RUSSIA AND ENGLAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 52, 30 July 1885, Page 2

RUSSIA AND ENGLAND.

LORD SALISBURY'S BUSSIAN • POLICY.-. r ; " The'Marqiiis of Salisbury followed tip his 'statement to the Hackney meeting, that no prudent man would have dreamed of conducting a campaign against Russia m the Iwildspf Central Asia, by a speech m the House of Lords (May 12) fully explaining his Indian policy and thatipfhis friends. To -Russian treaties they would pay no more attention than to fhe wind. Apart from other reasons, war dissolves all treaties. But they would put India m a state of defence to meet Russia, reviving the scientific frontier of Lord Beacqnsfield. To the adoption- of this scheme the Gladstone Government had come at last, the Earl of Kimberley, ]the Secretary^of . State for India, having previpusly^nfprmed the House thaithe best militt^yr 'authprities were being%onsulted as tt^the fortification of oMine'.of defeiip, arid that £5,000,000 had already be|n allottfttl for military roads and for thfffQueittah railway, which, m its anger aid reversal of the Beacp"nsfield>policy,-tli| Ministry had abandoned.. The Marquiir -'-of Salisbury cordially approved of this^ecision. His only regret was that Mr Gladstone should have disallowed the , (Jiifttah-Candahar frontier m the .first, insjtjance,^^ and gone far beyond itrr-on papef^fafterwards, re-» treating, when faced by t% fee with the same rapidity that /lie Jjad advanced, The defence of Herat b|:; British trc^p* seems to the noble lord neither adyisablej lior feasible. Q'uettah, -tfte E.ojah Pass and Candahar should be tljje strong places p± the frontier works. ;Jjl that is pps. sible to do to conciliate ihe Ameer, Lprd Salisbury says, shpuld; |c done, but as for making England resgitasible for any of the . excesses which his wild Afghan tribe 3 may. commit upon his western or ■Russian frontier, the noble Lord frankly saysh§VPuld do nothing of 'the BPrti A Russian advance, and consequently a Russian^war, he regards as inevitable, and he. would, simply prepare tP meet it m the Best pps3ible position^ and m the best passible manner. The. great point (saya th^Marqais) is to say little bu'tjto : work, hard, and above all, ito throw every energy intb the construction pf the hecea. sary military railway s. The railway is the key to 1 the situation. Given the proper fortresses, with, easy cpmmumcation with their base, and Russia wil " hesitate to place herself within striking distancu ;~and when she dees advance, Eneland can strike with effect, and India vjill be defended with.the least possible Tisk. Two points have to be borne m mind : First when we fight pur battle with Russia, we ought ip win. Secondly, the battle.field sheuld npV he the plains of India, m the midst pf an iiiflammablQ population* The conditions are satisfied by fortifying the paases oh their Afghan side, and by perfecting the communications. . • ; •This is neither a aeuaational- npr a "i jingS " policy, but it is one which well befits a strpng nation. It is net bounce, but . bssiriess. Englishmen . everywhere can tmderstand and endprse it* realising that they are not to be disturbed by false alarms, and that when the bugle-call does sriund,. it will find all reaay.^- : Argus. : - -