"ملف رقم II/١٢ مذكرات معلومات من إدارة الخارجية بخصوص شؤون بلاد فارس والساحل العربي من الخليج الفارسي. يناير "٠٩ --" [ظ‎‎٣‎٨] (١٧٨/٧٦)

6
their apportionment. The Belgian officials took
service with the Nationalists under directions
from the Administrator. On the 22nd April,
M. Zwinne diverted 12,000 krans from the
customs receipts in payment for coal shipped
by the Persepolis. Major Cox refused to
accept M. Zwinne’s explanation of malentendu
and called on him to replace the money by
the forenoon of the 23rd. The Persepolis was at
the same time forbidden to leave the harbour.
M. Zwinne’s action was apparently prompted
by the necessity of despatching the Persepolis
to Basrah to bring the Darya Begi and his
force to Bushire. As his action constituted a
breach of faith and also compromised our
neutrality, Major Cox was authorised to
detain the Persepolis until the money was
refunded and until such time had elapsed as
would suffice for coaling the ship. A com
mittee was meanwhile formed to control the
customs receipts and expenditure. Subse
quently M. Zwinne was instructed to refund
the money, and Major Cox was authorised
to detain the Persepobs till further orders,
on the ground that she could not ha^e left,
had no*, the Tangistanis been compelled to quit
the town.
On the 16th April, Major Cox
» , ... reported that the
iN ationalist leaders at
Bunder Abbas had agreed to lodge the customs
receipts in the Consulate minus departmental
expenses and 83 tomans which they would
retain daily. This arrangement received Sir
G. Barclay’s approval.
{Vide paragraph 1 of the Memo-
.. , ,, , , randum for March
1909.) On the 3rd
April, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General
reported that his Russian colleague had given
out that 100 Cossacks with two guns were com
ing to Meshed. The Russian Chared d’Affaires
at Tehran explained to Sir G. Barclay
that the inci eased guard had been asked
for by the Russian Consul-General at
Meshed owing to the disorder at that place
being due to an anti-Russian propaganda, to
a Russian subject having been killed, and to
his own life having been threatened. Major
Sykes, however, maintained that the disturb
ances were entirely due, as he had previously
reported, to the turbulence of Russian subjects,
and that the murdered man, who was an
Armenian, had a Persian passport and appa
rently was not a Russian subject, but in any
case a revolutionary. The British Ambas
sador at St. Petersburgh was informed by the
Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs that the
Russian consular guard at Meshed had been
increased, and that the increase had been made
under exactly the same conditions as at Resht
i.e.y for the protection of the lives and property
of the subjects of Russia and other foreigners.
The Russian Consul would continue to abstain