PERSIA 1113 



the news of any unsatisfactory incident, and the Executive was thus made impotent 

 whenever it was required to act with vigour. 



The leading figures in the Government which faced the Mejliss in the autumn of 1909 

 were the Premier, Sipahdar, and the Minister of War, Sardar-i-Assad thanks to whom 

 Difficulties ^ e ex-Shah had been expelled from Persia in September. The Cabinet 

 of the programme laid emphasis on the need of restoring order after the revolu- 



Persiaa tion. But neither police nor troops could be maintained without money, and 



the government at once attempted to obtain an advance of 500,000 from 

 Great Britain and Russia. Then their difficulties began. The Mejliss was divided 

 into two groups, of which the larger, known as the moderates, was prepared to work 

 with the government. But the smaller, or extremist group, was animated by the most 

 violent feeling against Russia feeling to which it did not fail to give noisy expression. 

 This group secured representation on the Foreign Affairs Committee and eventually in 

 the Cabinet. It was thus able to prevent the conclusion of the all-important joint loan, 

 and at the end of four months the Mejliss had really done nothing except harass the 

 Cabinet and provide itself with a debating hall fitted up in luxurious fashion. 



The progress of the loan negotiations is thus linked up on the one side with political 

 intrigues in Teheran, and on the other with the situation in the provinces of Azerbaijan 



and Fars and with the consequent activity of Russia and Britain. The 

 Disorder in t r }pi e thread will be discerned in the following narrative. It opens with 

 north. a serious piece of news which reached Teheran on November 25th, ten days 



after the opening of the Mejliss. M. Passek, the Russian Consul- General 

 at Bushire, who was travelling to his post together with his subordinate, was attacked 

 by tribesmen on the road. At the same time Mr. Bill, the British representative at 

 Shiraz, reported a difficult situation in the town, while the general authority of the 

 Governor of Fars was threatened by Kashgais under Soulet-ed-Dowleh, with whom 

 the government vainly negotiated. By the end of November the road from Ispahan 

 was closed and the position had become critical. Consular reports of robberies fill the 

 record of the early months of 1910, until at last, on April i5th, Mr. Bill was himself 

 attacked by robbers and two Indian sowars were killed. A strong British note was at 

 once presented. Meanwhile matters had been going ill in the north. In November 

 1909 Sattar Khan, the representative of the new government, was driven out of Ardebil 

 by adherents of the ex-Shah under Rahim Khan. Russian troops were sent to restore 

 order, and a force under Yeprim, the Armenian Chief of Police, came up from Teheran. 

 Yeprim, a capable man, acted with comparative vigour, and by the beginning of Febru- 

 ary Rahim Khan had fled across the frontier. The extremists in the Assembly believed 

 that he owed his life to Russian protection, and the Prime Minister resigned. This 

 resignation was withdrawn, but its effect on affairs in the north was most unfortunate. 

 Sattar Khan and Bagher Khan, who were joined by Yeprim's men, gave rein to their 

 nationalism, and were reported to be contemplating an attack on Russian banks in 

 Tabriz. St. Petersburg took the alarm and Teheran hurriedly recalled the patriots. 

 But it was not until March igth, ten days later, that they left for the capital. 



In such circumstances the progress of the loan negotiations could not be smooth. 

 The British Government knocked 100,000 off the sum demanded, but was otherwise 



willing to lend. The Russians concurred, and in February 1910, just when 

 The loan the situation in the north was most difficult, the two Powers submitted their 

 negotiations, conditions. They included demands that the programme of expenditure 



should be submitted to the two legations, and that 'French officials should 

 be attached to the Ministry of Finance. A month later the Minister of Finance expressed 

 the view that the Mejliss would be certain to reject these terms, and an alternative 

 project for raising a loan from another source was vetoed by the two Powers. The dead- 

 lock continued for a month, when the Cabinet was reconstructed. More time was wasted 

 by the House toying with the idea of an internal loan, but at last, towards the end of 

 May, the appointment of foreign advisers was accepted in principle. The legations 

 reported that circumstances had changed for the better, but a week afterwards all was 



