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LETTERS ON ARMED ASSISTANCE

233

Art. 4.-If Spain, when invited to assent to the provisions of the preceding article, should think proper to decline, the arrangement between France and Great Britain, as embodied in the Declaration of to-day's date, would be none the less at once applicable.

Art. 5. Should the consent of the other Powers to the draft Decree mentioned in Art. 1 of the Declaration of to-day's date not be obtained, the Government of the French Republic will not oppose the repayment at par of the Guaranteed, Privileged and Unified Debts [of Egypt] after the 15th July, 1910.

d. EXCHANGE OF LETTERS RESPECTING ARMED ASSISTANCE MADE BY SIR EDWARD GREY, BRITISH SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AND PAUL CAMBON, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO LONDON, NOVEMBER 22-23, 1912.1

i. SIR EDWARD GREY TO M. CAMBON.

My dear Ambassador,

FOREIGN OFFICE,
November 22, 1912.

From time to time in recent years the French and British naval and military experts have consulted together. It has always been understood that such consultation does not restrict the freedom of either Government to decide at any future time whether or not to assist the other by armed force. We have agreed that consultation between experts is not, and ought not to be regarded as, an engagement that commits either Government to action in a contingency that has not arisen and may never arise. The disposition, for instance, of the French and British fleets respectively at the present moment is not based upon an engagement to co-operate in

war.

You have, however, pointed out that, if either Government had grave reason to expect an unprovoked attack by a third Power, it might become essential to know whether it could in that event depend upon the armed assistance of the other.

I agree that, if either Government had grave reason to expect an unprovoked attack by a third Power, or something that threatened the general peace, it should immediately discuss with the other whether both Governments should act together to prevent aggression and to preserve peace, and, if so, what measures they would be prepared to take in common.

If

Inclosures Nos. 1 and 2 in dispatch No. 105, British Diplomatic Correspondence respecting the Outbreak of the European War.

these measures involved action, the plans of the general staffs would at once be taken into consideration, and the Governments would then decide what effect should be given to them.

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You reminded me in your letter of yesterday, 22nd November, that during the last few years the military and naval authorities of France and Great Britain had consulted with each other from time to time; that it had always been understood that these consultations should not restrict the liberty of either Government to decide in the future whether they should lend each other the support of their armed forces; that, on either side, these consultations between experts were not and should not be considered as engagements binding our Governments to take action in certain eventualities; that, however, I had remarked to you that, if one or other of the two Governments had grave reasons to fear an unprovoked attack on the part of a third Power, it would become essential to know whether it could count on the armed support of the other.

Your letter answers that point, and I am authorized to state that, in the event of one of our two Governments having grave reasons to fear either an act of aggression from a third Power, or some event threatening the general peace, that Government would immediately examine with the other the question whether both Governments should act together in order to prevent the act of aggression or preserve peace. If so, the two Governments would deliberate as to the measures which they would be prepared to take in common; if those measures involved action, the two Governments would take into immediate consideration the plans of their general staffs and would then decide as to the effect to be given to those plans.

Yours etc.,

PAUL CAMBON.

GREAT BRITAIN AGREES WITH RUSSIA

235

III. ANGLO-RUSSIAN ENTENTE CORDIALE.

1. CONVENTION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND RUSSIA RELATING
TO PERSIA, AFGHANISTAN AND TIBET, SIGNED AT ST. PETERS-
BURG, AUGUST 31, 1907.1 (RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED
ST. PETERSBURG, SEPTEMBER 23, 1907.)

Sir,

No. 1. SIR EDWARD GREY TO SIR ARTHUR NICOLSON.

AT

FOREIGN OFFICE, August 29, 1907.

I have to-day authorized your Excellency by telegraph to sign a convention with the Russian Government containing arrangements on the subject of Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet.

The arrangement respecting Persia is limited to the regions of that country touching the respective frontiers of Great Britain and Russia in Asia, and the Persian Gulf is not part of those regions, and is only part in Persian territory. It has not therefore been considered appropriate to introduce into the convention a positive declaration respecting special interests possessed by Great Britain in the Gulf, the result of British action in those waters for more than a hundred years.

His Majesty's Government have reason to believe that this question will not give rise to difficulties between the two Governments should developments arise which make further discussion affecting British interests in the Gulf necessary. For the Russian Government have in the course of the negotiations leading up to the conclusion of this arrangement explicitly stated that they do not deny the special interests of Great Britain in the Persian Gulf a statement of which His Majesty's Government have formally taken note.

In order to make it quite clear that the present arrangement is not intended to affect the position in the Gulf, and does not imply any change of policy respecting it on the part of Great Britain, His Majesty's Government think it desirable to draw attention to previous declarations of British policy, and to reaffirm generally previous statements as to British interests in the Persian Gulf and the importance of maintaining them.

His Majesty's Government will continue to direct all their efforts to the

100_British and Foreign State Papers, 555-560; American Journal of International Law, Supplement, I, 398–406.

preservation of the status quo in the Gulf and the maintenance of British trade; in doing so, they have no desire to exclude the legitimate trade of any other Power.

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Sir,

No. 2. SIR ARTHUR NICOLSON TO SIR EDWARD GREY.

ST. PETERSBURG, August 31, 1907.

I have the honor to transmit herewith the convention which was signed to-day by M. Izvolski and myself for the settlement of certain questions affecting the interests of Great Britain and Russia in Asia.

I also beg leave to forward a note which I received from M. Izvolski in response to a communication from me, of which a copy is herewith inclosed, on the subject of the entry of scientific missions into Tibet.

I have, etc.,
(Signed)

INCLOSURE I IN No. 2.-CONVENTION.

A. NICOLSON.

1

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, and His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, animated by the sincere desire to settle by mutual agreement different questions concerning the interests of their States on the Continent of Asia, have determined to conclude Agreements destined to prevent all cause of misunderstanding between Great Britain and Russia in regard to the questions referred to, and have nominated for this purpose their respective Plenipotentiaries, to wit:

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, the Right Honorable Sir Arthur Nicolson, His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias;

His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, the Master of his Court Alexander Izvolski, Minister for Foreign Affairs;

Who, having communicated to each other their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed on the following:

PERSIAN AFFAIRS REGULATED

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ARRANGEMENT CONCERNING PERSIA.'

The Governments of Great Britain and Russia having mutually engaged to respect the integrity and independence of Persia, and sincerely desiring the preservation of order throughout that country and its peaceful development, as well as the permanent establishment of equal advantages for the trade and industry of all other nations;

Considering that each of them has, for geographical and economic reasons, a special interest in the maintenance of peace and order in certain provinces of Persia adjoining, or in the neighborhood of, the Russian frontier on the one hand, and the frontiers of Afghanistan and Baluchistan on the other hand; and being desirous of avoiding all cause of conflict between their respective interests in the above-mentioned provinces of Persia;

Have agreed on the following terms:

I. Great Britain engages not to seek for herself, and not to support in favor of British subjects, or in favor of the subjects of third Powers, any concessions of a political or commercial nature such as concessions for railways, banks, telegraphs, roads, transport, insurance, etc.-beyond a line starting from Kasr-i-Shirin, passing through, Isfahan, Yezd, Kakhk, and ending at a point on the Persian frontier at the intersection of the Russian and Afghan frontiers, and not to oppose, directly or indirectly, demands for similar concessions in this region which are supported by the Russian Government. It is understood that the above-mentioned places are included in the region in which Great Britain engages not to seek the concessions referred to.

II.-Russia, on her part, engages not to seek for herself and not to support, in favor of Russian subjects, or in favor of the subjects of third Powers, any concessions of a political or commercial nature such as concessions for railways, banks, telegraphs, roads, transport, insurance, etc.-beyond a line going from the Afghan frontier by way of Gazik, Birjand, Kerman, and ending at Bunder Abbas, and not to oppose, directly or indirectly, demands for similar concessions in this region which are supported by the British Government. It is understood that the above-mentioned places

Persia has informed Holland that it regards as null and void all treaties imposed on Persia in recent years, and especially the Russo-British treaty of 1907 regarding the spheres of influence in that country. The other treaties may be revised later, the communication from the Persian Government states, but that of 1907, with its appendices, is definitely annulled.-(Associated Press dispatch, May 3, 1918.)

The British secretary of state for foreign affairs, replying on May 13, 1918, to a parliamentary question, said: "We have informed the Persian Government that his Majesty's Government will be prepared to regard the 1907 convention, in so far as it applies to Persia, as being in suspense.'

Persia was notified of the arrangement by a joint Anglo-Russian note of September 11, 1907 (102 British and Foreign State Papers, 906-907; see also 103 ibid., 644–974).

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