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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7344, 3 June 1885, Page 4

As will be seen, a special telegram to the Press Association, which * appears this morning, states that a second Blue Book on the Afghan question has been issued by the Imperial authorities, and that its contents disclose the unbending attitude maintained by Russia, and the feebleness ot the Secretary of State for Foreign, Affairs in the negotiations which have taken place between the two Governments on ihafc subject. No one will be surprised to learn that such is the character of the communications now made public. Any person ; who has perused thti correspondence which took place between the Court of Berlin and the British Foreign Office about German annexation on the Coast of Africa and in New Guinea, could not expect any other verdict than that which is thus pronounced on the parleying conducted by Lord Granville with the Russian authorities respecting the settlement of the Afghan boundary dispute. The letters of this official to Prince Bismarck revealed a measure of ignorance of geographical and historical facts quite astounding, and equalled only by that infirmity of purpose, for which the Foreign Office of England has of lata years acquired an unenviable notoriety. Indecision on all . foreign questions appears to be a hereditary characteristic of the Liberal Ministry, and all who have followed the history of events in connection with the Afghan difficulty mast have been impressed with the conviction that this doubtful quality has been consistently maintained. Nor is it only throughout the British Empire, but also on the continent of Europe, and in the United States, that this impression has prevailed. The way in which the British Cabinet treated the violations by Russia cf express agreements, and especially the pusillanimity displayed by it on tl>, occasion of the attack , made by the Russian troops on the Afghans at Penjdeh excited the contempt of statesmen everywhere, and' was universally condemned by,critics as trifling with the nation's honour. From even the limited information, so grudgingly supplied to the public regarding the interviews held with Russia's representatives and the despatches that were interchanged, such is the conclusion impartial and intelligent men were forced to come to. And it can easily be imagined how strongly it would be confirmed by the full publication of all _ the proceedings. . This feebleness, which is now proclaimed broadly to the world, will account for the dreary length to which the negotiations on the Afghan question has been protracted; and the complete evidence of it which the Blue Book supplies will deepen the widespread belief that the management of this Central Asian business will furnish only too ample material for a dark page in British history, and prove the forerunner of proximate if not immediate trouble.