A NEW COMMERCIAL TREATY. 137 



CHAPTEH XIL 



PERSIA IN 1903. 



"Tariffs" — Negotiations leading to a revision of the Custom duties — 

 Adverse effects upon British, trade over-estimated — Present state of 

 affairs due to British insouciance in the past — The treaty of Erzerum 

 — Provisions of the new tariff — Effect ujjon Indian trade — Great 

 Britain's reply — Events on the Afghan border — The MacMahon 

 mission — Russian intrigue — Ways and communications — The situa- 

 tion in the capital — The fall of the Prime Minister — A tribute to the 

 British Minister. 



On March 4, 1903, I entered Persia. On February 14 

 the new Customs tariff had come into force, and 

 "tariffs" proved to be an unfailing source of con- 

 versation from one end of the kingdom to the other. 

 " Tariff reform," in fact, was as undoubtedly the topic 

 of the hour in Persia as it came to be nearer home a 

 very short time after, though discussion of the subject 

 in the two cases was of a widely different nature. For 

 in Persia it was an accomplished fact that had to be 

 digested — the fact that the neutral markets of the 

 world had become the poorer by one. 



The advent of a change in the fiscal arrangements of 

 Persia had long been foreshadowed, and when the new 

 commercial treaty between Persia and Turkey was con- 

 cluded, no obstacle remained to bar the way to such an 

 innovation. It must be admitted, however, that on 

 this occasion the Persians displayed a wholly unex- 



