RUSSIA’S SOUTHWARD MARCH IN ASIA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 691, 29 May 1885, Page 7

RUSSIA’S SOUTHWARD MARCH IN ASIA.

After the disastrous failure (in 1539-40) of their attempt to reach and punish the Khivans in their almost inaccessible oasis, the Russians desisted from their projects, of aggression in Central Asia for about a quarter of a century. The resumption of activity was signalised by a simultaneous advance along the Syr Darya and from the region of Lake Balkash, which in 1565 resulted in the capture.of Tashkend. A year later Khojent, to the eastward, was occupied, and a virtual protectorate was established over the whole khanate of Khokand, though a native ruler was permitted to carry out the forma of government as a vassal of the Czar. Then the Russian commander turned his attention to the west, and in 1868 took Samarcand, the most celebrated seat of Moslem civilisation in Central Asia, and which, until it was visited by Vambery, disguised as a dervish, had been long deemed impenetrable by Europeans. Soon afterward the whole territory of the Ameer of Bokhara was reduced to a relation of vassalage. The fall of Samarcand was followed in 1871 by the occupation of Kulja in the extreme east of Turkestan ; but that province which had revolted from China has since, for the most part, been retroceded to that power. The times at last seemed ripe for wreaking the long-deferred retribution upon Khiva, which lay wedgewise between the Russian posts at Tashkend and on the Caspian, and whose Khans for generations had played the same destructive part in the Turcoman desert for which the Deys of Algiers were formerly notorious in the Mediterranean. In the spring of 1873 Gen. Kaufman, at the head of some 14,000 men, traversed the wastes encompassing the Khivan oasis, and entering the capital, transformed the khanate, like the emirate of Bokhara, into a vassal State, in which the Russians enjoy exclusive privileges of trade and whose political action is dictated from Tashkend. Three years subsequently the Khan of Khokand was deposed and that country was regularly incorporated with the Russian Empire. Since 1876 a number of semi-military, semi-scientific expeditions have been despatched southward from Tashkend, and have explored the region in the neighborhood of Balkh, but the main current of aggression has followed another channel. About seven years ago the Russi m authorities in Central Asia seem to have become convinced that the easiest as well as by far the shortest route to India was from the southeast angle of the Caspian directly to Herat. A railway was begun from St. Michael’s Gulf and carried forward for some distance along the proposed line, but the road to Herat was barred, first, by the Tekke Turcomans, who were concentrated at Geok Tepe, and secondly, by the Turcomans of the Merv Oasis, which lies abeut three hundred miles east (and a little south), of the last-named point. The first attempt to conquer the Tekkes was a failure. Gen. Lazaref, the commander of the so-called ‘ punitory ” army of 20,000 men, having died cn the march, and his successor, Lomakin, being defeated and compelled to retreat upon the Caspian. But by the second expedition which set out in 18S0 under Gen. Skobeleff, the Tekkes were completely beaten and both Geolc Tepe and Askabad were taken. It is said that the railway from St. Michael’s Gulf is now in operation as far as the latter place, and is being pushed forward rapidly. . With the capture of the Tekke stronghold the subjection of-the Southern and so called independent Turcomans was < practically

finished, for the Mervil chiefs have since voluntarily submitted to the Czar. The annexation of Merv was speedily followed by Persia's cession of Sarakhs. ■ A glance at the map will show that by these two accessions of territory Russia was enabled to approach Herat either by the valley of the Murgab river, which flows through the Merv Oasis, or by the valley of the Hari Rud river, on. which Sarakhs is situated. Penjdeb, now the subject of contention, is on the Murgab, but considerably further up the river than Merv, and some miles south of the boundaryclaimed by Afghanistan. Of the other strategic points now disputed, the most important are on the Hari Rud, some distance south of Sarakhs. In brief, the Russian forces with their advanced bases of supplies at Merv and Sarakhs, are, while the British. Foreign Office is amused with negotiations only intended to gain time, being steadily pushed onward by two distinct routes, which, converge at Herat.