8 



AFGHANISTAN. 



ALABAMA. 



The Frontier Negotiation. The advance of 

 Eussian troops up the Heri Rud to Pul-i-Kha- 

 tun, and up the Murghab to its junction with 

 the Kushk, defeated the expectation of the 

 English to draw the frontier line of Afghanis- 

 tan as far north as Sarakhs and Sari Yazi. 

 When, by the battle of Pul-i-Khisti, the pos- 

 session of Penjdeh passed into the hands of 

 Russia, the contention for an ethnographic 

 frontier was more nearly realized. The inter- 

 rupted negotiations were resumed after the 

 Ameer had publicly declared that the place 

 was not worth fighting for ; and when the Zul- 

 fikar difficulty was arranged to the satisfaction 

 of the Russian Cabinet, Sir Peter Lumsden was 

 recalled, and the British boundary commission 

 was divested of its imposing political and mil- 

 itary character. Col. Ridgeway and Col. Kuhl- 

 berg, the newly-appointed Russian commis- 

 sioner, proceeded to survey and mark out the 

 frontier on principles that had been settled 

 upon in London. There were differences of 

 opinion regarding the Kaissar pasture-lands in 

 the Maimena district, but no serious disagree- 

 ment arose until after the commissioners had 

 reached Andkhoi. Between there and the 

 Oxus Col. Kuhlberg contended that the line 

 should be drawn to the mound of the saint 

 called Ziarat Khoja Saleh, whereas Sir "West 

 Ridgeway claimed for the Ameer all the 

 country south of Kham-i-Ab. The difficulty 

 was referred, as had been arranged for cases 

 of divergence on questions of principle, to the 

 home governments, and, the surveys having 

 been completed, the commissioners returned 

 to Europe in the autumn of 1886. The nego- 

 tiations were continued in St. Petersburg in 

 the spring and summer of 1887. Sir West 

 Ridgeway, after receiving full instructions from 

 his Government, proceeded thither early in 

 April. The principal negotiator on the Rus- 

 sian side was M. Zinovieff, the head of the 

 Asiatic Department in the Russian Bureau of 

 Foreign Affairs. Col. Kuhiberg and M. Lessar 

 also took part in the conferences on behalf of 

 Russia, while Captains Barrow and De Laessoe 

 assisted Col. Ridgeway. The conferences be- 

 gan on April 23. At the earlier meetings 

 both parties adhered firmly to their claims in 

 respect to Kham-i-Ab. The Russians were the 

 less disposed to give way, because the progress 

 of the Ghilzai rebellion raised doubts as to 

 whether Abdurrahman would remain on the 

 throne to receive the benefit of their conces- 

 sions. The negotiations were interrupted in 

 May, and the English commissioner, after ref- 

 erences to the British Foreign Office, and in- 

 formal discussions with the Russian represent- 

 atives, returned to London in the beginning 

 of June, to communicate the Russian views and 

 ascertain the maximum concession that his 

 Government was prepared to make. He re- 

 turned to St. Petersburg with a proposition 

 to compensate Russia for the relinquishment 

 of her claims to Khoja Saleh and the district 

 on the Oxus, which the Ameer, who had it in 



actual possession, insisted on retaining, by ced- 

 ing a tract of pasture-land that was much de- 

 sired by the Saryk Turkomans of Penjdeh, 

 situated in the Kushk and Kashan valleys. 

 They formerly possessed this district, but were 

 ousted in 1886, notwithstanding the protest of 

 the Russian commissioner, because the London 

 protocol of June 5, 1885, assigned the territory 

 to the Ameer. The St. Petersburg Govern- 

 ment accepted the offered arrangement, and 

 conceded to the Ameer the territory around 

 Khojah Saleh, which, by a strict interpretation 

 of the agreement of 1873, would have fallen 

 to Russia, but which was occupied by Afghan 

 Uzbecks, receiving in return the restoration of 

 lands necessary for the sustenance of the Sa- 

 ryks and the development of the town of 

 Penjdeh. The extent of the land restored to 

 the Turkomans is 825 square miles, bringing 

 the Russians 11J miles nearer to Herat. The 

 extent of the disputed Kham-i-Ab district is 

 770 square miles, but it is at present more 

 productive than the lands between the Kushk 

 and the Murghab conceded to Russia. The 

 final protocol was signed at St. Petersburg on 

 July 22, and ratified on August 2. The south- 

 ern limit of Russian territory on the Oxus is 

 Bosaga. The fruntier delimitation extended 

 over three years. The boundary-line, 355 

 miles inleftgth, was drawn through a wild and 

 previously unknown region. The first portion 

 running from Zulfikar to Maruchak is 120 

 miles, and the other, reaching to the Oxus, 235 

 miles. There are no natural boundaries for 

 any part of the distance, yet both Afghans and 

 Turkomans are said to have respected the pil- 

 lars erected by the British and Russian officers. 



ALABAMA. State Government. The following 

 were the State officers during the year: Gov- 

 ernor, Thomas Seay, Democrat ; Secretary of 

 State, C. C. Langdon; Treasurer, Frederick 

 H. Smith ; Auditor, Malcolm C. Burke ; At- 

 torney-General, Thomas N. McClellan ; Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction, Solomon 

 Palmer ; Railroad Commissioners, H. C. Short- 

 er, W. C. Tunstall, L. W. Lawler ; Chief-Jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court, George W. Stone ; 

 Associates, David Clopton, II. M. Somerville. 



Legislation. The Legislature, which met Nov. 

 9, 1886, concluded its session on the last day 

 of February, 1887, when it expired by limita- 

 tion. Perhaps its most important act was an 

 amendment to the law regulating the rights and 

 estates of married women, which aims to rescue 

 from almost hopeless entanglement a large part 

 of the property of the State. The old law was 

 characterized by the Governor in his inaugu- 

 ral as " a means of fraud to the wicked and a 

 snare to the unwary. It is the result of the 

 work of different epochs, and is largely patch- 

 work." By the amendment, all property of 

 the wife held by her previous to the marriage, 

 or to which she may become entitled after the 

 marriage, is the separate property of the wife, 

 and is not subject to the liabilities of the hus- 

 band. The earnings of the wife are her sepa- 



