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Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [245v] (490/544)
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.
once in a century. Shah Nasr-ed-din, who has been referred to was a very strong man ;
but since his death there has never been a Shah of real strength. You say, how was
it that Persia subsisted in those days ? She subsisted because of the Anglo-Russian
rivalry. She would have tumbled to pieces in five minutes if she bad been left to
herself. She was held up by means of that rivalry, and that alone.
MR. MONTAGU : I have often heard it said that a man thinks that he could
rule till he has to rule ; but I have never heard the converse put.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I want to get Sir Charles Marling’s views. I should
like to know very much whdt Sir Charles Marling thinks would be the effect,
supposing that we did actually withdraw simply all our troops and cease to pay the
Russian Cossacks. What do you think would happen next ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING : I think that as soon as we withdrew our troops,
the Shah would think that he could do exactly as he liked.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : What would he do ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING : He is extremely badly surrounded. I do not
think that it is possible that it could be worse. Every governor who attempts to do
anything would be removed. The more corrupt men would be put in. There is a
kind of police here and there. Those men would not be paid any longer. That is
the only police there is.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : What would happen alter all that had gone on ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING; Chaos.
LORD ROBERT CECIL; What does that mean ? Does that mean that there
would be separate governments, or no government there at all ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING : No government.
LORD CURZON : Is that a condition you look forward to with equanimity?
LORD ROBERT CECIL: What effect would that have on our interests,
supposing that there were no government, if you lapsed into chaos ? How should we
sutler ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING; Commercially?
LORD ROBERT CECIL: Yes.
SIR CHARLES MARLING; I do not think that the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company would suffer at all.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : The Bakhtiari would keep order there ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: Yes, so long as we are still in Mesopotamia.
LORD ROBERT CECIL; What other commercial interests of an important kind
have we there ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: In the North ?
LORD ROBERT CECIL; Yes.
SIR CHARLES MARLING: The Imperial Bank, Lynch, Oriental Carpets
Manufacturers, and other firms mostly interested in the carpet trade.
LORD CURZON : The Imperial Bank is the only one of real importance, is
it not ?
MR. OLIPHANT : The trade of Hamadan before the war was worth over a
million a year to us. .
LORD ROBERT CECIL: Apart from the trade interest, what would be the
effect politically ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING: I do not know what the effect would be on
Afghanistan and India. I know but little about those.
LORD CURZON : What is the view of the Government of India about this
aspect of the case ?
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