"بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي من إعداد السيد المحترم جورج ناثانييل كورزون، عضو البرلمان." [‎٦‎١‎٤] (٧١٤/٦٨٣)

014
PERSIA
great altitude and steepness, ranging from 4,000 to 8,000 feet in
height, and being as a rule so precipitous that even mule traffic
upon them is not unattended with danger. Herein lies a preli
minary obstacle, conquerable indeed by engineers, but only at a
hazardous cost to the pocket either of Government or of share
holders. It is not. however, by the impediments of Nature one
half so much as by the selfish impulses of man that the introduction
of railways into Persia has hitherto been retarded. The question
has been, and is still, one not of science but of statesmanship; and
is debated not m the offices of engineers and contractors, but in
the cabinets of ministers and the chancelleries of ambassadors.
In the hands of these parties, and wrapped in a perpetual mist of
conspiracy and intrigue, the railway movement in Persia has for
over twenty years been generally in a semi-animate and sometimes
m an acute condition. If the correspondence thereupon that
has passed from the various legations in Teheran to the great
capitals of Europe, and more especially to St. Petersburg and
London, were collected, it would provide a bonfire that would blaze
for a week. A brief history of its leading incidents will enable
us to understand, more quickly than would any other method, the
reason why no ' Bradshaw ' has ever yet been able to devote a page
to the time-table of Persian railways.
Ihe famous Renter concession in 1872 was not the first railway
concession that had been granted and signed by the Persian Govern-
TheRenter ment - Concessionaries of various nationalities had already
Concession been at work, and between 1865 and 1871 a French, a
Geiman, an Austrian, and an English syndicate had suc
cessively been authorised to proceed. These schemes came to
nothing, being of unsound origin, or sufficient capital not being sub
scribed m response to the appeal. Then came the notorious Reuter
agreement, that literally took away the breath of Europe and handed
over the entire resources of Persia to foreign hands for a period of
seventy years. Included in this gigantic monopoly, the remaining
features of which I have elsewhere described, was the immediate
construction of a railroad from the Caspian to the Persian Gulf
and the exclusive right of building all other railways in Persia.'
and for the requisite building purposes was to be given by the
te, free of cost, as also were sand, gravel, and stone. No duties
were to be levied upon either the materials or the men emploved.
he Government was to receive twenty per cent, of the net profits,