The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-13 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1850.

The Russian War over—the Persian War has
commenced. It was declared at Calcutta on the
Ist day of November. ' Our maritime armaments

in those waters were immediately placed in readi-
ness for commencing active operations without
auy more delay than was absolutely necessary
under the circumstances. Our troops were in

some measure already in motion upon the shores
of the Persian Gulf, according to advices, dated
the sth, from Constantinople. And—time, in-
deed, something energetic was at last attempted

n the name of England, seeing that, on the 26th

of October, Herat had actually fallen into the
hands of the Persian' General, MOITRAD SHAFT
Herat, the pearl, the prize, the ITYLEN of the
whole struggle ! Herat, at once the object and
origin of the contest long preparing between

Persia and England, the contest which may now
be regarded as having actually commenced be-

,ween the forces of the Queen VICTORIA and

those of the Shah NASR-00D-DEEN !
The announcement of the formal Declaration of
War against Persia, on the Ist of November, at

Calcutta, is, curiously enough, accompanied by

he intimation that India is profoundly tranquil.

&feanwhile, the various members of the British

Consulate at Teheran have taken their departure
from that capital—one for Tabriz—another for

Bombay—the whole legation being, at once,

strangely scattered. France, about the same
time, proffering her mediation with the Court of

;he Shah, with a view, if possible, to the effect-

ng, in some way, of an amicable arrangement be

Lween the British and Persian Governments

Herat, all the while, taken ! Herat actually in

the hands of the Persians.

Herat, about the

possession of which, the whole stormy quarrel has

originated.

It may be interesting—notwithstanding the
untimely fall of Herat, or, perhaps, we should
positively rather say because of the untimely
fall of Herat—to note in a few sentences why it

is this one particular city is regarded, by Persians
and British alike, as a spot of such enormous im-

portauce. A spot so remote from England, and
io distant even from Hindostan, that it may be
described in general terms as situated midway
'oetwaen Tartary and Beloochistan, as constituting
:n a manner the extreme eastera boundary of
Persia and the extreme western boundary of
Iffghanistan ! Herat, then, or Heraut,
the ancient Alexandria in Ariis, it is sup-

posed, being so called after the name o
the great Macedonian Conqueror Herat,
once upon a time the capital of the empire of
TAMERLANE and his successors, until it became
absorbed into the Persian Dominion; passing
thence, however, as far back as 1715, to be there
and then embraced within the frontier line of
Affghanistan—Herat is covetted at once by
Persia and by England, because it happens to be
t!he direct road from the, former to Hindostan ! A
sufficient reason for either, assuredly ! A consi-
deration rendering it obviously a matter of the
very first importance to England that Herat should
not only be held safe from 'Persian domination,
but that besides this negative advantage to us in
its regard, there should be secured a positive ad-
vantage as well, by insuring its retention intact
by some friendly power. For, lot us abandon
Herat to Persia, and the SHAH has at any
moment the power of disturbing our Eastern
empire by way of Cabool and Kandahar !
Besides being a costly prize in itself—as being
rich in the staple exports of saffron and asafoetida,
—as having almost undisputed command (in
shawls, indigo, sugar, muslin, and various other
articles) of the markets of Yezd and Ispahan—
and as being renowned throughout the East for
its manufacture of carpets, fur-cloaks, and slippers:
besides being thus intrinsically a very costly
prize, Herat is in a manner inestimable, either to
Persia or to England, as being the key to our
Indian Empire through Cabool and Kandahar.
Tile Government of Teheran puts forth a
shadowy claim of right to its possession, be-
cause of its being situated in a lovely valley falling
within the Persian province of Khorassaun !
And because, moreover, of its having at one time,
before 1715, actually appertained to Persia prior
to its passing in that year into the possession of the
Iflghauns ! It must be remembered, likewise,
that by means of the conquests of NADIR SHAH
it was again restored to Persia in 1731—less than
a score of years, after which date Herat became
again merged in the territories of Affghanistan !
Since which time it has remained to all intents
and purposes, as it had remained from 1715 to
1731, an integral portion of the country of the
Alfghauns. Nevertheless, now, in 185 G—before
the Crimean War has been definitively smoothed
over by the miserably deceptive gloss of the
Peace of Paris—Persia (beyond all doubt at
the instigation of Russia !) is again putting for-
ward her robber•claims upon Herat t Herat—
only seized by her originally when it ceased, as we
have seen, to be the capital of the empire of the
successors of TAMERLANE !
Persia is not only putting forward her shadowy
claims upon Herat—she has boldly by a lawless
coup-de-main, ravished the covetted prize from the
grasp of Affghanistan ! Let Herat be abandoned
to her possession—and a broad and beaten highroad
will remain open at the whim of the SHAH, or of the
CZAR, Or of both
of these trustworthy and mast
amiable
despots %united, a highroad condurting
their troops
through Cabool and Kandahar to the
still more coveted regions known throughout the
wide world as England's golden empire in Hin-
dostan !

According to Mr. WILSON ("Ariana Antiqua,,,
4841), the present population of the captured city
is somewhere about 45,000 or 50,000 in the
aggregate. The surrounding ruins, scattered far
and wide over the precincts of the existing strong-
hold, attest visibly and unmistakably its ancient
magnificence.
vbayey on which Herat is se, means of a bund or dyke, a
The principal stream called the
rvieerirti-arood,
ibleectoomtt valley ,
charmingly situated, aids the natural fertility of
the soil in enhancing the wealth of the manifold
cornfields and vineyards of Khorassaun. This—
viewing it simply in regard to itself intrinsically
—is the pearl-city rifled of late by a sort of
political garotte from the Affghauns, by the
`' upon the loose,'
robber Persia, out at the time