‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [‎246v] (500/617)

oonoern and that we Teel no hesitation in appealing to Her Majesty’s Government
for a frank and generous recognition of this common responsibility.
8 The telegraphic interests of Great Britain in Persia may be said to he
evenly divided between the mother-country and India. Por whilst on the one
hand the wires that have been constructed between the north-west frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. and
Tehran, and which provide the earlier link in the Persian section of the main
overland connection with the East, are in the hands of a Company whose
domicile is in London, from Tehran onwards to the Gulf the undertaking is
conducted by an establishment that is recruited and paid for by the Govern
ment of India, while its head-quarters are in the India. Office _ in London.
This two-fold system exists in order to maintain a connection which may be
said to be equally British and Indian, since it is equally indispensable to the
interests of both countries; but which also has an ulterior and wider scope,
inasmuch as the Trans-Persian wires, and the sub-marine cables by which they
are supplemented in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , are largely utilised for the conveyance
of messages between Great Britain and places lying beyond India, notably the
Australasian Colonies. Prom a calculation based upon the aggregate results
of the past five years, we have ascertained that no less than 30 per cent of
the total traffic is of this description. Nevertheless the cost, in so far as it is
borne by either Government, devolves exclusively upon the Indian, and not
upon the Home, Exchequer.
9. Such are the main interests of Great Britain in Persia. It will be
observed that the shares that may be claimed by the mother-country and by
India in the sum total of those interests, have in the passage of time become so
interwoven and fused as to render the task of separating or distinguishing them
neither easy nor profitable. It may not be difficult, as we shall endeavour to
argue later on, to distinguish between sources of expenditure which should more
properly fall to the charge of the one or the other partner. But we maintain
that enough has been said to prove that on the broad field of international policy
Persia is not exclusively an Indian interest, but is emphatically an Imperial
interest of Great Britain ; and that the latter should be prepared to exert her full
strength for the defence of that interest, should it be jeopardised or impugned.
10. In discussing the manner in which it is desirable that these principles, if
accepted, should be carried into action, we are anxious at the outset to make our
position, in one respect, perfectly clear. We have no desire to make an addition
to the political or territorial responsibilities of India, for which we have not, under
existing conditions, the means either in money or in men. We are not about to
propose that there should be established any Protectorate, open or covert, over
any part of the Shah s dominions, that might compel us in the future to hold
that mhH Pin 80 ^j 10 ( f eC ^ 1 J ^ ^° T rc€ i °* arms * ^ e can conceive of circumstances
thkkwf'L ,!? 6 ' eml , ^ t le ! udiau and thc Home Governments from
Ermine were if 'I wou ^ 1,1 a case where the vital interests of the
are still nnnrennr^ 6 ’ifff US + i t0 consll ! er a burden for which our shoulders
to makirm sdre il or ,J bc ]ri'esent. our ambitions arc exclusively limited
to n“ ventlf it foi lr 1? ereSt a Wlll ? h 7° have alread y built up, and still more
result not onfv of Too U m enmned - or taken from us by others, with the
detriment to^ulkr^ f f-T’ P 0siti -
status auo in Persia •/ ’ v 111 n ? c ^ esir c to disturb the political
as it is to invest it with H ^ 1 Can maintained. We prefer indeed, weak
we press C an Lty declionfndTor JlT 7 r be “ P ° ssible - But
selves, there is sroorl reason -Pat. -p • ac ^ lon ’ sm ce, unless we bestir our-
he disturbed by^ others'to our disadvantage. ^ alread y trem bling balance may
interests in^Persia, asthey mesent'f f pi ° 1 ture the Present state of British
dangers by which thev ;nn Jir t i 1 ® mse ^' es bf °ur eyes, and to examine the
tain^exlent u^n ih" ‘ llreat ,f! ed - M. -Durand has to a cer-
the same ground as that nhidi " ' ’ :Ull lu 80 ^ ar as he has touched upon
S ounu as that vhich we propose to cover, we shall not recapitulate

‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [‎246v] (500/617)

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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [‎246v] (500/617)

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