RUSSIA'S ETHNOGRAPHICAL FRONTIER.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1547, 13 May 1885, Page 2

RUSSIA'S ETHNOGRAPHICAL FRONTIER.

« (London Standard ) We think that it is most desirable that the claims which M. Lessar has been instructed to pnt forward should be stated with greater precision and accuracy than has yet been dene, that no misconception may prevail about the exact Ethnographical Frontier which he demands, in accordance with views previously expressed by the two , Russian generals, Veneynkoff and Petroosevitch. ' In tha first place M. Lessar's proposed frontier line is strictly ethno graphical. It ignores all geographical considerations as completely as it does the political necessities of either the Ameer or the Indian Government. The advance of the Russian force to Pul iKhafcnn, on the Heri Bud, before the arrival of the English Commission, showed clearly that Russia was determined to anticipate any adverse decision by the military occupation of the places to which she attached importance. Bat tho Russians hare not halted on the Heri Rud, even at Pnl-i-Khatum ; the Cossacks have proceeded 30 miles south of that place, to Zulfagar, where there is a ford. A fort also stands en the Persian sule of the river. The Russians ar», therefore, in actual pessession of the whole of the tract belonging to the Sal or Turcomans, although they hare not made, as yet, any banks of this river. With regard to the Salor Turcomans the position of the Russian Government is that they have absolutely become Russian subjects, and that Russian ' garrisons having been establish**! m ' their districts, there is no longer a possibility of the Czar ordering a retreat from the advanced position taken np at Zn! faster, 80 miles south ' at Sarakhas. The question of the ! Salors being thus decided, Russia refuses to make their position of the f attire a negotiable matter. Hence her ! | refusal to evacuate Pul i Ehatum ! when requested to do so by Lord \ Granville pending the decision of the Delimitation Commission. M. Lessor's Ethnographical Frontier commences at Zulfagar, on the Heri Rud, and then, with complete incHffer«nco to tho geographical foaterc o f

the country, a line is proposed to b* drawn across the northern part of Badjjlieis te Cheman-t-bid on the Hushk steam. This place is in almoat the same latitude as Zulfagar. From Cheman-i-Vid the Russian frontier goes on to Mcrachak, on the Murghap. It is this portion ot the Ethnographical Frontier which aflkcts the Ameer's rtghU most vitally ; for were Russia allowed to obtain these borders ska i would be left in possession of Penj-deh as well as of places on the Kuabk stream, nearer Herat. In short, the Russian Government having absorbed the region of the Salor Turcomans, ana refused to allow their fat© to be discussed, seeks to apply the him principle of ethnography, so saccafsfully employed on the Hexi Bud, U the districts of the Sariks Turcomans on the Mnrghab and Kusba nren. It is on the subject of the Sariks, wha have acquiesced in the tnore vigorous assertion of Afghan authority, that the French Government has to stand firm, and resist an undue protensions of Russia ; and the preservation of Penjdeh to the Ameer should represent the highest object of o«r immediate policy. Russia's ethnographical frontier does not stop with tb« Murhgab. Jfc is a complete scheme for the despoliation of Afghan territory. East of Meruchak, the limit named for the Ameer's jurisdistion ou the Mnrghab, Russia proposes that the mountains should form the frontier lina. and that the crest, not the fort, should decide where that line is. Here, again, Mr Lessar is anly formally stating what General Grodskoff, considered, when he travelled through Afghan Turkestan in 1878, would be a natural claim, and eminently advantageous to Russian interest But it is none the less a fact that be the application of the eth'uologieal principle to the country of the Kara and Aliali Tttreemans, Afghanistan wonld lose And khoi and Ehojah Salon. In all these preteasions the Russian Government is directed by a shrewd perception of the best way of advancing its own ends. On the Persian frontier it successfully asserted its pretensions to the possession of the Akhal Tar- (| comans' villagers although they derived 1 1 their irrigation, which supplied the \ means of their prosperity, from | streams rising in the Persian hi^a- ' landers. 1 They are seeking to do the | same ou the Afghan frontier. Tha I control of the few rivers in this barrea j region gives the command of the | surrounding country and re Incog dis- | orderly tribes to order. Russia Uai ' | carried out one-half of har purpose by ■ seizing the Salor regien and establishi mix herself on th« Heri Rud. That she has d»ue by force of arms. The i other half remains to be accomplished. , She is s^ekin^ to absorb the Sank district round Pend-jeh and on tha I Kusbk stteam, and that she. hope* to j accomplish through th« instrnmentslity i of il. Lessar. i .. ____