Persia Telegrams (Foreign Office) [‎193r] (13/36)

for is security of life and
[ministration, and to know
How local newspapers and
?ress were no longer bo be
,o assist Persia in arranging
a confident we should have
re going very well for the
rnment of India’s telegram
- to draft agreements and
?cond paragraphs in your '
ither it is policy of "His
[sic], and will not amount
femonstration by Xasvin
self-seeking democrats in
ise committed necessarily
33t we could get, but in
change, though l should
. interests, and I cannot
precisely contrary to that
opportunity country will
a large scale. If we do
ces shape.
probabilities of spread of
ons. Up to now there has
view, but surely at this
it of several more Swedes,
information that hospital
p us, and German school
itself shows improvement
9 30 a.m.)
Paris, May 2, 1919.
(May 2, 9*40 p.m.) 1
^ersia can possibly claim
Persia of territory which
by enemy Power or by a
r [? and] revolution. In
aims part of Schleswig ,*
*abia.
iguous to Persia which
Jaijan are not Persian in
t part, I believe, Sunni
r h. It seems to me that
3 y part of Azerbaijan to
' this course on her own
dons of frontier to meet
ial arrangement.
be p acTider nriU' f ^ ^ might appeal to Conference is that she desires to
f ) p t u n °T f a niaudator y Power subject like other mandatory Powers
i some shape or other to League of Nations. To me it seems quite inconceivable
that J ersia should ever consent to take such a step. It would be a derogation from a
IccZr °Oiil^adva' 1 ! 111 which sbe wo ] ,ld ^^r consent, I imagine, to
D Uv advantage of even mentioning such a scheme is that it may help to
brmg home to Persia consciousness of realities of their position.
onininn ^ 8 ?® ms to be \ eT y, ^perfectly apprehended by Persian public
opmion. i ersian public seem to think they are doing us a favour when they borrow
^ deman ' ° Ur assistanc 1 ^ ^nd that when we comply with their requests
jy lending them assistance we are illegitimately trespassing upon their rights of full
national independence. 1 his is an intolerable attitude. If they can get on alone let them
m Heaven s name repay us what they owe and henceforward manage their own affairs in
1111 ° ) vvu wa 7’ provided of course that managing their own affairs does not mean
surrendering themselves to control of some other Power. For my own part I should like
to see them asking for a conference to place them under a mandatory, as I cannot conceive
anybody who had not our interests in India would be foolish enough to accept this
thankless and expensive task. If neither France nor America would accept it now
L* ta .Y naturally put. out of the question], we may feel tolerably certain that they will
not accept it at a later period, for unless I am greatly mistaken it will gradually daw r n
upon civilised mankind that exercise of mandatory powers is not of necessity either
lucrative or agreeable.
I he moral of these reflections is that we should endeavour m our diplomacy with
1 eisia to { ? make] it clear that our policy is to give favours, not to ask them. That if
the Shah or his people, or both, think that they can get on without our aid they are
welcome io no so, but th.at, if they want to call in any other Power, we could only
tolerate this il policies were carried out in regular fashion and Persia were prepared to
place herself under the protection of some mandatory which should hold, like others,
mandatories from league of Nations. Present system of spending our money and our
energies to keep Persia on her legs, getting nothing in exchange except attacks from
those Persians who lay special claims to patriotism, seems to me quite intolerable. It
should be our aim to convince them that we desire to encourage every form of
Persian independence, except that Oriental form which consists in maintaining a false
appearance of stability by dexterously balancing opposing interests of Western
Powers; and that only reward or desire is that on western frontier of Afghanistan and
India we should have a neighbour friendly, orderly, prosperous, and peaceful.
rr
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