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and Turkey have ti.cir offices and representatives here; there is seldom a day in which
steamers arc not lying olf the port; and Bushire has acquired a name which it is safe to
say is known in every part of the world.
This development is the more remarkable because, as you have pointed out, no one
could contend that trade is conducted here under favourable conditions; on the conirary
there are few, if any, of the conditions that naturally mark out a place as an emporium
or channel of commerce.
* * * *
Altogether, Gentlemen, I think it may be said that in Pushire you receive an ameunt
of attention that is not always extended in similar measure to places so remote from head­
quarters, while the fact that a British Resident lives in your midst and is able personally
to look after your concerns, which I am glad to learn from your address that he does
entirely to your satisfaction, is a further guarantee for their protection. I hope that the
position which British interests thus enjoy, and which is neither artificial in origin nor
recent in growth, since it is the result of nearly a century and a half of patient and laborious
effort both by Government and by private enterprise, may long be maintained, and that
Bushire may continue in the future, as it has done in the past, to be the centre from which
this benign and peaceful influence radiates throughout Southern Persia and the Persian
Gulf."
173. At Bushire Sir A. Hardinge parted company with Lord Curzon, and
there the squadron dispersed. Leaving Bushire, the Hardinge carried back the
Viceroy to the Indian waters, touching only at Jask for telegraphic messages
and halting for a day at Pasni. Opportunity was taken to hold a darbar at the
latter place of all the chiefs and Sardars of Western and Southern Baluchistan.
The Hardinge arrived at Karachi on 7th December.
174. The question had been raised whether the Viceroy should make an
attempt to see the Sheikh of Mohammarah. As, however, His Excellency did
not propose to ascend the Shatt-al-Arab, as an invitation to the Sheikh to meet
the Viceroy elsewhere than in his own territory might, in view of his peculiar
and rather delicate relations with the Persian Government, have given offence
to the latter, and as Sir A. Hardinge himself intended to visit him a little later,
it seemed that the idea had better not be pursued. The Sheikh sent the Viceroy
a very courteous letter by the hand of Major Burton, our Vice-Consul at Ahwaz,
and to this His Excellency replied in a similar tone.