Coll 29/104 'Appointment of an Indian to the Tehran Legation (First Secretary or Trade Commissioner)' [‎115r] (229/243)

rm*rs40
VS)
Private and Personal.
Bushire#
X 6 th J\me 1940.
ciear Olci.f*
I am supplementing my official d.o* to you with
this letter as I cannot say everything that I should like in a
letter that goes through the ofiice. c . ^ -
My trip to Tehran was most successful, oir n.h.
was very agreeable and I found him a simple sincere sort oi man,
very genuine, and one who spoke the same sort of language as oui
selves. Normally he looks gloomy but when he smiles he has a ver^
charming expression. In appearance he 1^-oks ratner like a
block Deputy Comais ioner, and he is short and not very impres sjv<L
I am told that he can take a strong line on occasion and that he
once lumped into his car and took a letter back to the Ministry o
Foreign Affairs that he disapproved of. I shu say he had courage
and guts but he is an incurable pessimist, which is a disaster.
He is handicapped by not being a diplomat, and has two perfectly
useless assistants, Roberts and Crowtwho look on him rather as we
shd regard a provincial service officer. Neither know a word of
Persian, neitherknow anything about Persia, neither have any idea
except to get away at the first opportunity, neither have the re
motest idea of what we shd be doing. Both, particularly tha l&t-
er are hostile to India, and neither are the slightest use to Bul
lard. He did not send for either or consult them in any way when
he was dealing with me. Underwo d tho military attache- is first
class and we art; fortunate to have him there. His typist is an &
American subject, though about to marry a Britisher shortly) you
will have noticed a reference to the OQiia&ns studj- ing horseback e
riding ( sic ) in a recent news report from Tehran.^--^ —
■ I told the -in that his first Circular h d frigh
tenedn^K out of their wits and begged him to consider what
interpretations might Be put on his telegrams at a distance, ne
then gave me his next to read which was nearly as bad, and i
made so many suggestions that he finally told me to do what I lik
ed with it and I redrafted it for himl But he is a pes simistl
1 thought Charles Stewart was bad enough but B is far worse. Eve
ry broadcast supplies him with some fresh piece Oi. gloom, and il
he can find, some gloomy patch he positively has a roll in it.
~ach time I pointed out the bright side and got his tail up a bit
but flop it went again, .hen I arriveo he was still very gloomy
about th situation, but cd gibe me nothing definite. 1 told him
that we had seen many worse situations in Persia, and had always
Cume up smiling, and that the I.B.P. to take one case alone, had
b an through enough adventures to fill several books. I pointed
out that he had a fine high brick wall, and three Persian division
at hand, ana so far no sign whatever of definite merman moves,
and in the end he chxeered up a bit. As I was going 1 thanked
him for his hospitality and said that 1 must have been a great
nuisance coming at this time, but he said that it was a very good
thing that I had come, and that he felt &11 the better for it . .
I talked with al- kinds oi people ana sent otewara
round the back door while fas X went to the front, and we covered
the ground as thoroughly as cd be done. There is no news wh&tevev
of any definite German plans, and no signs of any, but there is o
'obviously a case for taking all possible precautions and this is
being done. The I.B.P. have large stcks of silver and are not
attempting to reduce them, nor are the Ban usi Miill. Of course
if Reza is bumped off tho balloon * 1^.1 go up, out it is impossible,
to say what form it wil take. Vie are spelling no money and nob, 1
ing no one, and the Military Attache is not aixoeed to have Agenti
This work is done by the French. Will you believe it. The Poles
offered us their first class organisation wh n they /sent out of b
business and we refused it, and they Xinally gave it very unwilxi
ingly to the French who kept on a small fraction of it t What
fools we are* de G&ury is now in Tehran for Russian work# He
knows no Russian and no Persian, and has never seen Persia, so
he will make great headway,