File 3852/1912 Pt 2 'Persia. Conditions in South Persia. German Documents' [‎221r] (73/280)

9
72|
W) lllijl
iseufjE:
'as priii
i,i!j
i me’
volifsaW
ttletotofe
this, is the often quoted note which Sir Cecil Spring Rice handed
to the Persian Government four days after the signing of the
Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907.
To show from their own facts with what unscrupulousness
the English Government has trampled on the most funda-
rr ntal rights of an Oriental people awakening to a remarkable
X^ise of responsibility, even depriving them of rights which this
' (jovernment had procured for Persia when it appeared oppor
tune, is the purpose of this publication. It is founded, as has
been remarked, on the documents published by the English
Government, but not only on these.
For the most recent period the documents found in the
British Consulate at Shiraz are adduced as evidence, docu
ments, the greater part of which marked or designed as “con
fidential” would hardly have found their way into the English
Blue Books.
The temporary arrest of the British Consul at Shiraz by
Persian gendarmes im November 1915 (on which occasion his
documents fell into German hands), was commented on by
the English and their press with vociferous indignation. Lord
Grey called Major O’Connor’s arrest by Persian gendarmes
an unprovoked act of robbery. As usual, he passed over in
silence the misdeeds which the English themselves had com
mitted against Consular officials and subjects of the Central
Powers before the arrest of their Consul. In the beginning of
March 1915, the Imperial German Consul Wassmuss barely
escaped a plot instigated by the English when setting out for
Shiraz to take up his duties, on which occasion his companion
Dr. Lenders was made a prisoner by the English. About
the same time the Imperial Consul in Bushire, Dr. Listemann,
and the local manager of the firm of Wonckhaus, Herr Eisenhut,
with his wife, were arrested in the most brutal manner du
ring the night, by English officers and Consular officials, and
taken together with Dr. Lenders by way of Basra to India
where Herr Listemann, Herr Eisenhut and Herr Lenders
are interned in the Civilians’ Camp of Ahmednagar.
The Russians, in order not to be behind their allies, did
not hesitate to arrest the Turkish Consul at Resht and carry
him off to Russia.