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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [143r] (290/617)
The record is made up of 2 volumes (301 folios). It was created in 22 Jun 1896-3 Mar 1900. 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.
11
that charge hnt her ! a ? CT to a PP oint a s P“ial officer to
Wetg^ted ° hePMeQtI W ° Uld try the “-Semeat I
(d) It is I think, evidently wrong that at a place like Ispahan where
om trace and our political influence have hitherto been’in full
possession, the newly-appointed Russian Consul should be better
equipped than our own. The former has £800 a year pay a
Secretary, and a free house, with other privileges, including an
escort of Cossacks. The latter has £600 a year pay, of which he
lias to gi\e back £60 in house-rent and £150 office allowance. I
would make him a Consul-General and raise his allowances to
the level of the -Russian Consul’s.
(<?) A Consulate on the Karan is perhaps the most necessary of all the
appointments I have suggested. Ahwaz may hereafter become a
very important trade centre, and from there we should work upon
the Arabs and Bakhtiaris and Lnrs, establishing our hold upon
them, and opening up the routes through their country, and
perhaps raising from among them an irregular levy. The Besident
in Bushire would prefer for the present to keep our Consul at
Mohammerah. I doubt the expediency of this, as he should get
into touch with the Lurs and Bakhtiaris quite as much as with
the Arabs of the Lower Karan. However this may he, the Consul
will probably require a
native Agent
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
or two for commercial work.
We should, I think, for the present at least, leave the Karun
under the Consul-General for Bars. Our merchants would prefer
his being in direct communication with Tehran, and Captain
Sykes in his report on the Karan recommends this; hnt I do not
think we should, until the necessity is very clearly proved, take
away the district from the charge of the Consul-General. _ It is
better that we should have the whole of the Gulf coast in one
hand.
( f) A British Vice-Consulate at Kermanshah is, I think, very desirable.
Our trade by the Baghdad route is increasing, and the route is a
very important one in all respects. As I have shown, the British
imports and exports by this route approach a million sterling.
TVb must keep our hold on it if possible. Our
native Agent
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
,
although a man of wealth and consequence, has from the time I
have been in Persia done nothing for us, and has been a source of
unending trouble and expense to the Legation owing to his quarrels
with the Persians. It is the more important to keep our hold ori
Kermanshah, because the Russians may at any time push on their
ro a d from Kazvin to Hamadan. A Vice-Consul at Kermanshah
should he directly under the orders of the Consul-General at
/ ^ With vptto to Bunder Abbas, the British trade of this port and
^ ^ aggregaterover a million. Hitherto the Government o
India ^ave not ^ view.
sjjs.’ss.sra^-arssrs
cial centre ^ V ^^Af ^artmentoftheir political duties,
sstiKsa vrr.r" *» -
entirely for the Governmen 0 ^ pLpbonrhood, I am not quite
As to a Vice-Consul m^Hrumia or ^ ^ informatio n as to what
\h)
sure.
About this item
- Content
The volumes contain papers relating to Persia [Iran], including Seistan, and the tract of land south of the Baluch-Afghan boundary between Nushki and Persia, which had become British territory following the demarcation of the Afghan-Baluch border.
The papers largely consist of printed copies of correspondence between the Governor General of India in Council (Government of India Foreign Department) and the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), and enclosed correspondence and papers.
Letters from the Governor General of India in Council to the Secretary of State for India include:
- Number 170, 16 September 1896, relating to the opening up of a trade route between Nushki and the Persian frontier, crossing the tract of British territory south of the Baluch-Afghan boundary, and the protection of the newly-demarcated frontier, with enclosed memorandum by Captain Arthur Henry McMahon, British Commissioner, Baluch-Afghan Boundary Commission, containing his proposals for the management and administration of the tract and for the protection of the trade route
- Number 58, 31 March 1898, concerning the trade route between Baluchistan and Persia, including the suggestion that Consular Agents should be appointed at central points along it between Seistan and Meshed, with enclosures including a report by Lieutenant Frank Webb-Ware, Political Assistant at Chagai, on his visit to Seistan at the beginning of 1896, and the measures introduced for the development of trade between Baluchistan and Persia (which includes a blueprint map, Mss Eur F111/350, f 33)
- Number 163, 15 September 1898, forwarding copies of papers regarding the situation in Makran and Panjgur, following recent ‘disturbances’ in Makran.
The file also includes:
- Copies of Government of India Foreign Department papers numbered 40-58 relating to the Kerman Consulate and British interests in Southern Persia, including correspondence between the Government of India Foreign Department and the Secretary of State for India
- A letter from the Secretary of State for India to the Governor General of India in Council, with enclosed despatch from Sir (Henry) Mortimer Durand, HM Minister at Tehran, to the Foreign Office, dated 12 February 1899, in which he gives his opinion on suggestions for the appointment of additional consular officers in Persia (this includes a map titled ‘Skeleton Map of Telegraph Lines in Persia.’ Mss Eur F111/350, f 187)
- A letter from Durand to the Secretary to the Foreign Department of the Government of India, 24 February 1899, enclosing a copy of his memorandum (with appendices) drawn up in 1895 on the situation in Persia, and the steps he proposed should be taken to improve the British position there
- Copies of a draft despatch from the Governor General of India in Council, 2 September 1899, regarding relations between Great Britain and Persia, including improving the British Political and Consular service in Persia, and the extent of the share of responsibility for Persia that should be devolved upon the Government of India, followed by printed comments upon the draft
- Copies of a minute by George Nathaniel Curzon, Viceroy of India, on Seistan, dated 4 September 1899, including the question of a railway connection between India and Seistan
- Handwritten pencil notes by Curzon relating to Persia and the ‘Seistan Question’.
In addition to the two maps noted above, the file also includes the following maps: map of the area south of the border between Afghanistan and Baluchistan (Mss Eur F111/350, f 300); map of the area west of the border between Persia and Afghanistan (Mss Eur F111/350, f 301); and ‘Route Plan of Robat Nala’ (Mss Eur F111/350, f 302).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes (301 folios)
- Arrangement
Most of volume A is arranged in reverse chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume (from folios 6 to 76); volume B is arranged is rough chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this file consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover of volume one (ff 1-150) and terminates at the inside back cover of volume two (ff 151-304); 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.
- 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 F111/350
- Title
- ‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’
- Pages
- front , back , spine, edge , head , tail, front-i, 2r:32v, 34r:62v, 64r:84r, 86r, 89r:93v, 96r:96v, 99v:100v, 101v:128v, 129v:149v, back-i, front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 152r:186v, 188r:189r, 190r:299v, 303r:304v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence