'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎85] (116/714)

THAN SC ASPIA
85
commissioned officers to tlie Bokliaran army ; 1 and the contemplated
railway extensions to Sarakhs and Tashkent. Each of these steps
in itself would be important; but their combination, if effectively
carried out, as there is every reason to suppose will before long be
the case, will place Russia in a position almost incredibly superior
to that which she occupied in 1885. At the same time she is intro
ducing compulsory education for her Asiatic subjects in Russian
schools, and is applying to Transcaspia the strict passport system
of European Russia. If we take a leap over the intervening five
hundred miles, which are described as Afghanistan on the map, and
observe what is being done on the Indian side of that mysterious
middle ground, we shall find as great cause for satisfaction on our
own part as may the Russians on theirs. Either side is busy
with preparations. But preparations for war have a tendency to
prolong peace ; and experience seems to show that two equally well-
prepared countries are much less likely to fight than two ill-
prepared ones, or than two countries ot which the better prepared
is burning to profit by the backwardness ot the less.
If I were asked again at this time to cast a horoscope of the
immediate political future in Central Asia (for extended prophecy
would be absurd), I should reply that the omens are still
The future ^ ^^2 Time seems to strengthen the conviction
on both sides that a collision could not be confined to a small area 01
to a brief period of time, but that it must have far-reaching conse
quences which none can foresee. The notoriously peaceful pi o-
clivities of the reigning Czar are a potent tactor in the situation,
but one upon which in the unsettled state ot Russian society it is
unsafe to depend too implicitly ; although it may be hoped that
the same instincts will be developed in his eldest son, who lecently
toured through the Indian dominions ot the Queen. Afghanistan
remains as it has now been for half a century, the key of the situa
tion. If Russia continues to respect alike her own plighted word
and the boundaries of her neighbours, the Cossack and the Sepoy Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank.
may remain friends, at a distance, for some time to come.
1 Announced in the Moscow Gazette, January
2 As these sheets go to press somewhat disquieting rumours reach us of Russian
advance in the Pamirs and elsewhere ; and it is possible that we may be on the
threshold of a more troubled era.