Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎121v] (250/312)

THE STORY OF RUSSIAN INTRIGUE IN ASIA:
BROKEN PLEDGES.—III.
H aving completed the narrative of Russia's engagements with regard to
Khiva, let us resume the story of her pledges in respect of Afghanistan.
We have shown that in January, 1873, England achieved a diplomatic
victory over Russia by obtaining the line of the Upper Oxus as the
boundary of Afghanistan, and that Russia endeavoured to hold this
country responsible for Shere Ali's good behaviour. England did not 1
formally repudiate that obligation, though Mr. Gladstone declared m j
Parliament that the resposibihty referred solely to moral influence. |
Our negotiations with Shere Ali were directed towards making that respon
sibility a reality. The Ameer, alarmed by the example of the Khivan
expedition and the reported advance upon Merv, declined to share
England's confidence in the promises of Russia. Directly after the
fall of Khiva he sent a special envoy to the Viceroy of India,
at Simla, to express his apprehensions and to suggest means of mutua
defence. In those negotiations it is curious to observe that the
Ameer treated the safety of Afghanistan as essentially necessary to .
the safety of India, and he proposed that the British Government
should assist him with money and arms. Money he had already received
to the extent of two lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , and he was now promised ten akhs
in addition, as well as 10,000 Enfield and 5,000 Snider rifles. But it
soon appeared that these large grants did not satisfy the Ameers
wants. He evidently thought it the duty of England to supply
him with whatever he deemed necessary to place Afghanistan secure !
from invasion. He dreaded a Russian advance upon Merv, and he .
wished to make this country responsible for protecting him against the ;
consequences of that advance being continued to Herat. The Englisn
Government showed no unwillingness to accept a considerable share ;
of the duty which the Afghan ruler desired to place upon them. It j
was declared that "in the event of any aggression from without, the
British Government would in all probability afford material assistance in
repelling an invader," and Lord Derby stated in the House of Lords |
(May 8, 1874) that "it was highly probable this country would interfere
!in the case of any attack upon the independence of Afghanistan.
Nevertheless the negotiations with the Ameer did not progress favour-
{ably. The chief obstacle to a definite course of action arose from
the refusal of Shere Ali to enter into reciprocal engagements. He
declined to accept a proposed survey by English officers of the frontier
which he considered to be exposed to Russian attack; and he was
equally indisposed to permit the presence of Residents at Cabul,
Herat, or Candahar, whom the English Government desired to
place there in order to prevent this country from undertaking any
measures on behalf of Shere Ali without knowing why. From that
period we may date the defection of Shere Ali from the English
alliance. The circumstances which led to it are not within the scope
of this article. Suffice it to say that shortly after the Simla conference
had revealed to the Ameer that England considered some return
for her responsibility necessary on his part, we find him m commu
nication with General Kaufmann. That officer was wise enough to
express horror at the rebellion of Yakoob Khan, which naturally pleased
the Ameer better than our intercession in the young princes behalf.
But all the time that General Kaufmann was thus coquetting with
Shere Ali, Prince Gortschakoff was renewing his promises to have nothing
to do with Afghanistan. The last engagement of which we took notice
was in January, r874, when the Russian Chancellor replied to the feeble
remonstrances of Lord Granville respecting the conquest of Khiva. No
official correspondence has been issued from the Foreign Office since that
date, and we must therefore fall back upon other sources of informa
tion. The Indian, the German, and the Russian press, and the debates in
Parliament, have given us glimpses into the course of affairs, which enable
us to follow the negotiations pretty closely. In 1874 and 1875 statements
were current in this country respecting an expedition from Krasnovodsk
to Kizil Arvat, in order to punish the Turcomans, and the apprehension
prevailed that Russia would seize that post as a step towards Merv. Some
representations appear to have passed between the two Governments,
and, according to the declarations of an Indian newspaper, m the
summer of 1875 Russia pledged herself not to extend her territory m
the direction of the Atrek. Within a few weeks of that engagement we
had news of a scientific exploring expedition, starting from Krasnovodsk
to "the old bed of the Oxus." Instead, however, of its having that
innocent object, it turned out to be a Cossack force from Chickislar,
along the course of the Atrek, which succeeded in obtaining the sub
mission of certain tribes in the neighbourhood of that river and the
Soombar. This was in 1875, and other expeditions followed in
1876 r and 1877. All this time the Russian Government, according
to their semi-official journals, were endeavouring to restrict General
Lomakin's operations, and it came with surprise upon this country
in the autumn of 1876 that in the course of that year a small Rus
sian expedition had actually reached Kizil Arvat. That demonstration,
however, seems to have been no more than a reconnaissance j but in the
following year a new expedition, consisting of 4,000 men, marched in
the same direction. Beyond the announcement that the force reached
Kizil Arvat, the Russian- newspapers threw no light upon its operations.
Current reports, which were probably true, represented that Genera
Lomakin suffered a severe defeat, and this was ultimately admitted by
the Rvssky Mir. The information supplied by the Indian press respecting
these expeditions indicates that the Russian endeavour to advance towards
Merv was not overlooked by the Viceroy and his Council. These were
the days of Lord Salisbury's appeals to large-scale maps, and we suppose
it would astonish no one to hear that he scouted all proposals that may
have been made by the Indian Government for counteracting Russian
enterprise against the Turcomans and Merv. It may be that the Indian
Secretary received some assurances from the Russian authorities that