'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part II. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎2656] (1173/1262)

2656
King
Edward's
message to
the Shah.
Misrepresen
tations by the
Persian
Government.
of a statement by Lord Percy in the House of Commons on the 3rd of
February 1906^ that a the form of ceremonial originally arranged between ^
a the Persian Government and His Majesty^s Minister at Tehran was*"
" subsequently modified by the former in certain particulars before the "
^ Yiceroy's arrival at Bushehr/^ and that a the desire and intention "
" expressed by His Majesty the Shah of showing courtesy and hospita- ,}
"lity to the Viceroy was unhappily frustrated owing to the arrangements "
" locally made.^ On the 22nd of February the Persian Government^
through the Persian Minister in London^ formally signified their dissent
from Lord Lansdowne^s memorandum of the 25th January and their own
opinion that the British officials were responsible for the Bushehr incident.
The matter was now submitted to His Majesty King Edward.
His Majesty was pleased to approve Lord Lansdownc's memorandum
of the 25tK January^ and he commanded a special message to be conveyed
to the Shah. In this message, while emphasis was laid on the friendly
sentiments animating both nations and on the cordial reception given
to the Viceroy at Bandar ■'Abbas, it was intimated that the King was
unable to consider that the proposals made by Lord Curzon and Sir A.
Hardinge as to the ceremonial at Bushehr were in excess of what was
suitable, oi that the Viceroy was otherwise than justified in deciding
that the alternatives offered to him were not such as could properly be
accepted; but it was added that, in view of the friendship happily existing
between the two countries, it would be a mistake to make the incident the
subject of prolonged discussion. About the 23rd of March the A^la-us-
Saltaneh, the Persian Minister in London, had an audience of the King at
which a communication in the above terms was made to him, and the mess
age was also sent to Sir A. Hardinge at Tehran for delivery to the Shah.
When the royal message was delivered by Sir A. Hardinge to the
Mushir-ud-Dauleh, a special audience of the Shah not having been
deemed necessary,—it was found that the Persian Minister in London
had conveyed to his Government an erroneous idea of the purport of the
message, and efforts were thereupon made by the Persian authorities to
obtain a modification' of its terms. This was of course refused, and the
British Minister at Tehran was cautioned to avoid using any expression
which might be construed as an apology. The affair thus ter
minated.
While these discussions were in progress, the Persian officials and
Government did not neglect means of giving currency to their version
of the case. Shortly after Lord Cnrzon^s departure an article appeared
in the Persian newspaper " Muzaffari ^ at Bushehr, in which it was
stated that, according to the arrangements agreed upon, the Viceroy was
to have visited the A^la-ud-Dauleh first at the Chaharburj and that his
call was to have been returned at the " Amiriyeh and the whole incident
was represented as a striking example of British bad faith. It was
believed that this article was inspired by the A^la-ud-Dauleh ; but the
Salar-i-Mu^azzam showed scant consideration for the editor, whjm he
arrested and caused to be bastinadoed on the 11th of December. On the
25th of January 1904 the Persian Foreign Minister sent a cypher
telegram to the Yamin-i-Nizam in Sistan in which, various essential
particulars being suppressed, a misleading account was given of the
arrangements for the Viceroy^s visits to Bandar ^Abbas and Bushehr
upon