§ MR. ASHMEAD - BARTLETTasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether his attention has been called to a telegram from Teheran, dated October 20th, which states that advices from Meshed, the capital of Khorassan, report that the Russians, having no further difficulty with the Merv Turcomans, are preparing to subjugate the Sarik Turcomans, and that a detachment of Russian Cavalry, with two guns, has passed Old Sarakhs, on the Murghab River (one hundred miles south of Merv), close to the Afghan frontier, and near Herat; and that four battalions of Infantry, with four guns, and two thousand Cavalry, are about to follow; and, if these statements be true, what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to check an advance which is contrary to Russian pledges to this Country and menacing to Afghanistan?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKESir, we hear from Her Majesty's Minister at Teheran, under date the 30th of October, that two Russian engineers had attempted to enter Herat territory, but had been refused permission by the Afghan authorities.
§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTAre we to understand that the only information which has reached the Government has been with regard to the approach of these two Engineers, and that the Government have no information as to the advance of troops 100 miles south of Merv?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEYes, Sir; that is so.