'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎594] (685/748)

594
PEKSIA
mind as to the share whicli she will require in the division of the
spoils. It would be safe to assert that no Russian statesman or
officer of the General Staff would pen a report upon Eussian policy
towards Persia and the future of that country that did not involve
as a major premise the Russian annexation of the provinces of
Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazanderan, and Khorasan—in other words, of
the whole of North Persia, from west to east. I do not doubt
that the steps to be taken, in the event of war, disorder, or some
equally favourable chance, for the realisation of these ambitions
have been authoritatively discussed and approved. Russia covets
the splendid province of Azerbaijan for its 40,000 square miles of
rich and varied country, its stalwart Turkish peasantry, the
military aptitudes of its population, and its great commercial
capital of Tabriz. Contiguous over a long stretch of frontier with
her Transcaucasian dominions and within easy reach of her military
capital, Tiflis, it could be invaded with ease and annexed without
difficulty. Next adjoining is the maritime province of Gilan, with
its capital, Resht, the main port of Teheran, and its unexplored
wealth in timber, in rice, sugar, cotton, and silk. Somewhat
similar in character, but richer in natural resources, both vegetable
and mineral, is the adjoining province of Mazanderan, which is
said to contain the most industrious population in Persia, and to
be a mine of unprobed riches. For reasons that I have previously
given, and which result from the physical peculiarities of these
provinces, their malarial climate, their impregnability if properly
defended against attack, and the difficulty of holding them, even
if acquired, I have elsewhere argued that the Russians would
probably be guilty of an error in judgment did they contemplate,
at least as an early step in their forward movement, an occupation
in force of the South Caspian seaboard. But whether my judg
ment be sound or false, there is no question that the absorption of
these provinces figures largely in the programmes that emanate
from the bureaux on the Neva. Their seizure would bring Russia
to Astrabad, and would dovetail agreeably with the probably
already effected annexation of Khorasan ; so that, were this scheme
to be realised in its entirety as I have sketched it, the entire north
of Persia would thereby pass from Persian into Russian hands. 1
1 Such a scheme was contemplated by Eussia as long as sixty years ago. Cap
tain Mignan, travelling in 1830, said ( Winter's Journey, vol. i. p. 161): 4 At
a levee in Tiflis, Count Paskievitch declared in my hearing that he only awaited