THE settlement to which Russia is reported as consenting keeps Herat well within the safe-keeping of its present owner. The only surrender -- if such it can be called -- is the district of Penjdeh, which, as it has been a hundred times repeated, the Ameer does not care to retain. But this concession is the sole ground of the violent language used against Mr. Gladstone, the sole justification for laughing at him and Earl Granville as the "dupes" of their antagonists. They have yielded all that M. de Giers demanded in January last, is the reproach cast upon them. Even were it true, which it is not, we should be disposed to say that we had secured peace at a cheap price, and this without being chargeable with holding that there can be no good war and no bad peace. We have ample compensations in the settlement arrived at. We have peace instead of an immeasurable war and all its attendants and results; we have a line of frontier for Afghanistan distinctly recognised by Russia. This could never be said before. And more, any violation of this line, any trespass, can be immediately discovered, published, and dealt with. We place Russia definitely outside this line. She knows her boundary at last, and it will be our own fault if we do not observe her movements and take means to check any symptom of aggression in the future. Whether or not it is desirable that a "butler" state should exist is a subject that can now be discussed calmly. But there need be no alarm at the prospect of its disappearance, if disappear it should. We are under no disability in regard to Russian aggression in Asia, on the contrary, the advantages are on our side. So far from supposing that Russia has meant to bring on a war with this country, we believe that it is the one thing she wished to avoid. She has avoided it, and the prediction may be safely ventured that she will be in no hurry to risk it.
Manchester Evening News, June 2.
Central Asia 1885
Central Asia 1885
Table of Contents
Miracles of healing - Christian Miracles or Healing
History of Russia: Christian Versus Barbarian
History of Japan: Early Christian Martyrs
The Jesus of History
The Assyrian Origin of Devil Worshippers
The Christ Of Dogma
The early history of Constantinople
