نسخة مذيلة من "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" بقلم جورج كرزون، مع أوراق مدرجة [ظ‎‎٨‎٨‎٢] (١٨١٤/١٧٨١)

626
PERSIA
and Meshed and the adjoining Residency at Baghdad are Indian,
both in appointment and pay; 1 as the Telegraph Department in
Persia is subordinate to the Indian, and not to the Home Govern
ment ; and as, in the event of British troops being required or t le
defence of Persia, Bombay, and not Portsmouth, would be the port
of embarkation. It is also true that the conditions of service and
life in Persia are more analogous to those of Hindustan than to the
customs of European courts or cities, that the Persian language is
more likely to be known by members of the Indian Civil or
Military Services than by Foreign Office attaches, and that the
latter are sometimes disposed to regard Teheran as a penal settle
ment, to be tolerated only with sullen mortification. It is, I think,
less true than may formerly have been the case, that Indian
interests in Persia are shelved or postponed in deference to the
needs of European diplomacy. On the other hand, while the above
considerations suggest a larger infusion of the Indian element than
at present prevails, I am strongly of opinion that the broad ques
tion of control must be decided in favour of Downing Street rather
than of Calcutta. The introduction into Persia of the electric
telegraph, the visits of the Shah to Europe, and above all the
menacing attitude of Russia on the north, have brought Persia
distinctly within the purview of European politics, and render it
impossible for British diplomacy in that country to be regulated
upon strictly Indian lines. The Persian Question has become a
branch of the great Eastern Question, that simultaneously agitates
the cabinets of London, St. Petersburg, and Constantinople. The
British Minister at Teheran must be in constant correspondence
with the British Ambassadors at the two latter capitals. The
presence of accredited representatives of the principal European
Powers at the court of the Shah is a further evidence of the extent
to which Persia has been lifted out of a purely Asiatic environment
and is now regarded as a piece upon the international chess-board.
I do not doubt that the Shah himself would regard it as an affront
fio his dignity were any proposal now made to restore the Teheran
- 1 The appointments at Bushire, Meshed, and Baghdad are the result of a
'curious sort of compromise between the contending parties. The nominations
are made by the Indian Government, but the appointments hail from the Foreign
Office. To exemplify the twofold arrangement the occupants of all three posts
are designated Itesidents or Political Agents in their relations with India, but
Consuls-General in their relations with Whitehall. This peculiar sj^stem works
well.
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