The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-05 00:00:00

of a native princes—a tributary of our ally Da*
Mahomet. The capture of Herat, therefore, is a
violation of his territory which it is impossible the
ruler of Cabool can submit to quietly, nor is it for
one moment credible that the Shah would have
provoked the anger of his most formidable:.
bour but that he is backed by a power whose
strument he is, and on whose resources he ventures
to rely in the event of the necessarily consequent
reprisal.
The time for the treacherous occupation of the
"gate of India" has not been badly chosen. The
disorganisation within the presidency of Bengal-..
the unsubdued revolt of the Santhals, and the in-
ternecine struggle going on in the kingdom of
Oude, have been, no doubt, regarded by our enemy
as likely to furnish sufficient occupation for a large
section of our available Indian army. Nor can it
be said this was a miscalculation ; the latest ac-
counts from India furnish but too good assurance
that the tranquillisation of the kingdom referred
to, and the reduction of the Santhals, will not be
effected without the employment of an imposing
force, and a display of energy in the administration
of oar Indian affairs of which there is net the mos
distant prospect. The present disturbances ori-
ginated in the neglect or incapacity of the Indian
Government ; aid by way of mending matters our
excellent admiaistrators at home hay. placed them
in the hands of a nobleman remarkable for nothing
so much as his decided unfitness for a poet de-
manding large experience, sound discretion, and
decided powers of command.
Seeing the present embarrassment, then, of the
internal affairs of India, and the probability of its
extension, it is not to be wondered at that our
wily and vigilant enemy recognised the opportu-
nity for preparing his long-meditated advance to
the Indus. Persia had long been the creature of
the Czar, and had learned to look to St. Peters-
burg with a mixed feeling of fear and veneration.
It was not to be supposed that the tribes inhabit
ing Khorassan or Khiva, or Bokhara or Samar-
cand, could offer any decided opposition to a power
like ;Russia, bent upon the appropriation of terri-
tory, and sparing neither force nor fraud to effect
its object. With a firm foot-hold in the south-
eastern angle of the Caspian, Russia has long
looked eastward, and but for the determined bar-
rier opposed by Dost Mahomet and his indomit-
able Affghans we should long since have heard of
true,
a Russian army at Delhi. If the report of the fall
of
Russia haesnatlolhegngtahntidceipteartmedinheyd
on Heratmo by e e
whichhas been
those who have watched her progress in the East.
By the occupation of Herat, if the enterprise has
succeeded, she not only places her vassal (always
the creature of success) in command of the highway
to India, and so far facilitates a future plan of in-
vasion, but she creates a diversion of our Indian
army from the theatre of war in Asia (for which it
was believed a part of it was destined) to the more
necessary defence of our frontiers.
It is not easy to realise the effect upon the wild
tribes of Asia of the news of the fall of Kars. Tho
caravans returning from Trebizond to the interior
brought constant accounts of the progress of the
siege, which were greedily circulated amongst the
population of the surrounding regions. The de-
fence had been conducted by an Englishman—
English officers were his assistants. To the Asiatic
idea the struggle for Kars was not between Russia
and Turkey, but between Russia and England.
The triumph of Russia, therefore, is a triumph
over England, and more than reinstates Russia in
that position of invincible supremacy which her
losses on the Danube and in the Crimea had some-
what compromised, and which she has laboured so
hard to uphold to the semi-barbarous populations
round the Caspian. They see Russia indisputably
mistress of the situation, and carrying, as of old,
everything before her in the field. By this one
success Russia can bring to her standard the wild
soldiery of Asia by the legion, should she require
their services.

It is quite true that the territory of the perfidious
Shah is not so far removed from India but that he
may be made to feel the consequences of his trea-
chery by the prompt landing of an English force in
the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf. Bushire,
in the province of Fars, has been suggested as an
available point for the commencement of operations
by our Indian army. Why hot occupy Bussora at
once, and march thence at leisure either upon
Ispahan or Teheran 7 Long since we recommended
in these columns the establishment at Bagdad of
an army of observation. Had our suggestion been
adopted we venture to assert that neither Kars nor
Herat would have fallen. It is easy to be wise
after the event, and critics may amuse themaelves
now with pointing out how the disaster in Turkish
Armenia might have been avoided. Our suggestion
had, at all events, this merit, that it was pressed
upon the Government long before the necessity for
it was recognised, and in abundant time to have
been carried out. Some such step must be taken
now, after the mischief, which it was our earnest
desire to anticipate, has been done. The further
we advance in progress of this war the more con-
clusive do the proofs become that those who are
charged with its conduct aro not, and never have
been, earnest in the prosecution of it ; and that
they deliberately reject every proposal likely to
place the enemy at a decided disadvantage.