It was during the time that Russia was preparing for the march into this above-described "no man's land," the evident sign of which preparation became visible in the seizure of Sarakhs, that the interchange of diplomatic notes between the Cabinets of London and St. Petersburg went on uninterruptedly. Whether the Liberal statesmen were incensed against their so-called dear friend, for having over and over again violated his given promises, it would be difficult to decide; for there are, even now, statesmen in Great Britain who could swear to the undoubted honesty of Russia. But the fact is that, even while acknowledging the legality of Russia's advances, there were, even amongst the inveterate optimists, men enough who put to themselves the question, "quousque ?" and who, entertained in the idea of exacting from Russia an ultimate limit of her extension, hoped to guarantee thus against all eventual collision. Russia, polite as she usually is, conceded at once the desire of her friends on the Thames, and it was settled that a Frontier Delimitating Commission should be appointed from both sides, in order to fix the boundaries between Afghanistan and Russia, from Sarakhs to Khodja-Salih, on the Oxus, and by laying out the variously coloured frontier marks on the long line, running beyond 300 miles, the goodly optimistic politicians expected to disarm

Russia at once, and to make hostilities disappear for

ever.

Of course the opportunity was hurriedly grasped by the English, the Frontier Delimitating Commission was appointed, and Sir Peter Lumsden, a member of the India Council, and an officer of thirty-seven years' standing, was put at the head of it. Sir Peter Lumsden, who took part in the engagements of the English in China, in various parts of India and the adjacent countries, and who had acted besides as a member of the special Military Commission to Afghanistan in 1857-58, was decidedly the proper man in the right place, fully qualified for his task by multifarious experiences in border affairs, by sound judgment, and by his straightforward and honest British character. A second commissioner was appointed in the person of Colonel Patrick Stewart, equally capable and honest, and particularly conspicuous for his pluck and patriotic zeal. This was the man who, in the disguise of an Armenian horse-dealer, entered in 1880 the Turkoman frontier, and kept up his incognito so cleverly that Mr. O'Donovan, the correspondent of the Daily News, and the famous explorer of Merv, who met the colonel on the frontier of Persia, could not discover in him his countryman, although living with him in the same place for three weeks. Colonel Stewart having been

employed after his journey as a political agent in Khaf, a Persian town in the west of Herat, and possessing the best information on the debatable country, was, therefore a good acquisition for the said Commission. Another officer was Lieut.Colonel J. West Ridgway, Foreign Under Secretary to the Government of India. He was entrusted with the lead of the Indian section of the Delimitating Commission, and his march from Nushkhi, across the desert, to the Hilmend, proves him a sagacious and circumspect officer. I must mention, besides, Major Napier, an officer famous for his instructive report on the northern frontiers of Persia, and Mr. Condie Stephen, second secretary to the legation at Teheran, whom I had occasion personally to meet, and whose versatility in the Russian and Persian languages, really surprised me. I ought to say, too, a few words about the native Indian and Afghan members of the commission, but we cannot dwell on such details at any length. commission, having to be

Suffice it that the whole protected against unex

pected attacks on the Turkoman frontier, was furnished with an escort composed of 200 cavalry of the 11th Bengal Lancers, but known as Probyn's Horse, and of 250 infantry, the entire commission making altogether 35 Europeans, and 1,300 natives. Starting from different points, the Indian section,

under Ridgway, reached Herat on the 17th of November, after having traversed over 767 miles from Quettah to Kuhsan; whilst the smaller portion, consisting of Sir Peter Lumsden and the leading officers of his staff, arrived on the 19th of November, after a journey of 1,000 miles from Resht, on the Caspian, through Khorassan, and met their countrymen at Kuhsan.

The English Delimitating Commission, on arriving on the spot, was no little surprised at finding no trace of their Russian colleagues-namely, of General Zelenoy, the Russian Commissioner-in-Chief, to whom were subordinated Major Alikhanoff, M. Lessar, and other Russian officers familiar with the frontier. Instead of their colleagues, they found, however, at Pul-i-Khatun, forty miles south of Sarakhs, a Russian picket of Cossacks gazing at the English comers, as if to ask of them, "What have you got to look for in Russian territory?" Now we can readily imagine that this first rebuff was sufficient to convince Sir Peter Lumsden of the utter futility of the task before him, and that the English gentlemen had rather a bad foretaste of the work entrusted to them. It must be borne in mind that it was upon the Sarakhs KhodjaSalih line that the frontier rectification was to take place. For we read in the Blue Book (" Central Asia, No. 1," 1884), that M. de Giers, with a view to

preventing disturbances on the borders of Afghanistan, considered it to be of great importance that the boundary of that country from Khodja-Salih to the Persian frontier, in the neighbourhood of Sarakhs, should be formally and definitely laid down, and that he had instructed Prince Lobanoff to endeavour to induce her Majesty's Government to agree to the adoption of measures for that purpose. If such were Russian measures in 1882, we may well ask what were the reasons of that sudden change, and why was the frontier line pushed down southwards forty miles to Pul-i-Khatun, and subsequently another forty miles southward to the Zulfikar Pass on the Heri-Rud? The answer will be very easily found if we consider that, during the last two years, the English having entered upon the venturesome undertaking in Egypt, and having become thoroughly immersed in troubles in the Soudan, were deemed by the politicians on the Neva as really incapable of resistance, and easily to be tampered with according to Russia's heart's desire. It is certainly one of the worst tricks that has ever been played by diplomacy, when we consider that Russia, availing herself of the embarrassments of the Liberal Government on the Thames, was unconscionable enough to pitch into that very Mr. Gladstone who was the author and upholder of Russian sympathies in England, who swore by the sincerity of the