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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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[ 29 ]
of English officers, whose telegraphic duties would in reality be subordinate to
political or semi-political functions, might not arouse suspicion and even produce
some friction. We do not desire, however, to pronounce definitely upon the
subject, and shall be glad to be acquainted with the views that are entertained
by lour Lordship.
88. Before leaving the subject of Persia, we desire to add an appeal upon
a matter which we have already argued to be so closely connected therewith as
to be inseparable from a discussion of our interests in that part of the world.
Ihe proposals that we have submitted do not contemplate any change in the
existing arrangements in
Turkish Arabia
A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
. Nevertheless, we cannot too strongly
state our conviction that those arrangements, financially considered, are unduly
harsh in their application to India, and unduly lenient in their incidence upon
Great Britain. That the charges borne by Indian revenues for the maintenance
of our political and commercial position upon the Tigris and at Baghdad,
should amount to £10,604 a year, while the contribution of Her Majesty’s
Government to the same objects is limited to £131 a year, appears to us to be a
partial and. inequitable division. We recognise that there are advantages
to British interests generally in maintaining at Baghdad an establishment
on the scale and of the importance that are associated with an Indian Besidency
of the second class. But the objects for which such an establishment is there
kept up are neither exclusively, nor, as we think, mainly Indian in character.
The same remark applies to the Basrah Consulate, where Her Majesty’s Govern
ment have recently taken into their hands the appointment of the Consul,
while leaving the entire charge to be defrayed from Indian funds. Least of
all can such a claim be made for the Tigris subsidy, •which, in our opinion,
falls into the category of commercial arrangements properly devolving upon
Her Majesty’s Government; although under existing conditions the total cost
is borne by Indian revenues. We trust that, in any reconsideration of the case,
a'more generous division of financial responsibility may commend itself to Her
Majesty’s Government.
89. We have now completed our survey of the proposals that have been
submitted to us for examination, and of the situation in Persia as it presents
itself to our eyes. In commending our views to the earnest consideration of Your
Lordship and of Her Majesty’s Government, we trust that w r e may have
succeeded in impressing upon both, the gravity of the situation with which
Great Britain and India are jointly faced, and the necessity, while there is yet
time, of meeting it wdth definite and united counsels. We conclude by reiterat
ing the confident hope, already expressed in our despatch of August 10th, 1898,
that in the last resort, and in any sudden emergency, we may rely upon Her
Majesty’s Government for the protection of interests which are vital both to
India and to the British Empire.
We have the honour to be,
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' [369r] (739/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721606.0x00008e> [accessed 30 April 2024]
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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