File 6/1912 Part 1 'Persia: Shiraz affairs; attack on Mr Smart; Swedish gendarmerie' [‎481r] (455/472)

CONFIDENTIAL.
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edicard Grey.—[Received January 5, 3 p.m.)
(No. 20.)
id
MY telegram No. 9 fof 2nd January].
Tehran, January 5, 1912, 2 p.m.
M
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Following is the reply of the acti ng consul at Shiraz :—
“ 1 fear that, in my opinion, Smart’s telegram in no way lessens the gravity of
position. It deals with only two subjects—the commencement of an attack which was
afterwards taken up generally by numbers of armed men from every tower and village
along 8 miles of road as well as others on the hill-sides, and Persian casualties, which
were undoubtedly small.
“ As regards attack, I would point out that the country in which this occurred is
most advantageous to our troops between Bushire plain and Shiraz, and, in spite of
this, they suffered very severely, and their Maxim, from which at least moral effect
might have been expected, was found, when used for first 3 miles of rear-guard
action, more of an encumbrance than a help. We are thus faced with the conclusion
that when attack in plain can be so serious it would undoubtedly be fatal in the hills.
It is now also certain that in every armed man on or near the road we have a potential
enemy. I am not at present in close enough communication with Douglas to say how
his views have matured, but to me it still appears frankly impossible that we shou d
again move escort on the road until punitive measures have been taken.
“ As it is, in both these affairs and, in a less degree, in that at Aminabad we have
come off very noticeably second best, so that it can* hardly be possible now that tribes
man realises that he can score off us in this manner that he will stop theie.
“ There are, so far as 1 can compute, from 50,000 to 60,000 tribesmen m Fars,
whose rapidly increasing truculence and freedom from restraint I have dwelt on
strongly in all my fuller reports. These have already acquired experience that
European travellers can be attacked on the roads with the same hberty as Persian
muleteers, and if they are left under the impression that considerable bodies of Britis
troops can be attacked with similar impunity and success I do not think that we need
wait for long for result. Y^ou of course know as well as I how entirely impotent the
Persian Government is in Fars, and even if local magnates can by fair words get
something out of Mohammed Ali Khan, this is likely to be little more than the execution
of a couple of scapegoats acceptable to himself, and will not go far towards repairing
the t^oYXod-feuds that we have to fear. Had there
been any Lth Tn Minister for Foreign Affairs’ 100 killed (and I am at a loss
to imagine whence he got his information, since from 26th December to SOthDecember
have, I am sure, cied to risk aueJl loss
again.”
I postpone comment until I have talked with Smart and Douglas by telegraph.
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