'Persia. No 1 (1909). Correspondence respecting the affairs of Persia, December 1906 to November 1908' [‎89v] (162/236)

former, who is an official of* the War Department, is charged with having allowed rifles
and arms to be removed from the arsenal, and, it is said, was to be handed over to the
Government for trial.
Meantime, the leaders of the popular party had decided on their course of action,
and requested the Shah to receive a deputation of six members of the Medjliss, who were
to present a Memorial to His Majesty recalling the various oaths he had taken to
observe the Constitution, and calling on His Majesty to work harmoniously with the
Assembly, for otherwise the representatives of the nation could no longer perform their
duties to the country. The Shah, however, declined to receive the deputation
till iuesday (16th June) in the afternoon, when, having himself read the Memorial
aloud, he replied that he could not give a definite answer at the moment, but he
reminded his auditors that the Kajars had taken Persia by the sword and he meant to
hold it by the sword.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, whom I saw on the afternoon of the 16th June,
and who spoke with a frankness very unusual for him, said that he regarded the
situation as exceedingly grave. Telegrams were coming in from all parts of the
country denouncing the Shah, and yet nothing that the Ministers could say would
persuade His Majesty of the danger of pursuing his present course. I said that,
in my opinion, the Shah would have put himself in a much stronger position if’
after arresting Ala-ed-Dowleh and his two companions, he had handed them over
to the Ministry of Justice for trial. Perhaps it would not be too late to do
so even now. It would be a material proof of His Majesty’s professed wish to act
constitutionally, and he had, by making the arrests, shown that he was strong enough
to defend himself. Ala-es-Sultaneh said the Ministers had used every argument to
induce His Majesty to do as I suggested, but in vain. Could I not find some means of
conveying the same advice to the Palace? I said I would turn the matter over in my
ramd and see if anything could be done.
During the past week I have received several telegrams from the provincial towns
imploring the Legation to come to the assistance of the constitutional cause, which
owed its birth to the sympathy and countenance of Great Britain. I have made no
direct reply to any of the messages, but in one or two instances, when it seemed that a
message from the Legation might have a soothing effect, I have instructed His Majesty’s
Consul that’if he were asked to obtain an answer he might say that England, as a consti
tutional country, must always look with sympathy on a constitutional movement; but
that it was not fitting or right that she should interfere in the internal aflhirs of a free
and independent people. In any case, Persia could be assured that England’s friendship
tor Persia was as strong as ever.
No. 176.
Mr. Marling to Sir Edward Grey .—{Received July 6.)
^ DFSPTTFT o i* + ri + r> ‘ i 1 • Gulahek, June 18, 1908.
i-,. b y ^ tl)e fact Persia has been practically without Ministers, the general
condition of the country has not been materially worse. The energy displyedTy
Zil-es-Sultan has reduced Shiraz to order, and that town and the Province of Pars
generally appear to be perfectly tranquil. In Kermanshah, on the contrary geneml
lawlessness prevails, and m Sultanabad and the surrounding districts the carpef weavers
contracts and Bahrain'M 6 ’’ Tl d p Playlng a dlst l uletin g disposition to evade their
contiacts, and Bahrain Mirza, the Governor, seems quite powerless to give Messrs
Zieglers agents proper protection. Kerman, too, so I ain informed by'’ he Acting
Superintendent of the Indo-European Telegraph Department, was recently foi a da?
the scene of party fighting but as His Majesty's Consul has not made any report on thl
subject I presume that nothing serious has occurred. ^ P
at Yezd forsomethin^rL^th 8 ” I ? do - E . uro P ean Telegraph Department’s office
at lezd foi something like three weeks has given me considerable anxiety for the
ffinatical crowd can work itself to such a pitch of frenzy that, as actually occurred at
Yezd, two or three persons committed suicide, and a catastrophe might have occurred at
any moment. It was, moreover, difficult for the Persian Government to give way for
he peasants were agitating for the abolition of a tax which has been regulf rly paid for
the last eighty years—a wholly unjustifiable demand. S y P