THE ANGLO- RUSSIAN DIFFICULTY. Description of the Country in Dispute.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 103, 23 May 1885, Page 5

THE ANGLO- RUSSIAN DIFFICULTY. Description of the Country in Dispute.

The special correspondent of the "Daily News " with the Afghan Frontier Commission, writing from Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, says:— "The Turcoman raiding is now at an end so completely that it ia never likely to be resumed. In the future a population will again appear, and the ruined towns will be rebuilt. Russia is entitled to the honour of having; accomplished all this by her conquest of Central Asia. So far all will be good, but there are other and very important questions behind this. Doubt and speculation are already expressing themselves. Will Russia be content to occupy the Central Asian desert merely to enable her to rule the Khanates, which means principally the north-eastern district of Turkestan? Bach conquest in that region was explained as a necessity, so that she could govern what she had conquered in safety and peace. The deßert between the Khanates and Afghanistan was to be a neutral zone to give assurance of security to the British Government in India, while, on the other hand, we were to leave Afghanistan alone a3 part of thia neutral space on our side. Will the Government of the Ak-Padishah continue this policy in the newly-acquired territory? VN ill the ardent politicians of 1 Russia be content to play the part only of policemen, and do nothing but keep the Turcomans in order? 'Big battalions,' large arsenals, and extensive fortifications will not be required for this purpose. As yet we do not hear of these ; but will they be part of the programme of the future? The ground ia now Russian soil, and she may claim to do as she likes with it. Should she fortify her position there, and either throw forward her troops or make arrangements to enable her to do that, then it will become evident that the double-headed eagle means to advance; that Russia is to become the Turcoman raider of the future. This will be moat serious. It will moan the doubling, if not the trebling, of the British army ; it will mean our occupation of Afghanistan; it will mean the great struggle for supremacy in Asia. That struggle would imply great calamities, not only to Russia, but to England, India, and all the countries in which the contest would be carried on. Persia and Turkey could not escape becoming part of the theatre of this great Armageddon. If Russia begins to make Central Asia a place d'annes we must begin the same game on the Indian side. Let it but once begin, and it is not likely to end till the whole Russian frontier, from the Danube to China, will havo a line of armed men on each side of it ready for action ; and when that condition is reached, if not long before, the fearful battle will havo begun. The meeting of the Sopoy and the Cossack in Central Asia will be an ominous event. The first meeting is likely to be in peace ; and if all 3ub3equent encounters should bo in the same friendly manner, it will be for the good of all concerned. Let it be otherwise, and it will bo a dire disaster U the whole civilised world. Such a oontest for supremacy cannottake place withoutthe moat far-reach-ing results. Alexander's conquests in the East would bo a bagatelle in history to what would take place in such a war. A seriously disquieting element in connection with the position so lately acquired by Russia in Central Asia is the new Transcaspian railway. At the time of the Crimean war there were no railways in the south of Russia, Now the railway system of that country extends to Tiflis, while a line connects Batoum on the Bhck Sea with Baku on the Caspian. From Baku steamers can reach the eastern side of the Caspian in twentytour hours. When Geok Teppeh was taken a railway was made, and this is now a permanent line from Michailovsk to Kizil Arvat, a distance of 144 miles into the desert of Central Asia. This line has been surveyed to Askabad and Sarakha, and the Russian engineer even carried his survey as far as Herat, and found no difliculty in the way for making a railway. I have been over the ground, not exactly that which M. Lessar proposes for the line, and should say it would be a very easy line to make. From Kizil Arvat to Sarahka is on the desert, and would present almost nothing in the shape of engineering difficulties. The Russians look upon this as the future way from Europe to India, and hold that it will render the Euphrates Valley line unnecessary. I think it is said that it will only require nine days to go from London to India by this route, and it is expected to cut out the passenger traffic on the *Juez Canal. English officers will, of course, go and come by this railway when the whole is complete. All this is very satisfactory, but before the line is even ready, English officers say that this railway will give the Russians the means of a sudden move on Herat, and enable her, whenever it may suit her policy, to take that place, which is considered so necessary for the safe defence of India. It is even said that, as matters now stanch, Russia, with the railways exioting which I have mentioned above, could be in Herat before our troop 3 could come from India to defend it. Be that as it may, whon the lino coinoB to Sarakhs there will then be only 200 railos from that to Herat; and if a modus vioendih*s not been reached by that timo the occupation of Herat by our troops will have taken place. This will necessitate a large increase in the British army — an increase once begun no one can estimate what its final resut may be. This Transcaspian railway, it will be easily seen, which has only been in existence for about, four years, has completely changed the whole aspect of the Central Asian question. Before that time there was a desert of some distance between the Sepoy and the Cossack, and it was believed with impassable, or at least difficult, ranges of high snowy mountains to pass before an army could be moved on to Herat on its way to India ; now it is known that a railway oan be made, and that the high mountains, so far as the line to Herat is concerned, do not exist. I can endorse this part of the statement. The line from Kizil Arvat to Sarakhs will be a little over 300 miles ; this has been deter, mined upon, and some aay it is begun already at the Kizil Arvat en i. England cannot appear as an opponent of ra lways, but here is a railway making which may, if terms are not arranged, mean the invasion of India The first Afghan war may be described as having been the cry of ' Wolf, when there was no wolf ; the late war in that country war per haps only a second edition of that cry. Those who raise these cries have themselves to blame if they are not now believed when the wolf is so near." i > i i

The Salvation Army lately hold a three weeks' campaign at Clapton Here is the programme of one week :—" Monday, Heavy Forces ; Tuesday, the Enemy in Ambush ; Wednesday, Advance of the Light Brigade ; Thursday, Advance of the Heavy Brigade; Friday, Standing Under Fire, Mr W. B. Booth ; Saturday, the Devil Under Ground " One would like to know what is meant by the last item, especially as <' fresh supplies" are annqun^d far Sta©,d^ at wren a.ttk