"بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي من إعداد السيد المحترم جورج ناثانييل كورزون، عضو البرلمان." [‎١‎٧‎١] (٧١٤/٢٠٦)

MESHED
171
Meshed. Such a concession having been made to the Eussians
could not, of course, be denied to the British, and General Mac
lean, who had for some time most ably represented the Indian
Government on the Perso-Afghan frontier, received simultaneously
his appointment as Consul-General, and, arriving at his post a
short time before his Russian colleague, was the doyen of the limited
Diplomatic Corps that had thus been called into being at the
capital of Khorasan.
The Russian Government had for some time made preparations
for this eventuality. Their native agent had acquired a large
Russian house, standing in spacious surroundings, in a suitable
Consulate q uar ter of the city, and into this abode, well qualified to
furnish the official residence of the representative of a great
sovereign, M. Vlassof at once moved. The Russian flag floated
above the doorway. A small bodyguard of four Russian Cossacks,
as well as the Persian guard assigned to both Consuls by the
Government, preceded the Consul when he moved abroad, and
the native population of Meshed, whose fanaticism turned out to
be a very negative quantity, were speedily habituated to the
presence of the foreign element which made so brave a display.
There can be no question that the presence of a capable Russian
official and staff, and the impression produced by ample surround
ings and an imposing abode must have done much to augment
Russian influence in the capital, and, if that influence is some
times exercised with an abrupt and imperious insistence, the
effect, even though it be the reverse of welcome to those on whom
it is produced, will not thereby have been lessened in intensity.
A vigorous Russian representative at Meshed is a visible symbol
of the great Power whose movements and intentions form the
subject of conversation in every Oriental bazaar, and whose ever-
swelling shadow, witnessed with a sort of paralysed quiescence by
the native peoples, looms like a thunder-cloud over the land.
In one of my ' Times' letters I wrote as follows : It is to be
regretted that so far the British Government has not been able to
British house its representative in a similarly becoming fashion.
Consulate Preparations for such a contingency had not been made,
as in the rival case, long beforehand; and the building which now
bears the insignia of the British Consulate, and flies the Biitish
flag, is one that affords the scantiest possible evidence of the
rank and importance of its inmate. It is little short of disci edit-