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Show A SPECK OF WAR. A brief telegram brings word that ! England has notified Gortschakoff that if Russia docs not refrain from pressing I on the Khan of Khiva she will be com- i polled to interfere to protect the inde- j pendence of Khiva, or Khaurezm, j rather, as Khiva is the capital of the khanate. The conquest of this portion I of central Asia is one of the traditions of Russian territorial aggrandizement. t Peter the Great undertoek it, and failed; and the father of the present czar, Nicholas, as late as 1839, dispatched dis-patched an army for the same purpose, but the most of his men perished in the Kizilkum Desert, which has been the great protection of the khanate. It is easy for Russia at any time to pick a quarrel with one of these small Asiatic powers and then proceed to bring it into subjection, the real object being to extend the sway of the Crar towards India, the objectivo point of Muscovite strategy and hope. Were Khaurezm brought under the sway of ! . Russia, that empire would possess an extension of nearly two hundred thousand thou-sand square miles to its present vast area; and it would havo a foothold within striking distance of northwest-tern northwest-tern India, thus threatening the vast British empire io tho east, No wonder England should talk of protecting the independence of Khiva, for as in the case of aiding Turkey against Russian agression she is protecting pro-tecting her own existence as a power in India. But it will be fresh in the public mind how she warned Gortschakoff Gort-schakoff agaiDst putting war vessels in the Black Sea, jet the Russian persisted, per-sisted, tho belligerent counsel of the English minister for foreign affairs was overruled by the peace policy of Gladstone Glad-stone and Bright, a conference of representatives re-presentatives of the great powers me in LondoD, and war was averted simply l by GortechakofFs point being oon- i ceded. As a result Russia is again fortifying her Black Sea ports, has al- ready a rcspcctable'uavy in its waters, has gained what she loet by the Crimean war; and threatens, as well to attempt the subjugation of Khiva, even if another army should perish in the dcf-ert. This persistency should I give cause of alarm to England; and the fjucstion now is, will Britain press j the demand for a suspension of hostili- . tics against the Khan of Khiva, or wait until she has to meet and fight J Russia in India, with disaffected j ' sepoys forming the main portion of the ; army with which the Muscovite and i Cossack are to bo met. The question is an important one, and the result of this inteifercnce on the part of Brit- j ain will be watched with intercut by! J the civilized world. I |
