Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-26
THE TENSE PERSIAN SITUATION.

| guage. which is recited here literally for
| the better comprehension of a situation
which is manifestly very generally mis-
understood:
EVERY one may remark the innumera-
| BILE political clubs. which. without method.
mix themselves in the administration of
| the country. 1t has thus become impossi-
| BILE for government to assure the march
Of affairs which have been appropriated
By those who pretend to direct them ac-
cording to their ideas and which may pro-
duce as a consequence complete disorder.
For this reason we dissolve parlia-
ment and order new elections within
| three months"
| The Persian ambassador at Berlin.
Mahmoud Khan "a member of the Kadjas
family and related to the
Ambassadors shah made the following
S+.+au,.r% declaration to the editor
| OF the Berliner Tageblatt:
! Gas in the past, 1 belong to the con-
stitutional party. and this is the case OF
almost all of the Kadjas family. We all
know that parliament is a guarantee OF
national independence and of the de-
velopment Of our country. do not deny
that the parliament which has been dis
solved. and Of which was president
| almost a year, has committed many mis-
| takes If it has shown at times dema-
gogy and failed of some reforms. this
| is because OF the passive resistance Of the
shah Influenced by his Russian encourage
| and by the lack OF money.
Among the worst counselors OF the
shah is his private secretary. a Russian
by the home of Schapsal. and the chief
of the Cossack guard, Col. Liakhof. These
HtNA knd "a
d'etat."
The ambassador declared his convic-
ton that it would be impossible to abol-
ish the constitution. He believed that
ment. but IL he did not do SO. he foresaw
a civil war Of protracted length in which
Prince Zill-es-Sultan would play an i'm
portant role as leader.
The language is so unusual and so un-
| diplomatic and impolite that ii may
prove to be the Unauthorized utterance
Of the editor Of the Tageblatt and not at
all the expression OF the Persian ambas-
sador.
The Novoe vremya of recent date pub
| lished an official note declaring that Rus
STA would abstain from mixing in any way
in the affairs of Persia and had given in
structions to her minister at Teheran to
strictly observe the Anglo Russian entente
| as to Persia and defend the dynasty of
the actual shah.> The British minister at
Teheran had received similar instructions.
| X X
For a fact Sir Edward Grey. replying to
interrogatories in the house of commons
as to the situation in Per-
England's STA and the security Of
| A4+,4,,a. British subjects, said in
| substance:
He had resolved not to interfere in the
interior affairs of Persia. He had asked
safe conduct, guaranteeing the persons
and property of British refugees. and the
| withdrawal of Persian troops from
around the British legation. He enter
tanned no fears either for the legation at
Teheran or the consulate at Tabriz.
| NJ Dillon. the Irish nationalist. seized
the occasion to ask II the Persian ques-
ton had been discussed in the interview
at Reval,
Very little" replied Sir Edward. The
discussions related principally to frontier
and commercial affairs. 1t is charged
that Mohammed Ali obeyed the inspira-
ton of certain Russians in the work OF
| repression. 1t Is an error M. de Hartw1g.
the very distinguished minister of Russia
| at Teheran, had always been In sympa-
| thy with constitutional reforms Gen.
Liakhof had done nothing more than ex-
ercise the functions of his grade. Be-
sides, the dragomans Of the Russian and
British legations had constantly worked
| together in action taken with the shah
| in favor of Cancellation.
LAS for the Russian officers or others
who command the Persian troops. they
are" said Sir Edward, under the authori-
ty Of the Persian government and in eff
feet they are responsible for the main
| tenance of order in Teheran.
II do not know" added Sir Edward III
| these officers in question belong to the
| active Russian army, but in all proba-
bility they belong to it in the same man.
ner as do English officers who are often
times attached to, service in a foreign
army and yet belong to the &C De British
! army
The recognition in such positive man.
ner by the British minister of foreign af
| fairs of the status of the Russian or Brit
ish officer detached for foreign service.
establishes q precedent which is worthy
of remark as distinctly different from the
| former Indifferent policy practiced by one
government with regard to its military
| mission In Egypt.
! + +
| It Is an incontestable fact manifested
| in recent events in Persia that but for
| the Anglo-Russian entente
Foreign Of August, 1907. it would
a...... not have been possible for
| the shah to suppress the
revolution, assuming that he will master
it, The triumph of revolution and an
archy in Persia would have precioitated
many difficult questions in Asia and
india, and possbly-probably-in Europe.
On the other hand, the fact is, also
manifest that the same Anglo-Russian
| entente is the chief motive of the revolu-
| ton in Persia. There are other motives
| incontestably. but at the present moment
| the motive that dominates all others Is
| the deep-seated revolt against the Anglo
! Russian entente which proposes, sooner
or later to appropriate Persia. having al
ready preceded that operation by the
| hypocritical establishment of zones and
spheres of influence" in Persia. The
Shah of Persia. like the Khedive of
Egypt, may temporarily incline to the
storm, but Persia will be free. Egypt will
be free. Nations" said distinguished
| American statesman, that resolve to be
free cannot be conquered" And in this
sense there may be repeated here the
declaration of a Persian journal hereto
! fore cited. namely: 1T Is better that we
should die bathed in our own blood than
to live at ease under Russian or English
protection"
| The London Times correspondent Is
disposed to coddle and cajole the Per-
sian revolutionist and says: The truth
is, the movement has been much too
rapid. The Persians or the people who
led them in this movement have sought
| to do in a few months what 1t has
| taken the most politically capable of
the nations of the west long centuries