the Chinese frontier and the Himalayas, and
have rendered them accessible to Russian civilisation. But we have
never taken a step, either east or south, without meeting with English
opposition or English intrigues. To-day our frontiers march with the
frontier of British East India, and impinge upon the frontier of Persia
and Afghanistan. We have opened up friendly relations with both these
states, entertain close commercial intercourse with their peoples,
support their industrial undertakings, and shun no sacrifice to make
them amenable to the blessings of civilisation. Yet, step by step,
England endeavours to hamper our activity. British gold and British
intrigues have succeeded in making Afghanistan adopt a hostile attitude
towards us. We must at last ask ourselves this question: How long do we
intend to look on quietly at these undertakings? Russia must push
her way down to the sea. Millions of strong arms till the soil of our
country. We have at our own command inexhaustible treasures of corn,
wood, and all products of agriculture; yet we are unable to reach the
markets of the world with even an insignificant fraction of these fruits
of the earth that Providence has bestowed, because we are hemmed in, and
hampered on every side, so long as our way to the sea is blocked. Our
mid-Asiatic possessions are suffocated from want of sea air. England
knows this but too well, and therefore she devotes all her energies
towards cutting us off from the sea. With an insolence, for which there
is no justification, she declares the Persian Gulf to be her own domain,
and would like to claim the whole of the Indian Ocean, as she already
claims India itself, as her own exclusive property. This aggression must
at last be met with a firm 'Hands off,' unless our dear country is to
run the risk of suffering incalculable damage. It is not we who seek
war; war is being forced upon us. As to the means at our disposal for
waging it, supposing England will not spontaneously agree to our just
demands, His Excellency the Minister of War will be best able to give us
particulars."

He bowed once more to the Grand Dukes and resumed his seat. The tall,
stately figure of the War Minister, Kuropatkin, next rose, at a sign
from the President, and said--

"For twenty years I served in Central Asia and I am able to judge, from
my own experience, of our position on the south frontier. In case of
a war with England, Afghanistan is the battle-ground of pri