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Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [177r] (353/544)
The record is made up of 1 file (272 folios). It was created in 13 Mar 1918-7 Jan 1919. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
19
done, but I do think that Georgia particularly, and Daghestan also, from a totally
different point of view, will have their independent life. The Daghestanis will spend their
time in shooting and robbing one another, hut that is what they like. The only thing is,
when you say “make it a French sphere,” that means that we are pledged by our joint
declaration to establish native States in all these districts—we and the French—the
only point being that in the French sphere, if the native Government asks for a
European Adviser, as between us and the French, the French are to send him
and not us.
LORD CURZON : That is the Sykes-Picot Agreement. It has no relation to the
Caucasus.
LORD ROBERT CECIL: No. But that is all you would contemplate doing
with regard to the Caucasus.
MR. MoNTAGU : When Lord Curzon was talking about Armenia he argued, and
I thought very forcibly, that you could not expect anyone to look after Armenia unless
they had the Caucasus as well. For the reasons that Lord Robert Cecil gave, from the
anti-Pan-Turanian point of view, it seems to me very desirable we should go for a large
Armenia ; and when we discuss the larger Armenia, not only does it seem to me difficult
to grt the Americans to undertake it, hut also that the French, with their Black Sea
base, the railway, and their powers to build railways through to all these points,
Trebizond and so on, are the natural Power to undertake it. Supposing you agree on
the first point we were discussing, that you get a larger Armenia, and that it should be
in the French sphere, and if you agree that whoever has Armenia as a sphere must also
have the Caucasus, do you not settle the question of Azerbaijan ?
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I am disposed to think so. That is the way my own
mind moves.
LORD CURZON : What do you mean by “ settle ” it ? It all depends upon
that. What I am looking to is this. Unless there is somebody there with prestige
and power to keep order, at any rate for the time being, the peoples of these
States will not only be killing each other within the limit of their States, but will be
fighting each other outside and making absolute confusion there. It is not to be
supposed for a moment that Georgia, Daghestan, and Turkish Azerbaijan will agree
together. Whenever they have been thrown together they have fought each other.
They have even fought in the streets of Baku. Pending the taking over by France or
some other Power, you have an interval in which you will have to guarantee the
security of these regions.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I do not agree with that.
LORD CURZON : You have it already. The British are there.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I agree that we should secure the Baku Railway and
the ports at the end of it. We have sent a division to Batum to do that. We do not
want to do any more for the moment.
LORD CURZON : That is the whole thing. The railway is the spinal cord of
the country, and you have to hold Tiflis in the middle. There is the difficulty.
Batum is in Georgia. Tiflis is the capital of Georgia and Baku is in Turkish
Azerbaijan.
LORD ROBERT CECIL: That makes it easier. You say we are there for the
purpose merely of holding the railway. We must do that because it is essential to us,
because it is on the road to India. It has nothing to do with the general political
atmosphere.
LORD CURZON : You must look at the future too. Now that we have
reopened the line we must keep it open.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : Yes.
LORD CURZON : “ From the Black Sea to the Caspian.”
LORD ROBERT CECIL : We shall have to do that as long as our troops are
there. If we can get the French sent there so m«ch the better.
MR. MONTAGU : It is a very rich country, is it not ?
LORD ROBERT CECIL : Yes.
About this item
- Content
This file is composed of papers produced by the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee, which was chaired by George Curzon for most of its existence. The file contains a complete set of printed minutes, beginning with the committee's first meeting on 28 March 1918, and concluding with its final meeting on 7 January 1919 (ff 6-214 and ff 227-272).
The file begins with two copies of a memorandum by Curzon, dated 13 March 1918, proposing the formation of the Eastern Committee. This is followed by a memorandum by Arthur James Balfour, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, approving Curzon's proposal, and a copy of a procedure for the newly created committee, outlining arrangements for committee meetings and the dissemination of information to committee members.
Also included is a set of resolutions, passed by the committee in December 1918, in order to guide British representatives at the Paris Peace conference (ff 216-225). The resolutions cover the following: the Caucasus and Armenia; Syria; Palestine; Hejaz and Arabia; Mesopotamia, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. They are preceded by a handwritten note written by Curzon 'some years later', which remarks on how they are a 'rather remarkable forecast of the bulk of the results since obtained.'
- Extent and format
- 1 file (272 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 272; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/274
- Title
- Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee
- Pages
- 1r:214v, 216r:272v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence