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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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
4
With the advent of Lord Curzon, a personal friend of the Amir, to ^ India,
as Viceroy, is it useless to hope that His Highness may be induced to alter his
suicidal policy and, once more, allow trade to find a passage across Afghanis-
tan ?
If His Highness be unwilling to freely open up his country, could it not be
suggested that he need only guarantee the safety of two or three main arteries of
commerce ? The cost of protection would be more than repaid by a transit duty
and British goods would, once again, be freed from an up-hill and unequal struggle,
in which they are steadily losing ground.
Another point that I should like to touch upon is the fact that, although
Seistan is capable of supporting perhaps a tenfold population, if the water were
under proper control, 'that control cannot be established except in Afghan
territory, as the Helmund only enters Persia at the delta, and a scientific dam
would have to be constructed many miles upstream, possibly at the same point
as the great dam of Akva or Avk, which was destroyed by the son of Tamerlane.
This fact, I should venture to urge, is an important argument against any
railway construction, until access to the upper reaches of the Helmund be
feasible.
One recommendation I have already submitted is that a smart Mahomedan,
trained, if possible, at the Agent to the Governor-Generafs Office, Quetta, should
be permanently established in Seistan, where he could keep the political author
ities properly informed and also supervise the post, which I earnestly hope will
also be made permanent, as it is a sure and safe method of increasing British
prestige, of assisting trade and of linking up Meshed and India.
In due course of time, I hope that a second Agent may be established at
Birjand, to which town there is a Persian post from Meshed.
In conclusion, I would again venture to repeat that, at present, there is little
or no consular w r ork at Nasratabad, not a*single case of any importance having
been brought before me and it rather strikes me that perhaps Russia has found
out that there is no trade and has therefore delayed sending a representative.
As matters now stand, if a suitable agent be established and the post be
continued, an occasional visit from a Political Officer is all that is required, especi
ally as I can now trust any small case that may occur to the good offices of the
Deputy Governor. Seistan is, however, dependent upon Birjand both for its
rulers and troops, so that I shall not consider that the subject is exhaustively
dealt with, until I have carefully studied the question at the northern town.
B. F. * ~~
Diary No. 87 -F.
No. 88 -A., dated Meshed, the 31 st May 1899 .
From—L ieutenant-Colonel H. M. Temple, Agent to the Governor-General of
India and Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General for Khorassan and
Seistan,
To-—The Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.
In continuation of my letter No. 87 -A. of to-day’s date, I have the honour to
forward a copy of Captain P. M. Sykes’ despatch No. 7 , dated 1 ith May 1899 ,
to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
No. 7 - Political dated Birjand, the nth May 1899 .
From— Captain P. Molesworth Sykes,
To—The Right Honourable the Marquess of Salisbury, K.G.
I received instructions to proceed to Birjand, towards the end of March,
but it was not until the second week in April that I was able to effect a start
as transport was scarce and I had decided to carry a three months’ supply of
forage and flour ; subsequent experience has shown the advantage of so doing,
.as both wheat and barley are about four times as dear as 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