The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-01-23

lerent Performances oi MT. Ilefce. lHally,
| while we agree with Mr.. Wise that the Danish
Sound dues as war issue are humbug
| that there is no danger of a war with England
about CHAMPION, or the Mosquito King Sambo,
| we are net quite ready to believe that the ex-
| tremity is upon the South for an appeal to arms
speeches, however, at this Richmond festival
turn upon the absorbing issue of Southern
rights and Northern aggressions; and our
readers may understand something of the state
of Southern feeling from the fact that the
most labored attempts of the administration
| to divert the attention of Southern men from
their domestic enemies to external dangers
are received with disbelief and derision.
| We epprehend that the foreign war dodge q
Mr.. Pierce will hardly hold water till the first
Monday in June, and that our Premier is Of the
same opinion.
The Fall OF Herat-Brltish and Russian De-
1 signs In India
It appears that an expedition, fitted out un-
der the auspices of the government of Persia,
has lately, by force or stratagem, possessed it.
self of Herat, on the border of Cabul. Herat
being the leading town in that section Of coun-
| try, and the key to the only practicable mill
tary road between the Caspian and the Indus,
the British OF India are much alarmed at its
fall The Shah's Russian sympathies are no
torious; the British Indians assert, not without
some show of plausibility, that the capture of
Herat has been instigated by the Gar, as a
threat against the East India Company. In
Decd taken in conjunction with the capture OF
Kars, it possesses at this moment remarkable
| political and military significance. If Kars
secures the high road from the Black Sea to
| the Caspian, Herat secures that from the Cas-
plan to the Indus; and the British Minister re-
moved from Teheran-he has already struck his
| flag in consequence Of quarrel with the Per-
| sian nobility-the Russian emissaries would ex-
| ercise paramount influence over the weak and
| corrupt councils Of the Shah, and there would
be no positive obstacle to prevent Russian
| army marching from the Volga to the vale OF
Peshawar, and to the walls of Moultan.
In dread of some such contingency, the
British journals, both in England and India
call loudly upon the Indian government to
take the initiative of hostility. They suggest
| that feet should at once be despatched with
| an army of $4,000 men to the Persian Gull,
| nominally for the purpose of helping the Per
| slams to repossess themselves Of Herat, really
| in order to reduce the Shah to the condition
| Of tool of the Governor General. There is
no reason to doubt but the suggestion will be
| adopted. The new Governor General of India
Lord Canning, is man of energy and deci-
| sion; he will be anxious to find an opportunity
| Of distinguishing himself. And really, unless
some such step is taken, the insecurity of the
western frontier Of the British possessions in
India will soon be alarming.
An expedition, promptly undertaken, and
vigorously carried out, would probably attain
the end sought. Persia, according to all ac-
counts, is in deplorable condition Of weak
ness and proximate dissolution. 1t is entirely
dependent on foreign countries for the cheap
manufactures it requires. From having been
rich agricultural and Industrial nation, it
| is now one of the poorest in the world: so poor
! that with population Of some twelve millions,
| its exports are only about fifteen millions of
| dollars, and over one-tenth q its whole people
| subsist on the produce o. their herds and on
plumber. The government is unable to
| support larger army than that Of the United
| States; needless to add that the power of the
| Shah, despotc as he is said to be, is trampled
at pleasure by the rowing Koords and Mongols
Quite clear that fit cen thousand men under
the best officers of the Indian army would have
as little difficulty in dealing with Persia as
General Walker has had in dealing with Mica
ragua. Nor is it at all improbable that the es-
tablishment of British Protectorate over
Persia would follow as speedily as the consoli-
dation of the Walker government has followed
| the invasion of the California emigrants.
We had occasion, some time since, to point
| to the prosecution of a gigantic scheme by the
| British on the eastern flank of their Indian
| empire. The conquest of Birrnab, as we ex-
! planned, was only means, not an end. The
| real end sought by the Indian government in
annexing the coast, and Securing the naviga-
ton Of the Irawaddy was not the acquisition
| of the littoral and river coast in Birmah, but
the possession of the key to Eastern China.
| Nothingin the recent commissions or the fu-
! ture prospects of the Chinese empire-has es-
capped the sagacious statesmen Of British India !:
they see the opportunities that will be offered
presently to extend their territory and their
influence in the rich provinces Of Setchouen,
and lun-nan and they are slowly preparing
for the moment that will enable them to cross
| the frontier.
Now, it seems, the accident at Herat will
| prove the occasion Of a similar movement on
the northwest. Persia as we'll as Birmah, will
be swallowed up in order to extend the Indian
empire-thc one, for the purpose of securing
the road to Constantinople and Europe; the
other, for the purpose of securing the road to
| the heart and trade of China.
So far as this country is concerned, our in