Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎267r] (533/544)

The Committee decided—
To instruct the ]Var Office to telegraph at once to say that the
military commanders both at Jiatuni and, Baku should be
informed that it was no part of II is Majesty s Government s
policy to embark on any operations at any distance from the
Baku-Butum line, as our troops in that area were intended
for the purpose of protecting the railway and maintaining
through communication from the Black Bea to the Caspian.
Persia:
Payment of the
Cossack Brigade.
3. Lord Robert Cecil said that he wished to raise two points in
connection with the Cossack Brigade: first, weie we to continue to
pay it, and second, if so, was it to be paid through the Ministry of
War ? The Treasury stated that they were not prepared to continue
payment unless the Eastern Committee regarded this as urgently
necessary. His own view was that it was desirable that we should,
in due course, be relieved of this burden, but that it was not
advisable too abruptly to discontinue the payment. We should go
on paying for the present without in any way committing ourselves.
Mr.^Oliphant said that payment through the Ministry ol War
was the preferable course for various reasons, among which was, that
it gave a more Persian complexion to the transaction, while it would
be a check if both Starosselski and the Minister of War signed the
cheques. .
The Chairman said that Sir Charles Marling in his memorandum,
which was now before the Committee (E.C.-2842), had warmly urged
the retention of the Cossack Brigade, and deprecated any sudden
disbandment of that force. He himself thought that for the moment
we should continue to pay for it. Ihe Russian commander of the
brigade, Starosselski, was, owing to the size of his force and his easy
access to the Shah, dictator of the situation, and, until the circum
stances were more favourable to ourselves, it would be impolitic to
arouse his enmity.
The Committee decided—
That while it was desirable that we should be relieved as soon as
possible of the financial burden of paying‘the Cossack
Brigade, the immediate discontiuance of this payment was
not advisable.
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Middle Eastern
Questions:
Persia.
4. With reference to the 4f)th Meeting, Minute 1, the Committee
resumed their discussion of the policy which we should pursue in
regard to Persia. .
The Chairman said that since the last meeting three papers
has been circulated to the Committee, one by Sir Hamilton Grant
(E C-2808', one by Sir Charles Marling (E.C.--842), and one by
by Sir Louis Mallet (E.C.-2865), all of which offered various solutions
of the problem. One solution which had been advocated was that
we should at once and completely disinterest ourselves in Persia and
leave her to go to ruin in her own way. This policy he thought
immoral, feeble, and disastrous. ' It would wipe out the policy,
expenditure, and effort of more than a century, and, incidentally,
would involve the loss of a trade amounting to 5,000 000^. per
annum, and the abandonment of our telegraph, consulates, and
commercial communities in Persia. Moreover, our withdrawal
would create a vacuum which would be filled by somebody, either
the Bolsheviks, a reconstituted Russia, or someone else, further,
the repercussion of such a policy would be deplorable in Mesopotamia
and India. Another solution that had been suggested was that we
should continue our present policy but carry it on in a mom
ingratiating way with a view to convincing the Persians that we
really were hrr friends. This proposal was plausible on paper but
had J the fatal objection of being a compromise between the