One hundred years ago
The news of the week, as to our relations with Russia, have been usually favourable; but on Friday there was, supposed to be a turn. Early in the week, Mr Gladstone in the Commons, and Lord Granville in the Lords, read out a statement announcing that the acceptance or rejection of the new frontier of Afghanistan rested with the Czar, and that M. De Staal, the Russian Ambassador in London, neither claimed nor possessed power to do more than approve the terms suggested by the British Government. On Thurs- day it was rumoured that these terms were found unacceptable in St Peters- burg, and Mr Gladstone stated that communications were going forward; and on Friday the Standard affirmed, in a very authoritative way, that the rumour was correct. A telegram, moreover, arrived from India denying with a certain sharpness that the Gov- ernment had suspended all warlike pre- parations. The precise situation of affairs was not known when we went to press; but it is understood that the military party in St Petersburg cannot bear to give up Zulficar, which the Ameer has declared essential to the safety of Herat. The military party, however, has been defeated before, and the Pall Mall Gaiette denies that there is any hitch at all. Russia, it says with a chuckle, has gained all she wants.
Spectator, 16 May 1885
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