Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-31
WHY RUSSIA WANTS PERSIA.
So That She Can Attack India-Cheeking
English Influence at Teheran.

English Influence at Teheran.
New York Sun.
Whether or no the teiegraphed report
that the czar's government has sent an
ultimatum to the shah shall prove well
founded, it is probable enough that
vigorous measures of some kind will be
taken to check the recent reasserton of
English influence at Teheran. If, indeed, ,
we glance at the map and recall the con-
tinual contraction of Persia s northern
frontier during the present century we
shall see 4 good deal of ground
for the belief entertained not only by
Sir Drumnond Wolf but by many other
well informed diplomatists, that not In
Ola but Persia is the real, or, at all
events, the first, great prize coveted by
the Russians in Asia. Evidently, if
Herat were in Russian hands it would be
fer easier to occupy the Persian valleys
and coast tracts in the rear than to in
wade the Puniab. In word, Russia's
quickest road to the Indian ocean is by
way of the Persian gulf.
For some ninety years Russia has been
constantly nibbling at Persian territory
while awaiting q favorable moment to
bolt the remainder at gulp. In the
meantime English diplOmatists have for
the most part helped by indifference or
oversight to facilitate the process of alb
sorption. Without any attempt at in
terposition England has beheld Russia s
annexation of Georgia, part of
Persian Kurdistan, and all of Per-
sian Armenia, and the conversion of the
Caspian into a Russian lake. Already
mistress of the headwaters of the Tigris,
the car s soldiers could at any moment
seize TabreeZ, the great emporium of
Persian commerce in the northwest.
There was no remonstrance from the
British foreign Office against the conquest
of Khiva, although the shah Of Persia
had well defined claims of suZerainty over
that khanate.
Still Persia 8 powers of resistance would
not have been fatally impaired had she
been allowed to retain Herat, which his
torically belongs to her, and which she
has occupied more than once during the
last 100 years. But when, in 1856, by
her own invasion of the shah s territory
on the south, England compelled the
evacuation of Herat, while at the same
time neglecting to keep it i'll her own
hands, she exposed to Russian greed
city which is not more indisputably the key
the east. Had the shah been suffered to
retain possession of Herat the successful
expedition under Skobeleff against Cock
Tepe would never have been undertaken,
and the Trans Caspian railway to Sarakhs
would never have been built. In 1872
want of foresight was again exhibited in
extending the southeastward frontier of
Persia some 800 miles on tl1eStraits of
Ormuz and the Indian oceans the eX-
pense of the Beloochees, who are
proteges of England. So that when
Persia is ultimately swallowed by
Russia the latter power will acquire
nearly 1000 miles of coast, including
multitude of the best harbors in the
Indian seas.
Such was the situation when Sir Drum
mond Wolff was sent to Teheran. In his
brief term of residence he has managed
to annihilate the influence which has been
for years exerted by Russian ambassa-
doris in the Persian capital. The COM
plete reversal of the shah's attitude has
of late been emphasized by the two incl
dents which are provoking SO vehement
protest from St. Petersburg.
The English have obtained a right
of access to the fertile valley of the
Karum river and of maintaining n COM
mercial agent at Meshed, while, on the
other hand, these privileges are denied
to Russia. How much this discrimina-
ton damages the latter power will be ap-
parent when we call to mind that the
Askabad- Sarakhs Railroad runs through
a desert, and that most of its sup
plies have hitherto been drawn from
the adjoining districts of Persia.
For parallel to the road and i'm
mediately westward, but in Per-
sian territory, runs the historic high
way of invasion from Askabad via
Meshed through the richest part of Kho-
rassan. If the Russian advanced posts
on the Herb ud and Morghal are to be
cut off from communication with Khoras-
san most of their supplies will have to be
brought from beyond the Caspian. By
such an attitude on the shah s part more
over they would in case of war with At
gnanistan or England be exposed to
flank attack from Persia.
The gravity of the change brought
about at Teheran by Sir Drummond Wolff
is fully understood at st. Petersburg, as
the talk about an ultimatum proves. 1t
remains to be seen whether the British
government will sustain its representative
or recall him and leave Persia once more
at the mercy of its Northern neighbor.