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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [262v] (532/617)
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
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lots s !K
nature of ttmg^ P th o£ certain dissolution, from the
™e^f y thr particular impulse that is° required to propel them over the
brink But in the last resort, and often by accident, the impetus is com
municated, and the already shattered structure tumbles into irretrievable rum.
3 We think that there are signs that such an issue, if not immediately
impending in Persia, is drawing near. The rule of the present Shah is distinctly
and uniformly weaker than that of his predecessor The dissolvent agencies
at work in the Persian kingdom are more active and persistent. Meanwhile,
the encroachments of Russian power are steadfastly pursued and are less veiled
bv any pretence of concealment. Other Governments and nationalities, either
impelled by the secret obligations of international sympathies, or attracted by
a desire to share in the probable spoils, are appearing upon the scene, and
there is every reason to believe that, as in the case of the Ottoman Empire and
of China, so also here, the property of the sick man, should no steps be taken
in advance to prolong his existence, and should the end comp before any
testamentary dispositions have been made, is likely to be subject of bitter
contention between the various parties who may demand to be included among
his heirs.
4. We desire, therefore, not merely to examine, in response to Your
Lordship’s invitation, the particular steps that may require to be taken for the
maintenance or extension of British interests in Persia at the present juncture,
but to survey a wider field, and, while there is yet time, to discuss how those
interests should be definitely safeguarded in the future that seems to be
imminent, and what part in the outlay or in the measures that may be
necessitated for that end, should be assumed respectively by Her Majesty’s
Government and by the Government of India. Sir M. Durand himself
concludes his despatch by saying that “ the time has come for us to lay down
a definite line of policy”. We concur in this opinion, but we interpret the
obligation thus admitted in a broader sense than Her Majesty’s Minister has
done ; and we think that no mere stop-gap measures, however useful they may
individually be, will avail for the permanent protection of our position in
Persia, unless a clear understanding be arrived at in advance as to what that
position is and what it demands.
5. It may not be inappropriate to state, in the first place, what we
conceive British, $.<?., Anglo-Indian, interests in Persia to be. They are com
mercial, political, strategical and telegraphic. The total annual value of
British trade with Persia has been estimated by Sir M. Durand (and, from the
calculations that we have made, we believe the estimate to be below the mark)
as approximately three and-a-half millions sterling; and while a great deal of
this trade, particularly in the south and east, is with British India, yet the
northern and western avenues of entry are devoted in the main to commercial
connections^ with the British Isles. The total volume of Anglo-Persian trade
continues, in spite of the difficulties encountered and the increasing insecurity
m Persia, to rise and, under a more efficient and less venal regime, would
probably attain to much larger dimensions. Similarly, although the experience
ot the past decade has not been encouraging to British mercantile investment
in I ersia, as the experience of the Tobacco Regie, the Persian Mining Rights
ompany, and other ventures, has shown, there is nevertheless a good deal of
ntish capital sunk m various industrial undertakings in different parts of the
country. ° 1
• • *n P 0 ^ lca \interests of Great Britain in Persia, although they date
ongma y iom a period before India had become a British interest at all, were,
in len leviva a century ago, in the main Indian in inception, and are still
largely Indian m character. It would be unfair, however, at the present day to
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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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [262v] (532/617), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/350, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100072740555.0x000085> [accessed 25 July 2026]
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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