New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-05-02
CENTRAL ASIAN QUESTIONS.
.u,orv sxrrcU BY MR.. TowLE.

A HASTY SKETCH BY NIX. INV .l L. AZ
ENoLASD AND RUSSIA n ASIA H 10y James r.
Osgood " CO. o.,,ed
This IL the first of a series Of little BOOKS caneo
Timely Topics If the purpose OF the.i % " -,
form the public current events, the ini'i' 80 80
h unfortunate; for it may well be dpuoteu "no'-S
!. gyeater number of blunders aud utterly iheAo"0-
chile misstatements has ever been publisheu ~ ~
rarroyv n compass How the work was preparou I" 70
;unoasille 10 sarmise II certainly was nov w
rived from the encyclopedias or other i .i
hooks Of reference nor can any standafu h',
have been consulted in its preparation luz :" ~
Ill, s,orms with errors which the most cursory eN
o,oiraton of any authority would have rehucieu
;npossible In fact, it can only be conciuueu 'n"s
was written with no other and thah th"' Vi
nomenaily defective memory memory So o"N
that if any schoolboy had exhibited similar
ness and forgetfulness in preparing paper upoi
ooo,ota ton;cs he would have deserved and suliere"
cond;on punishment. IL would not be possipie 10
follow and point out all the errors WITH which MI
Towle's pages brstle, but it will be necessary "
mark few of them in order 10 demonS'i"'
vorthlessness of this ATTEMPT to " give INC ioau'
clear idea" of any of the matters treateu ". M
The very first page il is stated that tue Ehpiio r
Iulia has a population OF nearly zVoooo'ooo
and a superficial area of nearly 9oooov e4ua
miles.p Now the Indian census of 1850 showeu d
nsarlv 1 500. 600 square miles. Mr. Towle, for some
occplt reason. has evidently omitted the popula-
tion and territory of the feudatory princes, pu'
tbe,e was no justification for such an omission ms
bowever. is comparatively tri6ing mistake. IL
"a when he approaches history that lie MAKES 'no
most amazing statements. Thus In MS account VI
The destruction of the British troops In Afghan
fstan in 1872 the nearest date given Is 1870, wnen
Dost Mohammed mounted the throne ooon
AFTER says Mr.. Towle. +" his aggressiohs .o"alu
India compelled the Governor-General to lnVaue
t,abool.n According to this, the year 1899 was
g soon after the year 1923. But Mr.. Iowle mas
not done He proceeds to say that in the massacre
q onlv one man of the 10000 who had entered
Afcbanistan escaped this wholesale slaughter
Now. in the first place. only 10000 British troops
entered Afghanistan in 1889; and IN the secohu
place. the greater part of these returned 10 inui ~
the following September. The fact IS that only
ZOO troops were left in the country, and that
these with IL 900 camp-followers, were the Victims
of Afghan treachery. Again, Mr.. Towle states tn'e
the British force was destroyed as II denied
through the Khyber Pass" Another blunder' Inc
massacre occurred in the Kurd-Kabul Pass, and not
in the Khyber. And what does he mean by saying
that in ayenging the massacre Afghanstan was IN
vaded by both passes Y General Pollock advanced
on that occasion by the Khyber Pass, which was
then forced, for the first time IN history.
But it is in his accounts of Herat that Mr. Iowle
fairly surpasses his previous efforts in inaccuracy
After remarking casually that " Herat was long the
seat of the descendants of Timour Tameriane -
whoever he may be flor no such person Is known 10
history the public are gravely informed that IN
1857 an English force of $4,000 with htty pieces Oh
artillery were kept at bay before its Tamparts LOT
ton months bv its Afghan defenders! Really
this ia monstrous The fact, every schoolboy Oh
course knows. is that the English have never been
Mt Herat with an army; neither IN 1897 lwhen
they were fully cupied with the Mutiny IN lnca
nor before or since. The historical event winch Mt.
Towle has thus irregularly metamorphosed presun-
ablv il the siege of Herat in 1887 Ia tridng differ
ence of twenty years. by a Persian army AIDED by
Russia The city on that occasion Defended
bv an English officer. Eldred Pottinger Tor ten
months. Any encyclopedias would have gwen TINS
information to Mr. Towle but it Is clear that he dld
not take the trouble to look for it, although he
had undertaken to instruct the public on a timely
topic"
II il scarcely possible to open his work anywhere
without encountering some inexcusable misstate-
ment. however. Thus. in describing the capture OF
Kbiya. he alleges that the column commanded Dy
the General hmself" was first on the spot ms
is another error. Khiva was really taken Dy tne
Orenburg and Kimberly columns, under Oenerai
Verevkin and Colonel Lamakin, they having ar
was still several miles from it, Nor is 1t true as
Mr.. Towle states, that "the fiery young Khan de-
Tended his chief city with pluck.and courage" The
q fiery yonng Khan" did his best to surrender his
chief city, but finding that the Turcomans were de-
termined to fight, he away to escape the conse-
uuences Of their foolhardiness
We can notice but one more blunder Mr. Towle
calls the Russian ironclad Peter the Great one
of the most famous war ships in the world" and "a
monster of naval prowess" subsequently stating
rbur this perhaps is misprlnt that its tonnage is
nearly 1000" The Peter the Great Is by no
means one of the most famous war ships in the
world She is the mostformidable Russian possesses,
but England has at least six much heavier armored
and more formidably armed vessels, of greater dis
placement, while Italy has two-the Duillo ana
Dandolo-either of which could blow the Peter the
Great out of the water. But we must leave Mr.
Towle though we have only skinned the surface OF
his transformation and we should not have given
even this attention to the matter but for the fact
that the public are entitled to protection against
such attempts to disseminate ignorance and error