Letters and Papers Concerning the Trans-Persian Railway and Other Railways in Persia [‎157r] (313/442)

19S7 Supply (Committee). 10 July 1912
Foreign Office. 1988
the name. Russia is in a position to main
tain order in the North, and in the North
of Persia we see order and quiet main
tained. Russian trade is good. The Rus
sian Bank in the North is doing good
business, and the Persian merchants are
well pleased with a state of things which
affords them security and protection.
Then see what the contrast is in the
South. The British Government there is
not in a position to maintain order, and
trade is almost at a standstill. No
caravans of goods can be got up the
country from the Gulf ports, except by
payment of enormous blackmail. British
merchants, and Indian and Persian
merchants as well, have been all more or
less ruined. British interests, I am sorry
to say, in Southern Persia, have steadily
declined. The inability of the British
Government, as the right lion. Gentleman
told us, to check the prevailing disorder
contrasts most unfavourably with the
order maintained in the North. It is true
that we have sent 300 or 400 Indian
Cavalry to Persia, but they are divided up
and are powerless to act. Their presence,
instead of doing any real good in the
country, tends to irritate the forces of dis
order and to produce complications. There
is only one logical conclusion we can
arrive at, and it is that these Indian
Cavalry should be strengthened or with
drawn altogether. Our interests in the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. are bound up with British
trade, and British trade depends upon the
safety of the trade routes from the Gulf
ports to Ispahan, and other commercial
centres. The right hon. Gentleman has
told us, I think, that the first necessity is
to try to get the concession for the Karum
V alley Railway to Khuramabad which will .
serve the fertile districts of that part of/l' i°
Persia. I do not know whether the nC
Persian Government will be in a position
to give that concession. I do hope the
right hon. Gentleman will press for i
being given soon. We are told, and
understand it is the case, that Russia has(
obtained a concession for the extension of
her railway in the North from Jul*/a to
Tabriz. I think if Russia has obtained „
concession for that railway, we are entitled
to a concession for our much needed rail
way through the Karun Valley. I was very
glad to hear what the right hon. Gentle
man told us about this line being a British
and not an international line. I trust
that the concession will be granted, and
that it will be carried out by a British
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company throughout the entire country up
to tile limit of the Russian zone.
We ought to make arrangements for the
safety of the trade routes from the Gulf
ports e*, Ispahan tcrYezd and Kirman. I
think Russia has officially recognised our
Gulf interests. Those Gulf interests rest
on the trade routes, and it rests with us
to maintain the routes. The Customs
Duties of the Gulf ports are hypothecated
for a British loan to Persia, and I want to
know how anything is to be realised
from these Customs Duties unless we pro
tect the trade. Swedish officers are raising
a gendarmerie to protect the routes,
but that numbers only a few men, and I
do not see any chance of that protection
being of any use. As a matter of fact, I
believe there are many desertions, and I
see no prospect of that force giving any
real protection within a reasonable time.
I noticed from a telegram in the news
papers the other day that the Persian Gov
ernment had agreed to a proposal made
by the Russian Government for the estab
lishment of a new Cossack Brigade at
Tabriz, under Russian officers and non
commissioned officers. I cannot help ask
ing the right hon. Gentleman why we
should not equally ask the Persian Govern
ment to agree to the establishment of a
new brigade at Ispahan, under British
officers, for the protection of life and pro
perty in the South. I do not know whether
. the right hon. Gentleman has had his at
tention drawn to a very pithy letter written
in the “Indian Pioneer Mail” of 14th
June, by an Indian Mahomedan just re
turned to India. He states that he was
robbed in Persia of everything he pos
sessed, not by ordinary robbers, but by
Persian police guards, whose duty it was
keep the roads safe from robbers. When
he said he was a British subject he was
laughed at and told that the British did
not dare do anything to protect either the
lives or property of their subjects. He
ends his letter by saying that he would
like to see these insolent braggarts of Per
sians get the punishment they deserve,
^ d that Indian subjects and Indian sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. "
sent out to Persia by the British Govern
ment should feel that they are the subjects
of a Power which is not afraid to look
after its own people. I think that is a
feeling which may be rapidly aroused
among Indian Mahomedans and others
throughout the East.
It is not only the feelings of our Indian
subjects we have to consider. We have