January 26.
Tue geographical position of Persia, which brings her into close relationship with Great Britain, Russia and Tarkey, and the commercial interests centring in the country that are shared by at least one other Power render Persian affairs of some moment in the counsels of Europe. By the Anglo-Russian Agreement the rivalry of these two Powers was removed by the recognition of separate spheres of influence, and the' prospect of active interference on their was for the time being eliminated The obligation upon Persia, however, to carry through her reorganization without molesting foreigners remained, and it was only in the last resort that Great Britain to safeguard her interests in the south took steps that threatened to put an end to the self-imposed policy of nonintervention which had commended itself to both the British and the Russian Governments. In the British Note of October 14 attention was called to the insecurity of the trade routes in southern Persia, and in the event of law and order not being restored within three months the British Government announced that it would have to take over the policing of the Bushire-Shiraz route all the way to Ispahan, organizing a Persian military force under the command of eight or ten officers of the Indian Army. For the upkeep of the force a charge of ten per cent would be made on the Customs. The Persian Government replied to this Note towards the end of December and stated that it was engaged in reorganizing the police and that there bad been no molestation of the caravan routes for more than three weeks. It asked, moreover, that the proposed surcharge on the Customs should be levied and that the receipts should be handed over to defray the cost. of police reorganization. As had been already foreshadowed, the British Government, which was not anxious to depart from the policy of nen-intervention, has accepted the assuragee given by Persia, but points out that, until it has been established satisfactorily that the present change for the better is more or less permanent
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.