, 1885-05-13

doubtful points to the Commission.
All this recent evidence only confirms
and bears out what was know at an
earlier period, and before the Russian
occupation Of Merv. In the last
Centrnt Asian Blue Book, at page rs,
the following passage occurs in one OF
Mr.. ThOmson's letters from Teheran,
relating to certain overtures TO the
tribes at Penjdeh =
"Rahnan Bal IAN agent from Khiva arm
ed with a Russian letter Of authority also
sent to Penjdeh 10 inform the inhabitants
thar they too were to receive a Governor
from Mery. The Peljdeh people refused
TO acknowledge Rahman Bats authority,
declaring that they were subjects of Herat,
but that if he would restore to them their
Inheritance in the lands of Merv now held
by the Tekkes they would migrate to Merv
in y hody.o
PpnjAeh has been Afghan so long
as A gl,anistan bias been a kingdom,
and effective possession is MOI to be
measured solely by the presence Of a
garrison. Were ,llat to be the test
applied 10 the extent of the Ameer'S
dominion~ there are very few places
along the extensive borders which he
has 10 hold thai, could fulfil the
condition. In February, 1883, the
tribes at Penjdeh declared themselves
'the subjects Of Hprat," and in March
1884 they were "the subjects of
Abdurrahman." On The 18th of
June they received an Afghan garri.
son, \ week before N. dc Giers made
any claim 10 regard this place ~ out
eide ~Afgllnni>tan, and two months
and . half before the Commission
was finally ratified and concluded by
the appointment Of The Commissioners.
The action of the Russian Government
has been marked by other Inconsistencies.
When VI. Zinovief, whose share in the he.
gOtiatiOns has been very considerable, was
referring TO the question of the frontier in
conversation with Mr.. Kennedy, he said
that the frontier Ike would be Il avn fir ON
Sarakhs, or under no circumstances from a
more southern point than Pul.i-khatun.
Colonel Alikhanoff, whose name is idcnti-
fed with the attempt to seize Perjdch 10y
a coup de main, also told General Lumsden,
when he breakfasted with him at Salakhs
iHSC NOFtIuDeI. tndl "Sarl- 1dZl 1Ol McU tH6
boundary between Penjdeh and Yulatan."
We have, therefore, ON the authority OF
Russian officers themselves, the fullest con
frmation of the statements we have re-
peatealy made to the effect that the limits
of the Afghan jurisdiction at Penjdeh
reached as far north as Sari YAH. The
steps taken By the present Amrer to con
solidate his authority were due t. the APP
preheisions raised by the occupation of
Merv and to the representations Of the
Sariks themselves. They were also dictat-
ed by the natural instinct of a strong and
vigorous ruler, who saw in timely prtcau
tions within his territory the best means Of
repelling aggression from without. To
describe his legitimate assertion of a%utllori-
ty as an 'act of aggression is what the
Russian Government never attempted, and
when the Russians protested, on the 23rd
jung, against All accomplished fact, the
Englisa Ambassador was instructed to say,
If NJ. de Giers expected a reply, that Sac
cording to the information in the possession
of Her Majesty's Government Penjdph had
always formed part of Afglanistan ever
since that country became a Kingdom"
We may hope that these facts, which rest
upon an irrefragable basis, will dispose
once for all of the Russian pretensions re-
garding Penjdeh, and that the clear and
nnquestiOnable right of the Ameer to that
vNlnn mill rnxyA, kIa D.no1O Axyn ~ r%