Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎47r] (93/544)

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Mr, Oliphant said that the Persian Minister had further told
him that he thought that if we held out a prospect of getting enough
troops to secure the Hamadan road, and promised not to keep the
South Persia Rifles as a Biitish force, but to let them be a force
under the Persian Government, we should shortly see an administra
tion at Teheran which was friendly to us.
General Macdonogh said that the views of the War Office were
very much in sympathy with those of Mr. Montagu. We had,
however, forces in South Persia and they must have a proper
commander. Sykes’ present position was impossible ; this position
must first he relieved and we should then proceed to negotiate.
Mr. Shuckburgh said that, as he pointed out in his memorandum,
it was necessary to decide under whose control Svkes would be, and
he asked whether he was to be free to undertake operations without-
consulting the General Commanding the British Corps, who would
certainly be required to come to his assistance if he got into difficulties.
Mr. Montagu proposed that we should let it be known to
Samsam-es-Sultaneh and to Vossugh that should any Government be
formed which would be prepared to negotiate with us, we would
engage to hand over the South Persia Rifles in return for an alliance.
The Chairman thought this larger question could not he settled
that afternoon. He would, however, ask the Committee to assemble
as e.irly as possible the following week in order to go into the matter
more fully. The new military commander should, in his view, be
under the Indian Government, who should be informed that this'
was a temporary expedient only, and that he should not be above
the rank of Brigadier-General. In the meantime, Sykes should
have no regular troops under his command, but would remain the
head of the South Persia Rifles. He was not quite clear, however,
as to the wisdom of putting Sykes under Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). Firma, as it was
not certain how he would then stand vis-d-vis Marling and Gough.
He would like the Foreign Office and the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , in consulta
tion, to prepare, for the information of the Committee, a note
indicating clearly what Sykes’s political position ought to be.
Mr. Balfour thought that his position would be that he would
command the South Persia Rifles, who would continue to be paidby
us, and he would not be under the new General or Marling, but
under Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). Firma.
Mr. Montagu said that he agreed to this as a temporary
expedient only, and that he would also agree that Sykes should be
under the Government of India, pending the discussion as to what
was to he the fate of the South Persia Rifles, and that Sykes should
have with him an officer who should be a liaison with the new General.
The Chairman pointed out, with reference to Mr. Montagu’s
suggestion that Marling should be replaced by an Indian Political
Officer at Teheran, that the Persian Government regarded the
Government of India with a good deal of suspicion. Marling was
at present Sykes’s Political Chief, and now to make that chief the
Viceroy would certainly alarm the Government at Teheran. He
thought that Sykes in his political capacity should be left alone for
the time being.
Mr. Balfour said tint, granted that we can achieve only a
moderate success on the Western front, and if we could secure the
Hamadan road, we would have very little more trouble with Teheran.
Mr. Oliphant assumed that the troops now at Bondar Abbas
and Bushire would not be moved towards Shiraz.
General Macdonogh thought they would probably be moving
almost at once. He reminded the Committee that military opera
tions in that part were to be towards Daliki and Kazerun, and
further, the Wai Cabinet had thought that two battalions should-be
sent to reinforce Sykes, and, indeed, had decided they should go to
Bushire in deference to the views of the Commander-in-chief in
India. There seemed to be no point in their remaining at Bushire
for another three months in an almost impossible climate.