Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎271r] (541/544)

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and the Government of India propose for the whole-hearted support of the
Persian Government. I do not think that that is really inconsistent with what you
propose, because talking to them frankly does not exclude appealing to their good-will
and putting ourselves forward once more as their genuine friends. I think that
Mr. Montagu would throw the stress on that line of thought rather than on the
frankness and the threat. The threat could he kept in the background.
LOUD CURZON : There is substance in what you say, because a good deal of
what Sir Hamilton Grant has suggested I propose to do, but in a different way. What
I dissent from in his proposals is the kind of declaration which he suggests should be
made, namely, that the policy which we have been obliged to take in Persia has not
unnaturally aroused suspicions as to our intentions in that country. I would not make
any such admission. Neither would I be willing to say that all His Majesty’s Govern
ment asks of the Persian Government is that they will accept the assistance of British
financial advisers in the regulation of their finances. That is by no means all. We
want a different attitude on their part in every department of administration and
policy. I would not go and take off my hat to the Persians in the courtier-hke way he
proposes. I do not believe in them. Giving their assurances and making them gilts is
like pouring water into a sieve. I would now show them that within the velvet glove
is the iron hand. We have never shown it to them all this time. We have never had
the pluck to say to them, “ You are in our hands absolutely to do as we please.” I
would first say, “ This is what we desire and are willing to do with your consent ”;
supposing that they reply “ we cannot allow that for a moment,” then I would say “ I
think that you must realise the situation,” and I would be perfectly firm about it. The
suggestion of the Government of India and of Sir Hamilton Grant is all on the lines of
resuming the old game in a rather more friendly and perhaps rather more dexterous
manner, the policy, which I hold in the last resort to be impracticable, of trying to keep
going the existing rather compromising and ineffective situation.
SIR HAMILTON GRANT: 1 think that there is no doubt whatever that the
Persians are suspicious of us, and personally I think they have every reason to be. I
think that we have been forced by the Anglo-Russian Convention into an attitude in
Persia which was not compatible with our pledges of respecting their integrity and
independence. Since the time of that convention there is no doubt a great deal of
suspicion and distrust have been created in Persia against us, which have not been
decreased bv the events of the war. All that the Government of India desires is to
break down that wall of suspicion. It is that wall of suspicion that has caused the ruin
of the South Persia Rifles and the failure of that extremely expensive scheme. It is
that wall of suspicion which has involved us in that very unnecessary expedition, which
is costing us 290,0001. a month at present.
LORD CURZON : That is the very last thing that we wanted here.
SIR HAMILTON GRANT : Yes ; but that is the result of the suspicion.
LORD CURZON : That was a Government of India expedition.
SIR HAMILTON GRANT: It was never wished for by the Government of
India.
LORD CURZON : On this point (you were not here then) I took up the strongest
possible line against any expedition from Bushire. I said that the only force that ought
to be sent from India, if any was required, should go to Bunder Abbas and should
march inland, if necessary, in order to support Sykes at Shiraz, but a big expedition
from the coast I strongly resisted here. We were overruled, however, by the Com-
mander-in-Chief in India, who insisted upon it.
SIR HAMILTON GRANT : It was a mattery of military technique.
LORD CURZON : We did not want an expedition at all. We did not even want
a force on a considerable scale to go ; but if any force was required we said (Mr. Oliphant
will remember this very well) “ Let such force go from Bunder Abbas ; hut no military
expedition should get caught up in the Tangistani Hills.”
SIR HAMILTON GRANT: I think that there must have been a misunder
standing on the subject. I was in the closest touch with Munro at the time, and there
was no man who was more averse from this expedition, and there is nothing that he
deplores more. He would have wriggled out of it every possible way he could. He
had the impression that His Majesty’s Government regarded it as the only solution.