On Wednesday a very interesting debate took place in regard
to Persia and Russian and German influence in the Persian Gulf, raised by Mr. Walton, who was very anxious that we should stand up to Russia and maintain the integrity and independence of the Persian Empire. [We seem doomed to be always defending the integrity and independence of some decaying Empire against Russia. It used to be Turkey, then it was China, and now it is Persia.] We cannot deal at length with the debate, but we note with pleasure the very sensible line taken by Mr. Henry Norman, and must mention that he in effect elicited from the Under- Secretary of State that the " secret Treaty " made by us
with Germany gives Germany access to the Persian Gulf. If this is so, could anything be more utterly fatuous than our policy in that region ? We incur the enmity of a Great Power, not a trade rival, in order to keep her out of the Gulf, and at the same time let in a most serious trade rival. And then we talk of conducting our Empire on business principles.
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