Omaha daily bee., 1885-04-18
OTHER LANDS THAN OURS.

OTHER LANDS THAN OURS.
The expected declaration of war be.
tween England and Russia. has again
been postponed, aid there Is some pros.
pect of war being entirely avoided, at
least for some little time. The dis
patches, however, are somewhat conflict
ing. We are told that Russia makes no
secret of her Intentions of invading
A~fghanistan If the Afghans compel her to
do 30. Of course, in the event of such
invasion, the Russians will maintain that
the blame rests alone with the Afghans.
In st. Petersburg the opinion lis enter
tsined that England Is committing her
self to a dangerous policy In forming an
alliance with the Ameer without securing
absolute control. Upon the heel of the
announcement that Russia insists on re-
taining the positions that she has already
occupied, and intimates that unless
England holds herself responsible for the
scquiescence of the Ameer, General Kom.
aroft will advance and secure Herat,
comes the news that Baron de
Staal, at London. has been re.
quested by the car to inform
the English government that in the
cars opinion wal would be most deplor-
abe to both countries, and hat he hopes
q prompt and simple arrangement of the
present difficulty may be established. 1t
is stated that Baron de Staal has tele.
graphed the GEAR that the English gov
eminent has gladly accepted the oommu-
nication. This would look as IL the
Russian bear had backed down, and that
the British lion was glad of it. 1t re-
mains to be seen whether ''the present
difficulty will be satisfactorily arranged,
even if the reported communication of
the czsr Is genuine, which Gladstone
doubts. AS to the dispatch concerning
Pendjeh, for which Russia is reported to
have made a demand, Earl Dutferin tele-
graphs from India that 1t is not worth
lighting for. Meantime England con.
tinues her preparations for wap so that
she will be ready for any
emergency. The old suspicion of Russia ;
trickery is still entertained by England.
The English believe that Russia will act
as she has in the past by giving assuran'
ces that no advance will be made, yet
that advances will be pushed all the
same. Russia's excuses for the battle Of
Kushk and the occupation of Penjdeh
prove entirely unsatisfactory to the Brit
ish ministry and people. Bsch new pre-,
v~arlcation seems only to disgust the Eng
lish dignitsrles and public; and matters
have not been mended by dispatches from
st. Petersburg containing additional ex
plantations aud excuses Gen. Komarof
now states that he was in possession o.
positive information shats night attacko o,
his troops was contemplated by thu
Afghan commander, and that In order tt
forestall the consequences of a surpris'
he was forced to dislodgs the Afghan
from the threatening positions which
they held. The latest dispatches indi
cate that Komaroff knew officially abou
the st. Petersburg agreement with Lon
don, which wal made on the 18th o
March, which was that England was t
deter the Afghans and the car was to de
ter his troops from advancing beyon'
!, positions they then respectively occu
pied until ONE subsequent agresmen
about the demarcation of the Afgha
frontier could be reached between tn
} two governments. The battle ON th
! Kushk was fought therefore several day
, after Gen. Komarotf had been mad
aware of the agreement net to advance.
The prevailing belief in England, Q
. has already been intimated Is that Russl
? has only been %prolonging negotiation I
!, gain time for the MISSING of troops O
the Afghan border, and that when she
ready for q declaration of war she wi
, have q consid cradle force within strikin
/. distance Of Herat. This view is certain
. ly supported by the information attsint
' Bile concerning Russian movements, an
q Il 1t is correct the possibility of an EN-
s lish advance to Herat In time to save
a Is very doubtful. The capture of Hera
: though necessarily the frat object O
y both. sides, can determine nothipl
i Should Russia succeed In taking it, eli
will have 10 defend 1t against q reguli
investment, without time to ~Htrengthe
the Notifications or to vlctual the plsc'
The surrounding country atfording L
means fer hssty provisioning, 1t Is ope
to question whether a force large enoug
I to defend tire city can subsist any lengt
Of time In 1t. Difficulties owing 10 Il
sterIlity of the country would Of cou
!, affect both ~bslligerents, though not equs
, ly, since the British base of supple
: would be much larger, and the commun
cations-on the assumption that the A
n ghaus remain friendly-more easily mali
tained. But 1t Is plain that If Russ
gains Herst, the English task will
enormously increased, and that the vi
will be more prolonged, costly and diff
n cult.
A war between England and Russ
@ would be carried on by sea as well as |
G land. Russia has . considerable navy.
385 vessels of all classes, carrying g.
a guns. OF these 40 are iron-clAds,
which 6 are ships of the frat class, wi
> armor from IA to 10 inches thick, and
are sesgoing cruisers, with from At to
d ] lnchts Of rmo The Black sea fleet