Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-07-16
THURSDAY.
ENGLAND AND RUSSIA.
The stake for which These Two
Great Empires arc Playing.


| their dispute. Were the land all there il
t at issue, England could well afford t.
present it, and compensate the Afghans
This, however, is but bagatelle, as 8
factor in the quarrel; deeper down in the
Russians mind are the riches of India
the. seaboard for her enterprise, the
overthrow of Persia and mistress of the
East
How strange, that the great Napoleon,
when dying at ST. Helena, should have
said, Before forty years England will
admit that / was right in my efforts to
divide Russia into two kingdoms. If she
is allowed to remain one empire she will
defy the world 1t was not forty years
when she brought on the Crimean War
Only six years ago she tried to obtain
Constantinople, and was stopped by Eng
land. Now she is again in the field.
Russia has an aggressive spirit, which
she cultivates with unmiXed seltishness,
and such prey as she grabs is held
with that bear like hug that one OF the
two must be vanquished.
England, has moved onward, but with
more consideration and human feeling
than her rival; and is now at the head
of civilization, wealth, commerce and re-
ligion. Alexandria completes the last
link in the short chain which binds her
to India, and insures the safety of the
Suez Canal To judge from the portents
of the past, Alexandria will soon recog-
nize the supremacy of Great Britain.
Without passing judgment upon the
question of right by which England has
made her acquisitions, it is impossible not
not to admire the systematic methods
which she adopts. Point by point she
has pushed her way, sometimes scoffed
at, and sometimes opposed by her jealous
rivals, but sure in the end of victory.
But since the days Of the Romans, no
nation has exhibited such marvellous
adapability and aptitude for colonization
as the English. Their provinces are now
found in every habitable part of the globe,
and the Queen, as Macauley truly ex-
pressed it, rules over an empire upon
which the sun never sets. Chance has
not given the English their ascendancy
over the modern world. Their victories
have been won by patience, by tact, by
infinite common sense, and by unswerv-
ing fortitude in the presence of hardship
and peril.
That England and Russia are too close
to be comfortable, there is no doubt but
the fault is with the statesmen, which
Sir Peter Lumsden has demonstrated /
The whole mischief has come out of Mr.
policy, in undoing what Lord
had done.
The English fought, and obtained pos
session of the country, putting the right
ul heir on the throne. 1t was here that
General Roberts won his laurels, and the
rontiers of India were safe. But as soon
IS the RAIDS came into power, the troops
we're withdrawn and the country left to
,iyil war. Candahar may be considered |
he Gibraltar of India, and Mr.. Glad |
tone; in giving up his advanced position,
has caused all the trouble. Sir Peter |
4umsden tells US Gas the Commissioner
o settle the boundary question: all about |
t. He says 81 did not speak to Gen. |
Iomarof himself, but had an interview
With Colonel Alikanoff," a man whom |
re described as possessed OF extraordi- |
larv smartness, and with most versatile |
alents-a good linguist, draughtsman,
alker and intriguer. MY conversation
With Alikanof did not last long, how
,ver," said Sir Peter, ''for We fell out at
nee when he began to put some OF his
,wn fancy coloring on his picture of the
lushk affair. Colonel Alikahoff went |
bout openly boasting among the At |
,hans, that Russia did not intend to be
atisfied with miserable strip of land on
he Afghan frontier, but meant to take |
ierat in due time, and great deal after |
hat"
Sir Peter Lumsden believes that the
yacuation of Candahar was a heavy |
mistake on thepart of the Gladstone cabi-
Jet, and that l. has been the origin of all
he subsequent trouble. Another mis-
AXE, he considers, was the treating OF !
Russian diplomatists as if they were
Europeans, instead of Asiatics, as they |
ne, in their utter disregard of the truth.
On the faith of meaningless Russian |
promises, we assured the Afghans that |
hey should not be attacked, and we rem
Iered ourselves ridiculous as well as
,dious to them when We left General
LomarofFs deliberate aggression unpun-
shed. "The Afghans, however" sad !
Sir Peter, "took the affair on the whole !
With more philosophy than might have |
Seen expected" For some time they
manifested their resentment by boycott
ing the General and his officers, delay
ng their mails on one occasion Tor
eighteen days, and sulkily pretending |
hat floods were the cause of this; but,
.fter a time, when they saw that their
Ameer did not intend to pick a quarrel
With England, they showed themselves
friendly again. "Neyerthe-
ess." proceeded General Lumsden, "our
equation for good faith has suffered
considerably among them, and we are
IT'LL more deeply disgraced i'll India.
What makes this all the harder to bear,
s the certainty l have that the Russians
would never have urged any of their abb
,urd demands if they had believed for a
moment that our government was IN
earnest about resisting them. Theywer
not prepared for war, they did not mean
war: but then they knew that they were
dealing with government which did not
mean to fight, either, so they played a
yame of diplomacy and buster, and won
T."
How the dispute will end is not Tor us
20 say: but rather than let Russia be the
dominant power in India, England must
ight. Russia is an Asiatic power, not
European. Her statesmen are trained
in the school of deceit and humbug.
There is no dependence to be placed
upon anything which proceeds from st.
Petersburg's cabinet. 1t was preposter-
BUS in Mr.. Gladstone to have entered the
arena of diplomacy with Prince Bismarck,
but absolutely senseless to depend upon
statements made by General komaron or
M. Grier.
The territory now possessed by the
Russians in Central Asia amounts 10
400, 900 square miles, an area as large as
Germany, the Austrian Empire and Bel.
rium together. But the population OF
his vast territory does not exceed 2,5OO,-
mo. or less than that of Switzerland. Inc
l..aa...at Of -nxnnrts and impOrtS