Settlement of the Opposing Claims of Persia and Afghanistan to Seistan [‎437r] (21/54)

Enclosure No. 4.
Telegram No. 1575 V., dated the 26th July 1871.
From—Foreign Secretary, Simla.
To— General Goldsmid, Teheran.
This office letters dated 4th April and 16th May last, asking vonr oninn
as to asis of negotiation and plan of operations in Seistan. Favour Gover
ment with early reply. ur Uoiei
mon
n-
Enclosure No 5-
Telegram dated the 27th July 1871.
hrom Goldsmid, Teheran (ria Bushire).
To—Foreign Secretary, Simla.
Jtecommandee. —Answered letter 4th April on 3rd May and 16th
May by courier leaving Teheran 17th instant. Have communicated hereon
with Alison who represents Persians averse to any arbitration except territory
not yet possessed. They clearly wish settlement‘at Teheran, and at present
I doubt effecting change in their sentiments, though directly opposed to spirit
of ray mstinotions. Propose reporting further as Mekran affairs progress, but
Commissioner only arrived Tuesday. Map and acquaintance with statu quo
in Seistan indispensable. While expressing individual opinion that engineer
officer could obtain this at small cost, pray undeistand me, personally ready to
act as Government think best. J
Enclosure No 6-
No. 126, dated Teheran, the 13th July 1871.
From Major-General F. J. Goldsmid, c. b., on special mission.
To—The Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.
My telegram of yesterday’s date will have reported my arrival here on the
10th instant, and the receipt on the 9th idem of your despatches of the 16th
and 26th May last. I now do myself the honor of replying to the first of these
despatches, Nos. 903 and 905 P.
2. As regards the work in Seistan T respectfully submit to the notice of
His Excellency the Viceroy and Governor General of India in Council, that
* With despatch No. 903 p., (con- ^ ^ ie Persian ministerial memoranda, of which copies
fidentiai). have been forwarded for my information,* are to be
admitted for guidance, as they have been in the Mekran boundary question, the
instructions from the 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. , dated 9th August last year, under which L
left England, must he held cancelled. By the latter I am constituted an
* Memorandum of Mirza Saeed arbitrator, by the former I am to “ inspect Persia’s
Khan, dated 24 th July 1870. possessions in Seistan at the present day, and bring
a map of the same to Teheran” for submission to the Shah and subsequent
communication to the British Government. Until this question be decided,
I fear that any detailed exposition of requirements for opening the Seistan
enquiry on my part would be premature. And having expressed briefly in my
No. 112 of the 3rd May last, that the basis of arbitration should he “right of
recovery on one side, or of further encroachment on the other,” taking the line
of present possession as a starting point for facility of procedure, I doubt not
that His Excellency the Viceroy will perceive the main object is to remain
unfettered by any status whatever which may be proved a clear violation of
rights. Probably, on the departure of another mail, I shall be better prepared
to report on this question. It is one on which L have yet had no opportunity
of speaking to Her Majesty’s Minister; it is one on which I should wish to
consult my office records before replying fully, and these are not expected to
reach me until after departure of the Indian courier; and it is one on
which it is really essential to know whether the intention be arbitration or
the delineations of a map.