'File No. II/12 Foreign Dept Memoranda of Information re: affairs in Persia and Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf. Jan '09 --' [‎84v] (168/178)

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idea which His Majesty the Czar attempted to
dispel in his reply to a telegram despatched to
him by the ex-Shah shortly after his deposition.
On the 24th July a deputation from the
Nationalist Committee waited on the ex-Shah
with a view to obtaining possession of the
Crown jewels, and to offer him a pension of
25,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. annually. No settlement, how
ever, was arrived at. On the 3rd August, as the
result^ of negotiations entered into by the two
Legations with the ex-Shah and members of the
Nationalist Committee, a protocol was signed by
the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, certain
members of the Nationalist Committee and
the dragomans of the Russian and British
Legations, under which it was arranged that
all jewels found, after enquiry by represent
atives to the two Legations, to belong to the
Crowm, and all documents relating thereto
should be given up by the ex-Shah, who was
to leave Tehran by the 17th August. In return
the Persian Government offered to give him
a pension of 75,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. annually. On the
4th August the investigation referred to in the
protocol was held, and, under great pressure,
the ex-Shah handed over a large quantity of
jewels which he had hitherto maintained to
he his private property. On the 12th August
Mr. O’Beirne reported that the Czar’s assent to
the ex-Shah residing at Kieff was likely to be
given next day, but that one difficulty in the
way of his departure from Persia still existed
in the debt of three million roubles owed by
him to the Russian Bank. For this debt it
appeared that the Shah’s private property was
mortgaged to the Bank. The Russian Gov
ernment wera unable to assent to the ex-Shah’s
departure until the Persian Government should
guarantee payment from the income of the
ex-Shah’s estates in Azerbaijan. Meanwhile
they were keeping a ship ready to convey him
to Petrovsk.
Early in July anti-Russian agitators at
situation in Azerbaijan. j-abriz held a meeting
at the principal mosque
at which the boycott of Russian goods was
advocated. The more respectable inhabitants
did not attend and the meeting proved a
failure. The Russian Government, however,
regarded the situation as unsatisfactory, Sattar
Khan having announced that he was to be
made Governor-General and the agitation
against the presence of Russian troops being
continued. The Russian Charg6 d’Affaires at
lehran was accordingly instructed to press
on the Persian Government the necessity of
sending immediately to Tabriz a Governor-
General with troops, in default of which
Russia would herself take action. On the
19th July the Turkish Ambassador at St. Peters-
burgh stated that orders had been sent to the
Turkish Consul-General at Tabriz that Sattar