One hundred years ago
The news from St Petersburg and Afghanistan is far from reassuring. It is admitted that there is another hitch in the negotiations. The Russians wish so to define the Zulfikar Pass, that the Afghans shall not be able to hold the pass with any security; and when the British Government remonstrates, the only reply is that the Russians are willing, if Great Britain likes, to refer the whole thing back to the Delimita- tion Commission, — that is, to post- pone all decision sine die. Russian troops, too, are being massed at Aska- bad, and all the news seems to point at least to this, — that the Russians wish to produce a new scare, and to embarrass the British Government so far as they can, whether they contemplate going to war or not. Spectator, 18 July 1885
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