File 3443/1914 Pt 3 'German War: Afghanistan and Persia; German agents; British troops in East Persia' [‎163v] (338/345)

4
be exchanged with all Persian and German prisoners arrested on the neutral
soil of Persia; no mention is made of the money or the evacuation of Bushire.
This last condition has been constantly put forward by the Klians but the
matter of the restoration of the money has not, so far as I can recollect, been
made before. This money I may mention consists of two deposits, one of
tumans 10,000 belonging to Shaikh Hussain deposited with Haji Abdul Itasul ^
Rais-ut-Tajjar, and the second tumans 15,000 deposited in the Imperial Bank
of Persia by Ghazanfar-us-Sultaneh. His Excellency Muwaqqar-ud-Howleh
was anxious to attach these two sums and in fact did attach the first and several
times asked me to agree to attaching tbe second. I told His Excellency that
although Ghazanfar was known to be the prime mover in the confederacy it
would be best to wait till he did something overt. When he announced that
he was going to have the Telegraph lines cut and did so, it seemed to me that
tbe time had come and so I attached the money. Muwaqqar-ud-Dowleh thought
that attaching this money would bring these two Khans to their senses, but it
failed to do so. Ghazanfar’s entire deposit is still in the Bank, but nearly 2,000
tumans out of Shaikh Hussain’s has been utilised in compensating British
Residents here for losses incurred during the raids made by Shaikh Hussain’s
men and led by Shaikh Hussain’s sons.
I have gone into this question in some detail as Mrs. Eerguson states that
Shaikh Hussain informed her that Mr. Eerguson’s release would depend upon
the repayment of these sums, whether all the German and Persian prisoners
were returned or not. On the afternoon before she left Shaikh Hussain had a
long talk with Mrs. Eerguson and appears to have given rein to his imagina
tion, and indulged more than ever in his usual bombastic talk. He stated that
the wEole of Southern Persia was now against us and would declare war on us
in Bushire and never stop until all the troops had been driven out, and the
prisoners given back. Directly that was done he, Shaikh Hussain, would
guarantee the safety of British lives and property in Bushire and the whole of
Persia would be sincerely friendly, and everybody would much prefer being
friends with England than with Germany. He added that if we did not accept
the terms and war broke out we should be involved in another Muhammadan
war and India would be endangered ; he knew England could not stand this
and hoped we should accept the terms suggested !
The fact that a petty village headman, who can with difficulty raise 200
men should assume charge of the business and talk in this strain, shows in
what a topsy turvy condition Persia now is. No doubt he has been well
instructed by Wassmuss,—whom, as he told Mrs. Ferguson the Khans w^ere
using for their own ends !—and considers that the allies are at their last gasp.
Regarding the journey from Shiraz Mrs. Eerguson says the members of
the party were treated kindly by Mirza Ahmed, a Sultan of the Gendarmerie,
who commanded the escort. They met with a very hostile reception on arrival
at Kazerun; a large crowd had assembled and greeted them with curses and
spat at them, etc. The Gendarmes w^ere rather afraid of a disturbance but got
them through all right. At Kazerun the private horses of the party and the
sowmrs horses were seized and from thence they all had to scramble on baggage
mules or walk. The general attitude of the people seems to be hostile. The
report that some of Soulet-ud-Dowleh’s men were trying to intercept the party
turns out to be incorrect. The party came straight through.
I am doubtful whether Government w^ould desire me to enter into negotia
tions regarding the prisoners as it may be intended to try and effect their
release through the Persian Government. At the present moment it w-ould be
difficult to know with whom to negotiate and who represents the “ Natiohal
Committee of the Protection of Persian Independence ”. I propose, therefore,
for the moment (as already reported telegraphically) to answer Major O’Connor’s
letter by saying that the whole matter has been reported in detail to Govern
ment and that of course I cannot enter into negotiations without authority,
meanwhile it would probably help matters if the individual who considers
himself in charge of the prisoners would send in his proposals in writing
together with some satisfactory guarantee that he is in a position to treat and is
empow ered by the Committee to do so.