Settlement of the Opposing Claims of Persia and Afghanistan to Seistan [‎438r] (23/54)

Enclosure ITo- 7.
No. 86, dated Gulahek, the 10th July 1871.
From C. Alison, Esq., c. b., Her Britannic Majesty’s Minister at Teheran.
To The Right Hon ble the Earl of Granville, k. g., &c., &c., &c.
I have the honor to enclose copies of a telegram* from the Politi-
* i.—June 29th. cal Secretary of India, reporting intelligence
t 2 .—June 29 th. of a design on the part of Persia to^take
+ g -June 30 th possession of Lash and Jowain, of an
t ’ ^ ' . °fficial memorandumf which I addressed to
the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the subject, and of His Excel
lency s reply,J stating that no such report had been received at his
office, and that he would immediately forward my communication to
the Shah.
His Majesty was at that time encamped at Lar, within eight
hours’ ride from this place, and, several days having elapsed without
my receiving an answer to my memorandum, I thought it advisable to
intimate to the Minister that, if I did not receive one in the course of
the 6 th instant, I should send myself to the King’s camp for it.
* 4.—July otb. Copies of my instruction* to Mirza J. Ibra-
15 . July 6 th. him, of his reply,f and of a notej: from the
Persian Minister on this delay, are herewith
+ e.—July eth. annexed. His Excellency takes occasion in
his communication to state that it was not possible for the Persian
Government to march troops on Lash and Jo wain, and treats the
report in question as false and ill-founded, and I, therefore, while
§ 7 -July 6th awaiting a reply from the King’s camp, ad
dressed the telegram,§ of which a copy is
enclosed, to the Viceroy of India.
t 9.—July 7th.
Ko answer having been received from the Shah up to the
evening of the 7th, by which time the
Minister for Foreign Affairs hoped to get
one, I instructed* Mr. Ougley to proceed that night to the royal
camp at Lar and deliver the letterf annexed
in copy to the Motemed-ul-Moolk, who is
the Chief Minister in attendance on His Majesty.
Mr. Ougley returned on the night of the 9th and brought me
# a satisfactory reply* on the part of the King,
of which a translation is subjoined. His
Majesty declares that his Government has never entertained the idea,
nor does it do so now, of taking even the smallest village of Afghan
istan, to say nothing of Lash and Jowain, and that they have no
thought beyond that of preserving their own territory and frontiers.
I received at the same time the reply of the Minister for Foreign
Affairs to my memorandum of the 29th June. His Excellency states,
by command of the King, that no order has ever been given to the
Emir of Kayen to go and take Lash and Jowain by force of arms ;
that the Persian Government has repeatedly given assurances that
it will not interfere with the affairs of Afghanistan, and that Her
Majesty’s Minister is authorized to renew those assurances.