File 3516/1914 Pt 7 'German War: Persia' [‎114v] (233/519)

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Persian Foreign Office to notify the fact in the same letter as that containing the
invitation to the Russian Legation. An official reception of Persians occurs only on
the arrival of a new Minister, and never on the occasion of a Minister returning from
leave, and though the Persian Foreign Office notification was, I believe, due to a
blunder, the effect was mischievous. Prince Reuss’s reception was far more numerous 1 ^
attended than that of M. de Etter, and the Persian world drew its own conclusions!
Except for this the activities of the German Legation have been carefully concealed.
Through the Turkish Embassy great efforts to win over the clergy—more particularly
the lower ranks—have been made, and the Democratic party has been ardently courted.
Secret recruiting in the name of the Democrats has been carried on at three or four
stations, and fantastic theories about the Imperial Bank of Persia intended to discredit
its notes, a game in which local bankers great and small have lent a willing hand, have
been industriously circulated. A direct attack on the Ministry has been made by a
demand of the Turkish Ambassador for the removal of Farman Farma from the
Ministry of the Interior on the ground of his anti-Turkish sentiment.
In the provinces the German agents have been as busy as ever. When I arrived
in Tehran, I learnt that the notorious Wassmuss at Shiraz, was endeavouring to induce
the Swedish gendarmerie officers, Major Pravitz and Captains Oertengren and
Aangman, to organise an expedition nominally against Kazeroon, but really against the
Kalantar of Kumarij, a local chieftain well disposed to us, while a further development
of the plan was to organise a coalition of the neighbouring Khans to attack Haidar
Khan of Bandarrig, who assisted us in the arrest of Listemann. Mushir-ud-Dowleh’s
feeble Government, of course, did nothing but make enquiries, and in the interval
before the accession of Ain-ud-Dowleh to office the expedition actually started. His
Highness, however, and Farman Farma showed considerable vigour, but the Swedes at
Shiraz, as everywhere else, have got so used to acting without consulting the Persian
Government—Mustashar-ud-Dowleh had no influence over them whatever—that for a
few clays the orders from Tehran were practically disregarded. Eventually, however,
the Ministers succeeded in getting their authority respected. Nothing worse than
threats reached the Kalantar, and Wassmuss deprived of his escort gave up his excursion
into Dashtistan and returned to Shiraz. The situation in Ears has' been very
unsatisfactory. Mukhbar-us-bultaneh, the Governor, with his avowed pro-German
sympathies, has lent himself unreservedly to Wassmuss’s schemes, so that the latter by
a lavish expenditure of money and a still more lavish expenditure in Iving reports of
disaster to us and our Allies, has had little difficulty in creating a strong current of
public opinion against us, and has been more particularly successful in gaining over
the noisy and mischievous self-seekers who call themselves the Democratic party. To
induce any Government in the circumstances prevailing at Tehran, to arrest Wassmuss
would have been impossible, and my efforts have, therefore, been directed towards
obtaining the lecall of the Governor-General. Ain-ud-Dowleh has promised me that
this shall be done, and agreed to my informing Major O’Connor of this promise, and of
a fuithei undertaking that Kawem-ul-Mulk will be selected to act as temporary
Governor pending the appointment of a successor—probablv the Zill-us-Sultan—to
Mukh bar-us-Sultaneh.
. Poussette of the Svyedish gendarmerie is on his way to replace
Major Pravitz, whose Germanophil sentiments made his retention at Shiraz most
undesirable, and it is to be hoped that he will be able to restrain the indiscretions of
Captains Aangman and Oertengren.
. . Is P al »“ a month ago was scarcely better than Fars. The notorious Pugin was
jome( atei y uigmeyer and Griesinger, and they carried out the usual programme
of recruiting volunteers, &c., and with the assistance of Agha Nourulla, Mujtahid, who
is a_ brother of the late Agha Nejefi, and has recently become an Ottoman subject,
oo aim < m suppoit of the local mullahs, and by pretending svmpathy with the
e 7J ocr T ats wa? j t0 co iin f on the support of that noisy party/ As usual also a run
on ye mpena Bank of Persia was started, but lasted only three days. The Governor,
wro ike everyone eise, felt that he could not count on the gendarmerie in any action
rat lie might take ho put a stop to Turco-German agitation, was almost powerless, the
more so as ns cousin Zargham-us-Sultaneh, a rather weak-minded but not entirely
unimportant Bakhtian Khan, had come under Pugin’s blandishments.
Mr. Grahames most recent telegrams show the situation to have somewhat
improved, and there are signs that the mullahs and the public generally are coming to
then senses. fins again is due to the feeling that the reins of power at Tehran have
oeen grasped by stronger hands, and the Governor now professes to be able to deal
im v with the situation, though he has not been able so far to remove the wireless
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