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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7343, 2 June 1885, Page 4

The Agent-General has telegraphed that Russia has accepted the proposal of England, and that peace is assured, which is a mild way of saying that England has yielded to Russia, and that war is in the meantime postponed. By the arrangement come to, Maruchak and Zulfikar Pass are, it is said, to remain in the possession of Afghanistan,. and this, of course, signifies that Penjdeh and Pul-i-Khatun are to be appropriated by Russia. Nothing, it is true, is said about these two latter places, but every one who has watched the progress of events, must feel that it is as certain as anything can be that these positions, now occupied by Russian troops in contravention of previous agreements, will henceforth so remain. The main points in the work of delimitation have, .we are informed, been fixed, and all that the Commission will have to do is to settle the details. But the truth is that the details are not worth the Commission. All that remains to be done is to draw a line somewhere, say midway, between Maruchak and Penjdeh on the Murghab, and between Zulfikar Pass and Pul-i-Khatun on the Hari-Rud, and the matter is disposed of. Thus, after all their bravo words, and after putting the Empire to an enormous expense, in ' order, as was alleged, to assert England's honour, and the rights of her ally, Mr. Gladstone's Ministry has wound up this business by conceding to Russia all that she reckoned on getting, and all that she was determined to have. She has not got quite so near Herat as she would have liked, but she has yet got a great deal more than England meant to let her have. The boundary line from Khoja Saleh to Sarakhs, proposed by England, has gone by the board, never to he heard of more, and the one trending southward into Afghan territory, and including Penjdeh and Pul-i-Khatun, which Russia insisted on, has been conceded, and conceded to force. This there is no denying. When, in defiance of that honourable understanding which the proposal of Russia for a Delimitation Commission implied, her troops were, under the very eyes of the English Commissioners, pushed forward within the debatable territory, and took possession of Pal-i-Khatun and Penjdeh, it was unmistakeably declared that, despite all the Commission would say and despite all England might - do, Russia was re- j , solved at every hazard to secure the boundary thus defined, and that if England meant to deprive her of it, it would only be as the result of war. And now she has obtained it, and obtained , without war, excepting always what was called the Penjdeh incident, which consisted in . her trcops wantonly attacking and killing only a thousand Afghans while their faithful ally, England, contemplated the slaughter from afar. And this •is called successful diplomacy I Successful, indeed, it is. But unfortunately the success is. as all along it has been, on the eide of that astute Power that knew how to dare and when to act,' while the English Ministry contented themselves with majestic talking, getting up a splendid warlike display as a pretext for scuttling out of Egypt, and preparing, under an illusion of' peace, to secure their seats at the next election. But, as this morning's cables show, the end is not yet.