St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-29
and that the plan made for the delimita
ton of the Afghan territory has
UNHAPPILY BEEN FRUSTRATED

and that the plan made for the delimita
tiOn of the Afghan territory has
UNHAPPILY BEEN FRUSTRATED
to this extent, that it has not yet taken
effect in action. The circumstances of the
delay may have to be carefully examined
hereafter. / am not about to examine them
now, or make the delay matter of charge,
but must point out notorious fact, that
it allowed for military advances upon de-
bated ground, that were obviously and on
the face of them, in high degree dangerous
to the peace and dangerous to the future
settlement of the question. However, we set
ourselves to bring about an agreement with
Russia, by which we hoped that those dam
gers might, in great degree, be neutral
lied. That agreement was concluded on
the 10th of March, although it has passed
by the date of the 18th of March, inasmuch
as / think that was the date on which it
was telegraphed to Sir Peter Lumsden. The
agreement consisted of covenant and con-
The covenant was that the
Russian
TROOPS SHOULD NOT ADVANCE
on or attack, provided the Afghan troops
did not advance or attack. That was the
covenant. There followed reservation.
The reservation was that, unless in the case
OF some extraordinary accident, such as a
in Penjdeh, the statue quo
should remain undisturbed. l well recol-
lect the feeling which the men
ton OF that reservation created in
the house. The same feeling had
been created in our own minds. 1t was OBJ
vious that we were just as much entitled to
insert reservation on our side. I only now
refer to this matter in order to describe as
well as l can the spirit in which we have
to proceed, spirit of liberal
and Interpretation, whenever
we thought we could apply it without
SACRIFICE OF HoNoR
or duty. Exceptions might have been
taken to that reservation as covering large
had we been inclined to con-
slider it in spirit of caviling, and we
thought it our duty to give credit to the par
ties to that agreement. We acted upon
that duty, and | did not in this house say
one word to impute an evil color to that
We thought it our duty to
give that construction to the res
ervation, and l do not say that
the construction is known to have been
wrong. Come what may (hear, heary am
bound to say that although the house was
somewhat startled by the reservation I be-
lieve the agreement was accepted by the
house as binding covenant. 1t was
A VERY SOLEMN COVENANT,
involving great issues. There were thou
sands of men on the one side, standing for
their country, and On the other side for
what they thought their patriotic duty
placed i'll q position Of dangerous contigu-
ity and in danger Of bloody collision. This
came between the danger and
the people exposed to it, and we believe
that it would be recognized as one of the
most sacred covenants ever made between
two great nations, and that there would be
q rivalry between the two powers to sift the
incident that followed to the end and ascer-
tain how it has come about and who and
where the persons upon whom responsible
ity for it rested. (Hear, hear!) All this
REMAINS IN SUSPENSE
Of what happened. The bloody engage
ment of the 30th of March followed. I
shall overstate nothing. All may say is
this: That that woeful engagement of the
30th of March distinctly showed that one
party, or both, had either through ill-will,
or through unfortunate mishap, failed to
fulfill the condition Of the engagement.
We considered it, and we consider it still,
to BE- the duty of both countries and, above
all, will say it is for the honor of both
countries to examine how and by whose
fault this calamity came about I will
have no foregone conclusion. will not
anticipate that we are in the right, and,
although | have perfect confidence in
THE HONOR AND INTELLIGENCE
of our officers (cheers), I will not now as
sumo that they may not have been misled.
| will prepare myself for the ISSUE and
will abide by it as far as / can in spirit of
What l say is, that those
who have caused such an engagement to
fail, ought to become known to their own
and to each contracting party.
| will not say we are even now in posses
sion of all the facts of the case, but we are
in possessson of facts which create in our
minds impressions unfavOrable to the con-
duct of some of those who form the other
party to these negotiations; but
will not deviate from the strictest
principle of justice in anticipating anything
Of the ultimate issue of that fair inquiry
which we desire to prosecute. The
cause of
THAT DEPLORABLE COLLISION
may be uncertain. Whose was the provocation
is matter of the utmost consequence. We
know that the attack was Russian attack.
We know that the Afghans suffered in life,
in spirit and in repute. We know that a
blow was struck at the credit and authority
Of a sovereign, who is our protected ally,
and who had committed no offense. All
say is we cannot, in that state of things,
close this book and say we will look
into 1t no more. We must
do our best to have right
done in this matter. Under these circum-
stances there is case for preparation and 1
hope that the house will feel with me after
what have said, the necessity we are un-
der of holding the Soudanese
FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR SERVICE
elsewhere. hope the house will not press
upon US demand for time, which can have
no other effect than propagating here and
elsewhere the belief that there is some in
decision in the mind of parliament cloud
cheers) Whereas believe that with one
heart and one soul and one purpose only.
while preserving the absolute liberty
Of Judging the conduct of the
government and visiting them with its con-
oSquOASSc, tliO ltOuSC " Ill ~ lOIWdIu 10 per-
form and meet the demands of Justice and
the calls of honor, and will, subject only to
Justice and to honor, labor for the purposes
Of peace loud and general cheersl, the vote
to pass the entire credit of $50, 600, 600, en-
bloc, to the government
As Mr.. Gladstone had requested. it
was put from the chair. The credit
IN this form was at once agreed
to without discussion, amid loud and pro-
Ionged cheering from both sides. The
cheering was renewed and made tumultuous
when Mr.. Gladstone rose from his place
md passed out of the chamber.
THE CAR DETECTED.
ST. PETERSBURG. April 2s.-After the
receipt of Gen. Komarotf's cipher dispatch
at the parade of the troops. the
,zar had detected look. Owing to the
great scarcity OF coal here it is
feared the stock now held BY the