^IbT 1, 188S.]
��SCIENCE.
��auch conquests, has been quieted. May not, however, the inteations of the Russians be bonest, and the cause or this apparent breach of faith be easily esplaine<iV
All the country from the Dou and the Volga east to C'liina and India, and from the Cau- casus south to the Persian Gulf, and south- west to the Mediterranean, has been occupied on the one side by wandering tribes without fixed habitation or permanent governraent. ma- rauders, a lave- dealers, and vagabonds: while on the south and south-west the countries have been and are ruled by the Persians and Turks, whose dominion is a constant curse to the people ovei- whom they rule, the tax-gath- erers being the only evidence to them of a government.
Wherever the llussians have established a new eastern boundary, settlements have sprung up. These settlements must be protected from pillage by the wandering chiefs. It was not aufflcient to chastise the marauders and return within the boundary, as the return was regarded as a retreat, and proof of weakness. Experience has taught the Russians, that, in order to keep peace, these tribes must be brought under Rus- sian rule: thus, by force of circumstances, they have been compelled to extend their territory from time to time. The conquered countries have been governed by the ablest generals of Russia, a Eaufmann and a Skobelelf. Their authority was almost despotic: and frequently kingdoms have been annexed before either Russia or Europe knew of the forward move- ment. When once annexed, the government could not recall its army, or refj-ain from gov- erning the conquered country.
The Russians are only carrying out the policy adopted by the English in India a hun- dred and fifty years ago. Her rule then ex- tended only over a few tribes. Lord Clive and Warren Ilastiuga were forced to extend her dominions north to the Himalayan Moun- tains, and south to the Pacific Ocean, until the whole peninsula of India became her empire \ which, though not as extensive territorially as Russia, yet in wealth and population far ex- ceeds that of Russia in Asia.
Wherever the Russian has gone, there he has carried law and government, settled habita- tions, and civilization. Though we may regard the civilization as crude and the government as bad, yet it is a vast improvement over the former misrule. Robbery has been stopped, slavery abolished, and the permanent cidtiva- tion of the land begun. With the exception of one or two tribes in the Caucasus, there is not a single nation ur tribe that does not
��After the capture of Merv by the Russians, Afghan was the only country that separated the Russian dominions from the English em- pire. The western boundary of Afghan then became a subject of great importance to Eng- land. The capture of Merv was acquiesced in by Great liritain on the agreement with Russia that a joint coraraission should be ap- pointed to "delimit the Afghan frontier from Khoja Saleh on the Oxus, to Sarakhs " on the Hari-Rud, or Tajand, — a distance of about three hundred miles.
The Russians claim that this boundary-line runs south of Panj Deh, crossing the Hari-Rud or Tajand about fifty miles l>elow Herat, fol- lowing a range of mountains that runs, or at least was supposed to run, from the Oxus River to the Tajand.
The English claim that it crosses the river about two hundred miles below Herat. The line has never been fixed. In the article on Afghanistan, in the last edition of the Encyclo- paedia Britannica, two boundaries are given. The fii-st crosses the river about seventy miles below Herat, and follows closely the line now claimed by Russia. It saya, " The balf- inde|)endent Hazara tribes stretch across the branches of the river of Herat, and down into the Oxus basin, so that it is ditHcnlt here to assign a boundary."
On two maps in my French atlas, the bound- ary-line crosses the Tajand at different places. On the large map of the Messrs. Johnson, published in Edinburgh, two boundaries are also given; though the outer one, now claimed by England, has greater prominence. At one time the line was described as running along a high mountain range which passed south of the Murgh-db River, and between that river and the Tajand, — substantially the line now claimed by Russia; but when it was discov- ered that this range existed only on the maps and in accounts of early travellers, and that there was no mountain barrier, the boundary- line was moved farther west.' Until recently, the western Iwundary had never been a subject of interest to the amir of Afghan or to the English or Russian governments. The land within the disputed territory is of little value. The population is sparse, with fen afflliationa with the Afghans. The people belong to a different race, having features of the Mongol type, speaking a different language, and pay-
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