“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 inquired 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 Kabul, furnished with a letter to the Amir from the Emperor.
“M. de Giers at once replied that such an event was impossible. The Emperor was most unlikely to give any letter addressed to the Amir to any one. No such letter could be written without M. de Giers’ knowledge, and he could positively and solemnly assure me that no such letter had been written by his Imperial Majesty.
“M. de Giers further states that so anxious were the Emperor and himself to avoid all suspicion of Russian communication with Afghanistan, that strict orders had been sent to the Governor-General of Turkestan to desist from the transmission of letters of ceremony, or even of letters of recommendation, to the Amir in favour of travellers. In fact, all possible steps were taken to prevent intercourse between Russia and Afghanistan, which latter country was considered to be in England’s ‘orbit.’
“In reply to a suggestion of mine, M. de Giers stated that no such letter could have been written during the Moscow Coronation festivities, at which period the Emperor had been most guarded in all his dealings with the various Asiatic potentates there assembled.
“M. de Giers also promised to inform me at once whenever any intention existed of such an improbable event as the transmission of a letter from his Imperial Majesty to the Ruler of Afghanistan.”
In 1884, in view of inquiries made by the British Government as to the reported despatch of a Russian Agent to Maimana, within the frontiers of Afghanistan, M. de Giers communicated on April 1527 to the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg the following:
“The Imperial Ministry can, on the other hand, state that no agent has been sent to Maimana. According to the terms of the arrangement come to between the two Powers, Maimana is included in the country of the Amir of Afghanistan, and the Government of his Majesty the Emperor is resolved to scrupulously respect, as it has done in times past, all the engagements it contracted in virtue of the arrangement in question.”
In 1885 further disquieting reports having arisen with regard to the proceedings of the Russians on the Afghan frontier, the following Memorandum was communicated by the Russian Foreign Office to the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg:
“The Imperial Ministry for Foreign Affairs has taken note of the Memorandum which was transmitted by the English Ambassador on the 16th instant, and which contains the expression of the wish of her Majesty’s Government that the agitation raised in the two countries by the rumours about the preparations said to be in progress on both sides should cease.”
The same Memorandum states that, unless circumstances arise over which they have no control, which might bring about sudden changes, the two Governments are in a position which would allow them to arrive at an arrangement satisfactory and honourable for Russia, the Amir of Afghanistan, and England!