Page 368 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

54
Musa, the considerable deep water inlet, leading to excellent and well protected
anchorages, which might some day be made the port of a railway descending
from the interior of Persia to the sea.
171. The Viceroy and the squadron arrived at Bushire on the morning of
the 2nd December. Extensive preparations had been made by the local author­
ities and by the British residents for a reception, but unfortunately the form of
ceremonial originally arranged between the Persian Government and Mis
Majesty’s Minister at Tehran was subsequently modified by the former in certain
particulars before the Viceroy’s arrival at Bushire. The desire and intention
expressed by Mis Majesty the Shah of showing courtesy and hospitality to the
Viceroy was unhappily frustrated owing to the arrangements locally made, and
• See Secret E-, February 1904. Nos. 138.144, His Excellency was unable to land.* On
and Secret I!., August 1904, Nos. 1 «3**43- the afternoon of the 3rd December, Lord
Curzon received on board the Hardinge a large deputation of British subjects
and residents in Bushire, who presented an address of welcome. The address
referred to the increasing stress of foreign commercial competition which
might have occasioned uneasiness, but for the separate commercial agreement
recently concluded with Persia, and for the visit of the Commercial Mission.
The acceleration of mails recently arranged by the Indian Government was
thankfully acknowledged, but attention was drawn to the want of labour facilities,
the inadequate arrangements for landing and delivery of cargo, and the great
necessity for the improvement of caravan communication with the interior. The
dilatoriness of the Persian Courts was also mentioned. Lord Curzon’s visit
would be taken as a signal proof that His Excellency’s interest in Persia
remained unabated, and the mercantile community would be encouraged by it in
their endeavours to maintain the precedence of British trade.
172. The Viceroy’s reply is printed below :
A Viceroy of India coming to Bushire in the year 1903, though he be the first
occupant of that position to visit these waters during his term of office, is irresistibly
reminded of his precursors a century gone by. He is, indeed, the logical as well as the histo­
rical successor of Sir John Malcolm, who came here more than once just a hundred years
ago; and he is the latest link in an unbroken sequence of political officers who have been
deputed from India to represent British and Indian political interests, and to protect
their corresponding commercial interests in this neighbourhood since the appointment
of the first Political Agent as far back as 1812 Even then British interests had been
represented here for as much as half acontury; since it was in 1763 that the East India
Company first opened a factory at Bushire. At that time one vessel a year from India
was sufficient to accommodate the whole of British trade. In 1902, 136 steamers entered
this port, and of these 133 were British. In the last twenty years the imports have
increased from 135 lakhs, of which 117J lakhs were from Great Britain and India, to 201 i
lakhs in 1901, of which 152$ lakhs were British and Indian. In the same period the
imports of tea from India have risen from a value of Rs. 65,000 to a value of close upon to
lakhs. These figures do not Itave much doubt as to where the preponderance of trade lies.
This history of 140 years is without a parallel in the connection of any other foreign
nation with these coasts. Under it have grown up connections with the Local Govern­
ments and peoples of close friendship and confidence; it is a chapter of history upon which
we have every right to look back with pride ; and it imposes upon us obligations which
it is impossible that we should overlook, and which no Government either of Great Britain
or India, is likely to ignore.
Bushire is the headquarters of this longstanding connection. From here the British
Resident exerts that mild control over the waters of the Gulf and over the tribes upon
its opposite shore, the results of which I have enjoyed so many opportunities of observing
during my present cruise. From this place the principal caravan route strikes into
the .interior of Persia, tapping its chief cities in succession, and ultimately reaching the
capital; here the wires of the Indo-European telegraph, which in their earlier stages have
brought Persia into connection with Europe, which have done so much to strengthen the
authority of the Shah in his own dominions, and which carry the vast majority of the
messages from India to England, dip into the sea; here is the residence, of the Persian
official who is charged with the Governorship of the Persian Gulf ports by his Govern­
ment, and with whom our relations are invariably those of the friendliest nature; and
under these combined auspices—the British bringing the bulk of the trade, and policing
the maritime highway, and the Persians gradually consolidating an authority which, though
once precarious, is now assured. This place has grown from a small fishing village into
a flourishing town of 20,000 inhabitants, it has become the residence of foreign Consuls
and Consular officers / the leading mercantile communities who trade in Southern Persia