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File 2696/1914 Pt 1 'Tibet Convention Persia and Afghanistan Conversations with Russia' [222r] (317/334)
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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
CONFIDENTIAL.
18*6
!9I4
Sir G. Buchanan to Sir Edward (Jrey.—(Received May 8, 10 p.m.)
St. Petersburgh, May 8, 1914.
(No. 110.) R. (May 8, 9 p.m.)
THIBET.
Minister for Foreign Affairs has to wait at Livadia for the Turkish Mission and is
not expected back till the end of next week.
I therefore thought it best to state our case fully in a note embodying those/ — . ,
portions of your despatch No. 162 that have reference to the two points which concern
Russia and to divide Thibet into two zones, and explaining the reasons which render
slight modifications of the Kiukiagg arrangements imperative as well as the necessity 7^*-^
for a prompt reply. I read it to Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs to-day, and
begged him to have it at once examined by competent department, so that Minister
for Foreign Affairs may be in a position to give me an answer as soon as he returns.
I explained that the document which I had given him about the Indo-Thibetan
frontier, the two Thibetan zones, and the Trade Regulations had no practical interest
for Russia^, but that the friendly relations existing between the two Governments
maae us amxious to keep them informed of all that had taken place during the
tripartite negotiations.
I further said that, when I had first broached the subject to M. Sazonof, his
Excellency had been under the impression that we were going to put forward far-
reaching demands with regard to Thibet, and had told me that he would have to ask
for counter-concessions. We had in consequence reduced our demands to a minimum
which would render j^iii^request for counter-concessions unnecessary, and I had
therefore every confidence that the Imperial Government would give an unconditional
consent to our proposals, which in no way affected any Russian interest.
His Excellency replied that he could say nothing until the Minister for Foreign
Affairs returned, except that he could assure me that he would do everything to
expedite answer and that our proposals would be examined in the most friendly spirit.
isr'"*
9 MAYISU -,
&
[517—111]
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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- Reference
- 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