"مسألة الشرق الأوسط أو بعض المشكلات السياسية المتعلقة بدفاع الهند" [ظ‎‎٢‎٧‎٨] (٦١٦/٥٦١)

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APPENDICES
further understanding as to the position of the two countries
in Central Asia ; that he had thereupon suggested a renewal
of the agreement formerly made with Prince Gortchacow by
Lord Clarendon and me ; that to this I had replied that I
looked upon that agreement as still existing in full force, but
that it left certain matters undecided which it would be well
definitely to settle ; and that I had finished by proposing a
delimitation of the Persian frontier from Baba-Durmaz to a
point in the neighbourhood of the Heri-Rud.
He had now received the reply of his Government. They
acknowledged the continued validity of the agreement
formerly entered into by Prince Gortchacow, by which
Afghanistan was admitted to be beyond the sphere of
Russian influence. That agreement was, however, as I had
said, incomplete ; and they were ready to supplement it by a
settlement of the frontier of Afghanistan, from the point
where it had been left undefined as far as Sarakhs.
In 1883 the following correspondence took place :—
Earl Granville to Mr. J. G. Kennedy.
Foreign Office, October 2, 1883.
A REPORT has reached Her Majesty's Government of an
intended visit of a Russian to Cabul bearing a letter from the
Emperor of Russia to the Ameer.
Such a proceeding on the part of the Russian Government
would be inconsistent with the assurances which they have
given to Her Majesty's Government from time to time on the
subject of Afghanistan.
I have to instruct you to inquire as to the truth of this
report, and to inform me of the result by telegraph.
Mr. J. G. Kennedy to Earl Granville.
St. Petersburgh, October 3, 1883.
I HAVE the honour to state that on receipt to-day of
your Lordship's telegram of the 2nd instant I immediately
waited on M. de Giers at the Foreign Department, and in
quired of his Excellency whether there was any truth in a
report which had reached Her Majesty's Government that
a Russian intended to go to Cabul, furnished with a letter to
the Ameer from the Emperor.
M. de Giers at once replied that such an event was im-