Finding Aid: French-language Sources, Part 2 – Beyond France

Other articles in this series: Part 1.

In 1821, a ‘Chieftain’ of Madagascar named Jean René wrote in French to the British Governor of Mauritius, announcing the military successes of King Radama ‘with joy’ (IOR/F/4/913/25778, f. 186r). This is an early example of a French-language document on the QDL with no relation to France. This article explores these records, which provide insights into new historical perspectives.

Iran

French is important for the study of Iran’s foreign relations, not least as it is the language of many letters from Iran’s late Qajar and Pahlavi governments. Early examples include peace negotiations in the 1826-28 Russo-Persian war and the subsequent Treaty of Turkmenchai [Torkamanchay]. Later, there is a draft treaty with Austria from 1852, which the British Minister in Tehran obtained and set out to sabotage ‘through a secret channel’ (IOR/L/PS/5/476, f. 83r).

The reset of Iran’s foreign relations under Reza Shah Pahlavi created a raft of French-language records. One file contains copies of 1930s treaties in French between Iran and countries ranging from the Czechoslovak Republic to Switzerland to the Kingdom of Denmark and Iceland. Other files include treaties with Poland, Greece, and the USSR. Much of the correspondence deals with attempts to reach a new Anglo-Iranian treaty, with the Gulf proving a particularly thorny point.

Some documents relate to Iran’s economic and technological development. These range from late Qajar-era’s railway schemes to the Pahlavi Government’s contract with German company Junkers to develop civil aviation. Further records cover the takeover of telegraphs from Britain’s Indo-European Telegraph Department, and concessions for mining and oil exploration and exploitation.

Elsewhere, Iran’s Customs Administration produced many important sources in French on the country’s economic history, including detailed reports on Iran’s foreign trade between 1929 and 1935. The Customs Administration was managed from 1898 into the 1930s by Belgian officials, who were first brought into late Qajar Iran because of their neutrality and reputation for efficiency.

The Iranian Francophone material does not always come from government officials. There is a First World War ultimatum from the Committee for the Protection of Persian Independence to the British Consul in Shiraz and a Swiss-published pamphlet on ‘Persia and the European War’ by ‘a Persian patriot’ (IOR/L/PS/10/299/2, f. 188r). Criticism of Lord Curzon appears in a 1921 pamphlet by the newspaper Setareh Iran in a file on anti-British propaganda, and a 1945 declaration by the National Congress of Azerbaijan marks the start of the Iran Crisis and the Cold War.

The Ottoman Empire

Also present is over a century of diplomatic correspondence in French with the Ottoman Empire. An early example is a 1799 letter from the Commander of the British naval squadron in the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. to the Ottoman Grand Vizier describing Napoleon’s defeat at Acre during the French Revolutionary Wars. Later examples include a letter dated 1909 from the Ottoman Ambassador in London on the question of British consular protection for Afghans and Balochis in the Ottoman Empire. There is also an intercepted telegram from the Porte to the Ambassador in London reporting an Italian blockade in the Red Sea during the 1911-12 Italo-Turkish War, and First World War correspondence on prisoners of war. Particularly interesting is this bilingual copy of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention on the Gulf and adjacent countries. The delimitation of the Ottoman border with Iran by an international commission also generated a mass of French-language records.

As with Iran, the French-language records document Ottoman economic and technological development, including the multinational Baghdad Railway and German-funded Anatolian Railway. There is also a 1913 report by Léon Ostrorog, a Polish émigré and adviser to the Ottoman Government, on oil in Ottoman Iraq.

Egypt

Diplomatic correspondence with Egypt also appears in French. French was one language used to communicate with the Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha’s government, particularly via his Armenian Foreign Minister Boghos Bey Yusufian. Examples include letters from June and October 1839 on the Egyptian military campaign in Najd.

French was still being used to communicate with Egyptian kings and governments into the twentieth century. This can be seen in the 1921 negotiations to end the British Protectorate over Egypt and establish future relations, in correspondence from 1923 on the issue of Sudan, and a 1937 conference in Montreux to discuss abolishing capitulations in Egypt. Francophone voices from outside government are also preserved in these 1914 letters from Egyptian exiles in Switzerland, expressing their support for Germany and Austria in the First World War.

Newspapers and Unexpected Places

The records also hold extracts from French-language press in many countries. Cuttings from Iran’s Le Journal de Téhéran and Le Messager de Téhéran appear frequently, while other examples come from Lebanon’s L’Orient and Egypt’s Le Dimanche et Partout Réunis.

Some French-language material appears in unexpected places. Unusually, in 1860 Britain’s Agent in Shiraz, E. N. Castelli, was corresponding with his superiors in French, such as in a file on his interrogations of Indians arrested in Iran for their suspected involvement in the 1857 rebellion.

Diplomacy and Global Reach

The status of French as a language of diplomacy is shown in such documents as the 1907 Convention between Britain and Russia establishing spheres of interest in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tibet. Elsewhere, French was used during the First World War in discussions with Germany via the Greek Government on a prisoner exchange. In 1920, the British High Commissioner in occupied Constantinople [Istanbul] was approached by the Vicar-General of the Chaldean Patriarch with a request in French for British protection for the Chaldean community.

French was likewise used for many multilateral communications. In 1924, the entire diplomatic corps in Tehran addressed a note of protest in French to the Qajar Government after the murder of the United States Consul. The same year, the consular corps in Jeddah addressed a joint note in French to the commander of the Wahhabi forces, requesting protection for their respective nationals during the Wahhabi war on the Hijaz. Documents in French from the League of Nations cover arms control, the Iranian claim to Bahrain, aid for Russian refugees in Mashhad, and the resettlement of Assyrian Christians following massacres in Iraq. French was even the language of a 1932 Treaty of Friendship between Iraq and Afghanistan. The latest French-language record on the QDL is a 1951 agreement allowing Lebanese airlines to access airfields in Britain’s Gulf protectorates.

The French language has played a vital role in world history, and this is demonstrated by the rich range of sources on the QDL. These sources reflect the global reach of French and its importance as a language of international communication and diplomacy.