and the British envoy on the part of his Government consented to give 200,000 tomans, with the provision that on the one hand the Persian territory should be at once abandoned, and that on the other the third and fourth articles of the then existing definitive treaty with England should be expunged from that document, and the stipulations therein contained be thenceforward deemed null and void. The Russian general at length agreed to evacuate the province of Azerbaeejan, with the exception of Khoi, on the receipt of six and a half crores of tomans, or 3,250,000£., and the 50,000 tomans wanted to complete this sum were supplied by Prince Abbass Meerza.
The Persian Government held that the original occupation by Russia of the district of Gokcheh constituted an act of aggression, and that, therefore, Persia was entitled to receive from Great Britain a subsidy for the whole period of the war. This claim, however, was not admitted by the English Government, who held that Persia by invading Russia had been the real aggressor in the war. It is beyond question that Russia, in occupying the district of Gokcheh, had no thoughts of making war upon Persia, and there can be no doubt also that no war would have occurred but for the religious outcry which was raised in the Shah's dominions. The decision, therefore, of the British Government was in conformity with justice; but at the same time they saw the delicacy of the situation in which they would have been placed had Russia in reality commenced the war, as in such a case, they would have been in the position of supplying Persia with a subsidy for the purpose of carrying on war with a Power in friendly alliance with England. It was
