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The record is made up of 1 file (388 folios). It was created in 17 Jan 1899-4 Apr 1904. It was written in English. 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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2
European Engineers be employed to construct engineering works on its upper
reaches.” It would appear that, even if access to the Helmund were not
barred, the strategic importance of Seistan would remain. Lines of railway
or roads, running east and west or north and south from Chahbar to Meshed,
would in all probability pass through Seistan.
i
No. 3 Political, dated Seistan, the 1st February 1899
From— Captain P. Molesworth Sykes,
To—The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
In continuation of my previous despatch, I have the honour to report that
Captain Webb-Ware, Political Assistant, Chagai, as well as Mr. G. P. Tate, of
the Survey Department, reached Wurmal, the most southerly village in Seistan,
on the same day as our party.
After snending two days at Wurmal, Captain Webb-Ware, followed by
Mr. W. K. Wood, of the Indo-European Telegraph Department, marched back
to the British frontier post of Kobat, while Mr. Tate and myself proceeded to the
Kuh-i-Khoja, the position of which was fixed.
On the following day Mr. Tate quitted me to fix other points, which he
was successful in doing, so that the Native Surveyor attached to me will be
able to produce the first correct map of Seistan and also survey in any direction
in which I may subsequently be sent.
The visit of Captain Webb-Ware has, I believe, produced a good political
effect which would, however, have been much enhanced had he been permitted
to march with his entire party to Nasratabad, instead of coming to the
outskirts of inhabited Seistan with only a few levies.
As I pointed out, the two posts of Kucha Kuh and Bug being on Persian
soil, his entire party had already crossed the frontier, while, upon quitting
Seistan, he intended to march down south to Mirjawa, which would entail bein'*-
on the Persian side of the frontier close on a hundred miles.
I w r ould venture to urge that what is needed is to show the proximity of
India to Seistan, and, as the proverb runs, “ Pill the eyes of a Persian”: the
larger the parties are that visit Seistan and the more frequently they appear,
the greater the political effect will be.
What I learned about the Quetta trade route fully confirms what I
stated in my last despatch—that it cannot compete wuth the Bunder Abbas
caravan road on even terms. If, however, it be decided that, for political
reasons, the route must be opened up, and, in my humble opinion, our policy
in Persia demands this, liberal measures, involving considerable expenditure,
will in all probability be necessary in order to attract caravans to this route.
Other points that were discussed included the importance, from the Indian
point of view, that Seistan and Kerman should be under the same Consul, as
the trade route not only passes for a considerable distance along or through
both districts^ but, unless this arrangement be made, the Local Governors will
evade responsibility, or at any rate raiding parties will escape unpunished by
crossing from one district to another.
Captain Webb-Ware also agreed with me as to the importance, from his
point of view, of influencing Kain, the Governor of which is believed to be a
fervent Russophil.
Besides explaining to me various questions in connection with the trade
route, Captain Webb-Ware was able to give me much valuable information
about Seistan, which he had visited two years previously. I have also to
thank Mr. G. P. Tate for information about both frontiers,‘ about which he is
a great authority.
I am at present slowly travelling across Seistan to the River Helmund
while the district is somewhat disturbed by the fact that the Hishmut-ul-Mulk
is stated to be marching in this direction to expel his brothers-in-law the
Narni Chiefs, and perhaps to remain himself in Seistan.
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to Seistan [Sistan] and Persia [Iran].
The file includes printed copies of despatches from the Agent to the Governor-General of India and HM Consul-General for Khorasan and Seistan (Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Martindale Temple), to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, with enclosed despatches from Captain Percy Molesworth Sykes to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (the Marquis of Salisbury). Skyes’s despatches regard matters including: Seistan; trade routes into South-East Persia; the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan, in relation to the River Helmund [Helmand] changing its course (in despatch No. 5, which includes four sketch maps, folios 12, 13, 14 and 15); Sykes’s journey to Birjand (in despatch No. 7, which includes a sketch map on folio 20); the ruling family of Kain, which also governed Seistan, Tabbas and Tun; Sykes’s journey from Seistan to Kerman [Kirman] (in despatch No. 11, which includes a sketch map); and the direct Kerman-Quetta caravan trade that Sykes was trying to establish.
The file also includes copies of the following papers:
- A despatch from Temple to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing a letter from Temple to Sir Henry Mortimer Durand (HM Minister, Tehran), with copies of enclosures, regarding the establishment of a Seistan and Kain consulate
- A letter from Charles Edward Pitman, Director General of Telegraphs, to the Secretary to the Government of India Public Works Department, enclosing a copy of a ‘Report on the Preliminary Survey of the Route for a Telegraph Line from Quetta to the Persian Frontier’ by H A Armstrong, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Telegraph Department, which includes six photographs of views along the route [Mss Eur F111/352, f 52; Mss Eur F111/352, f 53; Mss Eur F111/352, f 54; Mss Eur F111/352, f 55; Mss Eur F111/352, f 56; and Mss Eur F111/352, f 57], and a map showing the proposed route of the telegraph line [Mss Eur F111/352, f 59]
- Letters from Hugh Shakespear Barnes, Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan, to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing copies of the diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the weeks ending 16 February, 28 February, and 8 March 1900
- Diary No. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 of Major-General George Frederick Chenevix-Trench, HM Consul for Seistan (Diary No. 6 includes a sketch map, folio 86)
- A copy of a ‘Report on Reconnaissances Made while Attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission’ by W A Johns, Deputy Consulting Engineer for Railways, Bombay
- A copy of the report ‘Notes on Persian Seistan’, compiled by Captain Edward Abadie Plunkett, and issued by the Government of India Intelligence Branch, Quarter-Master General’s Department
- Two copies of map signed by Plunkett titled ‘Persian Seistan-Cultivated Area’ [Mss Eur F111/352, f 270]
- A booklet entitled ‘Notes on the Leading Notables, Officials, Merchants, and Clergy of Khorasan, Seistan, Kain, and Kerman.’
- Printed copies of letters from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), relating to the maintenance of British interests in Persia, dated 4 September 1899 and 7 November 1901 (the former with an enclosure of a minute by the Viceroy on Seistan).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (388 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 390; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 301A
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/352
- Title
- 'Seistan'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:51v, 58r:58v, 60r:112r, 113r:125v, 147r:218r, 218r, 219r:269v, 271r:301v, 301Ar, 301Av, 302r:388v, 389v:390r, 389r, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence