The recent Russian expedition along the old bed of the
Oxus has been the subject of an apologetic and apparently inspired ex- planation by " A Student of Central-Asian Politics " in the Times of Thursday. The contention of the writer is that the aim and object of the expedition was primarily scientific, and not, as was strongly suspected when it started, the capture of Merv,—for lo ! it has returned, and Mery remains intact. It is difficult to believe, however, as the Times sensibly sass, that an expedition of 1,000 men, with 574 camels and four cannon, was equipped only to survey an old river-bed ; and it is just as possible that its General had orders to reach Mery if he could, but found his troops in risk of foundering on the way, and so returned. Russian science at best is but a pioneer of Russian force. The Czar is like Caesar in this at least, that when he comes to a place and sees it, in a purely scientific sense, he cannot resist the temptation of conquering it. But Mery is the stepping-stone to Herat; and then the Times says, "The strength of our Indian Army would have to be increased at least one-fourth." Possibly, too, if Herat were threatened, some employment might have to be found for the Russian Army near home more arduous than surveying the Oxus, or even storming the mud forts of Merv.
