Page 618 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

18 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OP THE PERSIAN GULF
refused admittance they attempted to rush the guard, which consisted of a
detachment of the 79th Carnatic Infantry, aud 6ome sowars of the 25th
Cavalry; in the fracas that followed one Persian soldier was killed and
four wounded, of whom two subsequently died of their wounds. The resolute
behaviour of the guard elicited the strongest approval of His Majesty’s
Consul at . the time.
Bythe beginning of July party animosities on their side had crystallised;
the Governor-General had been bringing pressure to bear on the Kawam’s
family in various ways; while the latter, led by the Kawara's wife and only
son, intizam-el-Mamalik (now Nasr-ed-Dowleh) had retorted by preparing
for active resistance; the iNizam threatened to bombard the Kawami quarter
within 24 hours, a threat which was replied to by prompt counter-prepara­
tions on the part of the occupants. Had the Nizam been as good as his word,
and had the bombardment been at once successful, he might have rehabilitated
himself, but he hesitated, and the delay encouraged his opponents.
A week later hostilities commenced in earnest, but with inconclusive
results, the casualties being very heavy
Fighting in Shinn.
amongst the Nizam’s adherents, whose
opponents were strongly entrenched behind loopholed walls. The Persian
Government shortly after the commencement of these hostilities, which they
appear not to have authorised, proposed to dismiss the Nizam in view of the
urgent need of placating the Bakhtiaris to whom they were at the moment
looking for help in opposing the ex-Shah who had just landed in Persia. No
definite action-was taken, however, until the end of July, by which time bands
of Kashrrai had commenced to pillage the villages of the surrounding dis­
tricts, with the Nizam’s connivance, and the forces opposed to the Kawamia
also received large reinforcements of Kashgai.
The Nizam seemed bent on resisting dismissal, and made a last attempt
to secure our assistance by propounding a scheme for making an independent
state of Southern Persia, to be formed out of the “ League of the South,”
with other accretions. To these blandishments, however, no response was
given, but meanwhile the Persian Government, pliant as usual, reconsidered
its attitude and, on August 9th, announced his reinstatement.
Large numbers of Kashgai continued to arrive during August, and in
the third week of the month, fighting became continuous by day and night,
the results being generally speaking uniformly unfavourable to the Nizam’s
party. Some attempt was made towards the end of the month to effect a
rapprochement between the rival factions, but without result, both sides
being too deeply committed, to withdraw. At the same time the various
indignities ofiered by Kashgai tribesmen to Europeaus and their servants
indicated that the Nizam’s forces were getting out of hand ; Consulate servants
were beaten by Kashgai pickets posted round the Consulate and the com­
pound of Messrs. Zieglers Agent at some distance from the town was invaded.
On September 7th, a large force of Arab and Baharlu tribesmen entered
the town after some sharp fighting and announced to His Majesty’s Consul
that they had come to avenge the murder of Nasr-ed-Dowleh. They promised
protection to the lives and property of Europeans. The following week
Sowlet-ed-Dowleh arrived near the city and a strong force of sowars and a
mountain gun was at once sent out to meet him. He signalled his entry
upon the scene bv kidnapping the local revenue officer and prospective
Deputy Governor, Mirza Habibulab Khan, and reached the town the follow­
ing day, shortly afterwards taking up his residence at the Palace with the
Nizam, accompanied by an ill-disciplined body of some 800 men.
The situation bad by this time grown very disquieting, about 1,200
Kashgais being strongly entrenched in the commercial quarter of the town,
in hourly conflict with some 1,200 Arabs, and it seemed more than probable
that whichever side gained the upper hand would utilize the occasion to loot
the town.. (It was at about this period that measures for the increase of the
Consular escort at Shiraz and elsewhere, in conjunction with measures for the
restoration of order on the roads, were taken into lively consideration by His
Majesty’s Government, with results that are detailed later on in this Report.)