'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎2] (33/714)

PERSIA
and cheered as the latest soeial lion. The public was dimly aware that
ntives of hieher policy were at work, and that the monarch who was
bronght in state up the Thames, and feted at the Guildhall, and con
ducted on a business -like progress through the pnncipa manufactunng
centres of the kingdom, was both an ally of the Ent.sh nation and an
important factor in the determination of our policy in the East. Even
those who knew or cared little for Imperial politics were conscious that
Persia is a country providing an extensive and profitable market for
English and Anglo -Indian trade, and that on the most mercenary
"rounds, if on no other, a good understanding with its ruler is in the
highest degree desirable. At the same time in spite of the general
recognition of the uncommon significance of the visit and of the
practical expediency of a hearty welcome, there were ™t wanting
symptoms both in the press and in the House of Commons that there
were many who misunderstood, or could not read, the signs of the
times • .and it was more than hinted that there was something ridicu
lous in making such a lively fuss about a monarch who probably de-
spised these tokens of interested attachment, and from whom nothing
could be expected in return. The true bearing in its many and
momentous ramifications of the Persian question was but imperfectly
grasped ; and what is in reality a problem of the most abstruse states
manship was discussed as though it were a casual obligation to be
decently discharged and then conveniently forgotten.
It is in the belief that such an impression exists, and with the con
viction that it both is mistaken and may be disastrous, that I propose
to describe, from the evidence of my own eyes in Persia
itself, the character and dimensions of the Persian problem,
Persian anf | indicate to English readers what is their stake in that
question distaut coim try ; why they are compelled to regard its policy
and development with such acute concern ; what is the meaning and
what may be the results of a Persian alliance ; and why it is so im
possible to treat either the ruler or his people with polite indifference.
There are many questions which in the course of my narrative will, 1
hope, come under examination. Such will be the present policy of the
Shah's Government, the character, quality, virtues, or vices of the
Persian Administration, the likelihood of reforms resulting from the
European tour of the sovereign, the question of the succession to the
throne, the strength and possible utility of the army, the opening for
railroad enterprise in Persia, the political sympathies of the people, the
relative degrees of influence possessed by Russia and Great Britain,
the designs and ambitions of the two Powers, the meaning and signifi
cance of the Khorasan question, and the alleged danger to British
commercial competition in the different provinces of the Shah s
dominions. The late Sir C. MacGregor, when travelling in Persia in