RUSSIAN INTRIGUE IN TURKESTAN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1526, 6 April 1887, Page 2

RUSSIAN INTRIGUE IN TURKESTAN.

I (WeiHtißton " Post ") It c»n scarcely be doabted that the reported invasion of Afghanistan and attempted seizure of Herat by the Turkomans is directly Instigated by Russia, and is, m faot, really an aot of Russian aggression. Rossi i ia supreme m Tasfcestia, and the Turkomaai are m reality subjects of the White Czw. The idea of their entering on a war with Afghanistan anleis prompted and aupcertad by Russia is absurd. Tbeobjeotof the Muscovite In extending his power to the very bouadaries •£ Afghanistan, lubjagatlng the Tarkomans, and oocopylng first CaokTepe, and Kbiva, and then Merv, kas all along been foreieen and the present step predioted as its natural reaulc. Vambdry tells bow Russia conquered the Turkomans. Ha say's, writing of the taking of Geok-repa:-"The aged, the sick, and the very ohildren took part m the defence; unarmed women fixed their soiaaors at the. end of long poles, and thrust with them at the storming Russians. Bnt their superhuman efforts were of no avail. The . fort thronged with human beings wu blown up, and tho?e who attempted to save their lives by flight were out to pieoei by thousands.— Thirty thoasand Turkomans paid the panalty of death for having ventured, to oope with the might of the White Czar." And quoting this a well* known English military writer says— " These verj same Tekkes are very faith* ful servants of the White Ozar, and, moved by the !uit of booty, will form ia the fiae Turkoman horsemen of Khiva Bokhara, and the other Khanates, a potential aid to Russian generals. The railway brings Russian trooos up to Harrakhs to 'the south-west of Mary, so that troops can now be brought from the GaucMOl and thrown into Merv within six weeks.' Colonel Baker, In his celebrated book, "Clouds m the. East" 1 writes that at A.atrabad mPc sl'a, just at the south of the Caspian He*, he found the Governor of the plaoa saying freely that, " Now, the Husslans having reached the Amo or Oxas River by the capture of Khiva and Bokhara, would soon push on to Merv." "Onoe there,' 1 says thd Persian, •• they will brinu; a railway, and then Herat will go next! !' Speaking to a great Khoord ohi«f, Colonel Baker: said (this was m 1874). "The Russians are a long way off, aod the Gi'eat Steppes between are difficult to march over." The answer of the chief was significant indeed, and shows how keenly th» Turlco-man appraolatss the power of the Moicovita. "Yes,"wwi the chief's reply, "ten years ago the Russians were a long way o|F thlar pltoe, but where are they now? They are a* Samaround ; they have taken Khokand ; and Bokhara is theirs whenever they care to take it. (They did take it a •horfc time after wardit) Then we hoard that Borland had told the Russians that they they must uot take Khiva but they did take it. Now they are on the Oxus on the way to Merv. Soon they will oome to Mary itself, ami m two or three years they will come to Herat !! ! Do you think all the people you have oonquered m Hindustan will be as quiet as th*y are now —when Russia is as Herat MM* And again (1873), speaking of tha Turkomans, Baker BayB — " If they be conquered bowever, and brought under Russian rale and leading, Afghanistan will He at their mercy. These brave tribe; are destined to ploy a prominent part In that great question which Time will unavoidably bring upon os m ths Jffinat." The Tarkomans have been oonquered by Russia, and hU predictions are now being fulfilled. Coming to later authorities, weqnotathe following; from an article m Blackwood, July, 1884, entitled " Russia's Advanoe on India":— "The Tekke Turcoman* have aided with the strongest, and now j >m the Kußßinns, and the Muscovite advanca upon India — now within reasonable disrano>, will aweap southward to the Indus, awolltd by the whole cavalry of the Steppos, and by as many myriad hardy Persians and Afghans (both of which peoples have- conquered India m the past) aa Russia may care to enlist. Wh.thsr the Afghans will betray us I fcnov not, bnt it is a Bimple certainty that tli3 warlike Taicomans, goaded on by love of loot and territory, will assist the invading Coßsack companies. 11 It will thus be seen that the cable news published to-day Is of the greatest importance. England la bound to support the Ameer, and if it does so, ii morally certain to como into open c >lliaion with Russia.