THERE seems to be little doubt now that we have entered upon the beginning of the end of the humiliating negotiations with Russia. The British frontier proposals have at last been accepted by the Government of the Czar, and, save for the settlement of some trifling details, the question of the boundary between Russia and Afghanistan has been definitely arranged. So far so good, if the sole object was to avert war, that object has been attained, and England is free for the present at least to follow "the pleasant paths of peace," of which Lord Granville spoke so feelingly at the Royal Academy Banquet. But there are peaces and peaces, and the country will do well to be very moderate in its exultation over the prospect opened up by the transactions of the last few days. There is, to put it very mildly, no reason on earth to congratulate ourselves upon the success of our diplomacy, unless we bold it to be satisfactory at all times for a nation to assume the rule of Uriah Heap. We began with very brave words, and a great show of determination to die in the last ditch rather then surrender. A few weeks' reflection has changed all this, and to-day we appear before the world stripped of every shred of reputation for courage and consistency, and actually prepared to grovel at the feet of the Power we were so cocksure of being able to defeat. This is the true reading of the arrangement that has been arrived at, and no grandiloquent chatter about the acceptance by Russia of our proposals -will alter the plain meaning of the termination of the dispute. Russia gains all that M. de Giers and M. Lessar, demanded, and England concedes everything except that which she was not pressed to concede. The Muscovite, to put it plainly, wins, as we may say, hands down.
He gets all he wants, be makes no reparation for his "unprovoked aggression," and he exhibits himself to the Eastern world as still marching on in spite of all the protests and efforts of England to check his career.
Derby Mercury, June 3.
Central Asia 1885
Victor Hugo's Funeral
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
