New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-21
THE RUSSIAN ENVOY.
NOTES on NJ. LESSARs RECEPTION IN LON
DON AND HIS DIPLOMATIC METHODS.

| ihoio aro low peISOnageS 10 WHO'LL l4ouuoh oPcho
its best doors more readily than to foe.
The Turk for instance. though unspeakable. has
always been well received in London Mr. Gladstone
would denounce his atrocities in Bulgaria in the
afternoon, and shake hands with him. in the person
| OF Musurus Pacha, at dinner the same evening.
| Only the other day Count Herbert Bismarck was a
! guest at Lansdowne House and lion elsewhere IN
society. while his father exchanging broad
sides from Berlin with Lord Granville Hassan
fehmi Pacha has been one of two favorite guests
at smart parties during the critical days when Mr.
Gladstone held pistol to the head of his master 10
force him to sign the Egyptian convention and issue
the needed irman to the Khedve. And the other
oil the two favortes is NJ. Lessar the Russian envoy
or expert on the Central Asian question.
Nj. Lessar has been here for some weeks If there
had been no dispute about the Afghan frontier his
presence might have passed unnoticed. But as soon
as 1T was known that NJ. Lessar was the accredited
exponent of Russian pretensions his company was
coveted not. l think, because society was eager 10
know all about the contested boundary line, but
because NJ. Lessar was celebrity and novelty.
Inc more serious bouses do not compete for him as
the more sensational do, but neither do they close
their portals to HIM. SO various are the sections OF
society where NJ. Lessar has been view that
man must he very much recluse not to have met
| him somewhere
He is very we'll worth meeting. Like most
Russians he has aexibty of character which
lnsures his getting comfortably with the most
dssImilar people. lie will talk to you with the
| utmost 9uency, not to say volubihty, on the Cen
trail Asian question. He has absolutely nothing of
| that afecation of reserve which the professional
| diplomatst so often displays One reason tor this
may he that he is not professional dipomatist.
NJ. Lessar is by profession an engineer.-a military
engineer. understood him. rather inferred from
his account of himself The first impression he
makes is one of surprise. He is so young When
you hear of an envoy from Russia on grave qurs-
ton like that now at issue. you expect to meet
man OF middle age, or past middle age. NJ Lessar
looks, and | believe is, under thirty. Slight in
build. medium in stature he has the well bred man
Der which Russians out of Russia all have; as If
the paternil Car allowed only the best of his sub
iects to travel abroad. The features good the
eyes keen. restless, changeabe; very soft
in expression while he is talking frivolites.
piercing when he looks suddenly at his
interlocutor to. discover the effect of some
more than usually courageous remark which
their owner has just hazarded. II he has the Sav
mouth. 1t Is hidden by the full mustache and close
cut beard. dark brown and black. Unlike any
Russian ever heard Of in the West Of Europe. NJ.
lessar speaks not the language of the country To
which he Is mission. He understands. fancy.
more English than he is supposed to understand
but the only language have heard him use in the
English Capital is French; which he speaks with
extreme rapdity aud accent difficult TO define.
They he is by birth or by descent French Jew.
When | first met VI. Lessar. / WAS introduced to
him an American. and began by remark about
the traditional friendship between Russia ant the
United states This in my Innocence | hoped
might induce him to talk frankly on the merits of
the AngioH Russian controversy. in which case |
should have hid Ms little to mpart to you as have
now. But nothing of the kind happened Either
failed to inspire VI. Le~sar with confidence III my
discretion, he has adopted Uniform rule OF dis
course With all corners. and from this does not de
part 10 long ~ he is in London. lie talked to ms
a long time and his talk was extremely interest NJ.
But when il came to end | felt that had been
listening 90 Iust such statement OF the Russian
case rs that which the cosmopoltansm OF Mr.. stead
enables us 10 read every evening in all English
paper Ii can be no novelty TO any human being to
be told ON Russian authority That Russia has no
designs against India scheme of aggression or
conquest in Central Asia; never meant TO take
Khiva: accepted Merry an unwelcome cessiOn;
aud advances. when peradyenture she does advance.
in obedience to the force Of circumstances which
are stronger than her own will. Perhaps 1t added
piquancy to this familiar account to hear that
Russia not only had no wish to go to llorat, but
would not accept It as gift.
ALI this anu much more, flowed smoothly from
the lips of the who s. in all probability. tho
sole author of the present difficulty. NJ. Lessar has
spent four years in Central Asia 1t WAS his bust
ness to survey and report TIE country. He lived
in the saddle and slept at night with nothing be-
tween him aud the stars. At first the country was
dangerous. The Turcomans had been conquered.
but not reduced to order. Thev failed 10 perceive
in the beginning that the mission OF Russia was
ciyilizng mission. Having thriven for centuries
by pillago and tho slave trade, they were slow TO
understand that the authors of tho massacre of
Cock .epe looked with dslavor on violent methods
They required further convincing. and got it. They
we're reduced to sulsist on the proceeds of purely
agricultural and pastoral life. ] he country, OBJ
served NJ. Leasar. with pardonabe pride, is now 10
Illus pacf6 in Asia. / am not sure that he did not
saw the world. Not crime has been committed in
Turkestan for two years and half. The obvious
retort that there VAS nobody left to commit one
would have Como beyond the limits of friendly con-
yersaton.
Encouraged by this pacifed state of the desert
NJ Lessar pushed his surveys further south lie
oyerpassrd the well known line from khoja Saleh
on the Oxus 20 Sarakhs that aliiuent OF the Herr
Kud known as the Tel nd He penetrated 10 the
tract OF country lying between the River Murghab
and the IIeri-Rud. called the Badgheis. lie found
It., to his surprise. in great part well watered
Astounding in fertile valleys, and opening the easiest
of military roads to Herat lie formed the opinion
that Penjdeh was the key. or one OF the Keys, oil
military communication between fierat anu Afghan
rurkcstan lie warned his chleis-of course am
not now quoting NJ. Lessar that they had made
grave mistake in consenting to the hhoJa salem
Sarakhs line, and that means must be found 10
assert and establish Russian claim to the whole of
the disric. west of the river Kushk. and to Pendeh
first of all, though Penideh lies to the east on the
Murghab Hence it was that Russia, though she
had already agreed to n Boundary Commission
based on line far TO tho north or NJ LesSaTs dis