No. 912.
Mr. Pratt to Mr. Bayard.

[Extract.]
No. 170.]

Sir: In my last dispatch, No. 169, Diplomatic Series, of the 9th instant, I had the honor to announce to you the appointment of his excellency Emin é Soultan to the post of minister of finance, of the interior, and of the court, and to mention that at a special interview he had expressed to me, in even stronger terms than the moukhber ed-daouleh (minister of mines and telegraphs), the desire to see the establishment here of American commercial and industrial enterprises.

In order that you may form your own opinion as to the importance of the interview in question, I beg now to report that on the occasion referred to, his excellency the Emin é Soultan began by stating that Persia, with her immense natural resources, had neither the requisite means nor the scientific ability necessary for effecting their development, and then, after explaining how those whom she had called from Europe to aid in the accomplishment of the work had merely sought their own advantage without doing anything in return either for the benefit of the country or the people, he proceeded to compliment the Government of the United States and the nation on having so nobly taken the lead in the march of civilization, and closed by saying that the Shah and his Government now looked to my friendly efforts and to the sincere desire that they believed I entertained for the advancement of Persia, to initiate a move which would result in bringing about more intimate commercial relations between the two countries and open the way to Persia’s industrial regeneration through American agency.

I have, etc.,

E. Spencer Pratt.