THE PAMIR QUESTION. RUSSIAN OPINION UPON IT.

Evening Post, Volume XLV, Issue 5, 7 January 1893, Page 4

THE PAMIR QUESTION. RUSSIAN OPINION UPON IT.

The St. Petersburg correspondent of tho London Standard telegraphed, just boforo the last mail loft England, a long article on tho question of tho Pamirs from the Novoo Vromva, which may be taken as the ev,tros. sion of Russian public op'iiion, and of olficiul feeling on the subject It nays — '¦ li 10 Knghsh pro-it! continues to fret itself on tho question of the Pamirs, and to .icctiio Russia of linving infringed 4he agri'i Imuiits uriivoil at on this licud. According to tlio i'litflUl], Chinu iviul Afghanistan havo mnu'i I utter light to tlio I'aiuii-d than Rinwa, w hich is in utrruoincut with tli« i usual tendency of British policy in foreign disputes. Unfortunately, tho efforts of Groat Britain to forco the stolid Chinese to join them in creating endless diplomatic controversies have signally failed. Wo havo already had soveral opportunities of makiug known our rights of sovereignly in tho Pamirs, which wo inherited in W75 with tho Khanate of Khokand. After this date t^io Chinose ostablishod themsolvos in Kashgar, which never had any political relations with the Pamirs. "As for our southern neighbours, tho English, when, in 1872, the question of fixing the eastern boundary of Afghanistan was raised. Lord Granville insisted that the power of tho Emir extended ovor Badakshan and tho dependency of Vakhan, from Sarykool in tho east to tho confluence of the rivor Koktoba with the Pandja, which forms tho northern limit of the aforesaid province Although, according to our information, the Emir had no right whatever to count these provinces as his, wo decided, in order to arrrive at somothing liko a stable order of things in Central Asia,toaocept tho frontier definition of Lord Granvillo. '" Tho Afghans, however, wore not content with tho frontiors conceded to them by the indulg-onco of tho Indian Government, and tefe years later tho Governor of Badakshan took advantage of the weakness of the rulers of Shignan and Roshan in ordor to seizo these Khanates, and to send the Khans prisoners to Cabul. In answer to our protests against theßo disloyal acts, tho British Government declared that tho Emir considered Shignan and Roflinn as his territory, and that Her Majesty's Government ' was not in possession of adequate information to enable it to give a dofinite opinion on this question,' and further proposed the appointment of a commission, Russo-Anglo-Afghan, to mako an inquiry on the spot. On the other hand, tho Russian Cabinet insisted that tho status quo ante must necessarily be rostored before any commission could sit, and that tho Afghan troops must ovaouato the disputed territory. Tho pour parlors were interrupted by the events on the north-west Afghan frontier, so carefully guarded by England, namoly, at Morv and Penjdeh, events which ended in tho action of Konshka. Tho central group of roads which lead from Russian territory to India passes through the Pamirs, from the Alai Valloy to Gilgit. For this reason the English sought to establish their influence m tho Khanatef, marching on the Pamirs. . . . . In spite of other suzerain rights Russia paid litt c attention to this group of roads, not considering it necessary to keep up a costly administration in the sparsely populated valleys and plateaus of the Pamirs. Encouraged by our inertia, England ceaselessly forced her advance, with the endeavour to clo o it up to the Chinese frontier. This creeping northwards towards tho Pamirs was exoouted with incomparable tact. By feigning goodwill and love of peace, England began by giving counsels, by intervening as arbiter, by lending help, then gradually passed to the role of protector, and from that to the position of mistress. With respect to the Western Pamirs, the English acted in the same spirit. When tho Russian Government threatened to repel with force the encroachments of the Afghans, the Indian Government advanced its right of protectorate, and in answer to Enseian complaints of their aggressive inroads the British Cabinet excused itself on the grounds of the impossibility of restraining its bellicose vassal " During recent years the British reconnaissances in the Pamirs have become too frequent, and together with them the attempts of the Afghans and Chinese to divide the Pamirs between themselves, accompanied by tho appearance of Afghan emissaries inciting to revo.t in tho province bordering on their territory. . . . Under divers pretexts, tho Pamirs were visited even from the bordors of Ferghan, and several English travellers passed in through Tashkend, notably a Mr. Pitch, who turned out to be a lieutenant of tho 3rd Regiment of Madras I'avalry. In fact, things went from bad to worse, till, with the visit of Captain Younghusband, it became impossible and incompatible with the dignity of Russia to let them go further, wherefore we decided to send a detachment to the Pamirs to let it be known that they belonged to us. Tho results of this expedition are already well known." A few more desultory remarks close the aiticlo with the phrase : " As for China, we are pot likely to meet with any great difficulties from that quarter, nnd for Afghanislan the frontiers must be fixed according to the convention of 1872."