possible for Mahommed Shah to overlook these | the brother chiefs of Caubul and Candahar. insults and outrages, and, had it not been It would lead us too far from our subject to for their mutual jealousy of each other, it is narrate how this came to pass, and it is the unlikely that either Russia or England would less needful that it has already been clearly have interfered in the matter. But as the set forth in the introductory pages of Mr. one countenanced the projected expedition, Kaye's eloquent history of the war in Afthe other felt bound to thwart it. Were it ghanistan. But no sooner was it known not for the arrogant position assumed by that the Shah had finally resolved to conduct Russia in the Councils of Teheran, it would an expedition against Herat, than the Canbe quite unimportant to Great Britain dahar chiefs proposed to form an offensive and whether Persia or Afghan ruled at Herat. defensive league with Persia; and Kohundil That city, however, is geographically and Khan, in writing to the Governor of Khorasstrategically the key of Afghanistan. From san expressed a hope that "Kamran and that basis a large army could securely operate Yar Mahommed, who are now wandering in against Candahar and Caubul, from the the plain of disgrace, will be driven into the former of which places it is little more than desert of destitution." The Russian Envoy a hundred miles distant. Herat, in the also urged the Shah's ministers to use dispatch, power of Persia, would thus become a and thus anticipate the dilatory action pecuRussian advanced post, threatening our liar to a constitutional government like that Indian possessions. It is possible that no of Great Britain. His words fell on no unreal danger is to be apprehended from the grateful soil. It was in vain that Prince northwestern frontier, but the very shadow Kamran, now seriously alarmed, besought of a menace is at least equivalent to a gross the mediation of the English Elchee, and sent insult.. And although no Russo-Persian a plenipotentiary to Teheran, the bearer of army might be able to force its way through costly presents, and charged with the most the mountain passes of Afghanistan, or cross the Indus in the face of the British troops, with any prospect of ultimate success, there is no doubt that Russian intrigues would be ever bus creating disturbances within our territories, and unsettling men's minds with fear of change.

advantageous propositions. He pledged himself to suppress all incursions into the Persian territory, to release all captives, to pay tribute, to aid the Shah in all his wars with an auxiliary force, to do every thing but abdicate. It was too late. The Persian Minister declared that the Prince of Herat must expect no mercy until he had made an entire submission, and acknowledged himself the abject servant of the king of kings. Instead of doing so, he still presumed to style himself "Kamran Shah," as if two kings could dwell in one kingdom. Even the Governor of Fars, a district ten times as large as that of Herat, never arrogated to himself a higher title than that of Ameerzadeh, or Son of a Prince. Equally infructive was the zealous mediation of Mr. McNeil. Evil counsels prevailed, and the Shah took the

For these reasons Mr. McNeil took upon himself to remonstrate with the Shah, and to recommend negotiation before having recourse to extreme measures. At one time there appeared a reasonable expectation that a compromise might be effected. A deputy from Herat had an interview with a plenipotentiary of the Shah, but the conference broke off on a point of dignity. "You demand hostages," exclaimed the Heratee; we gave no hostages during the reign of the late Shah, and we will give none now. You demand a present; we are ready to give as large a pres- field in person. At first, fortune smiled ent as we can afford. If the Shah is not satisfied with this, and is determined to attack us, let him come. We will defend our city as long as we can; and if we are driven from it, it will, of course, remain in your hands till we can find means to take it back from you." These were "brave words," but Prince Kamran was in no position to give them full effect. There were enemies on all sides. A blood-feud existed between him and

upon his arms. The frontier fortress of Ghorian capitulated in ten days, and in the latter part of 1837 he sat down before Herat with an army of nearly 40,000 men and 80 pieces of artillery. This was the limit of his success, notwithstanding the active cooperation of the Russian Minister, Count Simonich, and the desperate valor of the regiment of Russian deserters, whose future pardon was made to depend on their present

good conduct. The Court of St. Petersburg | and, as soon as Herat had fallen, would send had, indeed, all along professed a desire to an army to assist the Afghans in exterminatact in harmony with the British Cabinet, and ing the Sikhs, before the British Government expressed regret and disapprobation at the would have emerged from the region of deShah's invasion of Afghanistan. They even liberation. It is not surprising, therefore, published a dispatch from their Minister at that the Barukzye faction should have leaned Teheran, describing the efforts he had made towards an alliance which promised both the to frustrate the expedition, and his determina- destruction of the last Dooranee stronghold, tion not to lend to it the sanction of his own and the extinction of their foreign enemies. presence. To prove his sincerity, Count Not less pains were taken by Count Simonich Simonich advanced the Shah 50,000 tomans to spread abroad the expectation of a general to enable him to take the field, and shortly rising of the Mahommedan population of Inafterwards set out in his private carriage- dia, so soon as the tidings arrived of the fall being lame from a wound in the leg-to join of Herat. "The Persian Government," the Persian army under the walls of Herat. wrote Mr. McNeil to Lord Palmerston, NoHere he not only afforded the beseigers the vember 27th, 1837, "has openly expressed a benefit of his superior military knowledge, belief that the possession of Herat would give but also actively intrigued with the Afghan such a hold upon England, that she would princes. He had already written a friendly no longer be able to deny any thing they letter to Dost Mahommed from Teheran, to might demand; for that the possession of which he added a verbal message, through Herat would give the power to disturb us in the Ameer's agent Haji Ibrahim, that if the India, or to give a passage to our enemies Shah failed to satisfy all his wishes he might whenever the Persian Government should rely on the protection of the Czar. The pre- think proper to do so." It thus became cise meaning of this communication is thus evident that the expedition against Herat was explained by the Haji: "The object of the likewise a hostile demonstration against EngRussian Elchee by this message is to have a land. This alone would have justified, and road to the English (in India), and for this indeed necessitated, the repudiation of the they are very anxious.' And the agent re-ninth article of the definitive treaty of the minds his master that he holds a turnpike 25th November, 1814, which prohibited the lower down "the road." The Dost was at interference of his Britannic Majesty in the that time kept in constant anxiety and appro-wars of the Persians and Afghans, except in hension by the increasing power of the Sikhs, a mediatorial capacity. And the Duke of whom he hated, besides, with the fervor of Wellington, in a private letter to the late Mr. a fanatic. To protect himself from their St. George Tucker, clearly stated that such encroachments he endeavored, in the first was his own conviction. "I don't know," instance, to form a close alliance with the wrote his Grace, "that while the siege of British Government in India. Failing to Herat continued particularly by the aid of effect this object, he was prepared to receive Russian officers and troops, even in the form the tempting overtures of Captain Vicovich, of deserters, the Government of India could a Cossack officer, overtly accredited for the have done otherwise than prepare for its depurpose of concluding a commercial treaty, fence." But a more specious, if not a more but covertly employed in extending the pres- sound, motive for assuming a hostile attitude tige of Russia. With an air of candor he had been furnished by the improvident insoadmitted to the Dost that the English had lence of the Shah's ministers. A gross outpreceded the Russians in civilization by two rage had been perpetrated on a servant of the or three centuries, but that the latter had embassy, and all demands for an explanation now awakened from their long sleep. The and redress had been treated with contempt. English, he added-adopting the casual re- After exhibiting the utmost patience and formark by Adam Smith so complacently appro- bearance, and using every means to effect a priated by the Emperor Napoleon-were not reconciliation, Mr. McNeil had no alternative "a military nation, but merely the merchants but to withdraw from his post, and the rupof Europe." The Czar, on the other hand, ture between the two countries was complete. was supreme and absolute in his own country, On the 19th of June a detachment of the had only to will a thing to have it performed, Bombay Native Infantry, with two six

pounders, was landed on the island of Karrak | Government is thus to be held answerable in the Persian Gulf, and the point of the for the peace and security of Central Asia, sword was thus directed, as it were, against it is only just and reasonable that it should the very heart of the kingdom.

In the mean time the siege of Herat had been prosecuted with greater perseverance than good fortune. The garrison, encouraged by the energy and military talents of Lieutenant Eldred Pottinger, defended themselves with heroic intrepidity, and gloriously repulsed a grand assault delivered on the 23rd of June, 1838. This was the last effort on the part of the enemy, though his army remained before the walls for several months longer. The vast preparations made by the Indian Government for the invasion of Afghanistan, and their occupation of Karrak, had astonished and dismayed the Court of St. Petersburg. The Shah was therefore advised to make peace, by removing all causes of offence. The minister who had maltreated the messenger of the English envoy was publicly disgraced, and the Persian army withdrawn from before Herat. Ghorian also was evacuated, and a commercial treaty arranged on terms of mutual advantage.

have the privilege of nominating a resident, to be approved by the Crown, from among its own servants, already experienced in the wiles of Oriental state-craft. It is not too much to say, that had a Lawrence, a Low, or an Edwardes been accredited to the Court of Teheran, instead of an "Honorable" whose testimonials are dated, from the far West, the present entanglement of our relations with Persia would never have taken place.

A

Hardly had the Hon. Mr. Murray arrived at his new post, before he found himself involved in a miserable zenana intrigue, the only object of which was to divert his attention from more serious public affairs. It was at the critical moment when Persia was quivering in the balance between Turkey and Russia, that the British envoy stepped forward as the champion of his servants' wives. An angry correspondence ensued, which naturally resulted in the alienation of the Persian Government and the triumph of Russian diplomacy. The old game has been revived, From that period until very recently the and now with a fair prospect of success. most friendly relations have prevailed between Persian army is once more encamped before the Courts of Teheran and St. James. On Herat, and this time it has not to encounter the death of Mahommed Shah, in 1848, his the sagacity of Yar Mahommed, villain though eldest son, Nussir-ood-deen Mirza, was placed he might be, or the military genius of a on the throne by the united influence of Pottinger, or the moral influence of a McNeil. England and Russia. But in other respects It is said that a well-appointed host of 25,000 British policy has exhibited itself rather in a men, besides swarms of irregular cavalry, negative than positive form. The Afghan and an efficient battering-train, have already disasters, occasioned in a great measure by commenced operations. The ostensible motive the incapacity of the General appointed by for the siege is similar to that put forward by the Horse Guards, for a time cooled the desire Russia for interfering in the internal adminisof the home Government to intermeddle with tration of Turkey. A considerable number Eastern affairs. And it should ever be borne of the inhabitants of Herat, being descendin mind that, although it was at the cost of ants from a colony established by Nadir Indian blood and Indian revenue those terri- Shah, profess the Sheeah, or Persian form of ble campaigns were conducted, it was on the Mahommedanism, and have consequently been sole responsibility of the English Ministry subjected to some persecution by the prevailthey were originated. In like manner, it ing Soonnites. The Shah, therefore, comes was arranged in 1836 that the Indian Gov- forward as the protector of his co-religionists, ernment should contribute £12,000 a year and demands the possession of Herat as a to the expenses of the Persian Mission," material guarantee" for their toleration although the appointment of the resident and freedom from insult throughout AfghanMinister was reserved for the exclusive pa- istan. On the same grounds a French or tronage of the home Government. And Austrian army might lay claim to Dublin or when it was found necessary to send an ex- Cork, for the purpose of defending the Ropedition into the Persian Gulf, the risk and man Catholics of Ireland from Protestant the expenditure again devolved on the troops tyranny. But there remains for England the and revenues of India. But if the Indian same necessity as of aforetime, for the pres

ervation of Herat. "It may be of the very amity, would at least neutralize the hostility highest importance," wrote Mr. McNeil, on of the Persian Government. Should the the former occasion, "to preserve the inde- Euphrates line of communication be ever pendence of Herat, or at least to prevent its being incorporated with Persia; and, if the Shah should succeed in taking Herat, we shall have reason to regret not having interfered to prevent it."

The same necessity existing, the same means are being adopted for rescuing this advanced post of our Indian empire from the grasp of Russianized Persia. Probably, as we write these lines, 5,000 British troops are encamped on Karrak and the adjacent islands, while a steam flotilla commands the waters of the Persian Gulf. Karrak-the Icarus of Arrian-contains a superficial area of rather more than twelve square miles. Its surface is described as being exceedingly rugged, but on the east side it is not incapable of cultivation. Of more importance is it that it affords safe and spacious anchorage, and that it contains an abundant supply of both spring and well water. At the present moment there are not above 300 inhabitants, chiefly engaged in fishing; but in the time of the Dutch the population is said to have exceeded 3,000. The permanent occupation of this small island would secure the command of the Persian Gulf, and, if it did not acquire the

opened, this post would become one of great importance. The Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf would thus become the antipodes of Russian and British diplomacy, and Central Asia would form a neutral ground between the absorbing races. To the rest of Europe it must be a matter of perfect indifference whether the English or Persian flag float over the barren rocks of Karrak, except that under the former an additional barrier is raised against Muscovite ascendancy. With much less reason our French allies possessed themselves of Otaheite, and cannot therefore object to a measure which, while it protects British India from foreign insult and internal disturbance, tends to secure the preservation of peace in Asia, and the ultimate tranquillity and welfare of the Persian dominions. The primary expense of the occupation of Karrak is, comparatively, a matter of little consideration; for, to borrow the quaint illustration of Sir Harford Jones-"The British territories in India are a park, valuable enough to justify the proprietor in spending a little money to keep its pales in perfect repair and security."

LAMPS. Some of our most valuable inven- diffusing a light equal to that of six candles. tions are of so simple a character, that the only The invention has been applied to lamps of all wonder about them seems to be that they "were characters and designs, from the most elaborate not found out before." Mr. Nibbs, of Bake- specimens for the nobleman's mansion to the well, Derbyshire, has invented a lamp, des- plain, strong, brass mechanic's lamp at 6s. 6d. tined by its simple mechanical construction to Omitting the condensing apparatus, and we supersede not only the French Moderateur, but have the Cottage Lamp, supplying a want long all other lamps of a similar character, and been felt of a good, cheap, and easily-managed suited, by its cleanliness and economy, to the light for the cottager, and we have no hesitation wants of all classes. The Patent Oxydate in stating that it is not likely to meet a rival— Lamp (here alluded to) is provided with a very a strong brass lamp to burn ten hours can be simple condensing apparatus, by which a large had for a shilling! The Crimean Lantern was quantity of atmospheric air is collected and sup- invented by the same gentleman, and introduced plied to the flame, which draws from it that pro-to the notice of Government, who employed it portion of oxygen necessary to effect perfect combustion. The result is a perfectly white and steady flame, without the nuisance of smoke or smell, sufficiently powerful and steady to allow the copying of collodion photographs at night, and is very serviceable for microscopic examinations. This lamp will burn no less than eight kinds of lamp oil now in ordinary use, and two of its greatest merits are its extreme cheapness and durability, without getting out of order. It consumes about five ozs. of oil in six hours while

extensively during the war. It recommends itself particularly for mills, warehouses, farm buildings, stables, &c., and from its neat appearance and cleanliness, is well adapted as a safety-light for bedrooms, for when once lighted, it will burn through the longest night without attention. As the evenings are already beginning to draw in, and the demand for a really good and economical light will soon become universal, this notice of Mr. Nibbs' inventions will be quite apropos.-Bristol Advertiser.

Correspondence of The N. Y. Tribune.
AN HOUR WITH HUMBOLDT.

BY BAYARD TAYLOR.

BERLIN, Nov. 25, 1856. I CAME to Berlin, not to visit its museums and galleries, its magnificent street of lindens, its operas and theatres, nor to mingle in the gay life of its streets and salons, but for the sake of seeing and speaking with the world's greatest living man-Alexander von Humboldt.

A stout, square-faced man of about fifty, whom I at once recognized as Seifert, opened the door for me. "Are you Herr Taylor?" he asked; and added, on receiving my reply: "His Excellency is ready to receive you.' He ushered me into a room filled with stuffed birds and other objects of natural history; then into a large library, which apparently contained the gifts of authors, artists, and men of science. I walked between two long tables heaped with sumptuous folios, to the further door, which opened into the study. Those who have seen the admirable colored lithograph of Hildebrand's picture, know precisely how the room looks. There was the plain table, the writing-desk covered with letters and manuscripts, the little green sofa, and the same maps and pictures on the drab-colored walls. The picture had been so long hanging in my own room at home, that I at once recognized each particular object.

At present, with his great age and his universal renown, regarded as a throned monarch in the world of science, his friends have been obliged, perforce, to protect him from the exhaustive homage of his thousands of subjects, and, for his own sake, to make difficult the ways of access to him. The friend and familiar companion of the King, he may be said equally to hold his own court, with the privilege, however, of at any time breaking through the formalities which only self-defence has rendered neces- Seifert went to an inner door, announced sary. Some of my works, I knew, had my name, and Humboldt immediately apfound their way into his hands: I was at peared. He came up to me with a heartiness the beginning of a journey which would and cordiality which made me feel that I probably lead me through regions which was in the presence of a friend, gave me his his feet had traversed and his genius illus- hand, and inquired whether we should contrated, and it was not merely a natural curi- verse in English or German. "Your letosity which attracted me toward him. I fol- ter," said he, "was that of a German, and lowed the advice of some German friends, you must certainly speak the language faand made use of no mediatory influence, but miliarly; but I am also in the constant simply dispatched a note to him, stating my habit of using English.' name and object, and asking for an inter- taking one end of the green sofa, observing view. that he rarely sat upon it himself, then drew up a plain cane-bottomed chair and seated himself beside it, asking me to speak a little louder than usual, as his hearing was not so acute as formerly.

He insisted on my

As I looked at the majestic old man, the line of Tennyson, describing Wellington, came into my mind: "O, good gray head, which all men know." The first impression

Three days afterward I received through the city post a reply in his own hand, stating that, although he was suffering from a cold which had followed his removal from Potsdam to the capital, he would willingly receive me, and appointed 1 o'clock to-day for the visit. I was punctual to the minute, and reached his residence in the Oraniene burger-strasse, as the clock struck. While made by Humboldt's face is that of a broad in Berlin, he lives with his servant, Seifert, whose name only I found on the door. It was a plain two-story house, with a dull pink front, and inhabited, like most of the houses in German cities, by two or three families. The bell-wire over Seifert's name came from the second story. I pulled: the heavy porte-cochère opened of itself, and I mounted the steps until I reached a second bell-pull, over a plate inscribed, "Alexander von Humboldt."

and genial humanity. His massive brow, heavy with the gathered wisdom of nearly a century, bends forward and overhangs his breast, like a ripe ear of corn, but as you look below it, a pair of clear blue eyes, almost as bright and steady as a child's, meet your own. In those eyes you read that trust in man, that immortal youth of the heart, which make the snows of eighty-seven winters lie so lightly upon his head. You trust him utterly at the first glance, and