‏"ملخص الأحداث والتدابير الرئيسية التي اتخذها سمو نائب الملك اللورد كرزون من كيدليستون، نائب الملك والحاكم العام للهند في إدارة الخارجية. ‏I‏. يناير ١٨٩٩-أبريل ١٩٠٤. ‏II‏. ديسمبر ١٩٠٤-نوفمبر ١٩٠٥. المجلد IV. بلاد فارس والخليج الفارسي." [و‎‎١‎٠‎٢] (٣٨٦/٢٠٨)

99 '
the diplomatic struggle, daily became more acute, with a trained diplo
matist like M. Miller, who had the assistance of his brother, Dr. Miller, in the
Russian Consulate, to free his hands for the prosecution of intrigues, which
embraced not only Seistan itself, but the Sarhad, our frontier, the trade ioute, and
Afghan territory. The amount of local work which devolved on the Vice-
Consul made it abundantly clear that he was at a disadvantage single handed
to check the ubiquitous schemes of M. Miller and assistance was imperative to
safeguard British interests adequately. Accordingly m June 1902, Captain
V A Plunkett, of the Lincolnshire Regiment, was deputed to Seistan for eight
months to assist Major Penn, who in the following August was promoted to be
Consul on Lord Curzon’s recommendation, M. Miller having received the same
advancement and the decoration of St. Anne at the hands of the Riissi|in Go -
eminent in the previous May. On the termmation of Captain Plunkett s
deputation the need for additional permanent assistance to the Consul efficiently
to meet his extended responsibilities and the growing importance of Ins charge
continued and in February 1901 Lieutenant Keyes was deputed to Seistan as
Assistant to the Consul who had ^^e^fub^ma
inde*penden?charge. c " ted aS an discussion with Sir A. Hardinge during the
Gulf tour, the Consulate was constituted as an independent charge enabling the
British Consul to correspond direct with the Minister as did the Russian
Consul with his VI inister. Later it was also proposed to attach a medical officer
to the Consulate, but this was not carried out during Lord Curzon s Viceroyalty.
19 M Miller continued his determined attempt to set forth the superiority
of Russian over British influence in
Political change in Seistan ; its cause. S e j s tan when in July 1902 he posed as the
political adviser of the Local Government and the protector of the people in the
Seistan- Afghan water dispute. Indeed within the last two years 6wmg to his
efforts the situation in Seistan had changed considerably. At the beginning o.
1901 there were neither Persian Foreign Office Agents, Belgian olheta s, nor
military officers, and Seis.an still enjoyed its primitive sunplicity and imiteJ
autonomy. Since then the Saistam Muza, a ho fanned the Customs, had gn
place to the Belgian Director, the Governor’s Secretary had been supplanted
by a Foreign Office Agent from Resbt, and the charge of the troops bad been
transferred to the Yamin-i Nizam, or representative of the Persian \\ ar Office
who was entirely and actively pro-Itussian in his sympathies, ^d looked to the
sunnoTof the ‘ Russians in Seistan and Tehran to oust the Hashmat-ul-Mulk
and secure the Governorship of Seistan for himself. The Hashmat s position was
difficult and insecure, as he had now the staff of Tehran-appointed officials
to anpease as well as the Governor-General of Meshed, and however
friendly his real sentiments towards the British might be, he ^s frequently
compelled to act in opposition to their interests. In dealing with
Russian activity in Seistan, some account will be given of M. Miller an
ffis extended intrigues. Trained in the St. Petersburg Foreign Office, and
a perfect linguist, his policy had been one of y ,^ 1 of P n e f, an
intimidation both as regards the Local Government and the staff of Bel la
Customs officials who, under his guidance, proved ready tools for mjtumg
British interests in the trade route—seriously menaced _ by the new Pers
Customs Tariff—and for pushing Russian political aims in. the direction of
the Zso Ba uch frontier and" the South. The great political change there
fore which had taken place in Seistan by May 1903, when Mr. Dobbs relieved
Major Bonn who proceeded on leave, was very far from being a satisfactory one,
hut 3 British influence and prestige received a valuable access of strength
the presence of the McMahon Mission in Seistan.
20 The possession of Seistan remained up to the middle of
* F a bone of contention between Persia
The Seistan Boundary commission. an( ^ Afghanistan, and as recently as
1872 the line between the two countries was laid down by Sir P. Goldsmid,
acting as arbitrator under the Treaty of Paris of 1857. Under hia arbitral award
the Perso-Afghan frontier was drawn from the North-Eastern hounda^ of the
Persian district of Neh-Bandan along the southern fringe of the Naizar to the