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, and the mere precautionary measures it has imposed upon us, and especially upon our Indian dependency, have already proved a serious burden to our Imperial resources. The might of Russia has borne down from the north within the last decade upon the decrepit kingdom of Persia with irresistible weight It has, perhaps, been temporarily checked by the blows showered upon Russian prestige in the Far East, but the check can hardly be permanent. Financially, by the loans in which she has entangled the spendthrift Shah Muzaffer-ed-Din, and strategically by her military position, which envelops the Persian frontier from the Caucasus to the Hen Rud, from Tabriz to Meshed, Russia dominates Teheran; nor does this satisfy her ambition, which aims at displacing British influence not only in Northern, but in Central, and even in Southern Persia. The attack was in the first place openly directed against British trade. A lavish system of bounties and drawbacks to promote Russian commerce; a new tariff forced upon Persia for the exclusive benefit of Russian trade; a bank specially created on the lines of the Russo-Chinese Bank, and like the latter, to all intents and purposes a Department of the Russian Ministry of Finance; the reorganization of the Persian Customs Service by a staff of Belgian officials devoted to Russia's interests because dependent upon her favour; the construction of expensive roads in Northern Persia, combining commercial with strategical advantages; the appointment of enterprising consular officers all over Persia, working hand in hand with native agents, drilled in the school of General Kosakowsky's brigade of 'Persian' Cossacks—these were only some of the more salient features of her plan of campaign.

Perhaps the most significant indication of her policy was the engagement she wrung out of the Persian Government not to sanction the construction of any railways in Persian territory without her consent. The Russians themselves have made no secret of the object of this engagement. It was intended to cover the