Sir Edward Grey, replying to criticisms of the scheme on
its political and strategical aides, maintained that the good relations between Russia and Great Britain would be un- affected by this deal. The Anglo-Peraian Company's con cession antedated the Anglo-Russian Agreement, being thirteen years old. Part of the territory covered by the concession was in the British sphere of influence, but most of it was in the neutral zone. Mr. George Lloyd bad asked how the Government proposed to defend property "sm, rounded by material far more inflammable than oil," and Sir Edward Grey suggested that two brigades of British troops could defend the pipe-line if the worst came to the worst. But be thought the tribesmen already realized that it was to their pecuniary interest to protect the oil wells. In fine, though he admitted the existence of drawbacks in the situation of the oilfields, he held that there was no place outside the British Empire where the risks were less.
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