The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-05-13
THE LION AND THE BEAR.
WHAT THEY ARE enowL1Na ABOUT.
The Honc of Contention tho Key TO
the Gates of India-PIain Facts
Worth Knowing.

War between England and Russia is i'm
minent; it may, indeed, be said to have
commenced The object of this article is
to place before our readers distinct ac-
count Of the causes Of the war; the lay of
the land where the fighting is to be done;
andof the leading figures on both sides by
whom the struggle viii be conducted. To
aid us in this purpose and add interest to
the matter, map prepared with great
care, is Incorporated. .s
First, as to the cause. England and
Russia are the two European rivals for
Asiatic power They are both in Asia by
the right Of conquest. Their claims on
the territory occupied are equal; they base
them on the broad ground OF civilization.
Both powers have been advancing since
about the middle of the eighteenth cen.
tury-Russia from the shores of the Cas-
plan Sea, and England from the East In
dia Company's settlement at Fort VII
liam, near Calcutta-until within the last
decade It has been evident that the time
was soon TO come when their frontiers
would meet. The total revenue of India
last year was $3.50, ,0Oo, 600; and the not only
pays her own way, but affords arich field
for British capital, commerce, and manu-
factures. Russia's Central Asian posses
slOns. on the contrary, yield an annual
revenue Of only s., ,OOO,O and the annual
deficit caused by them to the imperial
treasury has averaged S?,Sj0.O00 for the
last fourteen years. The Russian ad-
vance south upon Asia began from Cren-
burg, on the Russian side Of the Caspian
sea, and has been pushed 200 miles. The
English encroachment north began from
Fort William. and has been pushed 1900
miles Together the two powers have COW
cred 5000 miles since they started from
their bases, and now they are practically
face 10 face. Between them lies Afghan
istan. Russia and England long ago
agreed that this state should remain as a
buffer between them. But they have
never come TO definite agreement as 10
what the precise limits of Afghanistan
were The nearest approach to such an
agreement was arrived at in 1878, when
the British India Office accepted the late
Prince Gortschakoff's summary Of the
understanding which resulted from long
negotiations between the two govern
ments But this summary was unsatis-
factory, the controlling item stating that
the territory in the actual possession at
the present moment OF Shere All Khan
should be considered to constitute the
limits Of ofAfghanlstan." This, as a matter
- I..Nf 90 la aatfla1 t.,haN Narrf
tory was in Shere ALPS actual possession
in 1922 That question has been debated
between the two governments ever since,
and Is the ostensible ground Of the pres
ent quarrel. Diplomatists on both sides
appear 10 have agreed, three years ago,
and maps of both countries so exhibit ed It,
that the northwest boundary line Of Al.
ghanistan was from Khojah Saleh TO the
Perslan frontier In the neighborhood Of
Sarakhs.
Russia, however, has rudely disturbed
this understanding Of things by her later
action. Merv, which she assured the
English government In 1882 she had no in
tention Of taking, she seized upon early
In 1884. The agreement TO regard line
drawn from Khojah Saleh to somewhere
about Sarakhs as the limits of her advance
she has now altogether brushed aside.
This line would certainly exclude her
from Penjdeh, which is over 10 miles
south OF it, and Sari-yazl, which is over
20 miles south Of It, and all the other ad-
vanced points which she now claims, and
most of which she occupies with her Cos
sacks