"Inasmuch as the treaties, conventions and concessions which, during the last one hundred years the autocratic Government of Russia and its subjects exacted from Persia were. in their entirety, imposed either under duress, force and violence, or through illegal agencies, such as threats, tempting and inducements, contrary to the well-being and advantage of the Empire and of the people of Persia, and

“Inasmuch as the great Powers of the world have, from the inception of the present war, declared themselves in writing and through other agencies for observing and safeguarding the political and economic independence and sovereignty of weak nations, and

"Inasmuch as, on this account, the new Government of Russia (the new regime since the fall of the old regime) has for its fixed ideal and object the independence and sovereignty of all the nations, and has especially, through official and informal channels repeatedly declared for the cancellation of the concessions and treaties which had previously been exacted from Persia, and

"Inasmuch as the aforesaid concessions, treaties and conventions have not only been secured from Persia under duress and violence and against the interests of the Empire, but those amongst them which have been exacted since the proclamation of the Constitutional regime in Persia have been contrary to the very text of the Empire's Constitution, and

"Inasmuch as the period of these concessions has elapsed, or that they have been executed in a very imperfect manner, and against the clear contents of those concessions, and, not only in that imperfect manner of carrying them out, the definite rights of the Government have been neglected, nay they have been transferred to other parties, or their contents have been otherwise abused and misused and made to furnish harsh political and economic pretexts, contrary to the sovereignty of the Government and the just needs of the nation, and

"Inasmuch as the Persian Government and nation have, furthermore, a right, like other Governments, to profit by their natural resources as well as their natural liberty and birthright:

"The Government has, therefore, positively decided upon cancelling and declaring null and void all the aforesaid treaties, conventions and concessions and has decreed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notify all the representatives and envoys of the foreign Governments near the Court of Persia and, likewise, all the Ministers and envoys of the Persian Empire near the foreign courts, of the substance of this decree, and that the Minister of Public Works, through the proper means, shall make a declaration of the order for the information of the public. This decree is on file at the Cabinet of the President of the Council of Ministers. "(Signed) NAJEF-GHOLI,

"Prime Minister."

The principal convention prejudicing the sovereignty and independence of Persia is that entered into by Great Britain and Russia in 1907, which assigned the southern half of Persia to England, the northern half to Russia, an arrangement forced upon Persia without the latter's assent, and which carried, it seemed, to a finality, the British policy of smothering native enterprise in Persia as well as foreign excepting British and Russian, and which, although guaranteeing the independence of Persia, gave the lie to the very thing guaranteed. The first week in January the Persian Legation here was informed of a new communication from the British Government to the Persian Governemnt in which the former gave notice of postponement, until a sovereign, recognized Government in Russia is established and agrees to act simultaneously, of a denunciation of the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Whether England is acting in good faith, with the purpose of granting full justice to Persia, can only be known when the

wrong done to Persia is righted. It is in the power of Great Britain to do the right thing now. If justice is not done, and a League of Nations issues from the peace congress, Persia will have the right to carry its grievances before it.

It had been understood that the British Government had given assurances to the Powers that the system it, together with Russia, set up in Persia, dividing that country into two spheres would be discontinued. Should it in fact be discontinued, the Caspian Sea, which through the imperialistic aggressions of Russia had become a Russian lake, will again become a Persian Sea. It will enable Persian industry, trade, art and literature, which made the age of Baghdad golden, to revive and thrive. Persia is rich in natural resources, in talent and ambition. It has not forgotten its magnificent past, which Western civilization has always admired. For a century, however, Russia has encroached upon Persia, and in recent years has been abetted by Great Britain. For half a century England had feared a possible Russian invasion of India, through Persia. That fear is responsible for the pax britannica system, which superimposes British suzerainty upon once independent States, like Afghanistan, and for the suppression of Persia. It is responsible for the non-progress of Persia in facilities for transportation, England's influence preventing the construction of railroads in the country which is the natural bridge between the East and the West. With foreign restrictions removed, and Persia permitted to develop her

resources without interference, but with the external assistance that her natural wealth would certainly attract, she would of very necessity flourish and prosper, and become an important, as she already is an aspiring, member of the society of nations. Her past is promise for her future.

The demand for the rectification of Persia's frontiers and restoration to her of the territories wrongfully taken from her harks back to the Treaty of Turkmanchai in 1829. That wrong, together with the preceding Treaty of Culistan in 1813, robbed Persia of some of her most coveted territories, but Persia does not ask the return of all, as some of the districts taken from her have during the past hundred years become alienated. Those treaties gave to Russia Georgia, the Caspian districts of Baghestan, Baku and Shirwan, Erivan and Nakhitcheran, and in addition Persia was obliged to pledge herself not to maintain war vessels on the Caspian. In possessing Erivan, Russia obtained the key to the heart of Persia. The Teheran Government, however, does not petition for the return of Erivan, but does ask for Baku, with such a rectification of her frontier as repossession of Baku would require; she asks also the return of the Persian territory joined to Russian Turkestan, and for the Shiites' holy places, but not for Baghdad.

Although Persia at the commencement of the war declared her neutrality, it was respected by neither Great Britain, Russia nor Turkey. Her territories were made the bases for

military operations by all three Powers. Her inhabitants' property was destroyed to a very considerable extent by reason of these warlike operations, and the conditions imposed by the war upon Persia cost her the lives of hundreds of thousands of her people, through starvation and disease.

One of the important unwritten chapters of the war is the conduct of the Persian Government during the

war.

It was difficult for it to keep out of the war. England and Russia were hated and, notwithstanding the Persians are Shiites and the Turks Sunnites, the religious differences were all but forgotten by reason of the oppression the Persian people had been forced to endure by England and Russia. The Pan-Turanian movement found the Persian people sympathetic. It found Persian noblemen and generals willing and ready to espouse the cause. In this connection the Persian Government rendered a service to Great Britain whose value to the British Empire, especially to that Empire of India, is incalculable.

A large number of Persian notables had been moved, by reason of the Anglo-Russian armed invasion of Persia, to rebel against the oppression and to become partisans of the Pan-Turanian movement. The nation was ready to follow their lead. If Persia had then entered the war, India, where the Mohammedans call Persia their intellectual mother, and where the voice of the usurping Sheik ul Islam was not heeded, but a call from Persia would have been heard sympathetically, might have been

stirred to fanatical revolt against the British. Instead, however, the Persian Government denounced these Persian noblemen and generals as rebels. It is the belief of competent observers that the refusal of the Persian Government to countenance the Pan-Turanian movement caused its failure. The fact that the Persians claim Aryan, and not Teheran descent, was not the determining factor

which decided the Teheran authorities. It is the belief here that messages dispatched from Washington to Persia stayed the hand of the Persian Government.

The treaties forced upon Persia by Russia early in the nineteenth century were imitated by other Powers, further sacrificing Persian interests, culminating in the Anglo-Russian pact, which left Persia only in name an independent nation. How enforcement of the stipulations of that convention operated practically to injure Persia was emphasized by the experience of Morgan Shuster, the American expert appointed financial adviser to the Persian Government a few years ago. England had agreed to seek no concessions in the north, Russia in the south of Persia. Shuster sent an Englishman as tax collector into Northern Persia. Russia contended that this act was in violation of the Anglo-Russian Convention; England admitted that it was, and Russia compelled Persia to dismiss Shuster. The Persian Government then was obliged by Russia to promise that it would employ in the future no foreign advisers without consulting Russia and Great Britain.

It is Persia's hope and expectation that the incubus of foreign, unsympathetic intervention, even obstruction, in her affairs shall be removed; that she shall be permitted to take her natural and rightful place among independent nations, and that she shall not be prevented hereafter, as she has been prevented in the past, from building upon her resources and her genius. It is Persia's desire to gather, wherever she will, such ad

visers in her Government as she herself freely elects, without the constraining advice of other Powers, so that her destiny may be realized naturally and freely. Through her Government she has declared that her aspirations are based upon President Wilson's fourteen principles, which all the belligerent Powers have accepted, and that she expects the American Government not to refuse to assist her in their realization.

T

HE smashing defeat of the Bolsheviki at Perm by the CzechoSlovak General Gaida, commanding an army composed principally of Siberian troops with a few Czecho-Slovak regiments, has helped to draw attention once more to the little Czecho-Slovak Army in the Urals.

On May 27, 1918, these men without a country were compelled to use what few arms they possessed in defense of their lives and liberty. They took over the Siberian railroad originally from the Bolsheviki in order that they might continue their journey to Vladivostok, but in a few days their leaders realized that to abandon the cities taken over by them would mean wholesale massacre, since the Bolsheviki threatened to destroy Siberian cities which had welcomed the Czecho-Slovaks as liberators. So these few fighters stayed, not knowing at first whether they would be

backed by their leader Masaryk or by their great Allies.

A month later assurances began to reach them from the French, English and even American military and diplomatic representatives that their course was approved and that the Allies would send them help. On September 3 President Wilson announced that he would furnish such protection and help as is possible to the Czecho-Slovaks, and the Japanese two days later announced in a declaration that the Czecho-Slovak troops justly commanded every sympathy and consideration from cobelligerents to whom their destiny is a matter of deep and abiding con

cern.

Thus encouraged, the Czecho-Slovaks won notable victories both east of Lake Baikal and on the Volga. On September 11 Lloyd George cabled to Masaryk on behalf of the British War Cabinet: I send you

our heartiest congratulations on the striking success won by the CzechoSlovak forces against armies of Austrian and German troops in Siberia. The story of the adventures and triumphs of this small army is indeed one of the great epics of history. . . . We shall never forget it.

Among the startling things accomplished by the Czecho-Slovaks was the capture of 800,000,000 rubles in gold. This treasure was turned over to the Siberian Government at Omsk, organized under the protection of Czecho-Slovak arms. They also made possible the gathering of the All-Russian Assembly at Ufa.

At the time when war broke out between them and the Bolsheviki, the Czecho-Slovaks-numbered some 70,000 combatants, and only about 12,000 auxiliary troops; most of the work to be done in the rear of the lines was done for them by German prisoners of war. From the end of May to the end of November the Czecho-Slovaks were engaged in constant fighting on numberless fronts. By that time their numbers went down to 35,000 combatants, the rest being dead or in hospitals. There was still no help from the Allies and even the supplies sent to them from America had not yet reached them. On top of that a coup d'état occurred at Omsk and the democratic AllRussian Government was replaced by the dictatorship of Admiral Kolchak. The Czechs did not trust him, and away to the east Semenoff cut the railroad traffic and broke connections

with Vladivostok, because he would not recognize the recent overturn.

The Czecho-Slovak soldiers thought they had been deserted by the whole world and when the Russian Branch of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, their political leaders elected by the soldiers themselves at the July Convention at Omsk, ordered the Czech army to start another offensive the soldiers refused to go. But about that time General Milan R. Stefanik, member of the original Czecho-Slovak Revolutionary Government and now Minister of War of the Prague government, came to Ekaterinburg with General M. Janin, chief commander of all the Czecho-Slovak Armies. By the exercise of much tact as well as judicious employment of authority, Stefanik succeeded in restoring the morale of the army, and so the Czecho-Slovaks are again fighting the Bolsheviki alongside of the Russian National troops.

This, however, does not solve their problem. They originally volunteered to fight for the sake of liberating their native land; the majority of them have been away from home for four years without seeing their wives and children. Bohemia is now free, but the end of their task is nowhere in sight. They have deserved well of the Allies and are justified in asking that the the great Western Powers either throw a few divisions into Russia and finish the job on hand, or else instruct the CzechoSlovaks to withdraw and go home.