The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-04-19
GREAT BRITAIN AND RUSSIA.

GREAT BRITAIN AND RUSSIA.
The trouble between Great Britain
and Russia is over a strip of disputed
territory eighty miles wide on the
northern boundary of Afghanistan. and
which is claimed both by the Car and
the Ameer That is to say, this unim-
portant territory is the. ostensible
ground for the threatened hostIlities,
but the real trouble lies back of the
ownership of a patch of land that is
valuable to nobody. Thirty-one years
ago, Queen Victoria issued a procla
nation declaring war against Russia,
though there had been some fighting on
the Danube in 1853. That proclamation
resulted in the famous affair at Sebas-
tepol which practically terminated one
of the desperate and destructive wars
that have gone into the worlds history
and brought defeat and humiliation
to the Russians. Two years after Sebas-
topol. when peace was restored and
the soldiers of the allied powers had
gone from the Crimea, Russia began
an advance towards India, and has
since steadily moved forward foot by
foot towards the rich east. The maps
of to-day are not like those that the
schoolboy of twenty years ago used to
study. The vast territory across which
was then written Turkestan is now in
Guided in Russia, which latter is only
separated from the Oriental empire of
Victoria by the wild and mountainous
country occupied by the 'Afghans-
Great Britain, it is true, has moved
westward and southwark somewhat,
her Indian lines, but with no wish to en-
crOach upon the domains of the Gear
the advance of the British being more
for self protection and in the interests.
of civilization than with the desire to.
acquire territory. The English have
not been unmindful of the purposes of
Russia. and now deems it time to check
that advance; it is better to stop it now.
on the border of friendly power or
ally. than wait until it reaches the
Indian boundary. and becomes per-
petual threat, involving the mainten-
ance of a vast army posted for a thoas-
and miles along the frontier. While
is nominally an independ-
ent power, it is in fact the mere puppet
of Great Britain, the present Amer
being the creature of the English
and his predecessor the PEN
sioner of the British government.
1t best serves the English to have it
thus, the arrangement being less ex-
pensive to Great Britain, less offensive
to Russia and quite as effective as
barrier against the Cars aggression.
The English, in their own behalf, and
not becase they entertained any especial
love or regard for the Wild tribes of that
country, constituted themselves the
protectors and benefactors of the
Afghans. and in that way they have
assumed a position where an attack on
Afghanistan by Russia is an attack on
the British.
It will thus be seen that there is real
cause for war, as there. is i'm
mediate danger OF the break
ing out of war, though, the
peaceful, military hating Gladstone
will do all he can to prevent hostilities.
The Russians have been guilty of Yio-
lating the agreement to remain inactive !
pending an attempted adjustment of
the boundary dispute, and do not now
seem disposed to apologize for their at
tack on Penjdeh, city in the disputed
territory. Under some administrations |
Great Britain would not have hesitated |
and delayed as it is doing to-day, anxi-
ously, almost crayenly seeking an excuse |
for failing to act with the promptness,
the determination and defiance that |
have characterized her course t
in the past. II is believed that !
had Disraeli been premier when
the news of the Penjdeh
affair reached London. it would have
been followed by a demand for an ex
PLANTATION and apology and had it not
been forthcoming the proclamation of
February, 1854. would have been
repeated, and ere this the guns of Great
Britain would have been laundering in
the ears of the Russians.
That there will be a contest between
these giants is as certain as that the
and aggressions of, the Rus
slams shall continue, and the self
respect, the determination and the
bravery of the British remain national I
The trouble may be
STAYED off for a time. but only war can
;heck the Gar or protect the Queens