'File No. II/12 Foreign Dept Memoranda of Information re: affairs in Persia and Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf. Jan '09 --' [‎48r] (95/178)

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guard, which would give its protection, in case
of danger, not only to Russian subjects re
siding in Meshed, hut also to all foreigners.
Details received regarding the defeat of
8it*nti*n at Turiat-i- the Salar-i-Moaziz, the
Haiiari. new Governor of Turbat,
show that on the 4th April Yawar Asadulla
at the head of a party of Nationalists, who
had received reinforcements from Meshed,
defeated the Governor at Subukh after an
engagement lasting five hours, and that the
latter retreated in the direction of Daulatabad.
Salar Khan assisted by Asadulla is now in
charge of Turbat which is quiet.
Captain Smyth visited Turbat towards the
end of April to improve the defences of the
Consulate.
It is reported that the Hissam-ud-
Daula has been asked
Situation in Seittan. . i j i i ^
to supply sowars to help
the Khorasan troops to suppress the constitu
tional movement, but that his attempts to
summon Baluch tribesmen are meeting with no
response. The Meshed Anjuman has instructed
the Mujtahids and Mullas in Seistan to see that
further payments of revenue are suspended
and Mulla Mehdi and the Deputy Governor
have both expressed their readiness to suspend
further collections. Telegrams posted in
Birjand from the Meshed Anjuman directing
the people to pay no revenue till the Majlis
was established at Tehran were immediately
torn down by the Hissam-ud-Daula’s orders.
The revenue is not, however, being paid, and
the Hissam is afraid to use any pressure.
2. (Videparagraph 3 of the Memoran
dum for April 1909.)
The Zil-es-Su tan. ( j eS p a | :c i 1} dated
the 8th March, Sir G. Barclay reported
that, at the request of the Russian Charge
d’Affaires, he had instructed His Majesty’s
Consul-General at Ispahan to use his good
offices in the matter of the protection desired
*7 servants of the Zil-es-Sultan, but that, in
accordance with the views of His Majesty’s
Government on the subject (see paragraph 3
of the Memorandum for March 1909), he had
instructed His Majesty’s Consul-General to
make his good offices of as non-committal a
nature as possible.
In the course of a conversation with
Mr. Churchill at Nice on the 27th February,
the Zil-es-Sultan stated that his most ardent
wish was that His Majesty’s Government
would bring about a better understanding
between himself and the Russian Government
who, he felt, looked upon him with quite
unjustifiable suspicion and hostility. He had
no desire to take any political part in Persia
and did not aim at acquiring the throne, and
was prepared to give identic written assurances