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File 6/1912 Part 1 'Persia: Shiraz affairs; attack on Mr Smart; Swedish gendarmerie' [453r] (399/472)
The record is made up of 1 item (236 folios). It was created in Jan 1912-Jun 1912. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
Immediate.
^
_
. ‘ — ■ - '"•~T~y
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.
,
1 st January 1912.
Sir,
. 1 am tllrecte d '-y the Secretary of State for India to forward, for the
information of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, copy of a telegram
that has been received from the Government of India regarding the situation
created m Southern Persia by the attack on Mr. Vice-Consul Smart, and the
measures necessitated thereby.
It would seem that matters have now reached a point at which it is
impossible to take action in any direction without raising the whole question
of British policy in Persia. This is a question primarily for His Majesty’s
Government, and it is subject to this consideration that the following remarks
are offered.
I am first to observe that what appears to be of pressing importance is
the situation at Shiraz. Whatever may be done at Bushire in the way of
landing troops and seizing the customs, what has to be faced is the
probability that before the end of March Shiraz will be surrounded by
15,000 tribesmen in a fighting temper. The immediate objective of our
policy must, therefore, be to prevent a contingency that might threaten
Shiraz, Ispahan, and lezd with a common disaster. The Government of
India are rightly opposed to the despatch to Shiraz of a battalion of infantry
and a mountain battery. The policy of sending small bodies of men through
highly disturbed country to the danger of which attention has more than
once been called by this Office has alread}?' been shown to be futile, and is
largely responsible for the present situation.
The alternative proposed by the Government of India is to hold Bushire
with a battalion until redress has been received from the Persian Govern
ment ; to send 5,000 men to Shiraz, in the event of its isolation; and to bring
away the detachments already there, the British Consul, and any British
subjects who may wish to come. Assuming that the policy of His Majesty’s
Government is still to maintain a strong and independent Persia, this
proposal has much that at first sight is attractive and that might seem to
counterbalance the grave disadvantages that must necessarily attend any
withdrawal. But on examination it appears itself to be attended by
disadvantages no less grave. In the first place it involves postponing
until Shnaz is actually m danger a measure which it will probably
take two months to carry out. In the second place, it involves the
occupation and partial administration of Bushire for an indefinite time. It
would be impossible to send the British Consul back to Shiraz and to
evacuate Bushire until the Persian Government had inflicted upon the
tribesmen that condign punishment which the Government of India
regard as a difficult and dangerous operation for 5,000 men of the
Indian Army. The Persian Government, even if they had a free hand,
The Under Secretary of State,
Foreign Office.
S. 127.
I
About this item
- Content
Part 1 consists of correspondence relating to insecurity in southern Persia, particularly around Shiraz and along the Shiraz-Bushire roads. The papers tell of the British response to the situation, covering the following matters:
- the decision of whether to arm Shiraz or to evacuate the city;
- concern over Russia filling the gap left by the British were they to evacuate;
- the situation on the ground, conveyed in several reports;
- the proposal to occupy Bushire with a battalion and to subsidize local chiefs to maintain the roads;
- the Persian Government plan to employ Swedish officers to command and train a gendarmerie along some of the roads;
- British claims for reparation from the Persian Government following an attack on the Shiraz Consul, Mr Smart, and his escort;
- the question of providing winter quarters for Indian troops in Shiraz should they have remain there for the season.
The discussion over such matters is mostly between the Foreign Office, 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. , War Office, Government of India, and Minister at Tehran. Further correspondence, included as enclosures, is from Percy Zachariah Cox, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
Included is memorandum on the situation in Southern Persia by J E F, Political Department, 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. , 16 February 1912.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (236 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front.
The subject 6 (Persia) consists of this one volume. The volume is divided into two parts.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/197/1
- Title
- File 6/1912 Part 1 'Persia: Shiraz affairs; attack on Mr Smart; Swedish gendarmerie'
- Pages
- 254r:289v, 290v:305v, 306v:446v, 447v:489v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence