Lord Curzon made an important statement on Persia in the
House of Lords on Tuesday. We had, he said, "no right to replace commotion by chaos," as we should have done if we had withdrawn all our troop& from Persia after the Armistice. Persia was threatened by the Bolsheviks, and Mesopotamia in turn would be endangered if Persia were given up to anarchy. The Anglo-Persian Agreement was designed to strengthen Persian independence. The Persian Ministry had delayed ratifying the agreement and had not summoned the Illogic's or Parliament to approve of it. We had now insisted that the Mejliss should meet within a month and (some to a. decision. If Persia rejeeted. the agreement, the responsibility for what might happen with- out our support must be hers. For the time being, we had undertaken to organize the Persian Cossack division, which was the nnly force, apart from British troops, that protected Northern Persia and the capital from a Bolshevik invasion. Our troops could not remain indefinitely.
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