The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-22 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22, 1868.

IT has more than once been noticed that the
Abyssinian expedition has met with much greater
favour in India than in England. It is easy to explain
the sanguine enthusiasm on the one side of the
Red Sea, which contrasts so strongly with the
somewhat sulky sense of compulsion that prevails
on the other. India will enjoy all the prestige of
success ; England will endure all the burden of
payment. It is the consciousness of this unequal
division which has made our Indian policy so peace-
ful since its administration passed entirely into
)ur hands. We have avoided the romantic and
-perilous expeditions which the Indian army loves.
'The present invasion is exactly what the venturesome
spirits of the East, wearied by the monotony of
Indian military life, have been longing for. it
has, however, rather whetted than satisfied their
appetite. The conduct of it has been entrusted
almost entirely to the Bombay army. Disappoint'

of their expected share in the African enterprise, I
the armies of the other Presidencies are once more
endeavouring to get up new undertakings in Asia.
There is one argument which never fails them.
They can always point to the steady advance of
Russia towards our frontier, especially during the
last fifteen years. They are once more pointing
to it, and warning us that it must be
checked, or the very existence of our Indian
empire will be imperilled. They say that
whenever the great and inevitable struggle
for the possession of Constantinople comes off,
England will be paralysed in her efforts to stop
Russian aggrandisement by the presence of a
Russian army within 300 miles of the Indus. Even
now, in time of peace, we are compelled to keep
80,000 European troops in India ; and in time of
war, if Russia were our enemy, we should be not
only unable to draw upon this force for service in
Europe, as we did in the Crimean campaign, but
we should have to increase it, and so put a further
strain upon the military resources of the country,
already tried to the uttermost. They who argue
thus would have us forestall future encroach-
ments on the part of Russia by establishing
English garrisons in Candahar and Herat, " the
Malakoff and the Mamelon of our position in the
East." Or, if we cannot make up our minds to
advance thus far from our base, they would'have
us take possession of Quetta, so as to overawe
Afghanistan, and be ready to march upon its two
strongholds at the first sign of a Russian advance.
These schemes and the arguments for them are a
standing topic of discussion in every Indian news-
paper. Anglo-Indians and native Indians alike see
their importance. The first are impatient, the
second surprised, at the indifference with which
the Government appears to treat the matter. Were
this indifference real there would be reason for
both emotions. Russian conquest in Central
Asia is an undeniable fact. Scarcely was the
ink dry with which Prince GORTSCITAR OFF wrote
his circular explaining away the invasion of Kho-
kand when hostilities were renewed upon the
Jaxartes, and the important city of *Tashkand was
captured by treachery. Later still, Khujand was
carried by storm and its garrison put to the sword.
Since then Oratippa has shared the same fate.
Provinces have recently been annexed by which
the line of the SYT Dania is united with that of
Siberia. At the present time the invaders aro
pushing their conquests to the Turkoman steppes
of Merv, which lie' on the road to, and aro
separated by only a short distance from,
Herat. The possession of this last-named
place would enable Russia to hold Afghanistan
.n subjection. That country is now a prey to civil
Rival Ameers fight for the throne which five
years ago was filled by the powerful DosT
MAHOMED. All the rivals in turn request our
friendship, and seem to offer us the desired oppor-
tunity of counteracting Russian designs. That
opportunity the Indian Government is urged to
seize, and, by giving our support to one of the
rivals, establish a ruler in Afghanistan who would
be bound to us by. the double ties of interest and

war.

gratitude. The Government is warned that already
the approach of Russia has rendered the frontier
tribes insolent, and that their insolence is likely to
spread among our native troops. With these Russia's
movements are a theme of constant discussion.
They firmly believe that our sovereignty is im-
perilled, and that we shall shortly have to fight
over again, with a European Power, the battles
which we have won over Indian kings. Even the
adverse critics of our policy,- who are not prepared
for important military measures, advise an active •
diplomacy. At the present moment the various
kingdoms and tribes on the North-west of India •
arc seeking for alliance and commercial -relations
with 113. Of late months the Chinese have been
driven out of that portion of their empire which
adjoined ours, and the Mussulman rule has been
established in the important cities Kashgar,
Yarkaanl, and Koten. The new rulers would
gladly be our friends and customers. To grant
this wish seems even to non-bellicose Anglo-
Indians a wise and prudent policy.
To all these representations, warlike or peaceful,
the Indian Government returns the same unvary-
ing reply. We will enter into no fresh alliances ;
we will not anticipate war by commencing hosti-
lities ; we will not promote commerce by diplomacy.
Russia may treat Afghanistan as she has treated
lihokand and Bokhara, and we shall see without
regret a stable government'substituted for constant
civil war, and the odious slave traffic which now
prevails in Central Asia abolished. Holding
Peshawur and .commanding the mouths of the
passes which lead into India, we can contemplate
with indifference the phantom of a Russian inva-
sion. As for commerce with Central Asia, this, if
it is of any value, will come of itself, and is cer-
tainly not worth the diplomatic complications in
which we are asked to entangle ourselves. By
friendship the Asiatics mean something more titan
good wishes, something more even than the "moral
support " which we are so ready to give in Europe ;
they mean armed assistance. This we cannot give.
Neither will we send agents to countries where the
law of nations is little known and less respected. Wo
do not desire another Abyssinian expedition in the
heart of Asia. This is the policy which Sir JOHN
LAWRENCE has consistently pursued in spite of all
the pressure which has been used to move hint from
it. In accordance with. this policy he has, while
welcoming the Ambassadors of the various Central
States, and loading them with presents, especially
specimens of British manufactures, refused to send
them a British representative, or to enter into any
diplomatic relations with them.
"masterly inactivity"tiieln this
supported by
the
secretVariycerooyf is thoroughly
STAFFORD Norrucorn and the majority of the
India Council, while fully alive to the importance
of maintaining British prestige among our Indian
subjects, hold that this is to be done by far other
means than the measures which ardent Atwtloe-
Indians desire. Instead of spewing alarm at h
approach of Russia, the Government rather desires
to let it be known that Russia is the friend of Eng-
land. The recent visit of the Prince of WALES to
St. Petersburg did more to remove the prevalent
belief that the QUEEN'S Eastern Empire is threat-
ened by the CZAR than would have been effected by
the despatch of a British army to Herat.