(After compliments.)

“I have received your Excellency’s friendly letter, dated the 30th August 1897, and understood the contents.

“As regards the report which your Excellency had received to the effect that my subjects had openly collected together and, forming themselves into separate bands, with flags flying and drums beating, crossed the Kabul River and joined Mullah Hadda’s party; that after the fight at Shabkaddar they returned to their places carrying their dead and helping their wounded; and as to your Excellency asking me to order my local officers to prevent my subjects from crossing the frontier and joining Mullah Hadda with hostile intentions against the British Government, and even to appoint guards along the Kabul River and at other places, to prevent them from crossing, my dear friend, after your Excellency wrote to me, such a thing has not occurred, viz., that Afghan subjects openly collected in such bands and crossed the frontier with flags flying. The true state of affairs has been what I have communicated to your Excellency in my former letter, i.e., that Mullah Najm-ud-din, an inhabitant of Jarobi, having spread the net of his cunning, has made numerous people from the different Afghan tribes his disciples, and they obey his orders to the utmost extent. During these times, when he became the source of mischief and disturbances, he has sent letters in every direction, and invites all people to join him. I had secured one of his letters, which I sent for your Excellency’s perusal, and which your Excellency must have received some time ago.

“I have ordered the local officers to keep watch on Afghan subjects to the best of their ability, and prevent them from joining Mullah Hadda. Thus the inhabitants of Lamkan (Laughman) had collected a large number of people, numbering about 30,000 men, and prepared flags; but on the officers receiving my orders, they used their best endeavours and succeeded in dispersing them; and they all returned to their homes. No doubt the news-writers on the frontier must have communicated this report to your Excellency.

“No tribesmen from my territories can do such an act in an open manner. Some of them, however, have great faith in Mullah Hadda, and it is possible that they may have joined him during the night, travelling like thieves by unfrequented roads. How is it possible to keep watch on thieves during nights along such an extensive frontier?

“Your Excellency writes that guards should be appointed along the Kabul River and on other roads, so that no one might be allowed to cross over to the other side.

“My kind friend, such an arrangement could only be possible by posting about ten thousand soldiers on all the mountain tops and at all the fords in that district. Then they will be able to execute properly such an arrangement, otherwise how would it be possible to stop the people who are familiar with the country? If the well-known roads be guarded against them, they can, owing to their knowledge of the country, find paths, over mountains and through desert tracts, to cross the frontier. As far as possible, however, the local officials have been watching and will watch any open movements of the tribesmen.

“As regards the dead and the wounded whom your Excellency writes that the tribesmen carried away with them after the fight at Shabkaddar, I beg to state that, if they have brought back their dead secretly, they have already, according to their custom, buried them, and now no trace can be obtained of them. As to the wounded, if questions be asked, they explain that they are always engaged in tribal feuds with one another, and they often kill and wound one another, and that the wounded men have received their wounds in such tribal feuds; and, as the witnesses belong to the people concerned, it is difficult to prove anything contrary to what they allege.

“Your Excellency has kindly informed me that the disturbances which have broken out on the frontiers of India have been wholly unprovoked; that a force of troops was detailed to punish the tribesmen concerned in the attack upon Malakand and Chakdarra; that the force visited the Upper Swat Valley and received the submission of the tribesmen there; that the Afridis, who have had engagements for many years’ standing with the British Government, have been stirred to hostility; that the men who are responsible for this were Mullah Saiyid Akbar, Aka Khel, and Mir Bashir, Malikdin Khel; that they have burned some of the posts in the Khyber; that the road was undefended and closed to the passage of kafilas; that in the present state the carriage of valuable goods, and especially of warlike stores, must necessarily be for the time discontinued; and that the Afridis and other tribes, who have attacked British Government posts, would be dealt with in a manner to make clear the supremacy of the British Government.

“I have understood the facts of the circumstances which your Excellency has detailed, and I feel certain that the tribesmen, who have stirred up disturbances and who, without possessing any warlike materials and appliances, commenced hostilities against the Government, will be put to flight and dispersed.

“I saw some of these people, and asked them by way of advice why they were disobeying the illustrious British Government, and exposing themselves to slaughter and loss. They said that their proceedings were undertaken owing to the hopeless circumstances in which they were involved, and they gave the particulars as stated below, i.e., that during former years a firm promise was given, on behalf of the illustrious British Government, to the frontier tribesmen that they would always be exempted from the restrictions of Government laws, and would remain independent in their own country; that when they received such orders from the great Government, they lived with perfect assurance of mind, and never paid any taxes to any one; that subsequently the frontier British officials, disregarding the orders of the Government of India issued to them (tribesmen), began to make roads in their country, and subsequently asked them for revenue and inflicted fines, &c., upon them and generally treated them in the same way as the old inhabitants of India were treated.

“That the people inhabiting hilly tracts are generally poor and possess no property; that they have, therefore, exposed themselves to destruction, and they desire that the frontier officials should act in accordance with the promise which the Government of India had given them.

“I then asked them to produce any Government ‘Sanad’ in support of their statements, and they produced several printed notifications, declaring the independence of those tribesmen, issued by the Exalted Government of India.

“As I have heard the above-mentioned particulars from some of the said tribesmen, and as I saw the notifications also which they had in their possession, I have communicated the above as a piece of information to your Excellency. Apparently the complaints of these people are against the local frontier officers of India. It is possible that your Excellency may have received similar accounts.

“Further, as to the closure of the Khyber road owing to the instigations of the Mullahs and its remaining unprotected, your Excellency has informed me about the causes which have led to the discontinuance of the carriage through the pass of merchandise, and especially of valuable goods and warlike stores.

“I am aware that those independent tribesmen do plunder. Thus, some time ago Sartip Muhammad Hosein, stationed at Dakka, had entrusted to the charge of the escort party (Khyber) some packages of raisins and raw goat-skins, but some mischievous people carried off the above goods. There was another kafila carrying about six lakhs of rupees, belonging to merchants, which subsequently reached Dakka; but the money was called back from Dakka.

“I have, therefore, arranged that any articles which may be required to be despatched urgently should be sent by Karachi and Kandahar, until the Khyber road is made safe again.

“Your Excellency writes further about the story concocted by designing persons that the troops assembled at Peshawar were intended for an attack on Kabul, and that the Government of India will honourably adhere to its promise of supporting my Government. My dear friend, many men with interested motives and foolish prattle are to be found everywhere, and they say whatever comes to their silly thoughts. No importance has ever been attached to the foolish statements of such persons who only look to the surface, and who seek to create mischief.

“Peshawar is a country which is in the possession of the British Government, who are free to adopt any arrangements and measures which they may like in it. In this way both our Governments have authority to adopt measures which they consider it necessary to take in their own territories. Further, up to the present, no such thing has occurred as should lead to the entertainment of such unnecessary thoughts. Supposing such a thing were to occur, the first step would be to ask for the cause of it from the side where it should occur.

“If the matter were such as to require an exchange of correspondence, correspondence would no doubt take place, so that the cause of it might come to light. Otherwise, why should ear be given to the foolish talk of interested persons?

“In the same way that your Excellency has written, so long as the British Government retain sentiments of good friendship and union in regard to friendship and alliance with the God-granted Government, please God, I will, with full confidence, adhere to the friendship of the illustrious British Government in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

“As regards the camels which the Waziri thieves stole from the troops in Dawar, and brought to Khost where they sold them to the inhabitants, I have to state that Sirdar Sherindil Khan has ordered the owners of the camels to keep them safe. If your Excellency considers it necessary that the camels should be taken back from them, then, as the inhabitants of Khost have bought the camels from the Waziri thieves, the price current in the country should be given to them and the camels taken back, so that the people of Khost may not suffer loss.”

(After compliments.)

“I have already, in my letter to your Highness of the 30th August, acknowledged your Highness’s letter of the 18th Rabi-ul-Awal, 1315 H., corresponding to the 18th August 1897, to the Commissioner of Peshawar, in which your Highness has denied any complicity with the disturbances on the frontier of India. I have now to acknowledge the receipt of your Highness’s further friendly letter on the same subject, dated the 19th Rabi-ul-Awal, 1315 H., corresponding to the 19th August 1897, which was sent by way of Quetta in Baluchistan.

“With this letter, your Highness has sent me a copy of the proclamation issued by the Mullah of Adda to the people of Ningrahar. I thank your Highness for taking so much trouble to send me this information. I had already seen this proclamation, and I was informed that the person from whom my copy was obtained had himself received the Mullah’s proclamation from your Highness’s Sartip of Dakka.

“I cordially agree with what your Highness writes that ‘the false utterances and fabricated reports of self-interested persons’ should be investigated in a friendly manner, and with a view to forestalling any such report which might be made to your Highness, I write this letter to inform you that my troops are about to enter the Mohmand country in order to search out the Mullah of Adda and his lashkar, and to disperse and destroy them. In the letter written by your Highness on the 18th Rabi-ul-Awal to the commissioner of Peshawar, your Highness has stated that Mullah Najm-ud-din ‘has now taken up his abode in a country which is independent of Kabul and in the neighbourhood of Peshawar.’

“Your Highness has also written, ‘what more can I add in this matter to the foregoing arguments, having regard to the proximity to you of these Mullahs who are close to your country and have now, according to the boundary demarcation, fallen within the limits of the British Government.’

“It is, no doubt, true that the Mullah has committed hostile acts within the territory which it has been agreed falls within the limits of the British Government, and if my troops meet him there his punishment will be speedily accomplished. But I am informed that the Mullah has established his abode in the village of Jarobi, and though, as your Highness is aware, the country is wild and unsurveyed, and no permanent boundary pillars have been erected, it is understood that this village probably lies within the territory which, according to the arrangement proposed in my letter of the 12th November 1896, would fall within the limits of Afghanistan. Your Highness will agree with me that this man, who has given so much trouble to your Highness’s Government as well as to the British Government, must not escape the punishment for his misdeeds, and if the Mullah retires before my troops to Jarobi, or to any place similarly situated, my troops will be authorised to follow him up and destroy him and his habitation. I do not wish your Highness to regard any such action on the part of my troops as indicating an intention to vary or depart from what we have agreed upon as the dividing-line in the Mohmand country. I have no intention that my troops should stay in that country, and they will certainly not go further into it than is necessary in order to carry out the object with which they are being despatched. On the other hand, if the Mullah should take flight across the mountains into the Kunar Valley, my troops have orders not to follow him beyond the watershed, but I shall look to your Highness to give orders to your officers to deal with him as he deserves, and to restrain him from exciting the foolish tribesmen to further acts of hostility.

“I have always endeavoured in my correspondence with your Highness to write frankly and openly so that misunderstandings may be avoided. Your Highness will, I hope, recognise that this is my object on this occasion.”

(After compliments.)

“I beg to inform your Excellency that I have received your friendly letter of the 6th instant. The Mullah will not come to this country of mine, because he has acted wrongly, and, should he still come, I will expel him from my country, so that he may go towards Arabia, because he is a very wicked person. Your Excellency’s troops, however, should not advance too far (lit. should not make a great advance), lest some confusion arise within the limits of Kunar or among the troops which are in Kunar. The Mullah is a great knave. He should not be allowed to (lit. let it not be that he might) excite the people and troops of Ningrahar. Precaution is necessary, so that the Army of the Sublime Government may not raise commotion and tumult in the neighbourhood, and the Mullah excite the people and be the source of disturbances.

“As regards the remaining portion of the undemarcated boundary of that district, your Excellency states that Jarobi is possibly within Afghan limits. As up to this time no decision has been come to in regard to those places, it will, undoubtedly, be as your Excellency has written.”

(After compliments.)

“Your Highness has probably already heard of the result of the advance of my troops against the Adda Mullah, which in my letter of the 6th September 1897, corresponding to the 8th Rabi-us-Sani, 1315 H., I told your Highness was about to be undertaken. The Mullah’s gathering has been dispersed: my troops followed him to his home at Jarobi, but he had already fled across the boundary into your Highness’s territory, and, in accordance with my promise, my troops did not pursue him further. It is now for your Highness to fulfil the part which your Highness in your letter of the 12th September 1897, announced the intention of taking, in the event of the Mullah entering Afghanistan. I look to your Highness to prevent him from concocting further mischief from Afghan territory.

“As an instance of the mischief which the Adda Mullah has been guilty of, I enclose in original a letter, dated the 2nd September 1897, from Najm-ud-din to the Mian Guls of Swat. The Mullah writes: ‘I had written to his Highness the Amir, Zia-ul-millat-wad-din, on the subject of jehad. His Highness replied that we should wait: that his Highness would consult all the military officers, Khans and Maliks of his Highness’s territory and then write again in reply, telling me the arrangements and preparations for jehad.’

“Further on, he adds: ‘Please God, his Highness the Amir will make arrangements for the jehad and issue a notification to that effect.’

“In this way, Najm-ud-din has tried to make mischief between your Highness and the Government of India, and it is not to be wondered at if, under such circumstances, people believe that they will not incur your Highness’s displeasure by acting in a hostile manner towards the British Government.

“In my letter of the 30th August 1897, equivalent to the 1st Rabi-us-Sani, 1315 H., I informed your Highness of the misdeeds of the Afridis, and of my intention to deal with them in a manner to make clear the supremacy of the British Government.

“I now have the honour to inform your Highness that a punitive force under the command of General Sir William Lockhart, K.C.B., K.C.S.I., will shortly start to march through the country of the Orakzais and Afridis, and to compel both tribes to submit to such terms as I decide to impose upon them.

“I have received a letter from my Agent at Kabul, enclosing copy of one sent to him by your Highness on the 25th Rabi-us-Sani, 1315 H., corresponding to the 23rd September 1897. From this letter I learn that your Highness has refused to receive or encourage, and has turned back, the Afridis whose representatives were on their way to Kabul. I thank your Highness for this friendly act, which is exactly in accordance with what I had proposed to ask your Highness to do.

“It is probable that, when the British troops advance, the tribesmen will follow the example of the Adda Mullah’s lashkar, and take flight into Afghan territory. I have, indeed, been informed that they are already sending their women and property into Ningrahar.

“Your Highness is aware that in December 1895 and in May last I caused the Kaffir refugees to be disarmed, and took measures to prevent their causing your Highness annoyance.

“I now ask your Highness to take similar action in regard to the Orakzais and Afridis, by ordering your local officers to disarm those who enter your limits and to prevent them from making Afghan territory a base for attacks upon my forces.”

(After compliments.)

“I have received your Excellency’s friendly letter, dated the 7th October 1897, enclosing a letter from Mullah Najm-ud-din, the Fakir of Hadda, to the Mian Guls, which I have perused. I have also understood the contents of your Excellency’s letter.

“As to the escape of Mullah Hadda from his house before the British troops reached it, and as to my promise that I would turn him out from this side of the boundary if he should enter my territory, I have now to inform your Excellency that I have issued orders to search for the said Mullah by day and night in view to arrest him. The news-reporters appointed for the purpose report that the Mullah has concealed himself and is secretly moving about. I have also ordered that his whereabouts should be found out and a report made. Please God, the said Mullah’s mischief will be stopped, if he be within the limits of my territory; but if this mischievous man move about in tracts which have not been divided yet between the British and Afghan Governments, the British officials should instruct the Maliks of such tracts to make arrangements about the said mischievous man. This man does not pass a single night at one place. He is in motion like mercury: during night he is at one place, and during day at another. Such are the reports made by news-reporters. Notwithstanding this, I am engaged in endeavouring to arrest him. Your Excellency may rest assured that, if I succeed in arresting him, I will turn him out from my territory.

“I have perused the letter which Mullah Najm-ud-din wrote to the Mian Guls of Swat, and which your Excellency sent to me. I write to say that whatever the Mullah has written, he has done so with the object of deceiving the tribesmen. His object is to excite people to rebel. Some years ago he became hostile towards me, and excited all his disciples to rise against me, and made them fight with my troops. Now in this way he is making the distant people fight with the British Government. He is mischievous; he says what is advisable and beneficial in his own interests. If I had given him the said promise, he was not distant from my country, and at the outside my troops at Jelalabad were only two stages away from his residence. Your Excellency can see from the date of his letter what a lie he has told. Liars tell lies, but wise persons should distinguish (between truth and falsehood). I have known these Mullahs well for years. They are like the priests of the time of Peter the Great, who created great mischief in Russia. These Mullahs pretend before the people that Paradise and Hell are within their power and authority.

“I have understood what your Excellency kindly wrote for my information about sending British troops for the chastisement of the Orakzais and Afridis. I have also learnt about the decision which the high officials of the British Government have come to in regard to punishing the said tribesmen and bringing them to obedience.

“I have further understood what your Excellency wrote about the report which Maulavi Ghafur Khan made to your Excellency regarding the arrival of the Afridi jirga at Jelalabad, and my sending them back to their country from that place; and your Excellency expressing thanks to me for my action. As the people are seeking their own interests, their statements cannot be relied upon.

“Your Excellency writes that, if at the time of the British troops advancing against the Orakzais and Afridis these tribesmen, being obliged to flee, should enter my territory, they should be disarmed and prevented from making any attack on British territory. My dear friend, I will not, please God, to the best of my power, allow my subjects to join the tribesmen who have rebelled, in view to help them in their fights. But when they bring their families to the houses of their own relatives I will take no notice of the circumstance, because these people are mutually related to one another. They have given thousands of their daughters in marriage to one another. If I were to prohibit this mutual intercourse and prevent them from bringing their families to Jelalabad, the tribesmen would become hostile to me, in the same way that they have become hostile to the British Government. Their hostility to the British Government cannot be of much account, because the British Government is a Great Government. They have appointed troops for their punishment, composed of English soldiers, Sikhs, and Hindus. But all my troops consist of these tribesmen. They will never agree to the destruction of their own kith and kin; and they will again, under the orders of the mischievous Mullahs, issue improper edicts against me.

“It would be better if peace be made between the Tirah people, Afridis and Orakzais, and the British Government. But if not, and fight ensues, and these tribesmen should flee and come to the district of Ningrahar, your Excellency may rest assured that they will not be able any more to attack or interfere with your Excellency’s country; and until they have consented to become subjects of the illustrious British Government, I will never allow them to make any interference with British territory. But if they continue to remain in their own mountains, they will be beyond my power and control. If they come to my country, like Umra Khan, they will not behave improperly, and I will not allow them to do so.

(After compliments.)

His Majesty Siraj-ul-millat-wa-ud-din Amir Habib Ulla Khan, Independent King of the State of Afghanistan and its dependencies, on the one part, and the Honourable Mr. Louis William Dane, C.S.I., Foreign Secretary of the Mighty Government of India and Representative of the Exalted British Government, on the other part.

His said Majesty does hereby agree to this, that in the principles and in the matters of subsidiary importance of the Treaty regarding internal and external affairs, and of the engagements which his Highness, my late father, that is, Kia-ul-millat-wa-ud-din, who has found mercy, may God enlighten his tomb! concluded and acted upon with the Exalted British Government, I also have acted, am acting, and will act upon the same agreement and compact, and I will not contravene them in any dealing or in any promise.

The said Honourable Mr. Louis William Dane does hereby agree to this, that as to the very agreement and engagement which the Exalted British Government concluded and acted upon with the noble father of his Majesty Siraj-ul-millat-wa-ud-din, that is, his Highness Zia-ul-millat-wa-ud-din, who has found mercy, regarding internal and external affairs and matters of principle or of subsidiary importance, I confirm them and write that they (the British Government) will not act contrary to those agreements and engagements in any way or at any time.

Made on Tuesday, the fourteenth day of Muharram-ul-haram of the year thirteen hundred and twenty-three Hijri, corresponding to the twenty-first day of March of the year nineteen hundred and five A.D.

Amir Habib Ulla.
Louis W. Dane.

The Russian newspapers have given an account of the last military operations executed by a detachment of our troops, in the regions of Central Asia, with remarkable success and important results. It was to be foreseen that these events would the more attract the attention of the foreign public that their scene was laid in scarcely known countries.

Our august Master has commanded me to state to you briefly, but with clearness and precision, the position in which we find ourselves in Central Asia, the interests which inspire us in those countries, and the end which we have in view.

The position of Russia in Central Asia is that of all civilised States which are brought into contact with half-savage, nomad populations, possessing no fixed social organisation.

In such cases it always happens that the more civilised State is forced, in the interest of the security of its frontier and its commercial relations, to exercise a certain ascendency over those whom their turbulent and unsettled character make most undesirable neighbours.

First, there are raids and acts of pillage to be put down. To put a stop to them, the tribes on the frontier have to be reduced to a state of more or less perfect submission. This result once attained, these tribes take to more peaceful habits, but are in their turn exposed to the attacks of the more distant tribes.

The State is bound to defend them against these depredations, and to punish those who commit them. Hence the necessity of distant, costly, and periodically recurring expeditions against an enemy whom his social organisation makes it impossible to seize. If, the robbers once punished, the expedition is withdrawn, the lesson is soon forgotten; its withdrawal is put down to weakness. It is a peculiarity of Asiatics to respect nothing but visible and palpable force: the moral force of reason and of the interests of civilisation has as yet no hold upon them. The work has then always to be done over again from the beginning.

In order to put a stop to this state of permanent disorder, fortified posts are established in the midst of these hostile tribes, and an influence is brought to bear upon them which reduces them by degrees to a state of more or less forced submission. But soon beyond this second line other still more distant tribes come in their turn to threaten the same dangers and necessitate the same measures of repression. The State thus finds itself forced to choose one of two alternatives, either to give up this endless labour and to abandon its frontier to perpetual disturbance, rendering all prosperity, all security, all civilisation an impossibility, or, on the other hand, to plunge deeper and deeper into barbarous countries, where the difficulties and expenses increase with every step in advance.

Such has been the fate of every country which has found itself in a similar position. The United States in America, France in Algeria, Holland in her colonies, England in India—all have been irresistibly forced, less by ambition than by imperious necessity, into this onward march, where the greatest difficulty is to know when to stop.

Such, too, have been the reasons which have led the Imperial Government to take up at first a position resting on one side on the Syr Daria, on the other on the Lake Issik-Kul, and to strengthen these two lines by advanced forts, which, little by little, have crept on into the heart of those distant regions, without, however, succeeding in establishing on the other side of our frontiers that tranquillity which is indispensable for their security.

The explanation of this unsettled state of things is to be found, first, in the fact that, between the extreme points of this double line, there is an immense unoccupied space, where all attempts at colonisation or caravan trade are paralysed by the inroads of the robber-tribes; and, in the second place, in the perpetual fluctuations of the political condition of those countries, where Turkestan and Khokand, sometimes united, sometimes at variance, always at war, either with one another or with Bokhara, presented no chance of settled relations or of any regular transactions whatever.

The Imperial Government thus found itself, in spite of all its efforts, in the dilemma we have above alluded to, that is to say, compelled either to permit the continuance of a state of permanent disorder, paralysing to all security and progress, or to condemn itself to costly and distant expeditions, leading to no practical result, and with the work always to be done anew; or, lastly, to enter upon the undefined path of conquest and annexation which has given to England the empire of India, by attempting the subjugation by armed force, one after another, of the small independent states whose habits of pillage and turbulence and whose perpetual revolts leave their neighbours neither peace nor repose.

Neither of these alternative courses was in accordance with the object of our august Master’s policy, which consists, not in extending beyond all reasonable bounds the regions under his sceptre, but in giving a solid basis to his rule, in guaranteeing their security, and in developing their social organisation, their commerce, their wellbeing, and their civilisation.

Our task was, therefore, to discover a system adapted to the attainment of this threefold object.

The following principles have, in consequence, been laid down:

To attain this end a system had to be established which should depend not only on reason, which may be elastic, but on geographical and political conditions, which are fixed and permanent.

This system was suggested to us by a very simple fact, the result of long experience, namely, that the nomad tribes, which can neither be seized nor punished, nor effectually kept in order, are our most inconvenient neighbours; while, on the other hand, agricultural and commercial populations attached to the soil, and possessing a more advanced social organisation, offer us every chance of gaining neighbours with whom there is a possibility of entering into relations.

Consequently, our frontier line ought to swallow up the former and stop short at the limit of the latter.

These three principles supply a clear, natural, and logical explanation of our last military operations in Central Asia. In fact our original frontier line, extending along the Syr-Daria to Fort Perovski on one side, and on the other to the Lake Issik-Kul, had the drawback of being almost on the verge of the desert. It was broken by a wide gap between the two extreme points; it did not offer sufficient resources to our troops, and left unsettled tribes over the border with which any settled arrangement became impossible.

In spite of our unwillingness to extend our frontier, these motives had been powerful enough to induce the Imperial Government to establish this line between Lake Issik-Kul and the Syr-Daria by fortifying the town of Chimkent, lately occupied by us. By the adoption of this line we obtain a double result. In the first place, the country it takes in is fertile, well wooded, and watered by numerous watercourses; it is partly inhabited by various Kirghiz tribes, which have already accepted our rule; it consequently offers favourable conditions for colonisation and the supply of provisions to our garrisons. In the second place, it puts us in the immediate neighbourhood of the agricultural and commercial populations of Khokand. We find ourselves in presence of a more solid and compact, less unsettled, and better organised social state; fixing for us with geographical precision the limit up to which we are bound to advance, and at which we must halt; because, while, on the one hand, any further extension of our rule, meeting, as it would, no longer with unstable communities, such as the nomad tribes, but with more regularly constituted states, would entail considerable exertions, and would draw us on from annexation to annexation with unforeseen complications. On the other, with such states for our future neighbours, their backward civilisation and the instability of their political condition do not shut us out from the hope that the day may come when regular relations may, to the advantage of both parties, take the place of the permanent troubles which have up to the present moment paralysed all progress in those countries.

Such, Sir, are the interests which inspire the policy of our august Master in Central Asia; such is the object, by his Imperial Majesty’s orders, of the action of his Cabinet.

You are requested to take these arguments as your guide in any explanations you may give to the Government to which you are accredited, in case questions are asked or you may see credence given to erroneous ideas as to our action in these distant parts.

It is needless for me to lay stress upon the interest, which Russia evidently has, not to increase her territory, and, above all, to avoid raising complications on her frontiers which can but delay and paralyse her domestic development.

The programme which I have just traced is in accordance with these views.

Very frequently of late years the civilisation of these countries, which are her neighbours on the continent of Asia, has been assigned to Russia as her special mission.

No agent has been found more apt for the progress of civilisation than commercial relations. Their development requires everywhere order and stability; but in Asia it demands a complete transformation of the habits of the people. The first thing to be taught to the populations of Asia is that they will gain more in favouring and protecting the caravan trade than in robbing it. These elementary ideas can only be accepted by the public where one exists; that is to say, where there is some organised form of society and a government to direct and represent it.

We are accomplishing the first part of our task in carrying our frontier to the limit where the indispensable conditions are to be found.

The second we shall accomplish in making every effort henceforward to prove to our neighbouring states, by a system of firmness in the repression of their misdeeds, combined with moderation and justice in the use of our strength, and respect for their independence, that Russia is not their enemy, that she entertains towards them no ideas of conquest, and that peaceful and commercial relations with her are more profitable than disorder, pillage, reprisals, and a permanent state of war.

The Imperial Cabinet, in assuming this task, takes as its guide the interests of Russia. But it believes that, at the same time, it is promoting the interests of humanity and civilisation. It has a right to expect that the line of conduct it pursues and the principles which guide it will meet with a just and candid appreciation.

(Signed) Gortchakow.

(1) The frontier between the dominions of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias and his Highness the Amir of Bokhara remains unchanged.

The Khivan territory on the right bank of the Amu Daria having been incorporated in the Russian Empire, the former frontier between Khiva and Bokhara, from the oasis of Khelata to Gugertli, is abolished. The territory between the former Bokharo-Khivan frontier on the right bank of the Amu Daria from Gugertli to Meschekli, and from Meschekli to the point of junction of the former Bokharo-Khivan frontier with the frontier of the Russian Empire, is incorporated in the dominions of the Amir of Bokhara.

(2) The right bank of the Amu Daria being severed from the Khanate of Khiva, the caravan routes leading north from Bokhara into the Russian dominions traverse exclusively the territories of Bokhara and Russia. The Governments of Russia and Bokhara, each within its own territory, shall watch over the safety of these caravan routes and of the trade thereupon.

(3) Russian steamers, and other Russian vessels, whether belonging to the Government or to private individuals, shall have the right of free navigation on that portion of the Amu Daria which belongs to the Amir of Bokhara.

(4) The Russians shall have the right to establish piers and warehouses in such places upon the Bokharan banks of the Amu Daria as may be judged necessary and convenient for that purpose. The Bokharan Government shall be responsible for the safety of these erections. The final and definite selection of localities shall rest with the supreme Russian authorities in Central Asia.

(5) All the towns and villages of the Khanate of Bokhara shall be open to Russian trade. Russian traders and caravans shall have free passage throughout the Khanate, and shall enjoy the special protection of the local authorities. The Bokharan Government shall be responsible for the safety of Russian caravans on Bokharan territory.

(6) All merchandise belonging to Russian traders, whether imported from Russia to Bokhara or exported from Bokhara to Russia, shall be subject to an ad valorem duty of 2½ per cent., in the same manner as an ad valorem duty of ⅟40 is charged in the Russian province of Turkestan. No other tax, duty, or impost whatsoever shall be imposed thereupon.

(7) Russian traders shall have the right to transport their merchandise through Bokhara free of transit dues.

(8) Russian traders shall have the right to establish caravanserais for the storage of merchandise in all Bokharan towns. The same right is accorded to Bokharan traders in the towns of the Russian province of Turkestan.

(9) Russian traders shall have the right to keep commercial agents in all the towns of Bokhara, in order to watch over the progress of trade and the levying of duties, and to enter into communications with the local authorities thereupon. The same right is accorded to Bokharan traders in the towns of the Russian province of Turkestan.

(10) All commercial engagements between Russians and Bokharans shall be held sacred, and shall be faithfully carried out by both parties. The Bokharan Government shall undertake to keep watch over the honest fulfilment of all such engagements, and over the fair and honourable conduct of commercial affairs in general.

(11) Russian subjects shall have the right, in common with the subjects of Bokhara, to carry on all branches of industry and handicraft on Bokharan territory that are sanctioned by the law of Sharigat. Bokharan subjects shall have a similar right to practise all such occupations on Russian territory as are sanctioned by the law of Russia.

(12) Russian subjects shall have the right to acquire gardens, cultivate lands, and own every species of real property in the Khanate. Such property shall be subject to the same land tax as Bokharan property. The same right shall be enjoyed by Bokharan subjects in the whole territory of the Russian Empire.

(13) Russian subjects shall have the right to enter Bokharan territory when furnished with permits, signed by the Russian authorities. They shall have the right of free passage throughout the Khanate, and shall enjoy the special protection of the Bokharan authorities.

(14) The Bokharan Government shall not in any case admit on to Bokharan territory any foreigners, of whatever nationality, arriving from Russian territory, unless they be furnished with special permits signed by the Russian authorities. If a criminal, being a Russian subject, takes refuge on Bokharan territory, he shall be arrested by the Bokharan authorities and delivered over to the nearest Russian authorities.

(15) In order to maintain direct and uninterrupted relations with the supreme Russian authorities in Central Asia, the Amir of Bokhara shall appoint one of his intimate counsellors to be his resident envoy and plenipotentiary at Tashkent. Such envoy shall reside at Tashkent in a house belonging to the Amir and at the expense of the latter.

(16) The Russian Government shall in like manner have the right to appoint a permanent representative at Bokhara, attached to the person of his Highness the Amir. He shall reside in a house belonging to the Russian Government and at the expense of the latter.

(17) In conformity with the desire of the Emperor of All the Russias, and in order to enhance the glory of his Imperial Majesty, his Highness the Amir Seid Mozaffur has determined as follows: The traffic in human beings, being contrary to the law which commands man to love his neighbour, is abolished for ever in the territory of Bokhara. In accordance with this resolve, the strictest injunctions shall immediately be given by the Amir to all his Begs to enforce the new law and special orders shall be sent to all the frontier towns of Bokhara to which slaves are brought for sale from neighbouring countries, that should any such slave be brought thither, they shall be taken from their owners and shall be set at liberty without loss of time.

(18) His Highness the Amir Seid Mozaffur, being sincerely desirous of strengthening and developing the amicable relations which have subsisted for five years to the benefit of Bokhara, approves and accepts for his guidance the above seventeen articles composing a treaty of friendship between Russia and Bokhara. This treaty shall consist of two copies, each copy being written in the two languages, in the Russian and in the Turki language.

In token of the confirmation of this treaty and of its acceptance for the guidance of himself and of his successors, the Amir Seid Mozaffur has affixed thereto his seal. Done at Shaar on the 10th day of October 1873, being the 19th day of the month Shayban of the year 1290.

Tashkent, June 1878.

To the Amir of the Whole of Afghanistan, Shir Ali Khan.

“Be it known to you that our relations with the British Government are of great importance to Afghanistan and its dependencies. As I am unable to see you, I have deputed my trustworthy (official) General Stolietoff to you. The General is an old friend of mine, and during the late Russo-Turkish war earned the favour of the Emperor by his spirit and bravery. He has become well known to the Emperor. This trustworthy person will communicate to you what he thinks best. I hope you will pay attention to what he says, and repose as much confidence in his words as if they were my own; and that you will give your answer in this matter through him. In the meantime, be it known to you that if a friendly treaty will be of benefit to us, it will be of far greater benefit to yourself.”