Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎246v] (492/544)

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case of accident. Then we have to continue the subsidies to the Persian Government
in order to enable them to carry on the ordinary duties of government, and make it
• public that we are doing so. We should also give them arms. We should definitely
abrogate the 1907 agreement instead of merely suspending it, which leads them to
suspect the sincerity of our intentions in the matter. 1 daresay that an endorsement
of the Powers at the Peace Conference would be required to enable us to do that.
LORI) ROBERT CECIL: How would it help? This is an agreement between
Russia and us. How would a pronouncement of the Peace Conference at which Russia
was not represented help ?
MR. OLIPHANT : The idea was that if the Persian Government raised the
matter at the Peace Conference and the Peace Conference were to back our bill, it
would more or less ease the minds of the Persians.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : Our difficulty has been that we cannot abrogate a
thing because, having made it with somebody who no longer exists, we have nobody to
abrogate it with.
SIR CHARLES MARLING : It falls by itself, does it not?
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I think that we might have taken that view; but we
were very strong in our view as to what was right.
SIR HAMILTON GRANT : I believe that the revision of the Customs tariff
should come under consideration at once. They regard that as very important, do
they not ?
SIR CHARLES MARLING : Yes. All those matters have been talked about.
I do not think that announcements have any effect on them, and I do not think that
by those means we shall conciliate Persian public opinion in the least. Persia at
present wants to go to the devil its own way. It wants to get rid of all foreign
control, and whatever we do, as long as we have any sort of intimate relations or any
measure of control or interference with their affairs, they will say, if anything goes
wrong, “ It is the English.”
LORD ROBERT CECIL : It seems to me that the discussion is coming to this:
either we have to take over Persia altogether and establish something in the nature
of protection, or we have to leave it alone. With all respect to Sir Hamilton, I am
not quite sure that I do not feel that his policy is too much of a kind of compromise
between the two. As long as we go giving the subsidies, and so on, we shall have to
have some return of that. We shall have to see how the subsidies are spent. That
means definite control. That is a protectorate. I think that we had much better soy so,
I do not care about the phrase. In subsiance we should be taking over the control of
Persia. We should have to have control of the finances, and control of the armed
forces. If you have that you have everything that matters in a country. I am
rather against that at present. I am rather inclined to think that it is no use to
attempt that until we have allowed them to see what they can do by themselves. If
that breaks down they will come to us and ask us for our assistance. But we must say
to everybody else, “ You are not to go in.”
SIR HAMILTON GRANT : I think that we should have to have the continuance
of some of the subsidies and the arms.
LORD ROBERT CECIL : I should say, “ You cannot eat your cake and have it
too. If you want to be independent, be independent. We are not going to give you
arms or money.”
MR. MONTAGU : It seems to me that we are so unpopular with the Persian
Government that it is impossible for them to ask us to control. I think that there is
something in your suggestion that we should clear out, and show the Persians that
they are incapable of managing for themselves, and then reduce them to the position in
which they will have to ask us, if we could be quite sure that they will not ask
for anybody else in preference to us. If that is so, surely we must get a recognition
of our claims above anybody else at the Peace Conference.
LORD CURZON : Sir Charles, do you think, from what you know of the
personality of the people who are coming over here that they are at all likely to take
the line foreshadowed to me by Nasr-ul-Mulk, acting under instruction of course ?