Untitled

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 109, 26 October 1878, Page 2

" Scrape the Russian and the Cossack will appear." So spoke the First Napoleon of the insidious Muscovite, and the race has. not changed a particle since the utteranoe was made. Foiled m his blustering bravado, and forced to submit to the Berlin Congress, the Russian Bear, true to his instincts is now striving to compass his designs by cunning and intrigue, and with that view is, leaving no stone unturned to corrupt the loyalty of the Indian Princes, and alienate their affections from the British Throne. The war which has broken out between our Indian Government and th© Ameer of Afghanistan, can no doubt be traced to the machinations of the secret Muscovite emissaries, a,nd the disaffection is evidently of no recent date. Shere Ali has never been an open friend to the. British, and there is now conclusive proof that he has all along been a secret enemy. He has steadfastly refused to allow the envoys from the Government to enter his dominions, and when, other Indian Princes went almost loyally mad over the proclamation of Queen Victoria,, as Empress of India, the plotting and disaffected Chief studiously held himself aloof from the celebrations, and was conspicuous by his absence. In writing to tbe Sultan of Turkey, the wily Oriental thus discloses his disaffection, and strives to instil his insidious poison into the Turkish ruler. He says :— •" As I know that the English have for some time not been on a footing of friendliness and sincerity with us, I continue to hold aloof from them. lam of opinion that the Russians are as energetic as the English, and that m any case they surpass them iv real friendship. It is cjuite impossible for one to believe anything Englishmen say. I have become convinced from the various conversations which I have had with the Russian envoy here, that the Russians are much more honest and sincere than the English. I cannot, therefore, refrain from begging your Majesty to withdraw from the English alliance and to approach Russia. May the Almighty grant repeated victories to the Ottoman armies and make all Mahomedans victorious." It is pleasiug to learn, however, that the Sultan not only refused to endorse the opinion o£ the Ameer, but administered some very wholesome advice to that worthy, recommending him to renew and confirm his friendly relations with England, and not to allow himself to be -deluded-by the suggestions of Russian spies. The counsel thus wisely given, was not ac cepted, Sherb Alt allowed himself to bo rnado a mere tool m the hands of Russian intriguers, and Cabul has beoome the hotbed of disaffection. Bokhara, or the Uzbekistan forms the most powerful state of Turkestan, the chief town of which Bokhara, having 360 Mosques, and as many schools, has always borne the appellation of the " holy and learned." It is inhabited by different races, the chief of which, however, are Uzbec Tartars, and at the commencement of the RussOiTurkish war the Russians had mustered some 50,000 men m the province with the idea of forming a kind of depot, and that fact coupled with the avowed hatred to the British, and bearing towards the Russians, gives the Afghanistan revolt a significance which should not be despised. Added to all these, the. conduct of the Government at St. Petersbug is by no means assuring-or to be trusted, and leads to the supposition that Russia is most anxious to ignore the treaty of Berlin, and take advantage of the dissensions which she has sown m the Indian Empire.