Settlement of the Opposing Claims of Persia and Afghanistan to Seistan [‎440r] (27/54)

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Enclosure No- 8.
No. lo6, dated Gulahek, near Teheran^ Persia, the 9th August 1871.
From— Major-Geneeal F. J. Goldsmid, c. b., on Special Mission.
To—The Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Dept.
In continuation of my letter No. 126 of the 13th ultimo and
- And telegrams. telegram of the 2.7th idem, I have the
^ , Honor to submit copies of correspondence*
Majest 7 8 Legation and the Mission in my charge from
the 19th ultimo to the present date, on the question of arbitration of
frontier m Seistan.
. briefly stating the case, as it appears to myself, I add an
opinion on the better course to follow, in the belief that His Excel
lency the Viceroy would wish the exercise of individual judgment
and the expression of individual experience.
3. There are two ways of treating the subject with a view to
practical issue :
Is/. To accept the Persian Minister’s memorandum of the 24th
July 1870, either by despatching this coming autumn
the British Commissioner and engineer officer to
Seistan, with Persian officials of the same character, to
make all necessary enquiries and surveys, or to send an
engineer officer competent to do the whole work re
quired. In either case, as the discussion and settle
ment would be at Teheran, and Afghan Commissioner
should accompany the Persian and English officers on
their return to that capital, I cannot conceive that
there would be any serious difficulty in obtaining the
consent of the Shah to this modification, and, in other
respects, the arrangement is that proposed by the
Persian Government.
2nd ,—To adhere to the principle of arbitration on the spot by
a British Commissioner, on the understanding that, while
due weight will be given to Lord Russell’s despatch of
November 1863, and any conquests made thereafter
and now constituting present possession, the arbitrator
be not debarred from considering restitution of lands so
conquered any more than the further claims of Persia
to additional territory. I do not believe it an easy
matter to render this proposal, pur et simple, at once
acceptable to the Shah’s Government, in the face of the
demurring memorandum so pertinaceously quoted.
But should the ensuing year prove one of steady pro
gress and consolidation in Afghanistan, or should there
be no palpable signs of weakness in that quarter, it
appears to me highly probable that Persia might accept
the arbitration of England if available a year or two
• hence, the frontier question remaining open and the
status undisturbed in the meanwhile.