File 52/1912 Pt 1 'Persia Diaries' [‎301r] (606/900)

The Deportation of Aga Mirza Ibrahim. —The Governor-General has ordered 20 th July,
Aga Mirza Ibrahim, one of the leaders of the agitation, to leave Meshed. He will
probably be allowed to return in the winter.
The Governor-General and M. Leleux. —The Governor-General has been threa- 23rd July,
tened that unless he helps M. Leleux, M. Mornard will stop his pay. In reply, he has
said that he will make a gift c>f his pay to the Persian Government: but that unless
the various departments receive their pay, he cannot rule the province.
The Journey of Mr. Evans. —Mr. Evans, lately in charge of the Kerman Tele- 25th July,
graph Section, has passed through Meshed. He is, so far as I know, the first
European to cross the Lut in summer. He describes the heat as terrific, and states
that there were numerous bands of robbers.
POLITICAL SUMMAKY.
State of the Province.—The news of the week is the departure of my colleague.
A week ago Captain Wilson was asked to attend a board, which decided that he
must leave for Russia without delay. He gives out that he will return in a month :
but Captain Wilson considers it unlikely that he will return to Persia.
I have heard from a reliable source that the General bitterly resented my visit
to the Shrine on the theory that it was theirs by right of conquest. He tried to
persuade my colleague to avoid this Consulate, and this was done by him for some
weeks. The General himself has never visited the Consulate since the bombard
ment The egregious Colonel Scourratt obtained a sword studded with jewels,
and much other loot. Part of this he had to give up, and he bears me a grudge for
this. My informant, who saw the sword, says that it was kept hidden away.
The above is from a reliable European, and corroborates previous information.
The Limits of the Bast. —The Bast has been restored to its original limits with
the exception of a covered bazaar. If the Persian Government are wise, they will
now limit it themselves, but this is unlikely.
State of the Roads. —The Berberis, who live in the Turbat-i-Sheikh Jam district,
have raided a village, belonging to the Malik-u-Tuj jar of Tehran. My colleague has
urged the Governor-General to take action, and sixty sowars have been sent.
Huseinzada is still holding Miandasht. He is levying blackmail and ransoms,
and states that he will build a bath with the proceeds.
Movements of Russian troops. —It is reported that in the autumn the Russian
garrison in Khorasan will be reduced from about two thousand to eleven hundred
men. The sotnia of Turkoman has already been sent back. This shows that there
is no intention of giving up Khorasan, and no doubt the Shah Sivand operations
afford a plausible excuse.
A par tv consisting of one officer and eight Cossacks, has visited the famous
natural fortress of Kalat-i-Nadiri, and surveyed it. Persians attach enormous im
portance to this remarkable natural wonder, which, m their hands, possesses no
military importance. .
The Governor-General is very bitter about the Russians, who are robbing
freelv both from shops and in the country. Some villagers have already been killed
both by stray bullets, and also by playing with unexploded shell of which quite a
number have been picked up. Perhaps, the greatest wrong inflicted is that the
villagers in some cases have been unable to reap their crops.
From the frontier near Chaacha, I hear that gardens planted fifty years ago
have been destroyed and that many hundreds of villagers are without food. As
there is a force of six hundred Russians marching from place to place, the peasants,
who are probably quite ignorant of the Protocol, are suffering terribly, even villages
being destroyed.
P. M. SYKES, Major,
His Majesty's Consul-Generals
I,
26 - 8 -
-26.—"J.N B.