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'Russia, India and the Persian Gulf' [16r] (31/46)
The record is made up of 1 volume (21 folios). It was created in 1903. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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The Western Frontiers of India.
27
the South and the Far East. Admiral Sir Edmund Fre
mantle and other writers have shown how erroneous is
the usually received, Macaulay-made account of the con
quest of India, how that was achieved not by isolated
engagements on land, but by continued superiority by sea,
the manner also in which alone it can in the future be main
tained, now that the second sea Power is allied with the only
Power with which we march by land.
Eighthly, since the defence of the coast, and of the land
frontiers also depends on the navy, which must be strong
enough to keep open communications and supply reinforce
ments, India is far more interested in the naval than in the
army budget, which none the less makes perpetually increas
ing demands on her resources. It would not only be interest
ing but politic for the Government of India to make public,
in some popular form, the savings effected up to date and
expected, from the measures taken by Lord Curzon on the
frontier. The extreme and not unnatural unpopularity
among the Indians of all expenditure in this quarter will be
greatly increased as it becomes more and more apparent
that the forward school have perhaps been in error all
through, and that the march of events, like the march oi
an invader, will probably leave the fortifications they have
effected at such an expenditure of blood and treasure out
side the real line of defence. There are, at least, two
savings which might be effected in the administration—
certainly in some provinces — by the more extended
employment of Indians as judges and in other civil
capacities, and by cutting down the annual build ing
budget, which it is unnecessarily assumed should bear a
certain proportion to other heads of expenditure. How,
again, can large expenditure on local defences on the Indian
coast be preferred—assuming, as they do, that Britain has
lost command of the sea—to ships which can make it certain
that she will never lose that command ? The present
Indian army cannot safely be reduced, but savings are
needed for the provision of proper docks and for the
About this item
- Content
An article on the western frontiers of the Indian Empire by Sir John David Rees. The article deals with the threat posed by Russia from northern Persia and Afghanistan and discusses the measures that should be taken to defend and strengthen the British Empire in India.
At the front of the volume (folio 2) is a short foreword note signed by J D R, 31 March 1903.
At the rear of the volume (folios 17-22) is the record of a meeting of the East India Association that took place at the Westminster Palace Hotel, 23 March 1903, and at which the article was delivered as a lecture.
The article was published by Harrison & Sons, at 59 Pall Mall, London, 1903. It was also published as an article in the Asiatic Quarterly Review, for April 1903.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (21 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 23; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'Russia, India and the Persian Gulf' [16r] (31/46), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/380, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/mirador/81055/vdc_100065305771.0x000020> [accessed 26 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/380
- Title
- 'Russia, India and the Persian Gulf'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:22v, back-i, back
- Author
- Rees, Sir John David
- Usage terms
- Public Domain