Page 602 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

22 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE PERSIAN GULP POLITICAL RESIDENCY
unsuccessful attempts to organize basts at tho Telegraph Office in fav
of tho Prince, the extremists decided to scud a “ deputation ” to Tehran io co Ur
plain against-the “atrocities and aggressions ” of the British and the insecurh'
of life and property caused by the Sardar’s defiance of the Prince Governor*^
authority. Financed partly by Ihtisham-ud-Douloh and partly by means f
the heavy blackmail paid them by tho Sardar himself, some thirteen of th
more mischievous and irresponsible of the Kerman agitators, headed by hfin°
Shahhab, brother of Agha Saiyid Jawad, went to Tehran in two or three parties
and Kerman enjoyed for several months a poacc to which it had long been
unaccustomed. °
The complaints of this “delegation" to’the Anglophobo Cabinet 0r
Mustaufi-ul-Maraalik, together with the discomfited Prince’s use of bh
influence with the Shah, caused a certain amount of anxiety during the spring
but had no very serious results. The Sardar was once more summoned to
Tehran and once more refused to go. In June, again, garbled versions of the
Allied reverses in France, of tho Turkish advance in Azerbaijan and above all
of the “investment” of Shiraz by the Qashgais caused considerable excitement
in the town whioh the Democrats energetically fostered. The prospects of the
Kerman South Persia Rifles following the example of their comrades in Pars
were freely discussed. It was perhaps as well that the entire Brigade was
kept in cholera quarantine camp throughout June, July and August, for it was
thus effectively preserved from the influence of seditious propaganda. His
Majesty’s Consul with the assistance of the Officer Commanding, South Persia
Rifles, and the Telegraph authorities, exercised an unofficial censorship over
both the British and Persian telegraph office?, thereby preventing any wide-
spread knowledge of the seriousness of the situation elsewhere. The decidedly
Anglophil attitude of EIishmat-ud*ftouleh when be arrived at the beginning of
July, and his action in taking security at His Majesty’s Consul's request from
six of the worst agitators, temporarily silenced the Democrats. Tho tl Delegs*
tion ” also began to trickle back from Tehran, thoroughly disillusioned by the
reception and treatment they had been accorded at Tehran; instead of beic®
feted and garlanded as they had expected, little attearion aud not much
pecuniary assistance was given them : in fact, they only stayed zs long as they
did (until August) because they could not collect enough money to pay for
their return journey.
The catastrophic changes which took place in the Turkish Empire and in
Europe duriug the autumn were'of course serious blows to the Democrat cause,
Eioeboai. and raore would probably hare been
heard of the party at Kerman during ibe
year, had it not been for the necessity of preparing for the elections. These
were ordered by "^Yuauq-ud-Douleh soon after his accession to power in August,
in the hope of strengthening his own position rw-a-cis the Shah, and the
extremists. In a remote and comparatively quiet province such as Kerman,
nobody but the Democrats wants elections, which merely trouble the waters for
agitators and wirepullers to fish in; least of all does the Governor-General
desire them, for obviously the system of popular representation, is quite incom­
patible with that of autocratic provincial Governors, who have everything }°
lose and nothing-to gain by the presence at Tehran ot irresponsible Deputies
from their provinces. The Muharram holidays, followed by the influenza
epidemic,-furnished valid-enough excuses for delay, aod during the last five
months of the year all that was officially done was to appoint the Election
Committee. Tho Democrats however were very busy holding frequent
ings and perpetually bombarding the Governor-General, whose weakness th^y
had early discovered. The selection of Asaf-ul-Mamalik, Mukhtar-ul-Mul*
and Aglia Yabya to sit on the Election Committee, theory three o<ber m*®*
bers appointed* being harmless non-partisans, was a great trittisph tor to
Democrats, .as the result of the elections is held (no doubt correctly)
depend largely on the political sympathies of the Committee. His Majesty ♦
Consul protested privately to tbe Governor-General against the nominal
of Asaf-ul-Mamalik and Agha Yahya, on the grounds that thej *
themselres candidates for election : Hubmat-ud-Douleh a-nsenied reDlirt
Agha Yahya, but absolutely refused to do the same to Asaf-id-Ma®

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