The Washington herald., 1911-12-15
Russian Control of Persia
Former Minister Beale Says that English or Rus
sian Rule Is Preferable to Native Tyranny

Hon. Truxtun Beale, formerly Minister
to Persia and later to Greece. and thor
oughly familiar with affairs in Central
Asia, both as an official and an extensive
traveller, talked Interestingly yesterday
with a representative Of The Washington
Herald concerning the situation in Persia
Mr.. BeaIe, for instance, thinks 1t q
mistake to suppose that the problem in
volved in ,Russia's proposed attitude OF
aggression toward Persia is that Of Per-
sian liberty in the sense in which we
use that term in this country. More
than this he asserts that the people OF
Central Asia who are under English or
Russian rule have more Of the essentials
Of liberty than they could enjoy
under their own oppressive and tyran-
meal rulers. It Is an >Indisputable fact,
he says, that all OF Central Asia not
now under English rule would be happier
and better II it were under Russian
rule.
There is current throughout Central
Asia" continued Mr.. Seale, "a maxim
which says, better the enemy than the
tax gatherer' The countries are divided
into districts. put up at auction. the
then the tax gatherer is given the baYn=
nets Of the government to aid him in ex-
torting to the utmost limit all that the
suffering people can pay. If you contrast
with this the conditions which exist at
Hongkong, you can see what 1 mean.
In 1872 Hongkong was barren Island.
England occupied It. Now thousands OF
Chinese crowd into Hongkong in order
to escape the tyranny OF their own gov
he liberty thew
under English government. There was
the same situation at Singapore when
England took that place. In 1853 Mr..
Gladstone, with a sentiment OF general
liberty and humanity, gave the lonian
Islands back to Greece. Almost imme-
diately a material deterioration set in.
Under English rule the taxes had been
light and the roads good, while life and
property were secure. At the time of my
travels there some years since, life and
property were less secure, brigandage had
become not uncommon, the roads had
fallen into decay, and in places were
hardly passable for wheeled vehicles.
There is a good deal OF loose talk about
such countries as are seen to-day in
the Khanates OF Central Asia. The as
sumption is that they can work out their
own political salvation. But would they?
We should all recall the wise observa-
ton Of Spencer that progress is the eX-
ception and not the rule"
What do you think Of the effect Of
possible interpostlon by the United
States in the Persian situation. such as
has recently been requesred?'
We'll, II there be a spot on the globe
where the Monroe doctrine does not ap-
ply 1t would seem to be the heart OF
Asia. The part OF Persia which is now
in controversy has long been under
stood to be within the sphere Of Rus
sian influence"
You think, then. that progress will be
more truly served by leaving Russia to
work out her doctrine of manifest
destiny in Central Asia"
The sum Of human happiness will at
least be increased by II. The traveller
who takes the Oriental Express at
Paris for Constantinople runs down an
incline plane OF civilization. On reach
ing Vienna he feels that he Is out of the
vein Of material progress; at Belgrade
he begins to see countries and cities
taking on an Eastern look: on the third
day he passes through Sophia. the semi
barbarous capital of Bulgaria, and on the
fourth he arrives at the filthy capital Of
the 'unspeakable Turk Few realize that
a farther short sea voyage of thirty hours
brings one into a zone of progress as yigor-
GUS as our own. Sebastopol. at the end
of the Crimean war a squaIid Tartar
village, has now. with its magnificent ter
races and quays. the air Of a great
European seaport The Crimea itself,
known to us through accounts of the
Crimean war as a mere trackless plain.
with an arctic climate, is now fast be-
coming one of the greatest wine-pro-
ducing countries in the world
Directly across the Crimean penin- !
sula. the plains OF the Doneitz, which |
have slumbered for centuries in isolation |
and silence broken only by the march OF |
Tartar hordes, have recently taken on an |
appearance similar to that of the envi-
rons of Pittsburg, twenty large factories |
for the manufacture of agricultural i'm |
plements being now at work in that To- |
callity. Across the Caucasus, beginning /
At the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.
Russian engineering has built a railroad !
over the shifting sands of the Bokhara
Desert, and from the quagmire OF the
OXus to the once mythical city Of Sa-
narcand, the capital of Tamerlane but
few years ago on the limits of the
Known world. deep in the wiIds Of Tar
airy. over this immense region the same
ictiVity of progress can be seen; huge
which in those deserts seem
o have risen in. the night like a mist,
Ire filled with soldiers, who are being
educated in the arts OF war with all
he military science of Europe. Here the
lotion acreage is extending so rapidly
hat railroads have not kept pace with
t; and caravans, sometimes from ten to
wenty miles long, are hurrying the crop
rom all directions to the railroad ter
minus"
What would be your opinion regarding
he statement that the Russian govern
nent is cruel and oppressive?"
AS I have said, Russian government Is
superior in humanity to the ma
I've governments of Asia. The very flrsr
york Of the Russians in the countries
4 which I have traveEed-those parts of
entral Asia which have been conquered
or them by Skobeleff and Kaufmann-
as been the prompt adjustment Of those
oddly cruelties to man and beast SO
practiced by the Asiatics. The
are that the Russian peasant takes of