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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.
reply to this, the Yamin invited the Akhundzada to meet him at his camp at
Siadak, bringing with him only 15 men.
17. The interview took place on the 10th July at Siadak. It was decided
(11 That as the maps in possession of the Persian and Afghan represent
atives do not appear to agree, and that as no definite decision
regarding the boundary can, therefore, he arrived at for the present,
the matter should be referred for orders to Tehran and Kabul,
respectively.
(2) That pending the receipt of orders from their Governments, both
parties should retire from the frontier.
The Akhundzada, though he dismissed his troops, was at first inclined to
remain at Deh Dost Muhammad with a small escort, there to await his orders.
He is now said to have retired to his own residence at Kila-i-Kang, and the
Yamin-i-Nizam and
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 have now returned with all their troops
to Seistan. , .
18. Thus the frontier difficulty, which aggravated, there is little doubt, by
the Russian Consul, at one time threatened to reach a crisis, has been—at least
for the present—amicably settled. The opportune arrival of my letter to the
Akhundzada was, perhaps, merely a coincidence; but it would seem to ha\ e
influenced him in no small degree to adopt a temperate course.
19. I would now venture to bring to your notice the following points :
(a) That although I was present in Seistan throughout this affair, and at
the disposal of the local Government should they have needed my
advice yet both M. Molitor and the Yamin-i-Nizam appear to
have sought the Russian Consul’s opinion and assistance on every
occasion before taking action.
(b) That the Russian Consul, feigning concern for the safety of his Con-
sulate in the event of frontier disturbances, aggravated the situ
ation, and endeavoured to bring about a conflict between the
Persian and Afghan representatives.
(c) That with the object of lowering our prestige in the eyes of the Per
sians, he represented that I had instigated the Akhundzada to
enter Persian territory.
(d) That the Local Government are themselves in. a great measure
responsible for recent events on account of their persistent refusal
to treat with the Afghan Governor.
As regards (a), I venture to think that, if the local officials stood in need
of advice—and their visits to the Russian Consul would seem to show that
thev did—it was at the British, and not at the Russian Consulate, that they
m iJht have sought it. Their latest action would seem. to suggest the fact
tlmt even in Seistan, where British interests are admitted to be paramount
and British trade predominant, an opinion prevails that it is to the Russian
Government that Persia must look in an emergency.
As regards ( 6 ), the Russian Consul’s action—if it was not an attempt to.
develop a scheme with a more important or far-reaching object—was a distinct
pflort to embroil matters in Seistan, and thus furnish an excuse for the despatch
of either Cossacks to keep order, or a further supply of Persian troops to swamp
Seistan and live at the expense of a Governor who is inclined to favour our
oncosts •
As regards (c), beyond the fact that the Akhundzada had asked me to lend
him two tents in the event of his coming to visit the local Governor, and that
the different Afghan deputations which arrived here were invariably the guests
of the British Consulate—always a source of some irritation to M. Miller—I
do not know what grounds the Russian Consul had for suggesting that I was
responsible for the Akhundzada’s actions.
As regards {d) as the Local Government were apparently without maps or
Treaties they could not, perhaps, have adopted any other policy but that of
procrastination. But it would seem strange that during a period of five months
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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'Seistan' [112r] (223/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x00001a> [accessed 26 June 2026]
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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