RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 50, 26 February 1873, Page 4

RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA.

The London Mail of December 6th gives the following from its Prussian correspondent : — A leading St. Petersburgh paper, when discussing Asian affairs about a fortnight ago, candidly observed that the mere fact - of tha Russians continuing their progress south would be found to exercise an exciting influence upon the Hindoo mind should any conflict ever occur between Russia and Great Britain. Granting this supposition to be correct, it would yet appear from the above tbat the excitement likely to be aroused in. the subject— races of- Asia — by such an event would not be confined to- British territory alone. The fact is~of considerable importance, as calculated to influence the Russian-British relations in Central Asia. For how does the case stand? In the present general condition of Russia there are plenty of reasons for believing that she means what she says when assuring us that she has no wish to involve herself in a conflict with England. Even were it otherwise, geographical difficulties would render a Russian attack upon India so very desperate that until the means of communication are greatly improved — a work of a generation at the very lowest estimate — the thing. is simply not to be thought of. Nay, supposing railways and steamers to penetrate in time into the very heart of Asia, the English awaitiDg the attack on their own ground, and behind their protecting hills, would have so great an advantage over the Russians, fighting at such a distance from their base of opera- . tions and against such formidable natural obstacles, that even their downright aggression would be eventually hardly to be seriously taken into account. At any rate, defeat, were it to overtake the invaders, would be quite as dangerous to their rule in Turkistan as the discomfiture of the Sepoy might prove to English supremacy in India. But leaving the very improbable contingency of an armed conflict out of the question, there remains the possibility of Russia creating a ferment of dissatisfaction among the Hindoos. Ido not for a moment wish to imply that the present policy of tbe Russian Government is likely to lead to any snch alternative; but times may change, antagonisms may arise between neighbors, and a season may supervene when either side may deem it right to avail itself of any means at its disposal to damage the other. Reasoning on this supposition, it cannot be denied that the Russians will have it in their power to give the English considerable trouble. The capture of Khiva, a consummation which must be shortly expected, will make the Russians next-door neighbors to the British. But to hold Khiva means to possess the navigation of the Amu, a river which has an average depth of nine feet all the way up to Kundueh, and may be made available further on with tbe assistance of the flatbottomed steamers invented at Liverpool. The occupation of Khiva, then, may be regarded as a mere preamble to that of Badakshan, the country where the Amu takes its rise in theßolorDagh hills. If Russian geographers can be at all trusted, the Bolor Dagh, where it forms the watershed between the Amu and Indus rivers, consists' of a single ridge, much more passable than the Hindo , Kush, and on its eastern side flanked by a valley leading directly to the Indus, . north of Cashmere. There will be no need then for Russian influence to make the long and difficult detour by way of the Bamian Pass, Kabul, and Peshawur, a much nearer route being so conveniently at hand. But as we learn from M. Rayevsky, the Russians have every reason fo fear the English giving tit for tat on their own soil, were they ever to endeavor to set the Hindoo against his foreign lord, the only probable danger therefore to arise from the Russians approaching India is that ..the inhabitants of the Jattejr, as far as they are dissatisfied, may flatter themselves with the hope of foreign assistance, even though receiving no encouragement from their wished-for allies. After what we have learnt about the state of public opinion in Turkistan^ we Cannot help thinking that should it at -any future time come to this, it willbe no more to the English interest that Russia should discourage all such illusions than it will be - to the advantage of Russia that the Turcoman mind should be disabused of all analogous hopes of, England.