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4. There is much to be said for the proposal to deal with the question of suzerainty first and that of the frontier afterwards, but this will undoubtedly protract the settle- ment of the latter question to a distant date; and if we at once adopt the frontier-line proposed in my last letter, I should be disposed to advise that both matters should be taken up with the Chinese simultaneously. The cession of all rights in Raskam and the Western Taghdumbash should prove a great inducement to make the definition of the frontier acceptable to China.
Inclosure 34 in No. 1.
Consul Macartney to Mr. Colvin.
Camp Yarkand, October 2, 1904. I HAVE the bonour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, dated the 2nd September last, calling for a report from ine on the following matters in connection with the frontier between Kashmir and New Dominion ;-
(a) The extent to which rights in the western extremity of the Taghdumbash Pamir have recently been exercised by the Kanjutis ;
(b.) Measures which it would be practicable to adopt for effectively asserting the rights of the Mir of Hunza in the country referred to, in the event of China acting inconsistently with such rights;
(c.) Measures for securing the observance of the frontier which it has been proposed should be treated as having been accepted by China.
2. In reply I beg to state as follows:-
3. With reference to (a). Before and since 1891, the year in which Junza was annexed by us, the Kanjutis have levied, yearly, a tax of numdahs and woollen ropes from the Wakhis on the Taghdninbash Pamir. It is believed that the Wakhis in the two valleys leading from the Kilik and the Mintika Passes and joining at Mintika Aghaz and thence in the combined valley (Taghdumbash) as far down as Dafdar (about 30 miles south of Tashkurghan) pay this tax. No doubt in former times those who lived to the north of this place, down to Tashkurghan, were also more or less subjected to this imposition. But I think the tax was forcibly levied chiefly in the country south of Dafdar. Dafdar may therefore be said to have been the limit up to which the Kanjutis used to exercise an effective influence. The tax is still collected; and the last time this right was exercised was in this year. The matter was reported to this office by our Sarikol newswriter in his diary in the following terms;--
'August 5, 1904.-Zarparast of Hunza, with nine men, arrived here to take the yearly tribute from the Taghdumbash."
4. With reference to (b) and (c). No doubt in the slave-raiding days, before we annexed Hunza and the Chinese established troops in Tashkurghan, the Mir of Hunza was well nigh the Ruler of the Taghdumbash. Recently, however, the situation has altered materially. The Chinese have informally acquiesced, on the one side, to the Russian occupation of the Pamirs in the Upper Osus basin, and, on the other, to our annexation of Hunza. But whilst resigning themselves to these political changes, they have conceived for themselves pretty decided notions as to what their new boundary is. For all intents and purposes, they have taken this to be the two watersheds, the one separating the Taghdumbash River from the Upper Oxus on the east, and the other separating the Taghdumbash and the Raskar Rivers from the tributaries of the Indus on the south. They claim, therefore, as theirs the two valleys, the Kara Chukur and the Mintika, which we wish to bave incorporated within our boundary; and I doubt if anything short of actual force would make them relinquish their claim. The Chinese are by nature tenacious about their frontier-line, and in recent years they have furnished several instances in which they have asserted themselves against us, to prevent any confusion as to our respective spheres. In 1891 or 1892, whilst shooting in the Kara Chukur Valley, the Earl of Dunmore and Major Roche built, at their camp at the foot of the Kilik Pass, a sort of shelter consisting, I believe, of a rough stone wall. This erection was removed, by orders of the Taotai of Kashgar, immediately after the gentlemen referred to left Kara Chukur. Then a few years later, in 1895, when the
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Anglo-Russian Pamir Boundary Commission was at work, Colonel Holdich crossed by the Paik Pass on to the Taghdumbash Pamir; and whilst travelling towards Tashkurghan he was abruptly brought to the halt by a party of Chinese soldiers headed by an officer, who, having got news at Tashkurghan of Colonel Holdich's movements, came to check his further progress. Then, again, there is the incident of the topographical pillars erected by Captain Deasy whilst surveying in the Taghdumbash country; the Chinese took care to have these effaced, lest they should be said to be boundary-marks.
5. These facts show that the Chinese are on the watch; and probably, in the present case, they will be found to he even more than usually so in view of the proximity of the Taghdumbash Pamir to Russian territory. They know fully well what hysterical shrieks for compensation will be raised the moment the Russians hear that the Chinese are bartering away to us a piece of land in which the Russians claim a reversionary interest as important as in the Taghdumbash Pamir.
6. Under these circumstances, I think it improbable that the Chinese will be easily induced to relinquish to us any territory, however small, on their side of the Mintika and of the Kilik Passes.
If the Kaujutis came to claim their numdahs and ropes, the Chinese would, no doubt, continue to humour them, out of deference, as they would probably say, to a long-standing custom, but they would never allow this claim to be magnified into a right of taxation, and much less into one of territorial jurisdiction; and I am persuaded that, were the Mir of Hunza to send his men to assert his rights by establishing an outpost, say, at Mintika Aghaz or at Dafdar, the Chinese would imme- diately resort to force to turn them out.
7. So much, then, for the Western Taghdumbash. Circumstances appear to be somewhat different in regard to the other tract, namely, about Darwaza, which we desire to secure on the northern side of the main watershed. No doubt, were the Chinese asked if Darwaza was within their territory, they would say yes, after they have discovered that it is situated on their side of the watershed. But we also have a good case. In the first place, Darwaza is within the actual limits of the territory of the Mir of Hunza, and secondly, the place is so inaccessible that, however much the Chinese might resent its inclusion by Kanjut, they would certainly not attempt to oust the Kanjutis from it. The thing, however, in this connection likely to give us most trouble is the cry which the Russians will raise: "The English have crossed the Hindoo Kush. Russia must seek a new adjustment of frontier with Kashgaria." I may incidentally mention that our boundary in this region is closely watched by the Russians here. Only three weeks ago, happening to be on a visit to Major Lastochkin, a Russian General Staff officer now on intelligence duty in Kashgar, I found him trying to draw me into a discussion with reference to the accuracy of a Russian map, whereon the Indian boundary was traced along the Raskam River.
8. Supposing that the policy of the Government is to get the whole frontier ques- tion, including the Chinese claim of suzerainty over Hunza, settled once for all, and that regardless of possible Russian counter-movements, then I would respectfully suggest the following line of action in our negotiations with China :-----
9. The matter of suzerainty should be treated first and separately from the general frontier question.
10. We have in our hand a pretty good card in the Hunza claims to Raskam; and it ought to be sufficient to win for us the release of that State from the shadowy rights of China over it. At this stage, however, no hint should be given of our intention to secure any tract of country on the Chinese side of the watershed. Taking up an aggrieved tone, we might explain to the Chinese Government that the Mir of Hunza was weary of carrying on negotiations over Raskam, negotiations which led to no result, and that, with our consent, he has abandoued his claims over that country; but that, on the other hand, he will henceforth discontinue the yearly exchange of presents with the authorities in the New Dominion.
11. I do not believe the Chinese would grieve very much over the loss of the Hunza tribute. It is to be hoped that without making any undue fuss they will give Hunza the requisite discharge.
12. Once having formally obtained this discharge, we might raise the frontier question. In doing this we might draw the Chinese Government's attention to the existence of Sir Claude MacDonald's despatch of the 14th March, 1899,* and might
* The late Huang Taotai of Kashgar informed me probably in 1899 that he and the then Titai had been ordered to report to the Tsung-li Yamen with reference to certain frontier proposals made by the British Minister in Peking, and that a report was accordingly submitted. I believe this matter was referred to in my diary. But as I am writing from memory, not having my files at hand for reference, I am unable to state the facts very accurately.
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