'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎259] (402/1782)

259
si^j]
to.:
22nd February to 23r(i March 186.?.
15th July to 10th September 1863.
2nd December 1863 to 11th January 1864.
3rd to 30th September 1864.
Ist November to 23rd December 1864.
12th January to 25th March;i865.
30th March to 22nd April 1865.
14th October to 21st December 1865 and from
28th December 1865 to 21st April 1866.
i to"
might otherwise have devolved on the Assistant,
to the end that periods as per margin have
been passed by me in the open or on boardship.
The reduction of the Indian Navy Establishr
ment, which was regarded simply as relieving
f . . . . . Resident as a disbursing officer, has, in
tact, gmn him no option other than to persuade by moral and individual power
1,500 miles of predatory coastal tribes, who had previously been coerced, or
lawless at will. The Treasury Department, relieved of I the Naval disbursements, has
received those of the Telegraph and other miscellaneous items. The Consular powers
with which it was proposed to endow the Resident were found to be inadmissible under
0 lr . lea ^ en & a g e ments with Persia; and in point of fact there is not, in so far as I
am in oimed, any Legislative Act or JResolution of Government which would bear me
on .n t e exercise of any magisterial authorit}', or in the practical execution of my
aS 0 " ^ ie Maritime Truce. Simultaneously with your telegra'
p ic e\elopment, the postal and steam communication opened up, and steam, as usual,
Was : ^ 0 ^ owe( i hy increased traffic of goods and passengers. The cotton crisis in Bombay
ga\e a sudden excitement to the export of cotton in Persia, which suddenly increased
a undied-fold. It was further found out'here that, if opium could pay a duty of
Rs. 1,600 a chest in Bombay, Persia could lay it down of an equally good quality and
fiee of duty, hence a trade through Batavia with China sprung up. The vast
cultivation of cotton in our own provinces seems to have decreased ; the growth of corn
the littoial of the Gulf found it could supply us ; hence a recent corn trade. Meantime,
Russia has been pushing on from the northward telegraph lines, and other European
speculations have been contemplated or executed; and all these material effects of
civilization are accompanied by European Agents, whose manners and customs awaken
thought, and with increased vitality inoculate Asiatic deepotismn with increased irrita
tion. The general result at the present moment is comparative restlessness, inquisiti-
veness, and what we should term radicalism, requiring on the part of all authorities
concerned a watchfulness and state of preparation, which would have been premature
so long as these regions remained in a condition of social and political stagnation.
This is the drift of my argument.
5. On the other hand, I am sensible of the forcible argument which might be
advanced in favour of the English Government abstaining from foreign relations and
holding itself fortified within its own Indus Frontier. But I fear that with States,
as with individuals, it requires almost superhuman wisdom and strength of will to stand
permanently isolated and alone. An individual, indeed, may, perhaps, succeed, having
the requisite staff within himself; but the life of a State involves a succession of
Rulers, and if he who succeed lack those qualities upon which is based the policy of
his predecesbor, there is risk that the State will have to regain by force or convulsion
the status to which it would otherwise have naturally grown.
Part of letter Ao. 104, dated the 19th June 1S69.
11. Government are probably informed of.the asserted intention on the part of the
French to open a line from Suez to Bussorah so soon as the Lesseps canal shall admit.
A French Agent who recently toured from Muscat to the|Shui-ool-Arab reported, I under-
26 A