Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-11-09
knglo-P Persian Treaty Defended by English Writer Who Declares It Marks
 New Step in International Relations

with of a joint committee of experts TOT the examination and revision of
 the existing customed tariff.
 :, Can any impartial judge deny
 that m view of the relative position of the two contracting parties and Tn the light of the centurv-old rec
 ord of Anglo-Persian relations taken as whole as well as of the new situ- atlon created by the war, the Anglo Perslan agreement of August 9, of winch the preamble reiterates in the
 most categorical manner the under
 tak1ngs repeatedly given by the
 British government in the past to respect absolutely the independence and integrity of Persia is not only an open, but generous, covenant. which does honor to both signator- ies
 When it comes to be laid before the league of nations, as Britain and
 Persia ,(both original members of the league) have pledged themselves to lay it. it's provisions may be closely scrutinized, but the more closely they are scrutinized, the more they will be seen to bear out the assurance given by Lord Curzon that the British have no intention to settle down in Persia to Anglic- lze or lndianize 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 indepen- dent and still living nation
 "This is the position on which Brit ain takes her stand before the world in regard both to the specific pro- visions and the general bearings of the new Anglo-Persian agreement. It preserves the dignity and inde- Dendence of Persia whilst affording her the assistance she confessedlv needs for her moral regeneration and
 material prosperity. To that ex- tent it protects also legitimate British interest. For Persia is a close neighbor of Britain in India, and also now in Mesopotamia, thru which lies one of the great trade routes into Persia and which shelters the religious shrines specially sacred to the Persian people.
 "The ties which unite Persia and India are indeed ancient and mani fold, as Persia is a Hahamedan state that bull1s large in the eyes of the sixty millions of Indian Mohamedans in virtue not only of common creed, but of language and literature and civilization inherited to a great ex- tent in past ares from the Persians. In it's broader implications the agree ment makes for peace in Asia, which If 1t be primarily British interest, since Britain has in Asia larger stake today than any other Western power, is also an interest more clear ly than ever common to the whole world on the morrow of a great strugle that has shaken the whole world to it's foundations.
 "If this agreement conforms, as British and Persia believe and con- tend, in substance and in spirit, to the principles laid down in the pre- an1ble to the covenant of the league of nations by which the hieh con- tracting parties undertake to pro- mote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security if it gives effect to 'pre- scription of open, just and honorable relations between nations and af- lords an example of the mainte- nance of justice and scrupulous re- spect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized people with one another.' Britain can legitimate lv claim not only to have given an incontrovertible proof of her sincer- ity as one of the founders of the leapue. but to have afforded the first practical encouragement to all those who believe that in the league lies the chief hope of salvation for the future of the world"