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File 2696/1914 Pt 1 'Tibet Convention Persia and Afghanistan Conversations with Russia' [143r] (159/334)
The record is made up of 1 item (166 folios). It was created in 2 May 1914-15 Jun 1918. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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[This Document is ths Piopsrty of His Britannic M^iGsty s Govemn^nt.]
THIBET AND MONGOLIA.
[June 15.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
[26746]
No. 1.
(No. 180.)
Sir,
Sir G. Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received June 15.)
St. Petersburgh, June 11, 1914
I HA\E the honour to enclose copy of a private letter which, on the receipt’of
4 1 /-V s-n-wn -w* AT O A /-V 4 - Vv ^ T _ ,1 1 J j i A
your telegram No. 249 of the 6th June, I addressed to the Assistant Minister for
Foreign Affairs, embodying the terms of the arrangement which His Majesty’s
Government are prepared to accept with regard to the Thibetan Convention, and of
the reply which M. Sazonof handed to me in the course of a conversation which I had
yesterday with his Excellency.
As already reported in my telegram No. 131 of yesterday, M. Sazonof insisted on
the line of demarcation of Northern Afghanistan being drawn to the south of the Heri-
Eud so as to include Herat, on the grounds that the waters of that river were essential
for the irrigation of the Transcaspian province, and he declared that the negotiations
would break down were His Majesty’s Government to refuse to entertain this proposal.
On my reminding him that the note defining the area of Northern Afghanistan was to
be kept secret, so that the Russian public would not know whether the Heri-Rud was
comprised in it or not, his Excellency contended that the term “ Northern Afghanistan,”
which he had himself suggested, would be liable to different interpretations in
England and in Russia and that there would consequently ensue a polemical
discussion in the press of the two countries as so its exact meaning. After a
prolonged conversation in which I told his Excellency that His Majesty’s Government
could never give an engagement that might lend itself to the interpretation that they
had disinterested themselves completely with regard to Herat, I said that, though they
could not extend the area of Northern Afghanistan beyond the limits which they had
laid down, His Majesty’s Government might undertake not to support demands for
irrigation works, wherever situated, for which the water -was supplied by the
Heri-Rud. Though this suggestion by no means satisfied his Excellency, he did not
absolutely reject it. He dwelt at length on the importance of the irrigation question
to Russia and remarked that the Afghans must be made to understand that they will
not be allowed to sterilise the Transcaspian province by diverting the waters necessary
for its irrigation. His Excellency also again referred to the impossibility of keeping
secret the area comprised in the arrangement which it is proposed to make about
Northern Afghanistan. Finally he said that, as he would not be able to discuss the
matter with me again for another ten days, he would instruct M. Argyropoulo, who
would be in charge of the Ministry during his absence, and the head of the Eastern
Department, to endeavour to find some formula that would reconcile the views of the
two Governments, and he suggested that I should continue the negotiations with these
gentlemen in the event of my receiving further instructions from you.
From my conversation with his Excellency I carried away the impression that,
whether or not we come to an arrangement with Russia with regard to Northern
Afghanistan, the Russian Government will before long take the law into their own
hands if the Afghans persist in diverting the Tvaters of the Heri-Rud, and other rivers
to the prejudice of Transcaspia. As his Excellency declined altogether to commit
himself, it is difficult for me to say how far he is prepared to go to meet our wishes.
He has, he told me, no objection to reaffirming his adhesion to the principle that
Afghanistan is outside Russia’s sphere of political interest, but he still wishes to
include Herat and both banks of the Heri-Rud within the area assigned to Northern
Afghanistan. As, however, he ostensibly bases this claim on the sole ground that the
Heri-Rud plays a very important part in the irrigation of Transcaspia he ought to be
satisfied with the further undertaking which, as I gather from your telegram No. 249,
of the 6th instant, His Majesty’s Government are prepared to give with regard to that
river. M. Sazonof will, however, probably insist on the publication of am arrangement
M hich we may arrive at in its entirety, and I am not aware whether such a course
would be agreeable to His Majesty’s Government. Should they have no objection to
it, we might submit for M. ~ " * ^ 1 " 7WTl VVA
engage not to support appli r
[2173 p—1]
About this item
- Content
Part 1 relates to a proposed draft convention between Britain, China, and Thibet [Tibet] (completed in April 1914 and referred to in the correspondence as the Tripartite Convention) and its impact on parts of the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907.
The correspondence largely consists of copies of telegrams and letters from Sir George William Buchanan, Ambassador to St Petersburgh [Saint Petersburg], to Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, regarding the former's meetings with the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs [Sergei Dmitrievich Sazonov] during May 1914. This correspondence documents Buchanan's efforts to secure not only the assent of the Russian Government to proposals made in the draft convention, but also certain revisions to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, including the abrogation of the self-denying engagements taken by the two governments in relation to Thibet, as recorded in article 4 of the Convention.
Part 1 of the volume also contains correspondence between the Government of India, the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , and the Foreign Office, which discusses Russia's terms for agreeing to the Tripartite Convention (one of which being the deletion of article 10, on the grounds that, in the opinion of the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, it would make Britain 'the arbiter of Thibet's destinies').
Other matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:
- the drafting of a joint declaration, described as a potential pendant to the Tripartite Convention, whereby Russia would reaffirm its adherence to the principle that Afghanistan is outside the sphere of Russian political influence and Britain would agree not to support 'any applications by British subjects for irrigation works, railways, or preferential rights for commercial or industrial enterprises in Northern Afghanistan';
- the Chinese Government's refusal to sign the Tripartite Convention;
- the British Government's response to the Bolshevik Party's publication in November 1917 of secret diplomatic documents, some of which reveal the secret negotiations between Britain and Russia regarding Northern Afghanistan.
The principal correspondents are the following: the Ambassador to St Petersburgh [Saint Petersburg] (Sir George William Buchanan); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Edward Grey, succeeded by Arthur James Balfour); officials of the Foreign Office; the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. (Thomas William Holderness); the Secretary of State for India [Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, succeeded by Joseph Austen Chamberlain]; the Viceroy of India [Charles Hardinge, succeeded by Frederic John Napier Thesiger]; the Secretary to the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. 's Political and Secret Department (Sir Frederic Arthur Hirtzel, succeeded by John Evelyn Shuckburgh); the Press Bureau.
In addition to correspondence, part 1 includes a copy of the proposed Tripartite Convention, dated 27 April 1914. The French material in this part of the volume consists of several items of diplomatic correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (166 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the part.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- IOR/L/PS/10/455/1
- Title
- File 2696/1914 Pt 1 'Tibet Convention Persia and Afghanistan Conversations with Russia'
- Pages
- 64r:66v, 68r:69v, 71r:85v, 87r:89v, 96r:110v, 113r:127v, 130r:136v, 138r:179v, 181r:230v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
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- Open Government Licence