File 1290/1905 'Mesopotamia: Oudh Bequest' [‎24v] (53/260)

An interesting and important crisis in the history of the Oudh Bequest has
evidently arrived. The Government of India had only just sanctioned a reform of
the Bequest arrangements upon conservative lines; but it now looks as if the direct-
action of the Turkish authorities and their pressure upon the Persia,n consular re
presentatives here might necessitate greater changes. 'I presume that, if the Turk
ish Government hold the same views as the local Wali, viz., that no Ottoman si
ject can have any connection with or interest in, the Bequest under our mana^
ment, we can only acquiesce. If the Persians allow themselves to be intimidat
into boycotting the Bequest as managed by us,—and they have every reason to fc
both the will and the power of the Turkish hierarchy to injure them if they hesiti
—it is not clear that the British G overnment is in a-ny way bound, or even in
position, to argue the matter with the Porte on their behalf. The result of the ab
tention of Turkish and Persian subjects will be, automaticallv, to restrict the n
nagement and benefits of the Beque; t to B itish subjects, that is to Indians. Su
an issue would of course be hailed wh h delight by all Indians; but the question if
large one, and there might be disadvantages in the change. In particular, it
probable that the influx of Indians from India into Karbala and Najaf would
greatly stimulated. This is a consequence which the Turks themselves would ]
gret, when they came to realise it; and they will also have to bear the brunt of t
wide-spread discontent which will ensue if the very numerous Persian, and few
Turkish, poor are excluded from the distributions.
lam still hopeful that the matter may adjust itself as far as Persian subjec
are concerned: the next distribution will bring this hope to the test.
4. To revert to the subject of pilgrim arrangements, I was informed by
Muhammad Qasim 'Ali Khan, a gentleman of good social position from Lucknow,
who visited me on the 17th May, tha,t the last time he came to this country on pil
grimage, about 15 years ago, it cost him not less than eight shillings to land at
Basrah. This time, the Pilgrim Agent assisting him, he obtained his passage to
the shore for one shilling. It was a considerable saving in a single item of the
expenditure of a single pilgrim at a single place, and I estimate that the money
saved to Indian pilgrims in general during a year must far exceed what the Oudh
Bequest Committee spend on the maintenance of the Pilgrim Agents.
5. It was only to be expected that the pilgrim arrangements should attract
considerable notice in India, but it is in some ways a pity that they have done so.
One result is articles in the native Indian press which, though extremely favourable
and very laudatory, are apt to be ill-informed and to contain politically tactless re
marks. Fortunately, the contents of newspapers published in Hindustani in India
are not very likely to come to the notice of the local Turkish authorities, though
there is always the possibility of this happening. The connection of the pilgrim
arrangements with the Oudh Bequest is generally ignored, probably for want of
correct information, and the impression is conveyed that they have been officially
instituted by the British Government. In the July 1911 number of the “ShFah
Journal”, a review published in the Saran district, I find the following editorial
comment, mad 3 no doubt in perfect good faith, but none the less infelicitous
from a political standpoint: “ The alertness and energy of the Pilgrim Bureau
will not only benefit the Indians; it will gradually become a source of protection
to Persian and Bussian Muhammadan pilgrims, whose respective Governments
will follow the same lines to provide for their convenience.” This is probably just
what the Turks fear. I cannot think of any means for preventing remarks in the
Indian press, but they will perhaps cease as the pilgrim arrangements here lose
their novelty.
I also receive some gratuitous advice from Indian sympathisers, who are un
known to me. One such, who appears to be an official in His Highness the Nizam’s
library at Haidarabad (Dakkhan) has lately sent me a number of suggestions, some
of which are of a very awkward character. One is that letters for India should be
collected at Karbala, Najaf, etc., and forwarded to the British Post Office at
Baghdad under consular arrangements for posting to India ; this would of course
be an unwarrantable encroachment on the rights of the Ottoman Post Office, though
presumably there can be no objection to individuals sending their letters by pri
vate arrangement from Karbala or Najaf to be stamped and posted at the British