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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.
G. C. Presi, Simla,—No 14, F. D.—5-4-:9oo—32.
0
L (jLSs~0
No 2872, dated Quetta, the 28th March 1900.
From-H. S. Barnes, Esq., I.C.S., C.S.I., Ageut to the Governor-General in
Baluchistan,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.
I have the honour to forward, for the information of Governmentofl nd^
copy of the diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the week ending
March 1900.
Diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the week ending 8th
March 1900.
1 st to ——Halt at Nasratabad Seistan.
5th .—Nasratabad to Daulatabad, 17 miles.
—Halt at Daulatabad.
7^.—Daulatabad to VVarmal, 7 miles.
8 th. —Warmal to Girdi Chah, 28! miles.
2. In continuation of paragraph 4 of my diary for the week ending 28th
February 1900, 1 have received informations that three new Karezes have been
opened on the caravan route, viz, two at Padag and one at Mushki Chah.
3. The larger number of the halting places, between Nushki and Killa
Robat, have been supplied with iron watering troughs.
4. On the occasion of the hoisting of the Russian flag at Nasratabad by the
Russian Vice-Consul, noted in paragraph 6 of my diary for the week ending 28th
February, the following noteworthy incident occurred. After the flag had been
run up,
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Purdil Khan stepped forward and addressed the Russian Consul
in the following words :—
“ I a m expressing the sentiments of the Persian officials of Seistan, who are
present, when I inform you, that we resent the hoisting of the Russian’ flag in
Seistan! We have allowed you to hoist the flag of your Government, because
we have received instructions from the Governor of Khorasan to permit you to
do so ; but we wish you to understand that the inhabitants of Seistan have no
thing in common with the Russians, and we fail to understand why you have come
here: your Government has no commercial interests in Seistan. If an European
officer is to remain stationed in Seistan, vye prefer that he be an English officer,
as the British Government have many things in common with us, and have, more
over, always been our friends. The Baluch of this country are savage, untutored
men, who have no respect for human life: you would therefore be well advised
if you keep your flag flying as little as possible.”
The covert threat, conveyed in the last sentence, was apparently not lost
on Mr. Muller, as the following day he hauled down his flag, and up to the time,
1 left Seistan, he refrained from flying it again. I would venture to call attention
to
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Purdil Khan’s speech, as it was quite spontaneous, and as far as my
experience permits me to judge,
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Purdil Khan voiced the feelings of the
inhabitants of Seistan.
5. Before leaving Seistan, I arranged the various details connected with that
most important matter—Major Chenevix-Trench’s official reception at Nasratabad.
Major Trench can rely on receiving an excellent reception, provided he comes
armed with his “exequatur,” and provided also that the Rukun-ud-Daula of
Khorasan be moved to forward an official notification to Seistan of the appoint
ment of a British Consul. The latter has no doubt been arranged for through
the Meshed
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
.
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