Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎244r] (487/544)

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I should like to put to our advisers here the question whether the time has not
arrived when we should adopt a different attitude towards the Russians in Persia, and
cut ourselves adrift from them (I do not say abruptly), altogether, and not deal witn
them as if they were likely to be a force in the future. That, I say, would fit in with
the policy we have already gone in for of a national army after the war, to which
contributions would be made from the South Persia Rifles, and such of the old Swedish
gendarmerie as are left, and the Cossack division in the north. I venture to suggest
• * T 1 4-1
The only other topic which might be worthy of discussion I reserve, namely, that
of the railways, which is hardly pertinent on the present occasion, because it is not
likely to come up at the Peace Conference.
I have given this general review by way of clearing the ground, and if my con
clusions are not decisive 1 hope that we shall he able to put them into a more fixed
shape with the help of those here.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I should like your view, Sir Charles, on the general
.situation, and I am sure that the Committee would like it very much. What do you
consider we ought to aim at m Persia ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: I think that it is necessary to aim at bringing
about some Government which will maintain order very little moie than that.
LORD ROBERT CECIL: Do you see amongst the Persians any possibility of a
native Government ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: No, there is absolutely none. There is no party in
Persia which wants reform or reasonable administration of any sort or kind. There are
a few individuals, but very very few, and they are very much in the hands of their
friends. Avarice is the great thing. They are absolutely incapable of doing anything.
They have no support from anybody.
LORD CURZON: Is the present Shah worse even than his predecessors,
difficult as that is ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: I should think that on the whole he is.
LORD ROBERT CECIL: Because he is younger, or more vicious?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: He is more fatalist. He is more cowardly. I
should say that he is more avaricious and quite as self-indulgent, and I think that he
has more brains.
LORD CURZON : What, in your view, are the Persian Government and the
Shah at the head of it aiming at? The pleas they put forward to the Conference are
intended, no doubt, to bolster up their independence. What have they really in their
minds ? Does Nasr-ul-Mulk represent the views of anybody in Persia, or do they want
to be left alone, or are they conscious of the necessity of having some support behind
them ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: The small group represented by Vossugh-ud-
Dowleh and Akbar Mirza do wish for support. The latter was Foreign Minister in
Sipahdar’s Cabinet.
LORD ROBERT CECIL: They have a genuine concern?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: They have a certain wish.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I do not see that these other fellows have anything
really to gain by good government at all.
SIR CHARLES MARLING: The clamour against us is put forward simply as a
party cry.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : You say “ a party cry.” There must he some party
to which they cry.
SIR CHARLES MARLING: It is a way in which they put pressure on the
Shah.
LORD ROBERT CECIL: It means that there must be some section of opinion,
to use a Western term, in Persia which does desire some of these things or thinks that
it desires some of these things they pretend to desire.
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