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Iranian Constitutional Exiles and British Foreign-Policy Dissenters, 1908–9

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Mansour Bonakdarian
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Extract

In recent Middle Eastern history, the experience of political exile has become a prevalent theme, as large numbers of Palestinians, Kurds, Iranians, and Afghans, among others, have sought refuge in various countries. Although the earlier numbers would pale in comparison with the present size of the Middle Eastern diaspora scattered around the globe, it was in the 19th century that the first noticeable groups of exiles from the Middle East began taking sanctuary in European countries, among other locations. Perhaps the best known of these exile communities were the Young Ottomans in France in the late 19th century.

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Articles
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International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , May 1995 , pp. 175 - 191
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

NOTES

Author's note: I am grateful to the following libraries for permission to quote from documents in their collections: the Syndics of Cambridge University Library for the E. G. Browne Papers and the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge) for the Wilfrid Scawan Blunt Papers. Thanks are also due to Prof. John Gurney for sharing his immense knowledge of E. G. Browne with me, as well as anonymous reviewers at IJMES for their constructive comments on an earlier draft of this article.

1 For an account of earlier examples of Iranian refugees in England, see chap. 8 in Wright, Denis, The Persians amongst the English (London: I. B. Tauris, 1986).Google Scholar

2 These were: Mirza Qafar Khan Qazvini, Yahya Dawlatabadi, Abʾl-Hasan Muʿazid as-Saltanah (Pirnia), Sayyid Hasan Taqizadeh, Hajji Mirza Farshchi (Husaynzadeh), Muhammad ʿAli Tarbiyat, Husayn Aqa Parviz, Mirza Muhammad Sadiq Tabataba-ʾi, Prince Zahir as-Sultan; Dr. Abdullah “Qara Bey,” Rahimzadeh, Ismail Khan Mumtaz ad-Dawleh, and Sardar Asad Bakhtiari. For reasons which will be explained later in the article, I have excluded Mirza Aqa Khan of Isfahan (Nafti) from this list.

3 For example, see the 1911 telegram of “The Persian Women Anjuman Wifak Iranian” from Hyderabad, India, in FO 371/1423, no. 153619; “Committee of Persian Ladies at Constantinople… to the Sovereign Ladies of Europe,” Manchester Guardian, 10 09 1908, 7.Google Scholar

4 See Bonakdarian, M., “Edward G. Browne and the Iranian Constitutional Struggle: From Academic Orientalism to Political Activism,” Iranian Studies 26, 1–2 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Up to 14,000 Iranian protesters took refuge at the summer grounds of the British legation in Tehran during the constitutional agitations from July to 08 of 1906Google Scholar.

6 I have borrowed the terms “dissenters” from Taylor's, A. J. P. seminal work, The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy 1792–1939 (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1957).Google Scholar

7 For a brief overview, see McLean, D., “English Radicals, Russia, and the Fate of Persia 1907–1913,” The English Historical Review 93 (04 1978);Google ScholarMorris, A. J. A., Radicalism against War, 1906–1914 (Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield, 1972).Google Scholar

8 Lamington to Browne, 12 11 1912, Browne Papers, Box 9 (Cambridge University Library).Google Scholar

9 See The Times, 11 June 1907, 20 June 1907, 10 09 1907;Google ScholarManchester Guardian, 12 06 1907;Google ScholarLabour Leader, 12 06 1907.Google Scholar

10 See Taqizadeh, Sayyid Hasan, “ākharīn Difā-i Taqizadeh,” Rahnama-yi Kitab 13, 3–4 (05–06 1970): 226;Google ScholarAfshar, Iraj, ed., Zindigi-i Tufani: Khāṭirāt-i Sayyid Hasan Taqīzādeh (Tehran: Elmi, 1988–1989), 77–82.Google Scholar

11 Fereydoun Adamiyat puts the final number of Iranians who remained at the British legation at twenty; Adamiyat, F., Ideologie-i Nihzat-i Mashrūṭiyat-i īrān, vol. 2, Majlis-i Avval va Buhrān-i āzādī (Tehran: Rushangaran, n. d.), 350.Google Scholar

12 Parliamentary Debates (H. C), vol. 191 (2 07 1908): 957.Google Scholar

13 Manchester Guardian, 6 07 1908, 7.Google Scholar

14 See Javadi's, Ḥasan introduction in Nāmihā-i az Tabrīz, ed. Javadi, H. (Tehran: Khwarazmi, 1982), 19.Google Scholar For different interpretations of why Mirza Aqa Khan made such an abrupt turnabout, see ibid.; Ittiḥādiyyeh, Manṣureh, Peyāayish va Tahāvul-i Aḥzāb-i Siyāsī-i Mashrūṭiyat (Tehran: Gostareh, 1982-1983), 133;Google ScholarAfshār, īrāj, ed., Mashrūṭiyat dar Azārbaijān (Tehran: Talayeh, 1991–1992), 75–76.Google Scholar

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16 See ibid; Browne, E. G., The Persian Revolution of 1905–1909 (Cambridge: University Press, 1910), 166;Google Scholar also see Browne to Taqizadeh, 28 January 1910, in Nāmihā-i Edvard Broun bih Sayyid Ḥasan Taqīzādeh, ed. Afshār, īrāj and Zaryāb, ʿAbbās (Tehran: Jeebi, 1975), 30.Google Scholar

17 Dawlatabādī, Yaḥyā, Ḥayāt-i Yaḥyā, vol. 3 (Tehran: Attar, 1983), 112.Google Scholar

18 For example, see the appeal from Khan, Sattar, the leader of the Tabriz insurgency, to the British Parliament in The Times, 17 07 1908, 7;Google ScholarTaqizadeh to Browne, 19 10 1908, Browne Papers: Pembroke 1/1/81 (Cambridge University Library).Google Scholar

19 Hairi, Abdul-Hadi, Shiʿism and Constitutionalism in Iran (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1977), 90.Google Scholar

20 The majlis deputy alluded to was most probably Muʿazid as-Saltanah, as apparent from the letter of 22 08 1908,Google Scholar sent from Paris to Muʿazid as-Saltanah in London by another former majlis deputy, Mirza Aqa Farshchi, who was also to arrive shortly in London. See Afshār, īrāj, ed., Mobārizih bā Muḥammad ʿAli Shāh (Tehran: Tuss, 1980–1981), document 103.Google Scholar

21 Lynch to Browne, 14 08 1908, Browne Papers, Box 11 (Bundle 6).Google Scholar

22 Bonakdarian, M., “The Persia Committee and the Constitutional Revolution in Iran,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 18, 2 (1991): 189.Google Scholar

23 Haddad, Mahmoud, “Iraq Before World War I: A Case of Anti-European Arab Ottomanism,” in The Origins of Arab Nationalism, ed. Khalidi, Rashid et al. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991).Google Scholar

24 Browne to Taqizadeh, 5 August and 9 09 1908, in Afshar, and Zaryab, , ed., Nāmihā, 1–4;Google ScholarTaqizadeh, , “ākharīn Difā-i,” 230;Google ScholarAfshār, , ed., Zindigī, 95–96.Google Scholar

25 See the manifesto submitted by Taqizadeh, and Muʿazid, as-Saltanah that appeared in The Times, 15 10 1908,Google Scholar reprinted in Awrāq-i Tazih-yab-i Mashrūṭiyat, ed. Afshār, īrāj, (Tehran: Bahman, 1980), 609;Google ScholarMalikzādeh, Mahdi, Tārīkh-i Inqilāb-i Mashrūṭiyat-i īrān (Tehran: Ibn-i Sina, n. d.), 5:75–78;Google ScholarAfshār, , ed., Mobārizih, 17–18;Google ScholarIttiḥādiyyeh, Peydāyish, 179–81Google Scholar.

26 14 August 1907, Browne papers, Box 12 (Letters from Persia 1905–1909). Also see , Afshār and , Zaryāb, ed, Nāmihā, 1Google Scholar; Taqīzādeh, Sayyid Ḥasan, Maqālāt-i Taqīzādeh, vol. 2, ed. Afshār, īrāj (Tehran: Offset, 1971), 56.Google Scholar

27 Browne's letter to The Times, 17 09 1908, 6;Google Scholar also see Manchester Guardian, 18 09 1908, 6.Google Scholar

28 October 1908 (received on 26 October [?]), Papers, Browne, Box 12 (Letters from Persia 1905–1909)Google Scholar.

29 See Taqizadeh, , “ākharīn Difā-i,” 227. Browne would also be visited in November by Prince Zahir as-Sultan; Browne, Persian Revolution, 208Google Scholar.

30 On Taqizadeh and Muʿazid as-Saltanah's association with the more radical Ijtimaʿiyun during the first majlis, see Adamiyat, Ideologie, 109.Google Scholar For a brief discussion of the evolution of these two political factions, see Ittiḥādiyyeh, , Peyādyish, 199–246Google Scholar. On the genesis of ijtimaʿiyun-i ʿAmmiyun, also see Afary, Janet, “Social Demokrasi va Inqilāb-i Mashrūṭih,” Iran Nameh 11, 3 (1993).Google Scholar

31 Browne Papers: Pembroke 1/1/82–1/1/83. Also see , Afshār, ed., Mobārizih, 447–52;Google ScholarIttiḥādiyyeh, , Peydāyish, 180;Google ScholarNavāī, , Dawlat-hā, 103–9.Google Scholar

32 Manchester Guardian, 29 10 1908, 6.Google Scholar

33 Browne Papers, Box 12 (Letters from Persia, 1905–1909)Google Scholar.

34 Lynch, to Browne, , 24 October 1908, Browne Papers, Box 9Google Scholar; Taqizadeh, to Browne, , 19 October 1908, Browne Papers: Pembroke 1/1/81Google Scholar. For Browne's response, see Afshār, and Zaryāb, , ed., Nāmihā, 9.Google Scholar

35 See Afshār, , ed., Zindigī, 96–97;Google ScholarBrowne's letters of 5 August, 9 September, and 21 09 1908, in Afshār, and Zaryāb, , ed., Nāmihā, 1–5.Google Scholar

36 Apparently Taqizadeh's two years of studying English at the American school in Tabriz had not equipped him with the degree of fluency required for the political tasks of exile.

37 For example, see Taqizadeh to Browne, 20 and 22 10 1908, in Browne Papers: Pembroke 1/1/81;Google Scholaribid., 1/1/82–1/1/83; Arnold, T. W. to Browne, 20 11 1908, in Afshār, , ed., Awrāq. 528–29.Google Scholar

38 For details, seeTaqizadeh, , Maqālāt-i, 2:47, 57–58;Google ScholarAfshār, , ed., Zindigī, 96, 97–99;Google ScholarNavāī, , Dawlat- hā, 95.Google Scholar

39 Taqizadeh to Browne, 20 11 1908, Browne Papers: Pembroke 1/1/81.Google Scholar

40 Bonakdarian, , “The Persia Committee,” 199, 206.Google Scholar

41 The Times, 11 11 1908, lOeGoogle Scholar; also see Browne, E. G., The Persian Constitutionalists (Proceedings of the Central Asian Society, 1909), 10Google Scholar.

42 See Afshār, , ed., Zindigi, 105Google Scholar.

43 Ibid., 103, 104; Browne, , Persian Constitutionalists, 14Google Scholar; Taqizadeh, ,Maqālāt-i, 1:308Google Scholar; The Times, 12 11 1908, 7Google Scholar; Browne, , Persian Revolution, 240–41Google Scholar.

44 The Nation, 256Google Scholar. This may well be the letter from the “Iranian colony” in Paris sent to English journalists, with the financial assistance of Mirza Aqa Farshchi, which Mirza ʿAli Akbar Khan Dehkhuda, one of the signatories, refers to in his communication of 15 November with Muʿazid as-Saltanah; see Afshār, , ed., Mobārizih, 60–61Google Scholar.

45 See Browne to Taqizadeh, 16 11 1908, in Afshar, and Zaryab, , ed., Nāmihā, 15–16Google Scholar; Afshār, , ed., Zindigī, 106–7Google Scholar.

46 Blunt, W. S. Papers, General Memoirs, 1906–1908, Ms. 8–1975, 387 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)Google Scholar.

41 The Nation, 28 11 1908, 330Google Scholar.

48 A group of Iranian expatriates in Istanbul had established Anjuman-i Saʿ adat to propagate the Iranian constitutionalist cause there.

49 Gurney, John, “E. G. Browne and the Iranian Community in Istanbul,” in Les Iraniens d'lstanbul, ed. Zarcone, T. and Zarinebaf-Shahr, F. (1993), 168Google Scholar.

50 See Hanioǧlu, M. Çükrü, “The Young Turks and the Arabs before the Revolution of 1908,” in Origins, ed. Khalidi, et al. , 43Google Scholar.

51 Browne, to Dehkhuda, , 23 01 1909, in Mobārizih, ed., Afshār, , 200Google Scholar. Navāī, believes that this letter was addressed to Muʿazid as-Saltanah (Dawlat-hā, 120)Google Scholar. At this time there was a sizable Iranian colony in Istanbul, and a group of “Persian merchants” and “a committee of Persian Ladies” living there were busy soliciting Ottoman and worldwide assistance for the constitutional cause in Iran; Manchester Guardian, 10 09 1908, 7Google Scholar. On the importance of Ottoman Turkey for Iranian constitutionalists, see Gurney, , “E. G. Browne and the Iranian Community;” Peter Chelkowski, “Edward G. Browne's Turkish Connexion,” University of London Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 49, 1 (1986)Google Scholar.

52 See the editors' notes in Afshār, and Zaryāb, , ed., Nāmihā, 214Google Scholar.

53 Grey, Papers. FO 800'70, 100–1Google Scholar.

54 In fact, the Young Turks eagerly continued the Ottoman policy of territorial acquisition in northwestern Iran, and over time Browne was to grow disillusioned with the policies of the Young Turks; see Manchester Guardian, 30 10 1911, 4Google Scholar.

55 See letters from Browne, to Iranians, in Yverdon (30 December 1908/doc. 97, 23 January 1909/doc. 99)Google Scholar, as well as letters from Mirza Aqa Farshchi to Muʿazid as-Saltanah (22 August 1908/doc. 103, 14 March 1909/doc. 107, n.d./doc. 108) in Afshār, ed., Mobārizih. Also see Abdul-Navāī, , Dawlat-hā, 121Google Scholar.

56 See doc. 103 in Afshār, ed., MobārizihGoogle Scholar.

57 Afshār, ed., Mobārizih, docs. 97, 99Google Scholar.

58 See his letter of 02 1909 to Muʿazid as-Saltanah: Afshār, , ed., Mobārizih, doc. 35Google Scholar. Both Browne and Dehkhuda were concerned about the continued delay by as-Saltanah, Muʿazid and ad-Dawleh, Mumtaz(the leader of the now-defunct majlis) in traveling to LondonGoogle Scholar.

59 Abdul-Navāi, , Dawlat-hā, 102Google Scholar.

60 See Ittiḥādiyyeh, , Peydāyish, 72, 134, 137Google Scholar.

61 See Lynch to Browne, 1 06 1909, Browne Papers, Box 9; Afshār, , ed., Mobārizih, doc. 11Google Scholar; Browne, to Dehkhuda, , 23 01 1909Google Scholar, ibid., doc. 99.

62 MacDonald Papers: PRO 30/69/1153 (Public Records Office, London).

63 See letter of 10 02 1909 from Browne to Dehkhuda (?) in Afshār, , ed., Mobārizih, doc. 100Google Scholar.

64 Manchester Guardian, 10 03 1909, 7Google Scholar; The Times, 10 03 1909, 8Google Scholar. Also see Browne's letter to as-Saltanah, Muʿazid (from Cambridge to London), 7 03 1909, Afshār, , ed., Mobārizih, doc. 101Google Scholar.

65 The differences of opinion between Lynch and Browne would reach an acute state by September 1909, although they continued to cooperate on the Iranian question. Bayat, Mangol contends: “Lynchās views … were to dominate the policy of the committee members, including Browne”: Iran's First Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 244Google Scholar. From the available documents, however, other than occasional disagreement between the two, it is evident that the committee dispatched letters and articles to the press after approval by at least both Browne and Lynch. For example, on one occasion Lynch felt compelled to send a letter to the press under his “own signature” because Browne disapproved of its contents. Moreover, many of the leading members of the committee regarded Browne as their “shepherd.” See Bonakdarian, , “The Persia Committee,” 195Google Scholar.

66 For example, see Browne to Taqizadeh, 5 April 1911, and Brown to Shaykh Hasan Tabrizi, 15 February 1911, in Afshār, and Zaryāb, , ed., Nāmihā, 33, 174Google Scholar.

67 Ittiḥādiyyeh, , Peydāyish, 180Google Scholar; also see Dehkhuda's letter of February 1909 to Muʿazid as-Saltanah in Afshār, ed., Mobārizih, doc 35; Navāī, , Dawlat-hā, 98Google Scholar.

68 Afshār, ed., Mobārizih, doc. 31. On the participation of Bakhtiari chiefs in Iranian politics during this period, see Garthwaite, Gene R., “The Bakhtiyari Khans, the Government of Iran, and the British, 1846–1915,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 3, 1 (1972): 24–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

69 Sablin to the Russian Foreign Office, 16 November 1908, in Kitāb-i Narinji, ed. Bashiri, Ahmad (Tehran: Nashr-i Nur, 1987–1988), 2:36Google Scholar.

70 Afshār, , ed., Mobārizih, doc. 11. Also see the letter of 14 March 1909 by Muʿazid as-SaltanahGoogle Scholar, ibid., doc. 18; letter of February [?] 1909 from Dehkhuda to Muʿazid as-Saltanah (doc. 35); Farshchi to Muʿazid as-Saltanah, December 1908 (doc. 105); ibid., doc. 108.

71 26 April 1909, Browne, Papers, Box 9Google Scholar.

72 Jamʿiyyat-i Ittihad va Taraqqi-i Iraniyyan (Istanbul) bih Broun, 31 May 1909, Browne Papers, Box 9Google Scholar.

73 See Wratislaw, to Foreign Office PRO, FO 248/944Google Scholar.

74 Taqizadeh, who had already asked for three months leave of absence from the majlis after worsening relations between the radicals and the moderates (who enjoyed the support of the leading constitutionalist clergy), was forced to leave Iran after the assassination of the prominent cleric, Sayyid Abdullah Bihbihani, for which he was blamed.

75 Ittiḥadiyyeh, , Peydāyish, 190, 225–26Google Scholar. Tarbiyat, and Husayn Aqa Parviz, who had also accompanied Taqizadeh to London during their time in exile, supported Taqizadeh's social-democratic faction.

76 See Afshār, and Zaryāb, , ed., Nāmihā, 39–42Google Scholar.

77 See Īrān-i Naw, 19 01 1911 (72), 2Google Scholar; ibid., 21 January 1911 (73), 3–4.

78 Javādī, , trans., Nāmihā, 147Google Scholar.