New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-16
TIE RuSSLAN ADHANCE.

It is now FIVE years since the last Khanate OF
Central ASIA that refused to acknowledge the
supremacy of the Gar was Overrun by the
Russian battaliOns. Khiva was stronghold
surrounded by deserts, and the barbarians VINO
found shelter behind its walls boosted that 1t
could never be taken. It's few habitable GASES
were scarcely worth the t0ilsome march ana
arduous campaign which they cost, but the
prestige which the conguerors gained was en0T-
nous. General Kaufman made diplomatic
use of his browning success. BY ceding
a large section of Khivan territory to
the Emir of BOkhara, and by bring
ing certain warlike tribes under subsection,
he exposed the lower half Of Turkestan to
Russian influence. The treaty which he forced
the Emir to sign opened every town IN
Bokhara to northern trade, and secured
the free navigation of the Amoo-Darla
the ancient Oxus. The subsequent an
nexatiOn of Kokand extended the from
tier to the borders of Chinese Cashgar.
With free communication along the two
great streams that empty into the Sea or
Anal, channels of commercial intercourse
were opened, and Turkestan became in
effect, though not in name, an outlying
province of the Northern Power. And
now, after short halt, the march is to
be resumed. The strong arm that has
swept across the deserts from Kokand to
the Caspian is pointing to the south
The superior race whose cOnquests III
Central Asia began with the present
century has fixed its eyes upon is
natural frontier, the SUBMITS of the Hindoo-
Koosh And beyond those erests are the bor-
ders of Northern India.
We have endeavOred, on another page, TO
bring this new movement directly before the
eyes of our readers. We have n large faith
in the utility of newspaper maps There is
no nation that reads more leaders and
magazine articles on foreign topics than
the English, and yet their ignorance
of geography is dense; and this elc-
mentlry weakness may be attributed to
the faet that the newspapers publish too many
editorials and too few maps. During the re-
cent war there was succession of seRseless
panics which might have been stayed If the
map of Asia had been kept before the eyes Of
the public. Euglshmen stared at the val
ley OF the Euphrates and the mouth of the
Suez Canal, and faneied that the Russians
by capturing q fortress in Armenia and
roadstead in the Black Sea could menace the
communications with India They had n NOR
bid dread that way might be opened from
the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf. and were
convinced that the mountains Of Armenia
were India's natural defence against
Northern aggression. III our readers will
look mt our little map this morning they will
see how stupid such fears and logic were.
If Russia ever attacks India her col
umns will not be sent 10 the Per-
sian Gulf, even from the line Of the Cas-
plan, which is far more convenient
base than the Black Sea. Samarcand. her
present outpost in Turkestan, is within 500
miles of the main passes of the HindOO-kOOsh,
and the outlying districts which SHE already
controls shorten the distance by sew
eral hundred miles. II she occupies
the province of Balkh, her troops will
DC under the shadow OF the mountains of
Afghanstan, and within few days journey
Of the PuDjab.
IL would be idle to suppose that the Rus
slams entertain any immediate designs upon
India. What their Interior purposes are in or
ganizing this new expedition 1t Is scarcely safe
to conjecture, Tor their preparations have
been made with the utmost secrecy, and
the explanations of the Moscow papers
may prove to be very elastic. The
interview between General Kaufmann's
agent and the Emir of Bokhara, and the APP
pointment of a trained diplOmatist as ambas-
sador mt Cabul, seem to indicate that the
province to be invaded is Balkh, neutral zone
which is neither Afghan nor BOkharian terri
tory. If the expedition has marched southwark
toward the mountains, the direction alone is