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only, not the Baghdad railway or the Straits. But'Izvolsky was right in his judgement that, if Asiaticdifficulties could be smoothed out, the British governmentwould be ready to consider concessions on the Straits.In Afghanistan, the Russians accepted the British claimto predominance. This was the most important resultof the agreement: the removal of ' the threat to India'was an essential for any real entente. Persia was dividedbetween a Russian and a British sphere of the influence,with a neutral zone between. The oilfields were not atthat time realized to be of the importance five years laterattached to them, and they neither then nor later causeddifficulties with Russia.The Persian agreement was heavily criticized in variousquarters in England. In Persia itself it was regarded asa partition treaty, and hence was anathema to mostPersians. In the following ten years, despite restrainingBritish efforts, the Russians did all they could to destroythe nationalist-constitutionalist movement and behavedmore and more openly, in the tsar's own words, as "themasters of northern Persia." It may be doubted whetheragreement with Russia could have been reached on anybetter terms, and Russia was in any case well placed forinfluence in northern Persia. The truth was that fear ofGermany impelled Grey to truckle to tsarist imperialism.The fact that Russia was tsarist Russia made theentente less of a reality than that with France. Britishopinion in general had welcomed the 1905 Revolutionand hoped that the Duma would inaugurate a new eraof relative freedom and toleration under a form of constitutionalmonarchy. Hopes had been dashed by thereaction that followed 1907, and there was still muchscathing criticism of tsarism, not least of its doings inPersia. Alliance with tsarist Russia would have beenimpossible; entente was difficult enough. Salisbury onone occasion criticized Palmerston's policy as having been"guided by common sympathies [i.e. political proclivities]instead of by common interests." If the distinction beallowed, the British Liberal government, often againstthe grain, followed Salisbury rather than Palmerston.And the Russian government did likewise. A common441