Show THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE t If Hussi is u constructing a military road from P ujdeh to Herat it clearly in dicates that Russia not only intends to hold PonjdeU permanently but to take and hold Herat as Herat is above one hundred mflos south of Penjdeh and Penjdeh itself is near the southern limit Li of the frontier heretofore claimed by Russia Rus-sia and to determine which a commission was agreed upon by the governments of L Russia and England but nothing whatever hits been done by the commission That Russia will retain Ponjdeh note will doubt when the course of Russia itft regard to Merv is remembered remem-bered At the close of the Afghan war in 1B74 all England was of one mind with j regard to thC Russian mow to the East and South Und declared that Russia must not be jilowed to establish herself I in strength anywhere upon the Afghan I frontier eiihjir at Mcrv or at Serakhs or j i I at Abiverd The temper pf England then was to preverit such a move at any price and still Rusijia did not halt but played the game wlijch she is i again playing today IR to-day sendingj friendly assurances to England Eng-land and protestations that she has no intention in-tention to moire in the direction of India 1 and all the while I going forward In 1879 i i T i the occupation of Merv would have I been deemed a causus belli by England but in 1884 when the occupation of Merv I was an accomplished fact England did not hold it so serious a thing after all although al-though there was an exciting debate in the House of Commons on receipt of the I news At that time both parties Tory I and Liberal thought that the assurances of Russia were to be no longer heeded but they have been and today comes the news that a military road is being constructed con-structed from Penjdeh to Herat When Herat is reached which it probably will be soon it will not be long before we hear that these places are connected with the Caspian sea by railway the railway ill ready being at Abkabad which is only about two hundred miles from Merv And when this is done we shall not have long to wait before the announcement is made that Cabul and Candahar are threatened Cabul is nearer to India and far more important than Candahar The importance of Cabul lies in the fact that I it is not far from the Khyber Pass and while this pass is not the most convenient through which to enter India it is i now the highroad as the British frontier headquarters are at Peshawer which is not a great way from Cabul I Many the British now regret extremely that the permanent occupation of Canda I t bar was given up at the close of the I Afghan war although the Treaty of Gan damak stipulated that Candahar should be abandoned to the Afghans Now there may possibly be some effort made by the British government to obtain a I permanent foothold in Afghanistan by an alliance with that country both I offensive and defensive with a subsidy I to the Ameer for at no time heretofore has the empire of England been threatened as nowwh Russia is constructing I con-structing military roads leading directly to the Indian frontier It is sufficient for those who are lookers on to watch the course of events without any attempt to solve a question that is agitating all Europe I Eu-rope and putting to the test those who stand watch over the destinies of nations I It is to be hoped that war will not comeal though the present outlook is that it must I come |