ملف ٣٥١٦\١٩١٤ الجزء ٧ "الحرب الألمانية: بلاد فارس" [و‎‎٧‎٤] (٥١٩/١٥٢)

'ff ■] :
[This Document is the Property .of His Britaimic Majesty’s Government]
[July 1.]
Section 1.
Mr. Marling to Sir Edward Grey.—(Beceived July 1.)
(No. 86.)
Sir, Tehran, June 10, 1915.
THERE can be little doubt that one of the factors that have enabled the German
propaganda in Persia to gain so strong a hold on popular sentiment has been the
attitude of the Swedish gendarmerie officers, and yet I am nearly convinced from the
conversations I have had with some of them that they have been until recently quite
unaware of the responsibility they must bear for the present state of affairs in Persia.
Taking ail the circumstances of the case attending the position of the Swedes into
account, it seems to me that this result was almost inevitable. On their arrival they
soon saw, and indeed it must have been impressed upon them, that if their task was to
be successfully carried on they must make their own personality felt, or, in other words,
disregard in a very large measure the orders they might receive from the Persian
authorities, and the result has been the creation of a disciplined force scattered over the
most important trade routes and centres of Persia, practically independent of the
Persian Government, and at the sole orders of the Swedes. They have received the
financial support of ourselves and the Russians, and have learnt to spend lavishly, and
when our subventions failed have on one or two occasions forcibly appropriated Govern
ment funds destined for other purposes. They have thus acquired an immense prestige
in the eyes of the natives. ■ _ . .
When the war broke out the Swedes had a bond of sympathy with the Persians m
their dislike of Russia, and very naturally expressed their confidence, or at least their
hope, that Russia would be defeated by the vast military power of Germany, and so the
ground was prepared for the seed of the Turco-German propaganda. Ihe Swedes also
were very industriously cultivated by the German Legation, and when the German
agents, who now overrun so large a part of Persia, arrived, what more natural than that
the Swedes should give assistance to their friends’ friends by facilitating their journeys,
providing escorts, &c. Escorts, it must be remembered, are provided nr dangerous
districts by the gendarmerie to any European who may demand it, and with therr wrsh
to be friendly, the Swedes without doubt have been sometimes, but not, I concede, by
any means always,! very useful auxiliaries to the German agents. In t e case
of Prince Reuss XXXL and M. Logotheti, their good offices converted therr
Excellencies journey in a sort of royal progress, but rn the crrcumstances, R was hard
for them as neutrals to refuse every assistance to forergn diplomats, and Major de are,
who had travelled all the way from Constantinople with the Austrran and German
representatives, realising that it behoved him not to be too close y r err r e v r em,
left his companions at Bagdad so as to save appearances. T re resu was no v ra re
had intended ; for he was looked upon as a sort of courier sent fo ma e arrangemen s
for the reception of the German and Austrian representatives—which he undoubted y
did. Still there does not seem to be anything in what they did to which serious
exception could be taken, had the circumstances been normal but the Swedes are still
very young in Persian experience and their lack of capacitv to understand the effect
which their intimacy with the Germans and Turks and their incautious language about
the war would produce on Ihe native mind has only too oiten led them into mdisci
of word and deed. „ „ . . . r v, OC! , r£ir xr
Wassmuss has been particularly successful in making use of th ®“, I'M M
considerable influence with the Gernmnophde Governor of Shiraz, a nd tWe can be , o
doubt that he has employed it to induce Mukhbir-us-Sultaneh to call on the gendaru e
to take action against the local Khans in whose welfare we are interested. Then when
an expedition of this kind was decided on, what more natural than that Consul
Wassmuss, finding the business— commercial, of course—takes him in the same 'region
should accompany his Swedish friend. This is the way in which the Swedes represen
their action, and it is a plausible enough defence. „ , , t ften
But I fear that it is beyond question that in the south the Swedes hare too ott
been actuated by a feeling of pique agai nst ourselves m tbV' . jT' 'frbf ifTIte
their German friends. Again, this feeling s ‘ems-tu iilb U ha.b had ^.s or 0 ‘1
[2454 a —1]
Copy to India
23 JUL1915