The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-10-27

OF benevolent tutelage over Persia un.
der mandate from the league of ma
tons. She wisely refraned from do.
ing any of these things. In Lord Cur.
IONS words, she dealt with Persia as
an equal partner possessing and enjoy.
ing her own sovereignty
The Persians know to-day as never
before that they cannot work out their
own regeneration unaided Their ad-
ministratiye system is hopelessIy in
efficient. Their finances are bankrupt.
They have no organized force capable
of maintaining external security or in
ternal order. The natural resources of
the country potentially not inconsid.
cradle, are as undeyeloped as its print,
tive methods of trade and industry.
Equally wretehed are its means of com
munleation; it has no railways, scarce
! ly any roads worth speaking of. only
one barely navigable river, the Karln.
and no harbors but open roadsteads.
The new Anglo Persian agreement
! lays down the nature and extent of
British assistance required and asked
Tor by Persia to start putting her house
IN order The British government
agrees to supply in consultation with
the Persian government, expert advis-
ers for the several departments of the
Persian administration, and after in.
quiry by joint commission of mill
tary experts, the officers, munitions
and equipment wanted for the forma-
tion OF a uniform force to establish
and preserve order in the country and
on its frontiers
TO finance the above reforms the
British government offers to provide
or arrange substantial loan to the
Persian government on security to be
determined by mutual consultation,
and to supply meanwhile on account
such funds as may be necessary to
initiate them In the economic sphere
the British government declares its
readiness to cooperate with the Per
sian government in the promotion of
railway construction and other forms
of transport, and agrees to the APP
pointment forthwith of Joint com
mittee of experts for the examination
and revision of the existing customs
tariff.
Can any impartial Judge deny that
in view Of the relative position of the
two contracting parties and in the light
OF the century old record of Anglo Per
sian relations taken as a whole as well
as OF the new situation created by the
war, the Anglo-Persian agreement Of
Aug 3, Of which the preamble reiter,
ates in the most categorical manner
the undertakings repeatedly given by
the British government in the past to
respect absolutely the Independence
and integrity of Persia is not only an
open but a generous covenant which
does honor to both signatories?
When it comes to be laid before the
league of nations, as Britain and Persia
(both original members of the leaguel
have pledged themselves to lay it, its
provisions may be closely scrutinized,
but the more closely they are scruti.
nized, the more they will be seen to
bear out the assurance given by Lord
Curzon that the British have no in
tention to settle down in Persia to
Angicize or Indianize or Europeanize'
the people, but that on the contrary all
they want to do is to give Persia the
expert assistance and the financial aid
which will enable her to carve out her
own fortunes as an independent and
still living nation
This is the position on which Brit
ain takes her stand before the world
in regard both to the specific provisions
and the general bearings of the new
AngloPersian agreement. 1t preserves
the dignity and independence of Persia
whilst affording her the assistance she
confessedly needs for her moral regen-
GRAFTON and material prosperity. 70 !,
that extent it protects also legiti- |
mate British interest For Persia Is a
close neighbor Of Britain in India. and
also now in Mesopotamia, through .
which lies one of the great trade routes
into Persia and which shelters the re-
ligious shrines specially sacred to the
Persian people.
The ties which unite Persia and |
India are indeed ancient and manifold |
as Persia is a Mohammedan state that
bulks large in the eyes of the 10000 900 |
of Indian Mohammedans in virtue not I
only Of common creed, but of Ian
guage and literature and civilization |
inherited to a great extent in past ages
from the Persians. In its broader i'm |
plieations the agreement makes for
peace in Asia which if it be primarily |
a British interest, since Britain has in
Asia larger stake to-day than any
other western power, is also an inter.
est more clearly than ever common to
the whole world on the morrow of a
great struggle that has shaken the
whole world to its foundations.
If this agreement conforms, as Brit /
ain and Persia believe and contend. in
Substance and in spirit, to the prin-
ciples laid down in the preamble to
the covenant of the league of nations
by which the high contracting parties
to promote international
cooperation and to achieve interna-
tional peace and security if it gives
effect to prescription Of open just and
honorable relations between nations
and affords an example of the main.
tenance of justice and scrupulous re-
spect for all treaty obligations in the
dealings of organized people with one
another, Britain can legitimately claim
not only to have given an incontrovert-
lble proof of her sincerity as one of
the founders of the league, but to have
afforded the first practical encourage
ment to all those who believe that in
the league lies the chief hope of saliva
ton for the future of the world"