AFGHANISTAN. 



17 



and avoid imposing upon the Ameer obliga- 

 tions that lie would be unwilling or unable to 

 fulfill; and that any difference arising between 

 the commissioners should be referred to their 

 respective governments. M. de Staal made a 

 condition that the line proposed on January 

 28 should be the basis of delimitation. M. de 

 Giers, in his answer, declined to withdraw Rus- 

 sian troops, but would consent to the retire- 

 ment of the outposts from any locality during 

 the examination of the ground by the commis- 

 sioners, attended by escorts limited to one hun- 

 dred men, and proposed that, as delimitation 

 progressed, each side should be bound to estab- 

 lish posts and maintain order along the front- 

 ier. The British Government desired to obtain 

 from Russia a treaty recognizing the bound- 

 ary now to be agreed upon as a perpetual and 



Negotiations were resumed in May. The 

 English Cabinet showed a willingness to accept 

 ihe>fait accompli, and give Penjdeh to Russia. 

 The concession was less difficult after the 

 Ameer's voluntary renunciation of the position. 

 They demanded that by way of compensation 

 Zulfikar should be secured to the Ameer. 



Much indignation was felt in England at this 

 compromise, which gave up the whole debated 

 zone, and practically accepted the Lessar bound- 

 ary that was rejected in March, without any 

 requital for the blow to British prestige and 

 honor received at Penjdeh. 



The Russian reply, received May 29, agreed 

 to the proposal to leave to the Ameer Zulfikar 

 and Maruchak at the southern extremity of 

 the Penjdeh oasis. The pass of Zulfikar is 

 double, one entrance giving access from Per- 



JUNCTION OP MURGIIAB AND KU8HK RIVERS AK-TA PA IN THE DISTANCE. 



inviolable limit to Russian operations. The 

 Russians declared that they wished to obtain 

 as permanent and secure a frontier as possible, 

 as was evinced by their contention for an eth- 

 nographic boundary, and for the indivisibility 

 of the tribes. Their object in asking for a de- 

 limitation was to establish settled order in their 

 Turkomanian possessions, and guard against 

 border troubles with the Afghans. In view 

 of the evanescent and fictitious nature of the 

 English protectorate over Afghanistan, the 

 troubled and unstable condition of the Afghan 

 state, and the quarrelsome and aggressive tem- 

 perament of the Afghan people, they naturally 

 declined to assign so sacred a character to a 

 paper boundary. To the English demand M. 

 Lessar responded with the query, " Who will 

 answer for the Afghans? " 

 VOL. xxv. 2 A 



sia, by a ford across the Heri Rud, and the 

 other from the Sal or country to a valley that 

 leads into the plains north of the Borkhut 

 mountains. The English demand was not jus- 

 tified by strong strategical considerations, but 

 had its motive principally in a desire for an 

 amende from Russia, such as would be implied 

 in the abandonment of a post already occupied 

 by the Cossacks. Military circles in Russia 

 now became indignant in turn at the slight 

 concession required as a salve for British honor. 

 They obtained the ear of the Czar, who de- 

 clared that positions occupied by his troops 

 should not be surrendered. In demanding Zul- 

 fikar the English ministry took the precaution 

 to obtain the approval of the Ameer, and thus 

 provide against another discomfiture like his 

 disavowal of their claim of Penjdeh. They 



