Wartina in November last from Baku the Correspondent of the Zines gives an account of what the Russians are doing in Central Asia, H. that Prince Dondoukoff-Koreakoff was following M. Lessar,—who had gone to Askabad,—to expedite the completion to that point of the Central Asian Railway from Michaelovsk, on the eastern shore of the Caspian, te Kisil Arvat, a distance of 125 miles, The remaining 160 miles to Askabad are in active progress and will bring the railway up toMerv. Its further extension as far as the Oxus, towards Bokhara, is already spoken of, thus thoroughly overshadow. ing the northern frontier of Afghanistan, while a branch from Askabad to Meshed, in Persian territory, is also said to be the subject of diplomatic negotiations, order clu jour is to say that the railway is being constructed for commercial purposes, bat the Corres. pondent says it is impossible that it can ever pay, even although the cost is stated so low as £4,000 a mile. The present caravan trade along the route amounts to 5 million boods, or say 62,500 tons a year, and any large development is improbable; while the working expenses will be high, as water is so scarce as to require water trains to carry it from place to place, and fuel is practically ugu-existent, The Rassians are evidently providing for the necessity of concentrating troops at Michaclovsk in the near fature, ''hat point may now be reached in two ways, but both routes are open to eetions oblections from a military point of view, and therefore an order has been issued for the construction of a line, about 100 miles in length, from the foot of the Caucasus to Petrovsk on the Caspian, which will a direct link between theFe and Moscow and the centre of the Empire. This link is to be finished by the end of the present year, Ample means of transport are previded on the Caspian, and by 1887 Russia will be able to concentrate 50,000 fally equipped troops on the eastern chore of that sea, English idea that these prepara. oe to India is ridiculed by the Russians, who say that their railways are being constructed purely for commercial purposes, and that Russia is merely fulfilling the destiny of every nation which encounters semicivilized or barbarous peoples, in her constant advance in Asin, The hordes which inhabit the districts which the White Czar is absorbing, now own no allegiance to any recognized ooutral authority, and Russia is doing no more than England has done in India and Africa. The railways will run by the old catavau routes, along whicl the silks and Iuxuries of the east were entried to Earopo from time immemorial. An enormous development of trade is expected to follow the settled overumeut which Russians will introduce into the regions near Bokhara and Tashkend. Russia, ber offici say, docs not want Afghanistan; far from it, What she does want is port on the Persian Gulf; "that, we must ultimately Lave." A port there is needed as an outlet for their Central Asian trade, besides being lessons tial to enable troops to be sout rapidly to Eastern Siberia, to reinforce, if necessary, the Russo-Chinese frou tier. The Bultic is iceboaud during the winter; they are not allowed to send troops through the Bosphorus; the Canal might be closed against them, and reinforcements could, from these impediments, only be sent forward after great delay. China should note this. As England will never cousout to Russia having a port on the Persian Gulf, the Correspondent considers that Russia will consolidate her position at Merv and towards Bokhara, a line of railway from Askabad to Meshed being the first move; seizing Herat the second and taking as little of Afghanistan as she can do with, the last, There is much plausibility in the way the Russians put their case, but among others who do not believe itis our Indian Government which is spending as fast as it can five millions sterling on roads and railways on the Indian frontier. The Russian officials expected that if the Glade! Government returned to power a farther advance would occur at once, and a nort time before thie letter, appeared...
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.