Page 327 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

AND THE MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR TIIE YEAR 1900. 27
Early in August, Nasir Khan proceeded with 200 of their men to Tabriz
to aid the Shah’s cause. This force appears to have remained there at least
till late autumn and it is not certain whether it has yet returned. It is said
to have sustained heavy casualties.
Meanwhile in Tehran the Bakhtiaris had arrived too late to join in the
loot, and the heat and dust of the Bagh-i-Shah was probably little grateful to
the rank and file. At any rate the three chiefs there returned in September
to raise a relieving force.
It is stated that the tribes were unfavourable to the employment of
Bakhtiaris in unremunerativc service in the north, and that considerable
difficulty was experienced in raising the new contingent. The Sam sam’s
attitude in regard to the matter has already been remarked on and it no doubt
further increased the difficulties of the other Khans. A force was nevertheless
raised and passed through Ispahan on its way north in October.
In an interview with His Majesty’s Consul at Ispahan in September
Haji Khasrau Khan himself expressed dissatisfaction with the position the
Khans had got themselves into, but affirmed that it was now impossible for
them to go back on the line they had taken up. He asserted that they had
seen no hope for Persia in the Majlis and now saw none for it in the Shah—a
very reasonable confession of faith.
41. On his way down in September Haji Khasrau Khan gave out that he
had received orders from the Shah to take over charge of the artillery and
arsenal in Ispahan and of the Chaharmahal and Earaidan Regiments, as
wcll^of the roads in the Ispahan province. This at once brought him into
conflict-with the newly arrived Governor, the Iqbal-ud-Dowlch, who refused
to part with these probably profitable appanages of his Governorship.
Negotiations ensued but no result had been arrived at when His Majesty’s
Consul quitted Ispahan.
42. Things have since taken another turn, and it may be stated, though it
does not fall within the limits of this report, that on the invitation of the
people of Ispahan, Najaf Killi Khan (the Samsam) entered the town in
force in the beginning of January and usurped the Government, the Governor
taking “ bast ” at the British Consulate-General.
This was probably a reply on Najaf Kuli Khan’s part to his presumable
deposition by the Persian Government following his refusal to proceed to
Tehran when summoned by the Shah.
He had already announced that he was “ Mashrutah Khwah ” (a supporter
of constitutional government) and that if he were bullied he would go off and
establish constitutional government in Ispahan. The old aristocrat, all
whose tendencies are autocratic, is no doubt now engaged in this congenial
task.
His brother Haji Khasrau Khan has been commissioned by the Shah to
eject him.
43. The Bakhtiaris ana ztie British Government, etc.—Requests put for­
ward by the Khans and by the Sheikh of Mohammerah for a specific declara­
tion that the British Government would undertake to guard their interests,
led to a correspondence between the Indian Government and the Foreign
Office with a view to determining what assurances, if any, could be given.
In the case of the Khans the decision was arrived at that it was only
possible to renew our assurances of general friendship. It was felt that any
more specific assurances were only likely to result in our being called <n to
champion the Khans in their differences with the Persian Government, in
which they are at least as often in the wrong as in the right. Under
instructions from Ilis Majesty’s Minister, the general assurances
referred to above were communicated by His Majesty’s Consul to the Khans
in September.
44. During the journey of His Majesty's Consul through the Bakhtiari
country in the months of May and June, property to the value of 100 tomans
was stolen on various occasions by night from his camp by the local tribes.
E 2