The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-04
Of the rest Of the oasis. and then the Russian a-

OASIS.
| vance began up the river. About this time the
Russian movements in central Asia attracted
| nervous attention in England, and negotiations
followed with view to having the line of the 'front.'
| marked out Sir Peter Lumsden was appointed
| the commissioner for the English government
| the Russians, on their side, appointed frontier
commissioner, and the two were to fix the boun-
dairy line The Russians seem to have relied on
the murder of the English commissioner by the
Afghans before he could reach the frontier; but
as he went escorted by about 100 men of the
Indian army he arrived in safety, when,
finding him ready. to begin business, the
moved forward their forces from Sar
raks to Pul-s-Khatum, in order that they
might set up the claim of actual possession to
the territory which they wanted Sir Peter
Lumsden waited for months for the Russian
commissioner to come. But one excuse after
another came in his stead, and the commissioner
has never left ST. Petersburg For the military
advance there never was the slightest excuse,
no hostility having taken place from the Turko-
mans, and no reason has been given, the only
conceivable one being the fact that Russia had
determined on making the most of the situa-
ton at any price. Thus the Russian army has
pushed itself more than one hundred miles fur
Their south than the frontier line claimed by its
own army maps, no excuse being rendered for
the aggression, and at present the Russian
outposts are in position less than one hundred
miles from Herat, the city that the English and
Indian press and people have always regarded as
the most vital point in the military topography
of the country.
THE KEY OF INDIA.
AS Herat has always been regarded as the key
of India, the author devotes some space to de-
scrition of the city and the reasons why it is
considered so important the whole being
summed up in paragraph penned in 1882 by
General Skobeleff then chief Of the Asiatic
branch of the general staff of the Russian army:
"a body of European troops stationed at Herat,
and standing with it's front to the southeast,
would draw upon it the attention of the whole
population of India In that lies the significance
OF military occupation of Herat; and it is not
without reason that number of English experts,
knowing India we'll have expressed their belief
that were an enemy to occupy Herat with a pow
erful force, the English army, without having
fired shot, would consider itself half beaten"
Another author quoted by Mr. Marvin says:
'Herat Is a very large city, and does not
yield in size to any in central Asia. It contains
80, GOO people. 1t has from the earliest times
been considered strategic point, has been fifty
times taken, fifty times destroyed, and fifty
times has risen from its ashes" Mr.. Marvin
himself gives the following description of the
city and its surroundings: 'The city stands on
the right bank of the Hari-Rud from which
water Is brought by several channels. 1t is
built in the form of a rectangle the north and
south faces being about 500 and the east and
west faces each about 1,6OO yards in length, in
closing the city in an immense earthwork about
80 feet high, surmounted by a wall ranging
from 25 to 80 feet with a deep moat which can
be easily flooded from the HariRud. The cita-
del is situated in the center of the city, and is
also surrounded by a moat There are five
gates, and each is f1anked by two bastionS The
city is bridged at each of the gates by
wooden draw-bridge, which is raised and
lowered by mechanical appliances worked from
inside the wallis Each face of the four walls is
furnished with twenty five or thirty bastions
On the exterior slope of the embankment, sup
porting the walls are two lines of shelter
trenches, one above the other, carried all round
the city, except where the gates are. A CORE
spondent with Lumsden's mission describes the
ornaments as some twenty guns of varied cali
bers, besides numberless others lying dismounted
on the ramparts The garrison consists of 1900
or 5000 troops exclusive of irregulars"
THE STRATEGIC VALUE
From time immemorial Herat has always been
regarded as an outlying bulwark to India, the
possession of which was necessary preliminary
to invading that country, and the fertilization of
which by those who already held India would
render an invasion impossible. 1t was so consid-
cred by Alexander by Mahmud and his success
ors, by Chingiz Khan, by Taimur, by Nadir
Shah, by Ahmed Shah, and by Mahommed Shah
Exactly why the city should have this strate-
gic. Importance the author exp aims very
through it, and through it alone, the valleys can
be entered which lead to the only vulnerable
part of India. Those valleys, running nearly
north and south, are protected to the east by in
accessible ranges to the west by impracticable
deserts. No invading army would dare attempt
to cross the Great Salt desert while British
army held Herat, and so long that army holds
Herat, so long would an invasion of India be i'm
possible, Another fact illustrates the enor-
nous value of Herat. Place an army there and
nothing need be brought to it from Europe
Within the limits of the Herati country all the
great roads leading to India converge. The
mines of the Herati supply lead, iron and sui
phur. The surface of the country is in MANY
parts, laden with saltpeter; the willow and the
poplar, which make the best charcoal, abound
the fields produce in abundance corn, wine and
oil, while from the population, attracted
to its .,, new rulers by good govern
tanned Such the military advantages
presented by Herat to the power that shall oc-
cupy it. Should that power be an enemy, Herat
would be to him an eye to see and an arm to
Hindustan, to watch the discoutents of the rulers
and the heart burnings of their subordinates
From watching and noting to fermenting and
stirring up there is but one short step. In a
third sense, likewise, the possession of Herat by
an enemy would be not less dangerous to Eng
land. The roads converging on it, already
alluded to, are traversed by caravans to which
no other route is available We may be sure
that the CITY winch successfully resisted the
rivalry of Meshed, when Meshed was backed by
all the influence of Persia will take astill higher
position when supported by the might either of
England or of Russia. The European power
whose influence shall be paramount in Herat
will rule the markets of central Asia More
even than that, the possession of Herat by Rus.
STA means the exclusion of England from the
markets of central Asia"
THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY
1t will, from the foregoing, be seen that the
city is valued not only from its position, but
from the country surrounding it. AS Mr..
Marvin remarks: 'It contains resources in corn
and beef which, if swept into any part of the
Herat district would feed an army of at least
1O0, 900 men. 1t is this great camping ground,
and not exclusively the clty, that is the key of