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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [871r] (1758/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA 603
Still more strongly do these observations apply to her designs
upon South Persia and the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
. Here not only would
Or for de- an ^ Englishman protest in the interests of Persia, but
signs on any English Government would be bound to protest in
the Gulf . . -r^ . . 1
the interests of Great Britain. No plea that the most
sophistical of logicians could devise can be advanced to justify any
such proceeding. The safety of India, which is the first duty of
Great Britain, the pax Britannica that now reigns in the Southern
Seas in consequence of her temperate control, the sacrifices that
have been made by her in the pursuance of that end, the utter
absence of any Russian interests for thousands of miles, the
perfect ability of Persia in these parts to look after herself, are
incontrovertible arguments against any such aggression. It can
only be prosecuted in the teeth of international morality, in
defiance of civilised opinion, and with the ultimate certainty of a
war with this country that would ring from pole to pole.
The criticism which I here pass upon Russian policy is no
monopoly of English opinion, but is shared, and would be endorsed,
Persian by the majority of Persians themselves. Political acumen
weakness one 0 f ppe gifts with which the Persian character is most
richly endowed, and it is no rare experience to find a very fair
apergu of the political situation formulated by men in a com
paratively humble station of life. The Persians, from the Shah
downwards, are tolerably well acquainted both with the designs
and with the methods of Russia. They see in her, not the un
selfish champion of distressed nationalities, but the future enemy
of their political liberties, and their secret sympathies would
be almost unanimously enlisted in the opposite scale. But they
are at once deplorably weak and fatally conscious of their own
weakness. And where amid a people of finer moral fibre such
a consciousness might lead to a resurrection of national spirit
and a manly effort for self-redemption, with the Persians it has
the contrary effect of leaving them despondent and cowed, help
lessly awaiting the catastrophe which they have made up their
minds that they cannot avert. They are afraid of Russia, and
they tell you so. The limit of their self-sufficiency is that which
is permitted by their fears, and the crisis has never yet occurred
in history where such a spirit has nerved a sturdy blow for
freedom.
If it be evident, as I have contended, that Russian policy in
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [871r] (1758/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00009f> [accessed 5 June 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain