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position gained by Russia on land enables her as yet * to dominate and threaten almost the
whole of Persia1. We think that the extent to which she is permitted to do so still depends
even more upon the action of Her Majesty’s Government than it does upon her own. Neither
do we recognise any reflection of our own views or utterances in the remark that 1 it can
hardly be maintained that in view of foreign competition, civilised powers can be permanently
denied the benefit of access to the ports of Persia, because their admission will infringe
upon a monopoly which we have hitherto enjoyed/
11 If the reference is to access by sea, clearly such approach never has been or would ever
be likely to be denied by Great Britain. If the reference is to access by land, we have never
said anything to deprecate the connection of the Persian ports by railway with the interior,
and the free use of such ports by the subjects or merchandise of Foreign Powers. What we
have all along deprecated and must continue to deprecate is that any such railways,—leading
to ports within a sphere in which British interests are unquestionably predominant, and in
which it cannot be alleged that any Foreign Power possesses any interest comparable with
our own,—should be constructed as the instruments of political or military ambition, and
should terminate in maritime exits, which might before long be converted into the coaling
stations or the naval bases of foreign fleets. Wc have no objection whatever to the cons-
truction of railways in the south or in any other part of Persia, though wo entertain the
liveliest doubt as to whether in a country as backward and so mountainous they would ever
repay the expense of construction. All that wc maintain is that, if Persia decides to con­
struct railways in the south, she should not do so except with our consent, and, if possible,
with our co-operation ; and that the so-called development of the country should not be
made an excuse for open and flagrant detriment to British interests.
“ We rejoice to think that on this point we share the views that are apparently held by
Her Majesty’s Government. At least this is the inference that we draw from the intimation
that was authorised by the Marquis of Salisbury to the Persian Government on the 4th April
last, in which the present Shah was reminded of the promise of his father, the late Shah,
‘that no southern railway concession shall be granted to any foreign company without
consultation with Her Majesty’s Government.’ We confess, however, to a doubt whether
the general character or tae particular terms of this pledge are such as altogether to preclude
the Persian Government from entering into engagements, even with regard to railway
matters in Southern Persia, with a Foreign Power or Powers, which might violate the spirit,
even while observing the letter of the late Sbah's promise, and which might be extremely
injurious to the interests which it is our duty to defend. We are fortified in this view by
the fact that, in the few months that have lapsed since the present Shah was reminded of
this promise, parties of Russian Engineers, with Persian passports, Persian escorts, and
Persian official encouragement, have been openly travelling about Southern Persia, ins­
pecting and surveying the lines of possible railways, and concluding their studies by a close
investigation of the character and capabilities of the terminal ports on the Persian Gulf.
These proceedings appear to us to reflect no small suspicion upon the attitude of the Persian
Government, and do not encourage us to look with great hopefulness to the future.
“ We are also gratified to hear that the Persian Government has been reminded both of
another written engagement, entered into by the late Shah, to the effect that ‘ the Customs of
Southern Persia shall never be placed under foreign supervision and control,’and of Lord
Salisbury’s intimation of April 1899, that * it would not be compatible with the interests of
the British Empire that any European Power should exercise control or jurisdiction over
the ports of the Persian Gulf.’ The value of these guarantees appears to us to depend entire­
ly upon the manner'in which they continue to be interpreted by the Persian, and to be
defended by Her Majesty’s Government. If faithfully observed and resolutely enforced, if no
attempt to evade or elude them on the part of others be permitted, they represent in substance
the policy for which the Government of India, with an insistence that is justified by the
magnitude of the stake, have throughout contented. If any doubt as to their efficacy be
permissible, it can only be lecause of the difficulty of placing implicit reliance upon the
assurances of a feeble Oriental State, and because they appear to us to be somewhat in ad­
vance of the less definite propositions that have found a place in the earlier paragraphs of
Your Lordship’6 despatch. For instance, when Your Lordship speaks in paragraph 8 of the
importance of safeguarding those spheres of influence in Persia which are essential to India,
we should have been glad to know what, in Your Lordship’s judgment, they are. Our own
views on the matter were very clearly laid down in our despatch of last September, but we
have not been informed whether they are or.arc uot concurred in by Her Majesty’s Govern­
ment. The successful defence, either of a sphere of influence,, or of the interests which
have grown up inside it, would appear to demand as a preliminary condition an explicit
agreement as to the limits and dimensions of the former, and as to the nature and obliga­
tions of the latter.
“ Entertaining as we do these opinions, we greatly regret the abandonment of the con­
templated visit of His Majesty the Shah to England in the past month ; since we had hoped
that advantage might bo takan of his presence to invest with the fullest definiteness and
precision the nature of the policy of Her Majesty's Government with regard to Persia and
to Southern Persia in particular ; ana since we had relied much upon such a clear under­
standing for the future protection of Indian interests in that part of the East. We trust
that an opportunity for making such a declaration may still present itself. "