Samarkand pdfdrive com

CHAPTER 46
I am in no way departing from the truth by stating that in that year of 1911 all of
Persia was living in the ‘age of the American’ and that Shuster was indisputably
the most popular official and one of the most powerful. The newspapers
supported his actions all the more enthusiastically when he took the trouble to
invite the editors over from time to time to brief them on his projects and solicit
their advice on some prickly questions.
Above all, and most importantly, his difficult mission was on the road to
success. Before even reforming the fiscal system, he managed to balance the
budget simply by limiting theft and waste. Previously, innumerable notables,
princes, ministers or high dignitaries would send their demands to the Treasury
in the form of a note scribbled on a greasy piece of paper, and the civil servants
were constrained to satisfy them unless they wished to lose their job or their life.
With Morgan everything had changed overnight.
I will give one example out of so many others. On 17 June at a Cabinet
meeting, Shuster was presented with a pathetic request for the sum of forty-two
million 
tumans
in order to pay the salaries of the troops in Teheran.
‘Otherwise a rebellion will break out and it is the Treasurer General who will
bear the entire responsibility!’ exclaimed Amir-i-Azam, the ‘Supreme Emir’, the
Minister of War.
Shuster gave the following response:
‘The Minister himself took a similar sum ten days ago. What has he done
with it?’
‘I have used it to pay part of the soldiers’ back-pay. Their families are hungry
and the officers are all in debt. The situation is intolerable.’

---

‘Is the Minister certain that there is nothing left from that sum?’
‘Not the smallest coin!’
Shuster took out of his pocket a small visiting card which was covered with
tiny writing and which he conspicuously consulted before stating:
‘The sum which the Treasury paid out ten days ago has been deposited in its
entirety in the personal account of the Minister. Not one 
tuman
has been spent. I
have here the name of the banker and the figures.’
The supreme Emir, a huge fleshy man, stood up, bristling with rage; he
placed his hand on his chest and cast a furious glance at his colleagues:
‘Is this an attempt to question my honour?’
As no one reassured him on that point, he added:
‘I swear that if such a sum is indeed in my account, I am the last to know
about it.’
There were some looks of incredulity around him, it was decided to bring in
the banker and Shuster asked the ministers to wait where they were. The moment
it was indicated that the man had arrived, the Minister of War rushed to meet
him. After an exchange of whispers the supreme Emir came back to his
colleagues with an artless smile.
‘This damned banker had not understood my orders. He has not yet paid the
troops. It was a misunderstanding!’
The incident was closed, albeit with some difficulty, but thereafter the State’s
high officials did not dare to pillage the Treasury to their heart’s content, a
centuries-old custom. There were of course malcontents, but they had to keep
silent since most of the people, even amongst the ranks of the government
officials, had reason to be satisfied: for the first time in history, civil servants,
soldiers, and Persian diplomats abroad received their salaries on time.
Even in international financial circles people were starting to believe in the
Shuster miracle. As proof: the Seligman brothers, bankers in London, decided to
grant Persia a loan of four million pounds sterling without imposing any
humiliating clauses of the type which were generally attached to this type of
transaction – neither a levy on customs receipts, nor a mortgage of any sort. It
was a normal loan to a normal, respectable and potentially solvent client. That
was an important step. In the eyes of those who wanted to subjugate Persia it
was a dangerous precedent. The British government intervened to block the loan.
Meanwhile, the Tsar had recourse to more brutal methods. In July it was
learned that the former Shah had returned, with two of his brothers and at the
head of an army of mercenaries, to try and seize power. Had he not been under

---

house arrest in Odessa, with the Russian government’s explicit promise never to
allow him to return to Persia? When questioned, the St Petersburg authorities
replied that he had slipped out with a false passport and that his armaments had
been transported in boxes labelled ‘mineral water’, and that they themselves bore
no responsibility for his rebellion. Thus he had left his residence in Odessa and
with his men crossed the few hundred miles separating the Ukraine and Persia,
boarded a Russian ship with all his armaments, crossed the Caspian Sea and
disembarked on the Persian side – all of that without arousing the notice of the
Tsar’s government, his army nor the Okhrana, his secret police?
But what use was it to discuss the matter? Above all the fragile Persian
democracy had to be prevented from crumbling. Parliament asked Shuster for
credit and this time the American did not argue. On the contrary he saw to it that
an army was raised within a few days, with the best available equipment and
abundant ammunition. He himself suggested that it should be commanded by
Ephraim Khan, a brilliant Armenian officer who within three months would
succeed in crushing the ex-Shah and pushing him back across the border.
In chancelleries throughout the world it could hardly be believed: had Persia
become a modern state? Such rebellions generally dragged on for years. For
most observers, both in Teheran and abroad, the response was summed up in a
single magic word: Shuster. His role now went far beyond that of simply being
Treasurer General. It was he who suggested to parliament that they outlaw the
former Shah and plaster ‘Wanted’ posters, as in the Wild West, on the walls of
all the cities in the country, offering significant sums to anyone who helped to
capture the imperial rebel and his brothers, all of which succeeded in
discrediting the deposed monarch in the eyes of the population.
The Tsar was still in a rage. It was now clear to him that his ambitions in
Persia would not be satisfied while Shuster was there. He had to be made to
leave! An incident had to be created, a large incident. A man was charged with
this mission: Pokhitanoff, former Consul in Tabriz and now Consul General in
Teheran.
Mission is an unassuming word, for what was, in that context, a plot which
was carefully carried out, although without much finesse. Parliament had
decided to confiscate the property of the ex-Shah’s two brothers who were
leading the rebellion at his side. Commissioned to carry out the sentence, as
Treasurer General, Shuster wanted to do everything with the utmost legality. The
principal property concerned, situated not far from the Atabak Palace, belonged

---

to the Imperial Prince who went by the name ‘Radiance of the Sultanate’; the
American sent a detachment of the police and civil servants there, armed with
warrants. They found themselves face to face with Cossacks accompanied by
Russian consular officers who forbade the police to enter the property,
threatening to use force if they did not speedily retrace their steps.
When told of the outcome, Shuster sent one of his aides over to the Russian
legation. He was received by Pokhitanoff who, in an aggressive tone of voice,
gave him the following explanation: The mother of Prince ‘Radiance of the
Sultanate’ had written to the Tsar and Tsarina to claim their protection, which
was generously accorded.
The American could not believe his ears: It was unjust that foreigners, he
said, should enjoy the privilege of immunity in Persia and that the assassins of a
Persian minister could not be judged because they were the Tsar’s subjects – but
it was a time-honoured rule and difficult to change; however Persians overnight
could place their property under the protection of a foreign monarch to deflect
the laws of their own country – that was a novel and extraordinary process.
Shuster did not want to resign himself to that. He gave an order to the police to
go and take possession of the properties in question, without the use of violence
but with determination. This time Pokhitanoff allowed it. He had created the
incident. His mission was accomplished.
The reaction was not slow in coming. A communiqué was published in St
Petersburg stating that what had happened amounted to an act of aggression
against Russia and an insult to the Tsar and Tsarina. They were demanding an
official apology from the Teheran government. In a panic, the Persian Prime
Minister asked the British for advice; the Foreign Office replied that the Tsar
was not playing games, that he had amassed troops in Baku, that he was
preparing to invade Persia and that it would be wise to accept the ultimatum.
Thus, on 24 November 1911, the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs, with a
heavy heart, presented himself at the Russian Delegation and shook hands
fawningly with the Minister Plenipotentiary as he pronounced these words:
‘Your Excellency, my government has charged me with presenting to you, on
its behalf, apologies for the insult which consular officials of your government
have suffered.’
Still shaking the minister’s hand, the Tsar’s representative retorted:
‘Your apologies are accepted as a response to our first ultimatum, however I
must inform you that a second ultimatum is in preparation at St Petersburg. I will
advise you of its contents as soon as it reaches me.’

---

He kept his promise. Five days later, on 29 November at mid-day, the
diplomat presented the Minister of Foreign Affairs with the text of the new
ultimatum, adding orally that it had already received London’s approval and that
it had to be satisfied within forty-eight hours.
Point one: dismiss Morgan Shuster.
Point two: never again employ a foreign expert without obtaining beforehand
the consent of the Russian and British legations.

---