The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-06-13 00:00:00

ENGLAND, RUSSIA, AND
AFGHANISTAN.

THE ZULFICAR PASS.
A St. Petersburg correspondent telegraphed as
follows on Sunday night:
I understand that an agreement in principle has
been arrived at with regard to the question of
Zulficar. It has been decided to leave the command
of what is known as the Zulticar Pass in the hands
of the Afghans, but the exact point to which the
Ameer's territory will extend is to be fixed by the
Joint Commission in such a way as will insure to the
Russians a reasonable, or, in other words, a defensible
position at their end of the Pass.
PARTS.

The Havas Agency publishes some c-Trespondence
from London denying the accuracy of the statement
about a final settlement of the Afghan frontier diffi-
culty. One thing is certain, that, while Russian
diplomatists are negotiating, the Russian War De-
partment is actively pushing oe its prepara!ions.
Some curiosity is felt here as to whether Sir Peter
Lumsden will be permitted to make public all be
knows. If he is permitted to speak freely, there is
little doubt that his word will be accepted in pre-
ference to the declarations of General Komaraf and
Colonel Alikhanoff.

BERLIN.

The semi-official press has again begun to publish
rather pessimistic comments on the Afghan con-
flict. The Norddeutsche says that recent Ministerial
statements in both Houses of the English Parliament
are very unsatisfactory, and are only calculated to
maintain Parliamemary decorum, reserving to
Ministers freedom of action. The C'ologne Gazette
thinks that Sir Peter Lumsden's return must prove
disastrous to the Ministry, as, having studied the
affair in tueo, he will certainly confirm the general
opinion that the Cabinet must be made ex-
clusively responsible for the deep humilia-
tion of England. The Post concludes that
the decision lies between a temporary armistice
and an immediate war. "The delimitation," it
says, "certainly and absolutely puts an end
to the independence of Afghanistan. Russia
undertakes no obligation concerning the frontier, and
sends an age).,l to Cabul. This will not produce im-
mediate warlike action on the part of England, but
it will still more shake the Cabinet of Mr. Gladstone,
whose days are already numbered. Accordii, g to in-
formation reaching me from an excellent source, in-
telligence has been received in Berlin to-day to the
effect that the Russians have made certain proposals
in reference to the Zulficar Pass, which the British
Cabinet at its last Council decided to reject. In
spite, therefore, of the statements of English Ministers
and certain journals, the question of the delimitation
of the Afghan boundary is not yet by any means
satisfactorily settled. The statemeut of the Neue
Freic Pragse that Russia has already yielded cn this
question is without any foundation.
REPORTED ASSASSINATION OF THE
AMEER.

Sr. PETERSBURG, June G.

The .Youosti to-day announces that it has received
private information from the Caucasus stating that
Abdurrahman, the Ameer of Afghanistan, has been
assassinated by his suite.

6.20 p.m.
Up to the present no confirmation has been re-
ceived here of the intelligence published by the Novosti
of the assassination of the Ameer of Afghanistan by
his suite.

Deus, Jun 7._

No news has been received here confirming the
reported assassination of the Ameer of Afghanistan.
SINILA, June 7.
The Indian Government has no knowledge whatever
of the alleged assassination of the Arneer of Afghan-
istan, reported yesterday by the St. Petersburg
vosti.

The Central News says that up to three o'clock on
Sunday no confirmation of the report from St. Peters-
burg of the assassination of the Anieer of Afghanistan
had been received at the Foreign Office or the India
Office. Nct the slightest rumour of such an event
has reached the Government beyond the report pub-
lished in the Novosti.

A special correspondent of the Morning Post tele-
graphed on Juno 8: M. Robert de Bouviers, the well-
known romancier of the Revue des Deux 211ondis has
returned from a journey in Afghanistan. During a
conversation with a journalist he said: "England has
done wrong in postponing war. The longer England
waits the more she loses. Time works for the
Russians." M. de Bouviers spoke at length of Lord
Ripon and Lord Dufferin's Administration, con-
cluding that the latter had arrived in time to save
the country from the consequences of his pre-
decessor's policy. The Journal des .Debats remarks
that Evai.nd had not made a better figure in Asia
thaa she has in Africa. Commenting on the recep-
tion given to Sir Peter Lumsden, the Debats says:
"It appears to us that all the illustrious warriors who
greeted Sir Peter would have been wise if they had
been less demonstrative, and Russian generals will be
justified on their part in smiling at these inoffensive
r_Tresaillee