'Persia. No 1 (1909). Correspondence respecting the affairs of Persia, December 1906 to November 1908' [‎111r] (205/236)

Mohammerah.
Seif-ed-Dowleli has been appointed Governor of Arabistan.
The Hawizeh people have been giving trouble, and Serdar Arfa contemplates
active measures against him in the autumn.
A caravan of Messrs. Lynch, with goods mostly the property of the Bakhtiari
Khans, has been robbed between Ahwaz and Ram Hormuz.
(Signed) C. B. STOKES, Major,
Military Attache.
No. 250.
Mr. Marling to Sir Edward (drey.—(Received September 28.)
Sir, Gulahek, September 10, 1908.
YOUR telegram of the 4th September, containing instructions to present with
out delay the joint communication to be made by the Russian Minister and myself
to the Shah inviting His Majesty to summon the new Parliament for the 1st (14th)
November, and urging on him the advisability, in the interests of peace, of publishing
his intention to do so at Tabreez, reached me on the morning of the 5th instant. As
it was a Saturday, on which day M. de Hartwig is always particularly occupied with
the dispatch of his weekly messenger, I contented myself with apprising him in the
afternoon of the nature of your instructions, and called on him the next morning to
discuss the manner in which the communication should be made.
M. de Hartwig said he supposed it was intended that the communication should
be made in writing through the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I replied that I under
stood that it was to be made to the Shah directly, and I presumed that we must ask
for an audience. The Minister reminded me that as the Shah had been confined to
his “ Anderun ” for some few days by fever, His Majesty would very probably be
unable to receive us, and perhaps it would be better to send the Oriental Secretaries
of the two Legations to Bagh-i-Shah to deliver the communication to His Majesty.
To this I agreed, as it would evidently have been easy to defer the audience
at the last moment on the ground of the Shah’s ill-health. It was therefore
arranged that a Persian translation of the communication should be made, and that
copies signed by M. de Hartwig and myself should be presented to the Shah by
M. Baranowsky and Mr. Churchill on the morning of the 8th instant, and that in case
that His Majesty was unable to receive them, Ala-es-Sultaneh should be requested to
be in attendance, in order that the document might be intrusted to him for communi
cation to the Shah.
On the evening of the 7 th instant I received a note from the Minister for Foreign
Affairs informing me that His Majesty’s indisposition would prevent the Shah from
receiving the dragomans, and Mr. Churchill and M. Baranowsky on reaching Bagh-i-
Shah thereupon handed the identic Memoranda to the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
who undertook to submit them to His Majesty.
A copy of the communication is herewith inclosed.
I have, Ac.
(Signed) CHARLES M. MARLING.
Inclosure in No. 250.
Joint Memorandum handed to the Shah by British and Russian Oriental Secretaries,
September 8, 1908.
AS His Imperial Majesty the Shah has made known his intention of shortly
publishing the new Regulations concerning the approaching elections, the British
Charge d’Affaires has the honour, in conformity with the instructions from his
Government, and without in any way wishing to intervene in the internal affairs of
Persia, to point out that it would be very desirable and opportune, in the interests of
the definite pacification of the country, and of trade and of general prosperity,
that His Imperial Majesty the Shah would be pleased to announce that his decision to
maintain the Constitution which he has granted to his Empire is irrevocable, and that
the Assembly for which the election of Deputies is now about to proceed will meet at