File 948/1909 'Persia: Situation in the South; Condition of the Roads. Attack on Mr Bill. Road Guard Scheme.' [‎71r] (146/744)

jmaDocgment is the Property of His Britannic Majesty, !
PERSIA.
-^CONFIDENTIAL.
[December 19.]
SliCTION H.
[45636] No. 1.
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received December 19 )
(No. 214.)
qtjyvdtitv rx ^ i Tehran, November'20, 1910.
brlUKlLY alter the news reached Tehran of the meeting held some weeks ago
at Constantinople to protest against the action of England and Russia in Persia, an
attempt was made to organise a similar demonstration here. An anonymous circular
was widely distributed, calling on all true patriots to meet on the 17th November in the
Artillery Square to demonstrate against the continued presence of Russian troops, and
against the British note respecting the condition of the South. At the appointed time a
few hundred persons having assembled, the principal mujtehed declared the proceedings
opened, and several speakers proceeded to address the audience on the subject of Persia’s
alleged wrongs. The action of England and Russia was characterised by the various
speakers as directed towards the termination of Persia’s independence, and the convic
tion was expressed that the attitude adopted by His Majesty’s Government towards
this country by no means affected the sympathetic feelings of the British nation
towards Persia.^ The meeting, however, did not evoke much patriotic enthusiasm among
the somewhat indifferent gathering, and though the local press has endeavoured to
make much of it as a great popular demonstration, it seems to have been a complete
failure.
There seems little doubt that the whole thing was organised by the local
journalistic leaders, perhaps encouraged by the militant Nationalist element in the
Assembly, as they have been extremely noisy of late in their attacks on Russia and
England, especially since the publication of my note of the 14th October, respecting the
southern roads.
The suggestions which have been made, not only in the German press but in such
papers as the “ Daily News,” the “ Daily Graphic,” and the “ Manchester Guardian,”
as to the recent note being the forerunner of the partition of Persia by Great Britain
and Russia have not fallen unheeded in this country. The articles have been trans
lated and published in full, while the comments thereon have, in some cases, been even
more exaggerated than those which appeared in the English papers above-mentioned.
As a natural corollary to the anti-British and anti-Russian clamour now prevailing,
the local press contains frequent references to the possibility of inducing Germany, by
the grant of concessions or other means, to take a greater interest in Persia.
An open letter has also appeared in the local press from the chief priests of Nejef
to the foreign representatives at Tehran, in which a fervent appeal is made to justice
and honour against the supposed aggressive aims of Great Britain and Russia.
I have, &c.
G. BARCLAY,
P.S. November 23.—Since I wrote the above, my note of the 17th instant has
been communicated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the press, which has been
quick to notice its milder tone, which it ascribes to His Majesty’s Government being
obliged, owing to the unanswerable considerations urged in the note from the Persian
Government, to realise its error and abate its severity.
G. B.
[1805 t—11]