier, and even during the progress of the arbitration she will be able to continue her preparations for a descent upon Afghanistan. One would have thought it would have been made a condition precedent of the arbitration that the Russian forces should have been withdrawn from the disputed territory. As matters stand Russia retains her hold of the country she has invaded ; and it may pretty safely be affirmed that if she considers the result of the arbitration to be against her interests, she will refuse to abide by it. Peace is not yet fully assured, the aspect of affairs changes from day to day, and unless this further delay results in a peaceful solution of the difficulty, it cannot fail to have an unfavorable effect upon British interests.