Notes Prepared for Reference during Curzon’s Tour of the Persian Gulf, and Other Papers on Persia and the Persian Gulf [‎256r] (511/678)

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[This Document is the Property of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government,]
NO. 7 . PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY.
ASIA.
CONFIDENTIAL,
[September 7.]
Section 2.
2499
No. 1 .
Sir M. Durand to the Marquess of Salisbury .— {Received September 7.)
(No. 51. Confidential.)
My Lord, Gulhek, August 14, 1896.
I HAVE the honour to submit the following report upon the present condition of
affairs in Persia.
In the north of Persia the state of affairs since the new Shah’s arrival in Tehran has
from our point of view continued to be fairly satisfactory.
There has been, and is, some anxiety about the behaviour of the Kurds on the
north-west frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. , but hitherto no anti-Christian outbreaks have occurred among the
Persian Kurds, and I hope that the prevailing excitement may pass away without trouble.
Elsewhere in the north all has been quiet, and the Shah, though somewhat weak and
timid, has done passably well. He has paid up the whole of his unsecured debt to the
Imperial Bank, and has made some arrangements for the coinage of silver, and for the
gradual calling in of the excessive copper currency which has caused so much distress.
He does not appear to be under Russian influence to the extent that was predicted by
some who knew him. He has, for example, resisted all attempts to dislodge his English
doctor, who has now been formally installed as chief physician to the Shah on a salary
of 7,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. a-year (1,400/.). He has most resolutely insisted upon appointing as
Valiahd, his eldest son, now at Tabriz, instead of the second son, w r ho had the support
of the Russians, and was generally expected to succeed. This incident has done some
thing to strengthen British influence in the country, for it is generally believed that we
pressed the claims of the eldest son. The belief is shared by the new Yaliahd himself,
and we are on very friendly terms with him and his mother. This lady, though she
insisted some years ago upon being divorced from the Shah, and has since marries] again,
still retains much influence over His Majesty, and carries considerable weight in Tehran,
Finally the Shah has nominated to a minor Governorship, the Ain-ed-Dowleh, who was
leader of the Russian party in Tabriz, and had come here with the full intention of
supplanting the Sadr-i-Azam. His great rival, the Farman-Earrna, our most open and
fearless adherent in Persia, has been appointed Governor of Tehran, with the command
of six regiments. It is somewhat characteristic, both of the Shah and the Farman-
Farma, that the latter was forbidden to come to Tehran, lest there should be trouble
between him and the Ain-ed-Dowleh, and that he replied by throwing up the Kerman
Governorship, and starting at once for the capital, where, so far, he has carried all
before him.
This state of affairs is promising from our point of view, but unfortunately the
state of affairs in the south of Persia is very much less satisfactory. In the province
of Ears, which has been scandalously misruled by the late Shah’s brother, the Rukn-
ud-Dowleh, there has been considerable disorder. Large quantities of British goods
have been plundered, and several Englishmen have been more or less seriously
maltreated. One, an Assistant Surgeon in the Telegraph Department, was deliberately
waylaid and wounded by a musket shot.
Another, a Telegraph Inspector, was stripped of all his clothing and severely
beaten. In neither case has anything been done to punish the offenders, though they
are known.
The Bukn-ud-Dowdeh has now been removed, after many complaints from this
Legation and from the people of Shiraz, but a great deal of harm has been done. On
the Karun the state of affairs is even worse.
I have at last induced the Persian Government to insist upon the payment of com
pensation for the Malamir affray, which occurred several months ago, but the soldiers
who assaulted our people have been allowed to abscond practically without any punish
ment, and the Persian Government now inform me plainly that they dare not do any
thing at Shuster, where the mob is a very bad one, and where they have no troops whom
they can trust. In consequence, I fear, of the inactivity of the local authorities in this
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