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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.
1
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Diary No. 9 of Major G. Chenevix Trench, Her Britannic Majesty’s
Consul for Seistan, for period from 24th June to 12th July 1900.
June 24th, 1 goo. —Mr. Miller had breakfast. Mr. Miller is at heart an
Anglophile and consequently though he did his best on arrival to establish some
Russian influence, he is now a passive on-looker to English trade and interests in
Seistan.
June 25th .—Received a visit from some Katkhudas from Mian Kangi. It
is now becoming the rule for Katkhudas who come from outlying parts of Seistan
to make a call here when business brings them Nusratabad.
June 26th .—Heard from the Hospital Assistant at Birjand that it was re
ported that the Wali of Meshed w r ould send another emissary to bring about a
revenue settlement between Mustophi Khalik Khan and the Amir. I have no
confirmation of this rumour and do not believe it, as since the Mustophi has
consulted me and has showm his intimation to take my advice, I believe the
revenue question will be agreeably settled and the Amir’s position here will not
be threatened, which event may be said will be entirely to our benefit.
June 27th .—It was brought to my notice that Mr. Miller paid frequent
visits to the Head Mujtahid here, and though he had had a difference with
that Mulla’s son, Mulia Mehdi, had recently become reconciled to him.
Mr. Miller has always aimed at cultivating the friendship of those who are
at variance with the Amir. The Amir is quite independent of Mulla’s influence,
and Mr Miller’s friends are incapable of altering the feelings of the Amir which
are so pronouncedly in our favour. These very Mullaswhom Mr. Miller has
handsomely rewarded have made and continue to make overtures to me, even
plead to be favoured with more recognition and have stated that they made a
mistake in throwing in their lot with the unpopular side.
June 28th .—Mulla Muhammad Hosain visited
Munshi
A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf.
Ahmad Din by night.
His object was to state that Mulla Mehdi, the son of the Head Mujtahid, was in
some trepidation because he saw that at the time I visited his father, I utterly
ignored him, which, considering that he had met me previously, was unaccountable
to him. He asked what he had done wrong that I should so slight him, and was
profuse in his offers of service to ingratiate himself in my favour. As a matter
of fact I was engrossed in conversation with the old Mulla and did not even
recognise the son (Mulla Mehdi) who when 1 came had only condescended to
meet me clandestinely five mvles out of Nusratabad. The Mulla has since been
assiduous in trying to curry favour, but I have little to do with him in the first
place because I do not trust him and, secondly, as I want for nothing I can ask
him to do nothing.
As the Mulla is considered the cleverest man in Seistan, his acts conspi
cuously show the esteem in which we are held here and the importance attached
to being in our good books.
In the evening I had a small gymkhana. The sowars did some tent peg
ging and there were tugs of war, etc.
This small gathering was so friendly and so popular that I determined to
repeat the trial at a later date.
June 2gth .—From reports which came to me it appeared that Mr. Miller
was making some spasmodic efforts to establish some friendliness with the peopK.
Muhammad Rahim Khan is his go-between and was the former Russian news-
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
here, and through him Mr. Miller endeavours to obtain interviews with the
people. Muhammad Rahim Khan w f as reported to have taken a house in the
town at some distance from the Vice-Consul’s house to catch unwilling visitors
to the Russian side. The plan has proved futile, the attractions at my camp are
to strong.
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