HERAT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 45, 21 February 1880, Page 1

HERAT.

[NZ. Times-] ' ! . Herat is, the key of India. Competent judges have often asserted, that such is the case, and there can be no doubt whatever that as a base of operations it is invaluable to any power wbioh desires to secure a valuable fortress ia that part of Asia. Some idea of the importance attached to it by England some years ago may j be gathered from the following shore jextract from the treaty made between Persia and England in 1853, according to the terms of whioh Persia promised that, '* if any foreign State, either Afghan or other, should desire to : interfere with, or encroach upon the territories of Herat or its dependencies, and the Persian Ministers should make the request, tbe British Government ' are not to be remiss in restraining them, and in giving their friendly advioe, so tbat Herat may remain in its own state :.. of independence." Sir Henry Rawlioson's opinion of the importance of Herat is well known. Inasmuch as our latest news shows that there is a : probability of England and Russia : coming into collision on the question of the ownership of this city, we think' the following extract from Sir H. Rawjlinson's work on " Russia in the East " will ba read wfth interest : — " Herat possesses natural advantages of quite exceptional importance. It is the frontier town bet weed Persia and India. It is connected by high roads with the capitals of all the; surrounding countries, with Cabul through jthe Hazareh hills, with BaikU and Bokhara • through Mymeneh, witb Khiva through Merv, with Meshed, with Yezd and Isfahan, with Seistan and Candahar. Tfc enjoys an admirable climate, and is situated in one of the most ferfc.le and populous valleys in Asia. Above . all, the city itself is surrounded by earthworks of the most colossal character, dating from pre-historic times, and which, with the adaptations and improvements of modern science, might . be rendered quite impregnable to an : Asiatic force. The city of Herat' occupies an area of nearly a mile square, and is surrounded by an earthwork which measures about 250 feet in width at the base, and from 50 to! 60 feet in height, and which is surrounded by a wall 14 feet thick at the base, 9 feet thick at the top, and 18 feet high, exclusive of the parapet. There is ialso a wet ditcb of 45 feat in width, and 16 feet in depth ; and an ark or citadel of considerable strength. [A most elaborate report on the defences of Herat, extending over 30 pages, by Major Sanders, Bengal Engineers, who visited the place in 1838, after tbe Persian siege, is to be found in McGregor's Central Asia, Part 11. p. 341]— Russia in possession of Herat would have a grip on the throat of India. She would, indeed, in virtue of the position, commaud the military sources, both of Persia and Afghanistan, and would thus oblige us at once to increase our frontier army by at least 20,000 fresh British troops. Viewing, then, t the question as merely one of finance/ it may be assumed that our advance above the passes and occupation of Herat would be tbe cheapest insurance against Russia that we could effect for i the benefit of our great India estate." Measured on the map Herat lies about 350 miles on the west of Cabul, which is now occupied by the British ::. forces; it is also at the present day the ; western capital of Afghanistan, and .as " such', tenanted by people who; are } certainly hostile to the English, jAt Heart ' '„ they are probably epually hostile to tbe Russians. Por the time beipg, it' is true, Herat is comparatively safe froth : .Russian aggressions, as their recent adVance upon Merv, which lies £boui|26o miles south of Khiva, and 525 rkiles north of Herat, was repulsed by', the i ; • Tekke Turcomams with great loss. !•■ - Nevertheless, the latest telegraphio advices show plainly that Russia' is. viojent- .!* ly opposed to the fortress of .Heratj be- : ;'i f \ ing occupied by Persia, :"with England s-eady to back her up. •"• ' Herat has been in the hands of Persia before now. In 1856 Herat ! surrendered to Persia, which power had' laid seige to it in 1837, but had failed to capture it. In 1857, by the treaty of Paris, Persia had to evacuate it. It It hen came into the possession of Dost Mohamed, who took it by storm after a ten months' seige; in 1863.

Dost Mohamed soon died, and Shere Ali inherited it ; at one time, Herat was the only possession which remained in his hands ; however, after years of civil war, in 1868 Shere Ali proved victorious over the brother wbo bad opposed' him, and, by the capture of Cabul, established bis rale over tbe whole of Afghanistan. The conrae of events since then— tbe occupation of Cabul by the British, tbeir subsequent retirement and the signing in 1879 of the very lenient treaty of Grandamuk, which was followed by the massacre of the British Embassy under Sir Louis Cavagnari— • must be familiar to our readers. j The recent bold bid for Persian support of tbe British Empire in Indie, is with one consent accepted as another instance of Lord Beaconsfield's dashing and dazzling policy. The attempt certainly appears to have been timed, following as it does close upon the news of Russian defeat and disaster in Central Asia. The popular verdict in respect to it will mainly depend upon the success or failure of the coup. If successful, it will probably be applauded j if unsuccessful, it will > certaWy I be censured. The real question at issue appears to be this ; Is Russia, prepared to go to war in order to prevent Persian ! occupation of Herat under the cover of British protection and approval fj If Lord Beaconsfield's last political coup should involve England in a war with Russia singlehanded, or with Persia the only British ally, the wisdom of j the step taken may well be doubted. Australian colonists who know that Russia has been adding strength to her fleet in the Pacific may soon have good reason to complain loudly of the effects of Beaconsfield's " bouncible policy."