'Persia. No 2 (1909). Further correspondence respecting the affairs of Persia' [‎161v] (70/150)

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No. 85.
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edward Grey.—{Received February 16.)
(Telegraphic.) Tehran, February 16, 1909.
I AM informed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the people of Resht have
elected Sipahdar as Governor. He should prove an excellent Governor. He is pressing
the Shah to comply with the will of the people, and not to send troops to Resht.
M. Sabline and 1 had been urging the Shah to appoint him, but without success.
No. 86 .
Sir Edward Grey to Sir A. Nicohon.
(Telegraphic.) ' Foreign Office, February 17, 1909.
SIR G. BARCLAY’S telegram of yesterday’s date.
In my opinion the Shah will take no notice of any advice unaccompanied by a
threat. We wish to avoid active intervention, and thus such a threat would have to
be of a negative character, and to the effect that neither Government will afford him
support of a financial or other nature until he redeems his promise to his people by
proclaiming a Constitution, and so pacifies the country. It seems to me that the
only means of saving the country from internal disaster is to make it clear to the Shah
that he will be left to his own devices, but we desire to do nothing to which the
Russian Government do not entirely agree.
No. 87.
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edward Grey.—{Received February 18.)
—
(Telegraphic.) Tehran, February 18, 1909.
RESHT.
Sipahdar has sent telegrams to M. Sabline and myself for communication to the
Shah urging His Majesty to send no troops to Resht. We have replied declining to
act as intermediaries for communications from him to the Shah.
Troops to the number of some hundreds have left Tehran en route for Resht, but it
is doubtful whether they will get beyond Kazvin. In the event of their doing so it
might be well for the two Representatives to address a note warning His Majesty
that the two Governments will hold him responsible if the lives of British subjects are
endangered by troops being sent there.
Revolutionaries have kidnapped Shoa-es-Sultaneh, the Shah’s brother, who has
arrived at Resht from Europe. They are demanding a ransom of 5,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. .
No. 88 .
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edward Grey.—{Received February 21.)
Tehran, February 21, 1909.
(Telegraphic.)
TABREEZ.
Mr. Wratislaw reports that if the town falls there will certainly be pillage, and
probably massacre, and he asks for instructions in regard to refugees who would
certainly come to the Consulate in large numbers. 1 have instructed him not to refuse
asylum to persons in imminent danger, and to warn Ain-ed-Dowleh that the most
stringent orders must be given to respect His Majesty’s Consulate-General in the event
of any attack on the town, and that if British subjects or their interests suffer any
injury he will be held responsible.
1 am addressing a reminder in the same sense to the Persian Government.