'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part II. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎2657] (1174/1262)

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2657
and the breakdown was attributed to Lord Curzon^s insistence that he
occupy, and be conducted by the A^la-ud-Dauleh to, the British Resi
dency instead of the house provided by the Persian Government. In
the beginning of March 1904 a further written communication was
received by the Yamm-i-Nizam in which the false statement was added
that the Viceroy had demanded that the A^la-ud-Dauleh should come
on board his ship and conduct him ashore " as the Imam of Masqat had
done" : this second communication was in the form of a circular
addressed by the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to all Persian
Ambassadors and Ministers at Foreign Courts and it was dated the 14th
of January 1904. Finally on the 13th of Julj* 1904 the Persian Foreign
Minister telegraphed to the Yamm-i-Nizam that the King of England
had " personally expressed his regret ^ to the Persian M inister in London,
and that the incident might be considered closed.
That the Persian Government originally intended to give the
Viceroy a highly honorific reception does not admit of doubt, nor
that the visit was at one time within measurable distance of being
an unprecedented and unique success. A friendly article which appeared
in the Tehran newspaper "Iran" of the 3rd November 1903 exemplified
the general state of feeling in Persia at the outset. The A^la-ud-Dauleh,
who was deputed to meet Lord Curzon, was a Qajar of the Persian royal
family ; he brought with him, to do honour to the Viceroy, 2,000 men
from Shiraz besides the chiefs of many of the principal tribes in
Southern Persia ; and he incurred lavish expenditure in decorations and
other preparations at Bushehr. According to a statement made afterwards
by the Mushir-ud-Dauleh it had been arranged that, during the banquet
to be given in honour of the visit by the A^la-ud-Dauleh, a personal
telegram should be received by the Viceroy from the Shah, conferring
upon him the order of the " Timsal " in diamonds, which is usually
bestowed on special Ambassadors. After the incident it seemed to be
expected that the A^la-ud-Dauleh would be made a scape-goat, for he
showed signs of great perturbation and disappeared suddenly from Bushehr
on the 9th of December 1903, giving out that he was going to Basrah,but
on the following day he unexpectedly returned, In February 1904 he
was summoned to Tehran on business, and in the course of the year he
temporarily lost his employment under Government, but the cause
remained unknown. It is noteworthy that soon after Sir A.
Hardinge^s return to Tehran at the end of January 1904, at an
audience which he had of the Shah, His Majesty's demeanour
was extremely gracious and he made friendly inquiries about the Viceroy
without referring at all to the Bushehr episode.
The unfortunate occurrence at Bushehr may probably be attributed,
in part, to a remonstrance which it had been necessary to address a few
days previously to the Persian Government with respect to Sistan affairs j
in part to a fear, which gradually overcame the Shah, that the reception
of Lord Curzon in the manner that the latter desired might be construed
as an admission that the Viceroy of India enjoyed an exceptional position'
in regard to the coast of Southern Persia; and, in part, to wilful misre
presentations by the A'la-ud-Dauleh, who was possessed by inflated ideas
of his own importance. It is possible also that the Viceroy's visits to
Hormiiz, Qishm and Hanjam may have produced an impression which
was not anticipated upon the Persian mind. ^
Explanation
and results
of the inci
dent.