Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎86r] (171/290)

corrupt, but it was not the best which the country could provide.
He was hopeful of a reconstituted Georgia.
General Raddiffc, in reply to the Chairman, expressed some
doubt as to the administrative capacity of the Georgians. The
impression he gathered from the military reports was that the
Georgian Government had made concession after concession to the
working classes until industry had conn? to a standstill.
At the same time it was very much to our interest to have a
friendly power m Transcaucasia. It was to that end that we had
encouraged the various states to form a federation, which had,
however, broken down almost at once.
Captain Coode pointed out that the British Caspian fleet was
being handed over to General Denikin, hut that the latter was not
allowed to go to Baku, without which port he could not maintain
the fleet.
The Chairman said that nothing more could he decided for the
time being. From what the War Ofhce representatives had said,
the future of Batum would not be a pressing question for two or
three months to come.
The Cabinet did not contemplate anything in the nature of a
military Mission, hut he would- like to look into the question of
economic development which was already occupying the Italians.
He understood there was a chance of Mr. McDonell going to the
Caucasus in a consular capacity, and it was very desirable that we
should have a consul at Baku.
He would ask Mr. Wardrop, before he started, to submit on
paper his views as to the course of action which would he most
helpful to him, assuming complete military evacuation, over the
whole area—at Baku and Erivan as well as at Tiflis and Batum.
The Conference decided —
(1.) That General Denikin should he asked to withdraw his
representative from Batum, replacing him, if at all, by
a junior officer.
(2.) That a suitable officer should be found to be accredited to
General Denikin in a political capacity.
(3.) That the question of further British representation in the
Caucasus should be examined by the Foreign Office.
Foreign Office,
August 4, 1919.
(Initialled)
C. of K.