'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA. PART I - The Persian Gulf.' [‎41v] (87/92)

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the chief of Qaih ; but it is difficult to discriminate with certainty between the
results of this redistribution and those of the general internal disorganisation
which began in 1897 and has since increased rather than diminished. The new
distribution had at least the effect of adjusting benefits in a more correct
proportion to responsibilities.
In 1901 Mir Mahmud Khan, brother of the chief of Dashtyari with whom
he was at war, entered on a course of hostility against the British Government;
he raided a number of villages in the neighbourhood of Chahbar and carried, off
cattle belonging to British Indian subjects and to the ; British telegraph station.
In 1902 the British Legation remonstrated with the Persian Government on the
condition of affairs in Mekran, but the admonition passed unheeded; the
Persian officials continued to prey unchecked on the chiefs, the chiefs in their
turn to ravage their own territories and even to sell their subjects into slavery,
and the people at large to become impoverished and to emigrate. In 1904
Mir Mahmud Khan spontaneously assumed a more correct attitude towards
Government and was in the end recognised as joint ruler with his brother of
the Dashtyari district; but general lawlessness and oppression continued
unabated.
Meanwhile the settlement of British pecuniary claims was proceeding,
though slowly, being delayed at first by the apathy of the officials whom the
Persian Government deputed to represent them and by the obstructiveness of
the local chiefs without whose aid nothing could be accomplished. In 1899
and 1901 meetings took place between British and Persian officials and a
number of the outstanding cases were settled, but disposals did not keep pace
with the occurrence of fresh cases, and in 1904 the value of the unsettled
claims reached Rs. 82,000. In this year a third meeting of British and Persian
representatives was arranged at which cases to the value of Ks. 58,000 were
decided. In 1905 a fourth meeting was held and at the end of the year the
balance of claims undisposed of was Rs. 33,000.
We are now in a position to review and estimate the results attained
in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. during Lord Curzon’s tenure of office. Attacks on
the predominance of Great Britain in the Gulf had begun with the visit
of a Russian surveyor to Hormuz in 1895, but they did not become serious
until 1898, when the French attempted
Political review of the period. a na val base in Oman. Great
impetus was given to foreign rivalry by the Transvaal war of 1899-1902,
especially during its earlier stages when an erroneous anticipation of the future
position of Britain obtained general currency. These years accordingly witness
ed preparations by Russia for establishing a naval station in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
and for constructing a railway across Persia to the sea, as well as the founda
tion of a Russian line of steamers and trading company, and intensified efforts
by the French to push their influence in Oman. There were at the same time
unmistakeable symptoms that, in the Gulf, Russia and France were actuated
to some extent by a common policy. The manifestations of foreign activity
were accompanied by displays of naval force and were attended by a general
expansion of the Russian and German consular establishments in the Gulf
region. As the British Empire gradually and without loss of stability emerged
from the South African difficulty a revulsion of feeling appeared to set in ; the
more dangerous enterprises of Russia were suspended ; and eventually little
remained to differentiate the situation from that which had existed before the
crisis except the considerable mercantile undertaking to which the Russian
Government had committed themselves and the increased consular establish
ments of that Power and of Germany.
By the end of 1903 the tension in the Gulf had completely relaxed.
The assault on British predominance had been energetically met and
repelled at every point ; nothing had been conceded even at the time
when the state of international politics was most favourable to the
adversaries of Britain ; and British activity continued unabated for a while
after the causes which had provoked it were withdrawn. The strategical posi
tion was examined from the Indian point of view and dispositions were made for