File 3852/1912 Pt 2 'Persia. Conditions in South Persia. German Documents' [‎262v] (156/280)

expedition so far 1 ) the exact antipodes of the E. African fiasco
Our troubles will, I fancy, begin with the climatic conditions
during the hot weather and with the administrative questions
which will have pretty soon to be faced, and though Meso
potamia must obviously be an Indian appendage, it would be
I think, a deplorable mistake to import hard and fast methods
of Indian bureaucracy/'
Persia is designated here also as the most difficult problem
Much indeed had been done for its solution. The finances of
Iran had been ruined systematically, the most dangerous
patriots had been driven into exile after years of English in
trigue. Reactionary statesmen, obedient to English behests
were played off cleverly against ministers who outwardly
appeared able and pliable, but who in reality were still too
Persian. A high degree of skill had also been attained in turning
tribal opposition to account. And yet the consciousness re
mained that Persia, more perhaps than even the Suez Canal, was
one of the most vulnerable spots of the British world empire 2 )
which, if once set alight by the world-war, might easily spread
its flames eastward to Afghanistan and India—“loyal" India.
Sir Walter Townley said on March 25 th , 1915 , to the
American Colonel of gendarmerie, Merrill 3 ): “The British Govern
ment was only worried about Persia's action on the ground
of the effect Persia's entry into the war might have on Afghani
stan. That if Afghanistan revolted, the Indian Government
planned to withdraw into the plains of India and there await
and give battle to the Afghans.”
The effect on India of an Afghan rising stands as a terri
fying spectre before the eyes of the English diplomatists who
1 ) Written before the fall of Kut.
2 ) To which decades ago, Sir W. Rawlinson (quoted by Lord Curzon in
Persia I. page 612 as a “ competent authority”) had drawn warning attention.
The Persian , he says, ‘‘considered as a mere animal, is so very superior
to any other Asiatic that it is impossible to avoid foreseeing that, as any
European war becomes developed in the East, the military resources of Persia
must be called into action. In fact it seems that w T e could not have a more
formidable engine of attack and offence launched against India than a Persian
army commanded by Russian officers.”
3 ) Who reports on this in a letter to the British Consul at Shiraz.