Papers written by Curzon on the Near and Middle East [‎131r] (261/348)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty s Government.J
PERSIA.
[March 1. j
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
[E 2381/7/34]
No. 1.
Memorandum.
American Advisers for Persia.
I HE Persian Government having expressed the desire to place their financial
administration in the hands of an American financial adviser, it seems desirable that
His Majesty’s Government should explain why it is that they are prepared to give to
this proposal their sincere support. Their attitude is, indeed, the logical outcome of
the close and at times commanding interest which they have taken in Persia for
considerably more than a century, and which has arisen from conditions (a) historical,
(b) economic and financial, and (c) political. A few words may be said about each of
these.
(a.) The historical connection of Great Britain with Persia dates from the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, when an English mission assisted Shah Abbas (1598) to reorganise
the Persian army. It was, however, in the early days of the 19th century that
the geographical proximity of Persia to the expanding sphere of influence of the
East India Company, and the acute rivalry at that time existing between Great
Britain and trance in the East, led to the institution of close diplomatic relations
between the two countries.
1 lie connection has lasted ever since, and for the past 120 years Persia has been
regarded by successive British Ministries, as well as by the Government of India, as
a British interest ol the highest importance. A peaceful, stable, friendly and
independent Persia has been throughout this period one of the chief aims of British
policy.
During the second half of the 19th century Persia became, for reasons which are
well known, a stage on which the long-standing rivalry between Great Britain and
Bussia in Asia was fought out with diplomatic weapons. The tension was continuous
and sometimes menacing ; at length, in 1907, an attempt to terminate it in a manner
honourable to both parties, and, as it was hoped, favourable to Persia herself, was
made by the Anglo-Russian Agreement of that year. Unfortunately this instrument
aroused the deep suspicions of the Persian Government and people, who saw in it only
a scheme for the partition of their country between Russia and Great Britain,
suspicions which were, to a large extent, justified by the policy and actions of Russia,
who proceeded to act as though she were a dictator in the northern parts of Persia
lying within her sphere. This agreement perished during the war and there is n >
question of its revival.
1 he history of Persia during the Great War need not be recapitulated here. It is
enough to say that she was only saved successively from German, Turkish and Russian
inroads by the aid of British troops and at the cost of the British and Indian
Exchequers. When hostilities ceased, leaving Persia in a state of complete financial
and administrative collapse, a serious endeavour was made by His Majesty’s Government
to set her upon her legs again, and the Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919 was concluded.
No attempt was made in that agreement to impair or to compromise the independence
of Persia. On the contrary, it was categorically and expressly reaffirmed and
guarantt ed. What His Majesty’s Government sought to do was to provide Persia with
the means by which that independence could best be secured. They offered to assist her
in creating an independent national military force of her o\\ n, lending her expert
assistance in the organisation of a purely Persian army. They sought to purify her
internal administration and to give her a scheme of sound finance. They aimed at
opening up communications and developing the resources of the country. At the same
time, as a sequel to the agreement, a loan of 2,000,000E was offered to Persia, guaranteed
upon the customs and other revenues of the country, and she obtained simultaneously
a tariff revision which proved very greatly to her advantage. Soonafter the agreement
was signed and after a portion of the loan had actually been paid over, the Persian
Government that concluded it fell from power and since then it has been difficult for
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