The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-05-19

and sending out punitive expeditions
among the tribesmen of the northeast
ern hills. She had pushed her strate-
gle railways in the north of India
nearer and nearer the land of her de-
sire.
Russia, in her territory, has
been working just as hard. The czar
has for a long time been anxious to
consolidate his claims in the east, and
with this end in view, has been quietly
massing troops on his southern from
tiers in Asia. 1t was only in the year
1872 that the zones of influence of Rus
STA, Afghanistan and east India were
settled between the cabinets of St. Pc
tersburg and London, yet today they
are more menacingly indefinite than
ever before.
Afghanistan and Tibet are the little
buffer states between the two contend
ing nations, or, rather, empires. All
borderlands are turbulent districts.
One Of these little buffer states may,
perhaps, be ground out of existence be-
fore the Asian border is really settled
upon. But the two giant imperial
millstones will find both Tibet and At
ghanistan a very hard flint pebble 10
grind.
Chitral and Swat and Waziriland
and Kafristan are properly a border
land between British India and At
ghanistan. and, though at one time
supposed to belong to the latter, are
nav ~,o;N - - o~1.I Il .--
as out and out British territory. The
ameer of ~Arghanistan, however, is al
so under the thumb of the car of Rus
STA. The ameer is equally afraid of
England. Yet, slowly but surely, Rus
STA has been working her way down
to "the roof Of the world" as this ter
ritory is called, and from the desolate
heights OF the Pamirs she has been
casting longing eyes upon the fertile
Indus valley.
Chitral is at present the apex Of the
British wedge. 1t Is the one border
state that touches the Russian frontier
and the Chinese at the same time. 1t
is the British Indian wedge driven and
forced up into the heart OF the Asian
continent to meet and check the
apeXes Of the other great imperial
wedges driven down in the opposite
direction. When the ameer of Afghan
istan prepared to seize both Chltral
and Jandol, some time ago, and Russia
was considered as ready in turn to
seize them all, Downing street put it's
thinking cap on and woke up to the
gravity OF the Indian situation. A
British force was dispatched to Chi
trail to constitute a permanent garri-
son there and to keep the throne Of
the reigning sovereign Il A mill
tary road was opened up from Pesha-
war and a subsidy was settled on the
mehtar, thus making him a vassal of
the coy and cunning British Indian
empire. Russia watched all these
moves uneasily. She realized that an
open frontier clash would be unwise.
and so resorted to her usual willy Slav
diplomacy. She assumed an attitude
of injured innocence and proclaimed
that presence of any strange officers
who might be found in disputed ter
ritory should be looked upon as merely
GIL SASuIsIOA Ou LlS pGIt VI any SuCD
officer for the sake of his health. But
the white bear waited. Now that
England has her hands full in South
Africa, this same Unsuitable bear re-
Allies that If ever there was a time for
her to move 1t Is the present. So this
Is why we hear of Russian advances in
the east and vague reports that Tibet
and ~Afghanistan are being threatened
By che Slav.
just how it will come out it is. i'm
possible to tell. If England retains
her full Influence and all the territory
she now claims and holds as her In
dian empire, it will be through no fault
of the Russian. Russia realizes thai