VIEWS OF A RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIST.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2000, 27 May 1885, Page 2

VIEWS OF A RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIST.

The Vienna correspondent of the Standard has had a conversation with a high Russian officer, who is in a partly military, partly diplomatic position at Vienna, and who, having been frequently used for delicate political missions, is known to possess the Czar's special confidence. The officer said, among other things;—"lt is not true that Russia is making any war preparations, or feels alarmed by the English preparations, which may be necessary for the Soudan. If England is preparing for war with Russia she will soon disarm, because no Russian in a responsible or influential position desires war or believes' in it—neither the Czar, nor his Ministers nor generals. We are making no preparations, because, even should England force war ■upon us at any price, we shall have sufficient timo for concentrating the' thirty or forty, thousand men which is .the utmost force that could be utilised on either side in this miserable ■ quarrel; Neither'the Russians, nor the English could, in the sands of Central Asia, feed more than 30,000 men, and the assembling of this paltry army would present difficulties forboth sides, which the English canrealise if they rememberthe difficulty of transport and provisioning on the march to Cabul, and of which the Russians are fully aware, having experienced the same difficulties on our side. You mention the. railway to Askabad. This, if finished, might be useful for the transport of provisions and war material, but quite inadequate for concentrating the required troops, which would have to march from the Caucasus, after crossing the Caspian, through Turkestan, just as if no railway existed, and with as much difficulty, owing to the insufficiency of the Caspian transport fleet, as the English would surely experience before reaching Northern Afghanistan in any numbers, Our advantage in case of war would be reduced to the absolute faoillty with which we could seize Herat with the 5000 men, more or less, now in Turkestan, before the English or Afghans could prevent it. All this, of course, incase England is bent on war, because otherwise we have no thought of taking Herat or provoking war with England, being fully convinced thatHferat must fall to us from quite natural causes—l might say, without our concurrence or desire for it. What I know for certain is that we cannot retrace one step without endangering our prestige with the recently-Bubdued tribes, but must remain where we are, come what may."