ملف رقم ٩٤٨ لسنة ١٩٠٩ "بلاد فارس: الوضع في الجنوب؛ حالة الطرق. الهجوم على السيد بيل. برنامج حرس الطرق". [و‎‎٣‎٧] (٧٤٤/٧٨)

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[This Docnmsnt is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government.]
PERSIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[1137]
23 JAN1911
v &/
[January 11 .]
/r
Section 3.
£4L DEn>^
No. 1.
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received January 11 , 1911.)
(No. 237.) ,
Sir, ( * Tehran, December 27, 1910.
WITH reference to my despatch No. 221 of the 30th ultimo, I have the honour to
transmit a memorandum compiled by Major Stokes from despatches and telegrams
from His Majesty’s acting consul at Shiraz on the negotiations between the Persian
Government and Soulet-ed-Dowleh for the opening of the main route from Bushire to
Shiraz, and on the state of this road and of the road from Shiraz to Ispahan during the
past few weeks.
It will be seen that since Soulet announced that the main Bushire-Shiraz route
was opened his measures for its protection have not sufficed to prevent robberies or to
secure the recovery of the stolen property, and that certain British traders hesitate to
use the road pending assurances from me that the Persian Government will be held
responsible for losses, assurances which, in the face of the official notification of last
spring as to the opening of the Jirreh road, I do not see my way to give until I can
obtain from the Persian Government an official announcement that the main route is
now open. So far I have not been able to extract this announcement.
Nevertheless it will be noticed that caravans are passing along this road
and also along the road from Shiraz to Ispahan, and no robberies have been
reported from any part of the road since the 5th December. This improvement
is due, no doubt, more to the cold weather than to the measures taken for the
security of the road, and Colonel Cox, in a despatch copy of which I enclose,
gives reasons for thinking that Soulet-ed-Dowleh’s co-operation with the Persian
Government for the protection of the main Bushire-Shiraz route will not be of
long duration. But, however Soulet-ed-Dowleh’s attitude may develop, Nizam-es-
Sultaneh, the new Governor-General of Pars, if the Persian Government perseveres
in its efforts to support him with troops and obtains the means of doing so by
accepting the Imperial Bank of Persia’s loan, should before the end of the winter
have behind him a force which should give him a fair chance of coping with the
situation without Soulet-ed-Dowleh’s aid.
In any case I think that while immunity from robberies on the Bushire-Ispahan
road, which has now lasted for three weeks, continues it would hardly be desirable that
we should begin to insist on the acceptance of our scheme for the policing of the
road.
I have been totally unable to induce the Minister for Foreign Affairs to entertain
the idea of spontaneously applying for our officers. He no doubt realises that British
Indian officers are specially suited to the work we propose should be entrusted to them,
but the apprehension that their engagement would provoke a demand from Russia for
analogous arrangements on some of the northern roads is so general that a proposal
for an application in the sense desired could have no chance of passing the Medjliss,
nor do I think that the Persian Government could be induced to accept our scheme by
the ordinary methods of diplomatic pressure.
I have, &c.
G. BARCLAY.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Memorandum by Major Stokes.
EARLY in November Soulet-ed-Dowleh arrived at Kazeroun at the request of the
Minister of the Interior, and negotiations by telegraph were immediately begun with
him for the opening up of the Kazeroun road to Bushire. While the negotiations were
proceeding, on the 14th November a very serious robbery by Boir Ahmadis (100 on
loot and 10 mounted) took place at Ak-Chashmeh, the point at which the Kazeroun
[1845 /—3]