Show chelew the new war in asia herat A war is just breaking out in asia between england and persia which can hardly fall fail to alter altert the political condition of the central part of that continent and nud may when wo we least expect it relight the flame just extinguished ili in europe it is about herat geographical 1 dictionaries gazetteers and atlases anfor inform m us that herat is a town of say inhabitants the capital of vr an independent principality which borders persia on the wust west and khiva ou on tile tilo north and we further learn that from its situation and the he fertile character of the country through which the road runs from the caspian or kvilva to herat anufrom and from herat to Can dahar it is the key to tha iha british possessions in india and the natural point for a russian army of invasion we shall now endeavor to glean from the travels of general ferrier just published tio tin memoranda of sir john login and other oilier sources some further details respecting and the tile causes of tho iho war to which it lies ins given rise i 1 tile the people of herat siy sly that their city was built by b alexande alexander the greal great very likely he ill ili proved and strengthened it so excellent a soldier must Mus havo have seen its importance and taken care to use usa it for his bis purposes it became we learn a city of much trade and when Gel gei gedius genius lAllis khali khan took and sacked it ili in 1232 it contained inhabitants every one cue of whom was va s put to the sword I 1 from that period to 1607 it was actually sacred sacked and arid burned to the ground six times ws was w s taken and ravaged by every one of tile tiie asiatic conquerors of I 1 he ho ages we call cail ni medieval ed leval levai i in 1749 it was a dependency or pro province vinca vinea of persia 11 in that yearA yea rAhmed limed khan conquered it and annexed it to afghanistan and somo some years afterwards after warda grandson of this ahmed having appointed liis his stepbrother step brother governor of herat it was severed from the empire and erected into an independent principality it is so still or has been until october last but it has bas had so soma merca merea fierce ruggles ruggies Elt to maintain its independence the eli ell chiefs alefs of cun Can dahar and babul have lave attacked attached it with pertinacity and the persians instigated instigated by russia have hava besieged it again aud and ogal agair rile the tha greatest of these sieges was in 1838 when the present shall shah of persia ma marched relied against herat with an imposing army ile he was chiefly guided by a russian officer and liis ills best regiment consisted of russians Russi aLs who were called deserters oil on the other hand the Herat lans ians were t mostly directed by an english officer named botlinger Pot linger er who was the real commandant of the tha garrison though only a visitor oil on leave of absence ab selce from his regiment the Hera lians and persians were ili in fact mere shuttlecocks shuttle cocks for the russian and english battledores edores lo 10 play with the siege was ultimately raised hy by the tile persians but not till they bad half burned herat and reduced Ps ils people to incredible extremities from famine and the casualties casu alLieS of or war from the popi popl population lation fell in one year to a vast avast proportion of the tile people having sold themselves as slaves to avoid dying d ing of hunger general ferrier who visited herat in 1845 states that in tha the tell ten months siege the tiie persians spread more havoc lilan llian ought to have been caused by a hundred stars of war the persians repulsed oil on tile tiie murder of the shall kamran hamran the throne ue of herat was usurped by the tile famous yar aio Alo mohammed hammed this man mail seems to a have llave possessed remarkable remark able abla qualities and to have lave seen through all the contending parties by which lie he was surrounded ile he made treaties with persia and Cand aliar allar and quieted them did some sort of homage to the tile shall shah and held field the tha stirrup of the Biti B ilish sli sil resident when lie he mounted his liis horse by this conciliatory policy he lie succeeded ili in preventing attempts upon tile tiie independence of herat during li s lifetime he reigned from 1842 1642 to 1852 general farrer visited him at herat he describes him film as a tall hard faced mail man wrapped ili in cashmere shawls and weaning wearing the persian bieh bich blek bl ek ck cap cip after they had been handed round yar mohammed charged ferrier furrier with being all an englishman elli gl ishman on a diplomatic journey ferrier protested that lie ha was wab w as a frenchman traveling for pleasure but lie he did not quite convince this is the more easily understood when it is known that the believe that Napo napolon omi was an E english general who wiio fought the tiia russians yar mohammed kept general ferrier a close lie lle treated him with great civility chi lly ity ily sent sant presents to him film daily and regaled him with the sight of his ills dancing dace daue baya deres he fie and liis ills j ministers were rather hurt rt that ferrier would not get drunk wih vili them yar was a good soldier and a hardworking hard working man ile he was wass Vizier during tile tiie siege of 1838 and displayed great activity in repelling the persians his mode of detecting their mines was curious wherever lie ha suspected the persians were undermining the ground lle ile lie he set a plato plate filled with small seed tiie the least blow biow of pick or spade brought down some seeds and betrayed the tiie subterranean operations everyday every day during his reign lie lle satsie hours on ona a judgment seat administering justice his ilia decisions were uniformly fair and his rigor in punishing robbers so terrible that herat was by far the safest asiatic country to travel ili in during ills his time for his own safety lie fie never trusted to providence six hundred men always on gual guald d ot at the palace A trusty indian slept across lis ills ils bedroom door the same bame man brought him film liis his meals in hi closed dishes padlocked yet lie he was well liked by the people he ile was cruel like most eastern despots there was no mercy for people who were behindhand with their taxes a cobbler could not make mahe a hoa boa hoo without paying him film something inveterate criminals were savagely punished general fernier ferrier baw caw a poor wretch cli cil who had committed several crimes blown from a cannon his limbs and head flew fiew to a distance but his ills eu entrails traits fell close io to the tha cannon and ond were greedily devoured by dogs the most amusing part of the society of herat was tile the doctors they get drugs from british india and try to find out their properties byssing them oil on patients in progressive doses one oneff odthe the ablest v of them showed a bottle battle of cyanide of mercury to general ferrier and asked him film what devil of a salt can call this bel bei bo of or one hundred patients to whom I 1 have given it only one was cured all the rest died A high official lad had iad ills his leg broken in general ferriera Ferri ers presence by a kick from a horse the poor mail man fell and fainted from the pain which ills his friends caused him by twisting the limb to find where the tho fracture was ferrier ran into a grocery and asked for a glass of vinegar vin egar give me a rupee and you shall have half hair a glass said the grocer rascal and ass i cried ferrier you shall have nothing the sirdar is dying and this is no time for bargain bargaining ink inh when call can I 1 have such quell another opportunity for making a bargain hargain replied replie il the grocer sententiously tiou sly turning his back on ills his customer when tile the wounded mail man was carried home and the dec tors sent for they spent two hours ili in theoretical discussion before they looked at tile tiie he leg then they differed on the question whether the wound should be first washed or the leg set at once the setter carried his poin tand got ready his splinters but before he fixed them lo 10 bethought hin himself isaIr that a must offer a prayer before he set to work I 1 all au hour was consumed in finding the tile holy maii man and the prayer lasted three quarters more after which the leg was roughly ro set let the tiie patient felidi rending ilg lie the air with his cries of agony then arose rs falt among the doctors about his die tone was for hot food another for cold some fur for abstinence and so on As they could not agree they drew lots and took the advice of an astronomer who consulted a constellation upon these two bases they decided that the wounded mail man should have as much aa as lie could possibly eat cat but no drink at all herat has been visited once or twice by cholera which lias has made great ravages the principal physician acknowledged that his ignorant colleagues found it rather a difficult disease to treat but to him it was mere childs play his most effectual prescription prescript ionne lonne lie said had been the ninety nine attributes of the deity repeated in presence of the patient by three old men man two young me men 3 and one maid twice out loud and once to themselves yar mohammed who was never satisfied that his french friend was as harmless as he lie pretended was loth to let him go general ferriera Ferri ers annoyance athis at his ae detention was increased by quiet hints lie ha received from visitors who assured him that eliat he would be murdered at the first opportunity when he lie walked out lie he used to hear people ili in tild the crowd says poor fellow how thin lie he has got ah ali how young he be is to die by dint of courage and address he succeeded in frustrating the designs of his host if indeed tile the shah shall ever iad lad had any and after some weeks genteel confinement pursued his travels through tau tan yar mohammed died in 1852 and his son syud mohammed succeeded to the throne ile he was a mere simpleton who spent ills his time iu in playing with an air elephant which hs his fath father in law dost mohammed had given him ile he once paid a visit to an english mess table and expressed a desire to learn some words of english A waggish officer instructed him that the common salutation among the hie english was you are a spoon upon which young syud on his return home accosts his fi fis Aller dller ther abir be adeba ua na bashed by your leave father you are a spoon ile he did not last long A member of the old reigning family wa alich eil cil ell yar mohammed had set aside to usurp the throne aio Alo mohammed hammed overthrew him and took his ills place as sovereign of herat our latest accounts from herat state that the shall had hud besieged and taken the tho place and appointed this persian governor and mili t tiry tiry tary iry ary commander was well known to sir john login who assured his government that lie he would be a firm filand to tha english if so the story of or being appointed persian governor would be somewhat improbable the english have met this perso russian move by a countermove amlar to tha the demonstration made in 1838 in the persian gulf to Tor naich a british army with the enormous impedimenta usual in india to herat would ba lie almost impossible the eist east india indu company have merely sent fighting men with camp follow ers in 32 steamers and transports to llie tile persian port of Bu bashire shire and occupied it and one or two other desirable points thus though the fall of herat lays open the flank of indi i for you can drive a pleasure carriage all tile the way from teheran to Cand Con aliar dahar by herat and once over the persian border an army can bo be maintained with tile the utmost facility on the tile other liand hand tile tiie english will seize all tiie the persian gulf ports and pain south what they lose north the tile ultimate question will hinge oil on tho tile remaining military of russia harpers weekly |