§ MR. OSBORNEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, When the British Government were first informed of the acquirement made by Russia of territory in the Valley of the Attrek, and if the British Minister at the Court of Persia notified to the Foreign Office that the Shah had addressed a Firman to the Emperor of Russia, by which the latter was enabled to acquire territory on the northern boundary of Persia?
§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDHer Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Teheran, in a despatch dated May 18, 1872, reported that an arrangement had, he understood, been made about two years ago between the Russian Mission and the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to the effect that in the quarter of Asterabad the River Attrek was to be the frontier line between Russia and Persia. The Persian Prime Minister professes to have been, until lately, ignorant of the transaction. The Minister for Foreign Affairs thinks that the arrangement will check Turcoman inroads, and restore tranquillity to Asterabad. The Persian Minister in this country on the 29th of January last denied, on the authority of the Grand Vizier by telegraph, the rumour of a secret Treaty between Russia and Persia. He further stated that there was no such firman as had been alleged, giving to the Russians possession of some territory on the Attrek. Indeed, the territory described did not belong to Persia. The Russian Ambassador, in reply to a question put by Lord Granville, stated on the 23rd of January that he was not aware of any Treaty between Russia and Persia ceding to the former a portion of Persian territory, and, indeed, was sure that it did not exist. The Report of Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires alluded to will be included in the Papers about to be presented, as well as other previous Papers bearing on the occupation by Russia of the countries on the east of the Caspian since 1868.