'Précis of the Affairs of the Persian Coast and Islands, 1854-1905 By J A Saldanha, BA LL B' [‎96r] (191/212)

1 79
able opportunity, and that it should be clearly stipulated that the charges now
imposed should not be increased without the consent of the British Government,
and that within a. reasonable time they should be replaced by a new scale
after consultation with the British Government.
682. Copies of the above correspondence were forwarded to Sir A. Hardin^e
for iniormation and guidance on 2nd December 1901. But there is nothing
to show in the records what further action was taken. ^
(c) Introduction of new Customs Tariff, 1903.
6S3. Ever since 1828 the trade relations of Persia with foreign countries
except i urkey, had been practically governed by the treaty of Turkomanchai!
which provided for a 5 per cent, ad valorem duty on Russian imports, and every
Western country, including England, had been content from that time to stipu
late for the insertion in its treaties with Persia of a most-favoured-nation clause,
under which it could claim the same commercial treatment which had been
granted to Russia. The hold over Persia, which the conditions of the loan of
1900 had conferred upon Russia, now gave the latter an opportunity for obtain
ing an absolute contiol of the fiscal policy of Persia with regard to foreign trade,
and when the recklessness of the i^hah compelled him in 1901 to seek further
financial assistance from Kussia, he was only too willing to consent to a revision
of the customs tariff, which, it was promised, would double his customs reve
nue. Accordingly, a Mons. Goluboff, of the Russian Department of Finance r
was sent to Tehran to arrange for the revision of article 3 of the Separate
Compact referred to in the treaty of Turkomanchai, in accordance with an
arrangement arrived at the previous summer with M. de Witte. The importance
of not permitting the changes in the tariff to be arranged between Russia and
Persia alone was recognised by Lord Curzon, who in his telegram of 1st October
1901 mcluded among the conditions on which India would advance a loan, one
requiring the contemplated changes in the Persian tariff to be submitted for the
assent of the Government of India, and this condition was substantially embo
died in the offer made to Persia in November by His Majesty's Government.
For other reasons, as already explained, the English loan was declined, but this
condition alone would have been sufficient to prevent the negotiations taking form
in that shape when the circumstance, not known till more than a year later, is
stated that the new Commercial Convention was actually signed at Tehran by
the Persian and Russian plenipotentiaries as early as November 9th, 1901, in
spite of the fact that on numerous occasions since July 1900 His Majesty's
Government had expressed through the British Minister their strong objections
to the proposed increase of duty on tea, and had intimated to the Shah that
they expected, in view of our great commercial interests in Persia, that the
Russian Government would not finally decide on the new tariff without therrt.
The secret was well kept, and the Persian Government allowed the British
Minister to remain under the belief that the matter was still unconcluded.
684. The deception was also maintained after the Shah had left Tehran in
April 1902 for a tour in Europe, which was to include a visit to England, and in*
August of that year the Marquis of Lansdowne had a conversation with the
Atabeg-i-Azam in London in which the latter went so far as to say that he would
not definitely conclude the tariff without first enabling His Majesty's Govern
ment to call attention to any provisions which might be calculated to inflict special
injury upon British trade, and with this object would afford them unofficially
the means of forming a judgment on the question, although in a written
version of the conversation, he afterwards limited his promise to engaging to
give us the means of forming a judgment about the equal incidence of the
tariff upon all countries alike. Similarly, His Majesty the Shah (when stress
was laid by Lord Lansdowne upon the importance of not coming to any
settlement before the British Government had had an opportunity of stating
their case) himself expressed the hope that Lord Lansdowne would explain
to the Persian Government the objections which were entertained to the new
scale of duties.
• This account is taken from Mr. Persian Summary,