Omaha daily bee., 1885-08-01
THE DAILY BEE--sATURDAY, AUGUST I 1885

patches of late, and an examination Of q
good map will reveal Its value to the Brit.
ish government.
Prince Bismarck seems to have had
enc of his attacks of heavy German
humor. Otherwise 1t lie hard to account
for his advice that the Hul6kar Pass
should be made neutral. The notion of
maintaining the neutrality of the high
way from the Russian posts into the
Afghan territory may seem funny to
Prince Bismarck. 1t cannot seem
to anybody, and as little to him
as to anybody else, a serious sug.
g~estlon. "The powers would scarcely
guarantee q pass which they can
not get at as if 1t were the Suez canal.
The guarantee must be given by the con.
tending parties, which are Russia and
A~fghanlstsn, the latter being for this
purpose an English dependency. This
would be very like two dogs guarantee.
Ing the neutrality of q bone that lay be-
tween them and was coveted by bosh,
IL the suggestion has any significance
at all it indicates a --prfeerenoe
for the Russian claims on the
part of the German chancellor. The
seml-oficisl announcement that Russia
will not ~relinqulnh these claims indicates
the same willingness for war that has all
along given the Russian n%avigators an
advantage over the Engllsh 1t teems
also q piece of bad faith. The pas, ittelf
having been formally conceded to Afghan
istan, the refusal to concede Its approaches
Is a refusal to cede with the pass what In
law would be called It's Easements"
The Germans have always called the
provinces won from Fiance the "Rsicbs-
land" or the empires domain, thus en-
phssizing the fact that it was the common
reward of the whole empire for prowess
In war. The emperor's son.in-law, the
grand duke of Baden, whose country
constitutes a ribbon ON the east of these
provinces, covets them, but Bismarck has
always stood In his WY. His wife, the
emperor's daughter, lately got the con-
sent of her aged father and Of the crown
prince, but Bismarck again interviewed
and defeated the scheme. To be COVER
nor of the Reichsland is a high honor, as
it is the outpost toward France, and tho
adminisI ration of a reluctant and con.
quered people is ofsen a delicate matter.
Prince Hohenlohs succeeds the grim
Manteutfel In that capacity.
Whatever tho result Of the recent re-
vivsl of alarm over Russian movements
in central Asia, the indications that Rus
Ella has been creating as her own the ter
ritory of PersiA" will be likely to subject
the frontier of the latter country hereaf-
ter to a watch as close as that which Is
habituslly kept upon the frontier of AZ
ghanistan.
1t has been alleged that Russia obtained
specific permission to place her troops
for certain purposes upon Persian terri
tory. Be thst as 1t may, the military
concition of Persia Is such that Russia
could hardly find much more difficulty in
forcing her way to the Indian ocean
through its domains than through AT
ghanistan. 1t Ia true that an attempt
at The conquest of Eastern Persia might
stir up general opposition from
European powers, but the prowess
of that country itrelf could hardly
have terrors for Russia. The appoint
ment of a Russian commission to inquire
into the trade movement between the
Trans Caspian territory and Afghsnistan
and Persia, msy mean g breathing spell
in the Muscovlte aggression In the east.
The announcement OF the commission Ia
accompanied with the word of the Moa-
COW Gazette that the governm ent con.
siders its ventures In Central Asia at an
end. Persia may we'll tremble at the
thought OF a Russian commission in
trusted with the inspection of it's trade
routes,
Now that the difficulties between
France and China have been settled, the
French are free to turn their arms against
Madagascar, and are taking active meas-
ures to atone for their defeat In Topquin
by the conquest of ''the great African
island" For several years we have heard
much of certain French claims upon
Madagascar and alleged rights to large
parts of It's territory. These pretenslons
of the French are of a very shadowy
nature.
They have no ancient right to the is
land, for three European nations, the
Portuguese, the Dutch and the English,
were established there before them. Re
peated attempts Of the French to settle
on the island have failed, and, at the be-
ginning of the present century, they had
almost no connection with it. Having
ancient right to the Island, they are
~endeavoring to support their position by
of treaties made In 1S4l with some
tribes by . repudiated and
treaty made In 1862 with a
drunken king, and by a treaty made in
1868, which gives the French no more
rights to the Island bar any ether nation
which has made a treaty with the govern
ment may claim.
This Hovas, the dominant tribe, who
have col qusred almost the entire island,
are vigorously reels ing theae Frsnch
They claim the disputed
territory by right OF conquest, and sly
that rebels anuot dispose Of land by
with a foreign power. Tho con-
quered tribes have rendered fealty to the
sovereign of the Hovas, military posts
have been established in and custom
collected from the subjugated
country by Hcvs officials, without apy
from the French. Finally, the
French, In their treaties, have r~ecogn'zld
the ruler of the Hoyss as sovereign of