New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-28
NEW PEACE RUHORG

There are new rumOrs of Russian concessions
TO England The Imperial Council is reported
to have consented to a military inquiry regard
ing the battle of Penjdeh. The answer to Lord
Granvilles demand for explanations of the un-
provoked assault upon the Afghan position is
proclaimed at st. Petersburg to be moderate,
pacific and conciliatory. When it reaches Lon
don 1t will probably prove as unsatisfactory as
| the Russian reply to the proposal to define the
debatabe territory. The Car has already sent
medals and decorations to General KomarO1
and his officers. He has accepted the Official
reports of the engagement as accurate in all de-
tails and has not only justified the course of the
| general in command, but overw hemed him
with congratulations and compliments. If he
consents to the appointment OF mixed COM
mission to compare tho reports OF General
KOmaroff and Sir Peter Lumsden and to decide
which is the more correct, he discredits his own
action in distributing honors to the victorious
staff He may be willing to beat parley for
the sake of delay while his army is concen-
| trating in Central Asia, bat if he accepts the
proposal for joint investigation, he will not be
| likely to consent TO abide by any decision that
may be reached. In the end he will persist in be-
lieving the statements of the officers whom he
has commended and rewarded. Time will be
frittered away in collecting a mass of contra
dictory evidence, which will not alter the deter
mination of his military advisers to declare war
as soon as there is body of troops on the
ground to capture Herat with rush.
| SO long as military and naval preparations are
making on large scale with undated vigor,
peace is only a cuckoo song. On the Russian
side the movement of troops and war material
is conducted III profound silence. The news
papers and news agencies are not allowed to tell
what is going on aud the only Trustworthy in
formation is furnished by the secret agents of
Sir Peter Lumsden and the Indian Government.
1t is probable that the forces under General
Komarofs command have been increased from
5000 to 10000 or CIV en- 80, 900 during the past
month, and that in a fortnight $4,000 men will
be ready to receive marching orders for Herat
On the English side there is no attempt to con-
ceal the military preparations. The Admiralty
and War Offices are actively engaged in equip
ping armies and fleets and India is rapidly
arming to defend the Afghan frontier.
The most significant indication of war is the
abandonment of the Khartoum expedition at a
moment when Osman's warriors are deserving
him and the work of the railway engineers has
been fairly begun. General Grahams troops
are needed at Quetta, and the Soudan seaboard
is to be evacuated. If there were any means of
extricating General Wolseley's army, it would
also be dispatched to India. The Nile cam
paign ends in collapse without serious effort to
retrieve the prestige of the British arms or to
punish General Gordon's murderers The Gov
eminent which narrowly escaped defeat few
months ago on its Soudan failures is now al
lowed to bring its campaign of failures and mis-
calculations to an inglorious end, and the OPP
position does not venture to enter o protest.
There is more important work at hand else