نسخة مذيلة من "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" بقلم جورج كرزون، مع أوراق مدرجة [ظ‎‎٨‎٦‎٣] (١٨١٤/١٧٤٣)

PERSIA
v
588
cannot be expected to prove of engrossing interest to English leaders ,
but it may be well to remember that the country is so placed geo
graphically midway between Europe and India, that it can hardly fail
to play an important part in the future history of the East > and that
the condition of its people, therefore, and the temper of its Govern
ment, are entitled to the attention of thoughtful inquirers in a degree
altogether disproportioned to the space which the dominions of the
Shah occupy on the map of the world, or the rank which Persia holds
in the scale of nations. The Persia of to-day is not, it is true, the
Persia of Darius, nor even is it the Persia of Shah Abbas the Great ;
but it is a country which, for good or for ill, may powerfully affect the
fortunes of Great Britain’s Empire in the East, and which requires,
therefore, to be studied by our statesmen with care, with patience, and,
above all, with indulgent consideration.
This language is the utterance neither of apology nor of ex
aggeration. It is a faithful statement of the truth.
In discussing the respective policies of the two Powers in
Persia. I know that I am approaching an international question of
p f ce some delicacy which, in the case of a writer belonging to
to discus- either nationality, it is difficult to treat with complete
rivai° f freedom from bias. My previous writings, however, will,
policies j } 10 p e5 b aV e absolved me from the charge of Russophobia ;
and in this case it will equally be my endeavour to handle the sub
ject fairly and with justice to those whose interests in the East
undoubtedly clash with our own. I shall put out of recollection
the fact that Russia has to a considerable extent usurped the posi
tion, power, and prestige at the Persian Court which in the earlier
years of this century were exclusively in British hands, because I
conceive that the transformation, upon which our rivals are entitled
to congratulate themselves, so far from being a ground for legiti
mate offence, is a condition of affairs for which our own policy,
weak in its conception and calamitous in its results, has been
mainly responsible; and that to cry over spilt milk is as futile an
expedient in politics as it is in any other walk of life. It is suffi
cient to admit that the successive conquests of Russia, and her
subsequent policy, pursued in Persia with much industry, if with
no superabundant scruple, have placed her in a position where she
exercises a powerful control over Persian affairs, and requires to be
consulted in any readjustment of Persia’s political relations. More
to my immediate purpose will it be to discuss the extent to
which that control actually or in prospect amounts, and the
i
i
6
«
Hussi aI !
absoy""
0 f Persian
soil
By the ^
province^
Shirvafli
Perbend
any arm*
Turkom*
Erivan,
Eclimiac
Since th
the two
tinned i
stealthil
recent \
congrat
of Pers
reign,
ward t\
Russiai
against
could t
good oj
the Pei
it has
selves)
of Rus
The p?
of Kai
--all t
fty chi
is still
of the
1881,