Granville to Arthur Loftus, January 24, 1873
Earl Granville to Lord A. Loftus.
F.
No. 4.]
My Lord: Her Majesty’s government have attentively considered the statements and arguments contained in Prince Gortchacow’s dispatch of the 7/19th December, and the papers that accompanied it, which were communicated to me by the Russian embassador on the 11/25th December, and to your excellency by Prince Gortchacow on the 29th of that month.
Her Majesty’s government gladly recognize in the frank and friendly terms of that dispatch the same spirit of friendliness as that in which, by my dispatch of the 17th of October, I desired to convey through your excellency to the Russian government the views of that of Her Majesty in regard of the line of boundary claimed by Shere Ali, the ruler of Cabul, for his possessions of Afghanistan.
Her Majesty’s government see with much satisfaction that, as regards the principal part of that line, the imperial government is willing to acquiesce in the claim of Shere Ali, and they rely on the friendly feelings of the Emperor when they lay before him, as I now instruct your excellency to do, a renewed statement of the grounds on which they consider that Shere Ali’s claim to the remainder of the line of boundary, referred to in my dispatch of the 17th of October, to be well founded.
The objections stated in Prince Gortchacow’s dispatch apply to that part of Shere Ali’s claims which would comprise the province of Badakshan, with its dependent district of Wakhan, within the Afghan state. The imperial government contend that the province of Badakshan, with its dependency, not having been formally incorporated into the territories of Shere Ali, is not legitimately any portion of the Afghan state.
To this Her Majesty’s government reply that the Ameer of Cabul, having attained by conquest the sovereignty over Badakshan, and having received in the most formal manner the submission of the chiefs and people of that province, had the right to impose upon it such a form of government as he might think best adapted to the position of affairs at that time. In the exercise of this right he appointed a local governor, and he consented, experimentally, to receive a fixed portion of the revenues of the country, instead of taking upon himself its general financial and other administration. But the Ameer expressly reserved to himself the right of reconsidering this arrangement, which was, in the first instance, made only for one year, of at at any time subjecting Badakshan to the direct government of Cabul, and of amalgamating the revenues thereof with the general revenue of the Afghan state. Her Majesty’s government cannot perceive anything in the circumstances calculated to weaken the claims of Shere Ali to the absolute sovereignty of Badakshan. The conquest and submission of the province was complete; and it cannot reasonably be urged that any experimental form of administration which the Ameer, with the acknowledged right of sovereignty, might think fit to impose on Badakshan, could possibly disconnect the province from the general territories south of the Oxus, the sovereignty of which the Russian government has, without hesitation, recognized to be vested in the Ameer of Cabul.
Her Majesty’s government have not failed to notice in portions of the statements of the Russian government, to which I am now replying, that its objection to admitting Badakshan and Wakhan to be under the sovereignty of Shere Ali, is rested in part on an expressed apprehension lest their incorporation with the remainder of Afghanistan should tend to disturb the peace of Central Asia, and specifically should operate as an encouragement to the Ameer to extend his possessions at the expense of the neighboring countries. I alluded, in my dispatch of the 17th of October, to the success which had attended the recommendations made to the Ameer by the Indian government, to adopt the policy which had produced the most beneficial results, in the establishment of peace in countries where it had long been unknown; and Her Majesty’s government see no reason to suppose that similar results would not follow on the like recommendations. Her Majesty’s government will not fail to impress upon the Ameer, in the strongest terms, the advantages which are given to him in the recognition by Great Britain and Russia of the boundaries which he claims, and of the consequent obligation on him to abstain from any aggression on his part, and Her Majesty’s government will continue to exercise their influence in the same direction. Her Majesty’s government cannot, however, but feel that if Badakshan and Wakhan, which they consider the Ameer justly to deem to be part of his territories, be assumed by Russia or England, or by one or either of them, to be wholly independent of his authority, the Ameer might be tempted to assert his claims by arms; that perhaps in that case Bokhara might seek an opportunity of acquiring districts too weak of themselves to resist the Afghan state; and that thus the peace of Central Asia would be disturbed, and occasion given for questions between Great Britian and Russia which it is on every account so desirable to avoid, and which Her Majesty’s government feel sure would be as distasteful to the imperial government as to themselves. Her Majesty’s government therefore hope that the imperial government, weighing these considerations dispassionately, will concur in the recognition which they have made of Shere Ali’s rights, as stated in my dispatch of October, and by so doing put an end to the wild speculations so calculated to distract the minds of Asiatic races, that there is some marked disagreement between England and Russia, on Which they may build hopes of carrying out their border feuds, for purposes of self aggrandizement.
Her Majesty’s government congratulate themselves on the prospect of a definite settlement, as between the two governments, of the question of the boundaries of Afghanistan, the details of which have been so long in discussion.
Your excellency will read and give a copy of this dispatch to Prince Gortchacow.
I am, &c.,