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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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2
your Excellency in Council will no doubt consider
whether recent events justify the preparation of
plans and estimates for the construction of a rail
way from Quetta to Nushki or to any further point
along the trade route.
4 . I understand that Sir Mortimer Durand
attaches considerable value to the influence created
in favour of the British by the enterprise of Messrs.
Lynch in Ahwaz, and generally in Arabistan. In
this connection I invite the .consideration of your
Government to a letter dated^Tth March, from th
Eoreign Office, enclosing a representation from the
Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company,
on the subject of a continuance of tbe Karun
subsidy. The importance of the Karun River as
providing an inland waterway to the open sea, and
the commanding position occupied by Mohammerah
at its junction with the Shat-ul-Arab, suggest con
siderations which are of equal interest to India and
to this country, and there is no doubt that the
* efforts of Messrs. Lynch in developing the Karun
navigation, and in constructing the road from
Ahwaz towards Ispahan through the Bakhtiari
• country have largely contributed to the mainte
nance of British and Indian commercial influence
in that region. I desire therefore to receive your
Excellency’s observations upon the correspondence
now enclosed.
J
5. I pass on to the careful and exhaustive
review contained in your letter of the 21st of
September, relative to the present situation in
Persia, and the course of British relations with it.
The most vital interests of the Government of
India in that country concern the defence of the
Indian Empire against any attack proceeding from
the borders of Beluchistan or Southern Persia, and
from the ports in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
. But any
measures which may be suggested for meeting or
averting that risk must take into account the
resistance which they are likely to encounter from
foreign Powers, whose own interests in Persia and
in the Gulf have been greatly extended in recent
years. It is in this respect that the situation has
undergone a material change of late.
6. As regards Russia, her advance on the borders
of Persia and her assimilation of the territory
absorbed by her in Central Asia, have ensured to
her a safe stepping stone for a fresh move. Our
base of operations remains on the sea while Russia
has moved, and as she has advanced her influence
has increased. If we lay down the principle of the
independence of Persia, we are met by the fact
that Russia has already gained on land a position
which dominates and threatens almost the whole of
Persia, and enables her, under cover of concessions
and monopolies, to exercise a practical and exclusive
control over a considerable proportion of the
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' [376v] (754/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721606.0x00009d> [accessed 5 August 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