File 1110/1916 Pt 2 'Persia: SITUATION Miscellaneous' [‎90r] (184/276)

hand, the appointment as Minister of Finance of Yamin-ul-Mulk, an ex-Mustoh with all
the vices of the class who acquired a knowledge of European financial administration
under M. Naus, was ^ most unfortunate, and was certainly made to facilitate the Prime
Minister’s schemes of personal profit—it is universally accepted that his Highness took
12,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. to make the appointment—while the presence of the Sipahsalar-i-Asam
(to which title the Sipahdar was promoted for not receiving the Premiership) did not
make for harmony in the Council Chamber.
Farman Farma made a good start by dismissing Colonel Edwall and Major Frick
from the gendarmerie and placing Major Nystrom in command of that force. He
redoubled his efforts, and with a very large measure of success, to prevent the secession
of the great tribal chiefs to the rebel and German cause, for which alone we owe him a
great debt of gratitude. He took great pains to imbue the Shah with the conviction
of the absolute necessity of contracting the alliance, and finally, on the 16th January,
he communicated to us a draft of the Persian proposals for that purpose.
By this date, however, the situation had been very radically improved by the
vigorous action of General Baratof, whose troops had practically driven the hostile
elements behind a line drawn from Tehran through Yeramin, Kum, Sultanabad,
Hamadan, Kangavar; while a small party, led by Germans whose mission had been to
destroy the important bridge over the Sefid Bud at Menjil had been satisfactorily dealt
with at a point some 30 miles north-west of that village. From a military point of
view, then, the situation in Tehran was perfectly secure, and it was this very state of
security that was one of the main causes of Farman Farma’s undoing. So long as the
German cause was in the ascendant, and even later during the end _ of Mustofi’s
administration, when there was still a lingering doubt whether the Viceroy really
intended to take the Persian situation in hand seriously, the native pro-British and
pro-Bussian parties were content to work more or less harmoniously for the joint good;
but no sooner was the common danger removed by the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of Bussia than the
pro-Bussian party set to work to oust “British” Farman Farma and replace him by
“Bussian” Sipahsalar. . . r .
Sipahsalar himself, from the first week of the new admmistiation, had been mr
from accommodating. He constantly insisted on the fulrilment Oi a half promise made
by Mustofi, that 60,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. of the monthly instalment of, say, 140,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. at
the then rate of exchange accruing from the so-called moratorium, should be devoted to
the war department, and when Farman Farma refused to carry, ouu this impossible
demand he made the usual demonstration of annoyance by absenting himself from the
Cabinet meetings. On two or three occasions the Bussian Legation wheeled his
Hiofiness into line again, and after the understanding for the increase ol the Cossack
brigade was reached during General Baratof s visit to Tehran^ (6th January), there
was not much to complain'of in his personal behaviour. Very possibly his partisans
feared that with his flighty moods he might wreck their schemes
The campaign against the Prime Minister was conducted with considerable skill oy
M. Kozminski, the Bussian financial, or rather commercial agent, an intriguing officia
of the type unfortunately too common in Bussian services, who, moreover, acts as agent
for Sipahsalar’s estates,' just as the late Bar^n J^^G'seionded
at Ispahan and agent for the Zill-es-bultan. M. JXozmmsKi was eu« g j • fliipripp
by Amin-ul-Vizareh, a hanger-on of ^pahsalar s, "’ h o possesses considerable m
over his patron. It was recognised by these gentry at once that, as Farman Faima
enjoyed the confidence of the Russian Government and the ^’fCtld fnrTaccord-
essential to undermine his Highness’s position with t e ussian i,.- j
ingly no opportunity was lost of creating friction between the Prune Mimste
M ' ^fwould weary you, Sir, to recount how quarrels were fomented between Farman
Farma and M. de Etter over such matters as the Mazanderan Pf tr . oleU “ Cors in the
light railway from Pir-i-Bazar to Resht and the c angej ^pio^ Etter | iscovered what
Bussian sphere—it was in connection with this l • nf which Farman
I had long known, viz., the rble that M. Kozmmski was playmg-m aU “ ” b “d
Farma was renresented to M. de Etter as being obstructive, unreasonaDIe, ana
unfriendly, sit I must dwell for a few moments on the "t Yeffi’s
the best weapon in the armoury of Farman Farmas “/Yadce a^d
boundless rapacity. M. de Etter’s abomination or a matter to
political corruption is thoroughly web known an 1 . ^ aS M - n i st er by spreading abroad
create in his mind a personal a yg s %\fg ^Xmalpractices^ I warned Farman
ssrsa&tw h “
[2579 / 1]