Page 316 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

Under present circumstances, it is possible that the Persian Government might be
disposed to entertain the above scheme.
1 should be glad, therefore, to know whether Her Majesty’s Government would have
any objection to concession being granted to a Russian, provided a large proportion of the
capital were English.
From a commercial point of view, the proposed railway would be advantageous to
England, and would greatly help in the development of Persia.

No. 3.

Telegram P.i No. 30, dated the 25th April 1893.
From—Marquis op Salisbury, London,
To—Sir F. Lascillis, Tehran.

I have received your telegram No. 59 of the 18th instant in regard to a proposal to
construct a railway from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.
If British capital and British management had a leading share, I should not, in princi­
ple, have any objection to a lorn fide undertaking of the kind. I should wish to be assured
that this would be the case before I express an opinion on any individual proposal, and I
should like also to be certain that the British capital would be subscribed, as otherwise the
concession might prove to be nothing else than a lever for political intrigue, or the railway
after being constructed from the Caspian as far as Tehran, might take a direction which
would be injurious to British interests, or might never get beyond the capital.

10. In September 1893 the Russian Volunteer cruiser Nijni Novgorod
visited Maskat and some of its officers
The Nijni Novgorod at Matkat, 1893.
Secret E., July .894. No*. 58 67. had a secret interview with the Sultan,
Secret E., jammy i8js, Nos. 32-33. There were rumours of Russian intrigues,
and of the presence of a Secret Agent of theirs who helped these intrigues.
io-A. In 1895 a Russian officer visited
Russian Survey ofOrmuo, 1895.
and surveyed the island of Ormuz.
II. M. Krouglow was sent from Jerusalem as Russian Consul at Baghdad
about the end of 1897, it is said with the
R union project fer a port in the Cut/, 1898.
object of reporting on the scheme for
f«mVE:iV;V^ No, 70l::oT(N-.(.oo.,,o4,'o securing for Russia a coaling station in
Secret e., November 1898, Nos. 228-239. the Persian Gulf. It was at one time
thought that the Russians had designs on Koweit, but there was no confirmation
of this. Subsequent rumours of their intention to occupy a port in the Gulf have
come to nothing.
la. In Bushire and Bandar Abbas the Russians developed since 1897 a
marked interest. Two Russian doctors
Russian plague doctors in the Gulf,
Secret E., May 1898, Nos. 73-103 (Drs. Marc and Oust) arrived at Bushire
Secret E., Anril 1899, Nos. 145*163. in 1897 for the now familiar purpose of
Secret E-, September 1899. Nos. 203-213.
studying the plague, which, however, did
not make its appearance until two years later, in 1899. Dr. Marc in 1897
occupied himself visiting Bandar Abbas, from whence he was in the habit
of despatching official reports to his Government, and where he magnani­
mously treated all patients free of charge. His medical pursuits at this place
were assisted by a third Russian, named Adamoff, who appears to have been an
artillery officer, and subsequently visited Busfiire and Basrah. In 1898 two other
Russian doctors, named Rodzewitz and Kornajevski, appeared upon the scene,
and visited Basra, Bushire and Bandar Abbas. In December 1898 a fifth Rus­
sian doctor, named Poschkowski, arrived in the Gulf, and did not fail to pay the