ملف ٣٥١٦\١٩١٤ الجزء ١٨ "الحرب الألمانية: بلاد فارس؛ الوضع العام - ١٩١٦" [ظ‎أ‎‎١‎٣‎١] (٣٦٨/٢٧٥)

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who accompanied the ladies. Next morning a tribeswoman was sent in to
the ladies to search their persons and belongings for any papers, of which
of course there were none. When the ladies said good bve to Shaikh Hussain
he harangued them at some length in a loud voice before all his people,
reiterating his demands of the previous evening, then he let them go.
Sultan Ahmed Khan now took the opportunity of having his say.
He expatiated greatly on the insult to Persia in the deportation of
the Germans and also on the love of the Persian for their strip of
sandy desert which they were determined to have to themselves. He
said he longed for peace and friendship with England, but as long as
the British annoyed them they could not be friends. He was very frank about
Mr. W assmuss and said that the Persians cared nothing for Germany which
was far away and were only making use of Mr. Wassmuss for their
own ends. Directly they were friends with Britain they would deliver Mr.
Wassmuss to her dead or alive, that as long as they were enemies with England
they would be friends with Mr. Wassmuss and vice versa. He was- very calm
and decided and very up to date in his facts. He said that England could
not permit a second Muhammmadan war just now, that if Persia went to
war with her, Afghanistan would most certainly join in and also the Turco
man tribes and that in this way India would be seriously threatenea and no
one knew when the war would stop.
He admitted the fac* that Mr. Wassmuss would do his best to prevent
a peaceful solution of the difficulty. He said he knew Mr. Was muss did
not want the British to withdraw from Bush me as that would foil his purpose
of creating a war. He argued that England’s best and wisest plan was
to comply nith Persia’s demands through the “ Mileti ” and thus cut the
ground from beneath Mr. Wassmuss’s feet, leaving the Persians no further
reasons for complaint. In this event Persia would welcome a return to friend
ship with England which she ardently desires with the strict preservation
of her neutrality.
As Sultan Ahmed Khan is a member of the “ Committee for the Preser
vation of the Independence of Persia” at Shiraz it is to be presumed these are
the views animating the wdiole of the Gendarmerie. Sultan Ahmed Khan
brought the ladies with every consideration to just beyond +he last Gendar
merie post where he paHed from them, sending them on with 6 Gendarmes
whom he recommended to Mrs Eerguson’s care, who handed the ladies over
to the British and w T ho in return were treated kindly and not detained
a minute.
The 25th November 1915.
E C. EEBGUSON.
185
No. Cf.-420, dated Bushire, the 28th November (received 6th December) 1915 (Confidential).
From— Major A. P. Trevor, C.I.E., Deputy Political Resident, Persian Gulf,
To—The Foreign Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign and Political
Department.
In continnation of the correspondence ending with my letter No.
Cf -414, dated 26th November 1915, regarding the situation in Ears, I have the
honou” to forward, for the information
of the Government of India, a copy of
a despatch which I have sent to Hia Majesty’s Minister, Tehran, enclosing
No. Cf.-419, dated the 28 l1i November 1915.
mme extracts trom the Shiraz papers “ Jam-i-Jam
subject.
and “ Tazianah ” on the