THE RUSSIAN MILITARY POSITION IN CENTRAL ASIA.

Press, Volume XLI, Issue 6119, 29 April 1885, Page 2

THE RUSSIAN MILITARY POSITION IN CENTRAL ASIA.

The "Daily Kewe" of March 12ft, , eaya:— Oar correspondents in various parts of the East are sending us reports which all agree in asserting the reality of a deliberate ' movement of Russian troops along the . Kiril Arvat line in the direction of Herat* Our epecial correspondent with bir Peter Lumsden's Commusion, in' the immediate neighborhood of Herat, has said that Askabad i> supposed to be the immediate destination of the Bussian forces. Simitar testimony comes from our correspondent in Calcutta, where news from Central. Asia may sometimes arrive as Boon even as it doea in London. From Tebreeio, strain a town in the northernmost provinces of Per-ii, and not far from the Bursian frontier, another correspondent sends us a message, which we publish this .. morning, in which he states that the Hue* eians ore increasing the strength of their .-. armies in Turkestan, and despatching' troops from' the Caucasus provinces to Askabad. Knsban, the place from which , our correspondent received hie news of, the * date of the 24th of February, lies on the Persian, or southern side of the inouataia ~' range which divides Persia from Task* menia. It ia almost opposite the very •, spot, Askabad, upon which the Russian troops are eaid to be marching. Askabad ' is almost exactly half-way between Kisil Arvat, the late Cor present—it is difficult to - say which) terminus of the Bussian military railway, which was started from the Caspian ~ abont four years ago. . To make the position of the different localities clear* we shall begin with Forfc ■ Miohaelovsk, on the south-eastern shore of the Caspian. From this spot to- Kiel Arvat the distance is 144 miles. Astr&tad ; ; lies Iβ! miles, Sarakhs 331 milee,and Herat 533 miles beyond Kizil Arvat. Thus, then, when the railway reached Aak&bad, tht Kuseian troopa would hive to march; oa foot 872 miles to Herat. But Btitiaa " troops, etarling on foot for the swne ties-' tination from the terminus of the Bim . railway, would have to march about 8# miles. Iα the three months time the Bommb can, if they please, finish the line t* Askabad. Here, then, the Euesiane, if they do entertain any designs on Hem, have a great apparent advantage over.tact, English, who don't want Herat, but who . are detetmined that none but the Afgaaaa shall it. On the other hand, the, EngliEh poßSoae a great advantage whica on the first unmistakable sign of danger; they can turn to immediate account. Sir - Peter Lumsdeh and hie military esoertof. 400 men can occupy the town, assume t». direction of its Afghan garrison, an* hold the place until the arrival eg reinforcements from India. If the Bussians have only now, or but recently* begun the concentration of their foicae 08/ the Kizil Arvat-Askabad line, it will eefcv them a good deal of their time and trouMe before they can get together their " ninety- . five thousand or one hundred thouaaro ' regulars"'—regulars, be it observed t sot merely Turcoman ex-man trappers, Dot Buesiaus. Where are the hundred thOßsand to oome from? In the first plao% from Turkeetan and the Caucasus province!. But there are several reasons why the Bussiane dare not draw bo liberally aao . confidently upon the Turkestsn and Omsk casus garrisons ea the English tan,tipwt' the garrisons of India. The more lately conquered population of the Turkoman, countries have not yet been completely reconciled to the Muscovite rule; and if Koseift means to introduce conscription in Caucaffl* she may have a mutiny on her hands vr course these difficulties need notprevep the assembling of 100,000 Buseiana ontbfr , confines of Afghanistan. The deplete* garrisons would be replenished from- . Kuesiflu We only point out that the eoJ£ . centration of which we speak will be & wort of some considerable time, s«PP° 6UI *»*SS is to say. it may not have been eecreuy began and' vigorously prosecuted long ago. Meanwhile* it woula seem that ■ mentaare being despatched to Tunkaras* from the Caucasus. The reguian army** the Caucasus counts 100,000 men, a number of whom have been ordered from-EUaaoear pol. From Tiflis, the capital ol »* Caucasus, the railway journey, to the Caspian, ordinarily takes iron* lourtem to sixteen hours. Troops from Ehauwg l - . pol would, after a short march, «eaoh we railway line about half-way bet weenie and the port of embarkation. From Bajra*, across the Ca&pian, to Fort Mwaael»T»» ; where the Afikabad railway begins, U» voyage occupies about twenty hours. ig» splendid line of railway which con»cc»«». . Bleck Sea with the Caspian, waa opeueS»J; traffic aome daye before the coronation w the Caar. It is one of the beat b***,?? the Kueaiari Empire, and ie Pfi» a Sn a military line, though bo doubt it ▼*» ereatly develop the Caspian trade, **** ■ cwUy the oil trade of Baku, as aleo «* agricultural resources o« the peopled but naturally sich country wWea fftraTerses. One rf the latest «W*|. is to the effect that Prinoe »<»*«»««;., Korsakoff, the (3overnor-Geßoral of M* Caucaeus, is to pieceed in order to euperintead the mihtary opera* tions there. The rumour very much oew» confirmation. If there is to be c r»W great movement on the Herat line. General Kouropatkinie mg» more likely to direct it than.any <***\ aEcer. He is by many nubtary «f?K., supposed to be the best general J&W v BuSan Arajy. Hβ was the intgngg friend, and on many aa occasion thekib»* campaign«,of the late General He posseasea the widest experienos** Asiatio warfare. He won . tion at Khiva, in the Kokandca»P»^W*. Skobeleff'e campaign against sne Turoomaaa, at Plevna, and w °***V 1 L Ifc "-