Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1885 — FOREIGN. [ARTICLE]

FOREIGN.

In the British House of Commons, on the 10th inst., Mr. Gladstone said that a reply had been received from Russia. This was to the effect that Russia had already asked Gen. Komaroff to explain his conduct in attacking the Afghans at Penjdeh. Mr. Gladstone added that Russia had not yet received Gen. Komaroff’s explanation. In regard to the question of the present occupation of Penjdeh, Mr. Gladstone stated that ho had been in communication upon this subject with Sir Edward Thornton, British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and that the latter had informed him that the Russians did not occupy Penjdeh, but had retired to the positions they occupied before the battle with the Afghans. A dispatch to the London Telegraph from Berlin states that Russia refuses to yield an inch of the territory she has occupied on the Afghan frontier, and that the Czar intends to express his approval of Gen. Komaroff’s action by appointing him Com-mander-in-Chief in Turkestan. Sir Thomas Brassey, one of the junior Lords of the Admiralty, says England is as ready for war as if war had been already declared. He says that a war fleet can be placed in the Baltic in four days, and that the seas can be studded with cruisers in twenty-fours hours. On the other hand, the Russian authorities appear to be biding their time, and by no means frightened at the outlook. So far as Turkey is concerned, the advices seem to indicate that she will remain neutral, under Bismarck’s advice, in the event of war between the two powers. Gen. Wolseley has reached Cairo. One report has it that he is on his way to London, and another is that be is in Cairo to enable him to quickly assume the personal direction of the operations against Russia in the event of war. It is thought that Soudan will bo evacuated. The enthusiasm over the reception of the Prince and Princess of Wales appears to bo on the increase. In their visits to the schools of Dublin they were cheered on every hand. J* The Russian Consul at Cairo has ordered the transports Vortromaand St. Petersburg to proceed to Vladivostock and avoid all British ports. Spain has been thrown into a state of great excitement by an outbreak of cholera in the province of Valencia.