'Seistan' [‎363v] (728/782)

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she might thereby grayely jeoparcUs . q i£
ultimate access to Southern Persia and the Persian er
55. Nevertheless before ™ Tough it be'Lposslble to
essayed, we dasire to raise t e que - ^ patronage and development
conclude an agreement with ^ ss to c J me to P an understanding with her
of Persia, it might not yet be p ^ ^ CO untry in distinct and clearly
for the separate patronage an e\ e P p • other words for a recognition
defined compartments ^y the two great Pow^re^m otner^^ ^ shah f This
not
Br^^trtoChtnVhtrfamTCised the public mind with the idea of such
has observeV in recent telegrams from Lord _ Salisbury to Sir M. Durand
wd h reference to a Persian loan and to mimng concessions m that country,
fn “cations of a willingness to concede to Russia liberties m the north of Persia,
paraUe in scope and substance with those conceded to Great Britain m the
Sh; and it is worthy of consideration whether in an expansion of this
suggestion might not be found a feasible scheme.
56. We have already alluded to the line across Persia drawn by Sir M. Durand
from Khanikin on the Turkish frontier, through Kermanshah, Hamadan, Ispahan,
Yezd and Kerman to Seistan, as indicating the northern limits oi the sphere
within which British political influence and trade are paramount. To some extent
this partition is assisted by geographical conditions, the great deserts of Central
Persia constituting a natural barrier between the north and the south, and
roughly dividing tbe one from the other. But this situation is modified both
in the west of Persia, where there are no deserts, and where there is no
physical line of demarcation between the respective spheres of influence;
in the centre of Persia, where Ispahan can hardly he said to constitute the
natural frontier of any geographical zone; and also in the extreme east where
Seistan, the inclusion of which in the British sphere would he an obligatory
point, lies not to the south but to the north of the great desert. These con
siderations might not affect the success of any engagement that was carried out
with equal bona fides by both parties: but they might become a fruitful source
of friction were such a good understanding not to he counted upon in the
future. In any case, we would recommend that the line of partition, suggested
by Sir M. Durand, should he so far amended as to substitute Kashan for
Ispahan. It would he undesirable that any Russian railway should penetrate
further south than Kashan, which indeed is separated by a considerable range
of hills from Ispahan, or that Russia should have right of access to the very
fringe of the latter district.
57. We have observed that in China the Agreement recently concluded
between Her Majesty’s Government and Russia as to spheres of interest has
related to railways only. Either party has pledged itself not to seek on
its own account or on behalf of others for railway concessions in the rival
sphere, and not to obstruct, directly or indirectly, applications for such
concessions, supported by the other in that sphere. Prima facie there does not
appear to he any reason why such an agreement should not equally he extended
to mines, roads, and other industrial or economic undertakings. The value
of such an understanding is considerable; because although political influence
is not expressly mentioned, yet in eastern countries commercial and industrial
enterprises are the familiar agencies through which political influence is exercised
by alien powers, and because that influence is apt to follow in the wake of
railways and trade. We do not think, if such an agreement were arrived at with
Russia, with reference to the Persian territories lying north and south of the
predicated line, that there would be an end to Russian designs in Southern
Persia or in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Such a result might, perhaps, ensue from an
engagement that no political influence should he exercised by either party

'Seistan' [‎363v] (728/782)

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'Seistan' [‎363v] (728/782)

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