Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎153r] (305/544)

B
[365—37]
.[This Document is the Property
of His Britannic Majesty’s Government]^
Printed for the War Cabinet. December 1918.
SECRET.
E.C. 38th Minutes.
4
WAR CABINET.
EASTERN COMMITTEE.
Minutes of a Meeting of the Eastern Committee held in Lord Curzons Loom
at the Privy Council Office on Thursday, November 21, 1918, at 3‘30 r.M.
Present:
The Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G., G.C.S.L, G.C.LE.
(in the Chair).
The Right Hon. E. S. Montagu, M.P.,
Secretary of State for India.
Mr. J. E. Shuckburgh, C.B., 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. .
Lieutenant-General Sir H. V. Cox, K.C.B.,
K.C.M.G., O.S.I., Military Secretary,
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. .
Rear-Admiral G. P. W. Hope, C.B.,
Deputy First Sea Lord.
Mr. J. M. Keynes, C.B., Treasury.
Lieutenant-Colonel T. E. Lawrence, C.B.,
DS.O.
The Right Hon. Lord Robert ( ecil,
K.C., M.P., Assistant Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs.
Sir Eyre Crowe, K.C B., K.C.M.G.,
Foreign Office.
Mr. L. Oliphant, C.M.G., Foreign Office.
Lieutenant - General Sir G. M. W.
Macdonogh, K.C.M.G., C.B., Adjutant-
General to the Forces.
Major-General W. Thwaites, C.B.,
Director of Military Intelligence'.
Lieutenant-Colonel L. Storr, Secretary.
Major the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, M.P., Assistant Secretary.
Caspian Situation. 1. THE Chairman said that in the course of the last week or
so matters had developed rapidly and satisfactorily. On the 16th
instant a telegram (E.C.—2357) had been sent to Generals Marshall,
Allen by, Thomson, Malleson, and others, asking them to announce
that the Government’s policy was to police the area between the
Caspian and the Black Seas, as may be required to maintain ordei
and enforce the terms of the armistice, pending tinal settlement at
the Peace Conference of various territorial questions involved. ^ A
s telegram from General Marshall, dated the 18th instant (E.C.—2.^78),
stated that the previous day General Ihomson had disembarked
at Baku and had met with a good reception. The telegram
did not say where Bicharakoll was, or whether the occupation
of Baku was solely British. As regards .Bicharakoff, a telegiam
dated the 15th instant from Colonel Blair, Vladivostock, stated
that Colonel Nielsen had wired from Omsk on the 11th November
to the effect that Bicharakoff’s detachment near Petrovsk was sub
sidised by the British until he could get into touch with the
Russians, and recommending that the subsidy should be continued.
The Chairman said he thought that Colonel Nielsen was too far