‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [‎250r] (507/617)

' V
53 ^
[ n ]
™ ^ present
relieved of
year. It Vvaa mou announced tlmf n _
Appointed Russian Consul in Seistan—m named Ziedlpr > hf id‘ been
diately followed by the desnatoli of p .^'’"“cement which was imme-
KermL, to Seistan in a sfS capac£ Pt The^R 68 ’ hit ^ rt ° British
not yet to have taken up his post and t^e% wo " 1(i
to be waiting to see the next move of Her ir-v; t authorities are believed
upon their own action. jesty s Government before deciding
(.,»?■ .aitrst'ft 8 ; "■■"•r/t?"«. —. . t hi.
studies as far south as Persian Baluelikt-m sl( ? n P llslied ^ politico-scientific
year the Agent to the Gov~^e^ Early in the present
officers, 1 doctor and 10 Cossacks t-^ 1 ®*hed reported that two Russian
1 Russian Officer, 2 Medical Assistauts a ^irfp^ a \ 1 urbat-i-llaidari, and
also 58 Persian sowarcl^uCu « Tt* & There are
Seistan. wdio are paid through the Russian nffi' eren B f C + eS i hut' 1 ' 6 ™ Meshed and
them. The recrudescence oI plao.™ in ?nd? a hT- a f d orders from
the contimnuee lust ns L • • 8 ^ 1 dia llas ln fact P rOTI ded an excuse for
the continuance, just as its original appearance was pleaded in support of the in
!c 0 H U e n° n ’r a Russian Protectorate in Southern Khorasan. A more
active assertion ot the same pretensions has since been witnessed in the mt “n of
af Ji t ?( o ’ t n r t a if p °p aT1 - t0 ^ ^^au Consulate at Meshed, with presents valued
at £1,400, to the Persian Governor of Earn, who is brother to the Governor of
Seistan and is believed to covet the succession to that post. The sanitary plea
was also advanced m the course of the past summer to explain the despatch of
Russian dectors to Iierman and even to Shiraz. An interesting commentarv
upon these proceedings may he found in an observation in Lieutenant Webb
Ware’s report upon the Quetta-Seislan trade route for 1897-98, where he savs
that “ the chief hindrance to the further development of this route is to he foudd
in the obstructive measures taken by the Russian officers striving to further the
interests of that country at the expense of India”.
3L The facts which we have enumerated will, we think, be sufficient
to convince Your Lordship of two propositions: firstly, that Russia regards
with unconcealed aversion the opening of the British commercial route from
India to Seistan and Khorasan, and will spare no efforts to rob it of success;
secondly, that she regards with an interested eye the future of Seistan itself,
and is already preparing, by a display of armed force and by the assumption of
executive authority, to pave the way for an eventual inclusion within the
Russian sphere of that portion of the Shah’s dominions.
35. In the same context, and as illustrating the political and strategical
abject which such an advance may be believed to have in view, it will not
oe forgotten that during the past few years, the Russian Government have
constructed a railway from Merv to Kushk upon the Afghan frontier within
80 miles of Herat, and have stacked at the terminus the railway plant for a
future extension to Herat itself. Should any doubt he entertained as to tin
purpose for which this extension (which is destitute of any commercial justifi
cation) was planned, it m— 1 ^ « wUWr,™
made to Sir N. O’Conor by
1898, that it was designed “
complications wuth England ”
can onlv he made in
I l xi. 1 ICAJ \ \J O tt; U V 1 /JLXJ.X x_i. ^ ^ j
Herat itself. Should any doubt he entertained as to the
purpose for which this extension (which is destitute of any commercial justifi
cation) was planned, it may be solved by a reference to the frank admission
made to Sir N. O’Conor by M. deWitte, Russian Minister of Einance, in June
' ‘ ’ to enable Russia to attack Afghanistan in case of
When it is remembered that such an attack
vclJA v , ljLiy ^ ^ direct violation of solemn international engagements, it is
not, we think, incumbent upon us to argue at further length that the political
ambitions of Russia in Eastern Persia, and in close proximity to the Atg lan
border, have an ulterior significance which it would be folly to ignore.
divorce these proceedings from the idea that, m seeking
P 1 • ... •„ Cl „ non’ o ia n rvf TY1 PT»pl V ClldCUVOUfing
36. Nor can we
OO. AlUl v ClJ~l VVD r CJ, .
to obtain a preferential footing in Seistan, Russia is not merely
preferential looung iu ocisuan, ^ - -
to block a promising avenue of Anglo-Indian trade, anu m acqmr^ a posi i n
of r-otential menace to British interests on the western flank of Afghanistan
but that ske is^also concerned.in the prosecution of an advance winch ,s not
expected to terminate until it has brought her to the Persian Gult. It is known