Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎13r] (25/544)

[This Document is the Property,of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
Printed for the War Cabinet. May 1918.
SECRET.
E.C. 5th Minutes.
2
WAR CABINET.
EASTERN COMMITTEE.
Minutes of a Meeting of the Eastern Committee held in Lord Curzon s Loom at the
Privy Council Office on Wednesday, April 24, 1918, at 3 p.m.
Present:
The Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.
(in the Chair).
The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, O.M., M.P.,
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The Right Hon. the Lord Hardinge of
Penshukst, K.G., P.C., G.C.B., G.C.S.I.,
G.C.M.G. [Knight] Grand Cross of [the Order of] St Michael and St George (accolade). , G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., I.S.O.,
Permanent Under-Secretary of State for !
Foreign Affairs.
Sir Mark Sykes, Bart., M.P., Foreign
Office.
Mr. L. Oliphant, C.M.G., Foreign Office.
Major-General Sir G. M. W. Macdonogh,
K.C.M.G., C.B., Director of Military
Intelligence.
The Right Hon. Lord Islington, G.C.M.G. [Knight] Grand Cross of [the Order of] St Michael and St George (accolade). ,
D.S.O., Under - Secretary of State for
India.
Mr. J. E. Shuckburgh, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
The following were also present:
Sir Thomas Holderness, G.C.B., K.C.S.I., India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
Major-General Sir P. Cox, G.C.S.I., K.C.I.E.
Captain E. Abraham, Secretary.
Instructions to 1. THE Committee had before them two telegrams from
b r 0. Marling gj r q Marling (E.C.-161 and E.C.-162), the former dated the
Fiima nm ° Uinan 27th February, 1918, the latter the 15th April, 1918. These
telegrams were read by the chairman, who pointed out that it was
not clear what kind of guarantees Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). Firma required, nor what
contingency was contemplated. It could, no doubt, be inferred that
the guarantee would be in the nature of an indemnity for loss
attributable to his favourable attitude to us, and that the contingency
might be the collapse of our cause in Persia.
In this connection, Mr. Oliphant pointed out that Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’).
Firma, though his Governorship was situated in South Persia,
where a sudden crisis was unlikely, owned very ccnsiderable villages
and other property in the north, especially in the neighbourhood of
Teheran. He doubtless contemplated a situation jeopardising this
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