'Seistan' [‎359r] (719/782)

or over 80 per cent of the entire External trade. In the same three years,
out of a total of 2,161 steamers which entered and cleared from the Gulf ports,
2,039 were British, and their tonnage represented 84 per cent of the total tonnage.
If the returns of Persian ports alone he required, the figures are Total trade,
£11,172,000, of which Local trade = £2,169,400 and External trade =
£9,002,600, the British proportion of the latter being £7,494,200, or 83 per
cent. To these totals in cither case there should, in our opinion, certainly be
added those of Basrah, which amounted in the same triennial period to
£2,157,300. Unfortunately the manner in which these have been prepared, do
not admit of our distinguishing the countries of origin or destination. The pro
portion, however, that should properly he assigned to Anglo-Indian commerce
may be inferred from the British percentage of shipping, that entered or cleared
from that port in the three years referred to. It amounted to no less than 93 per
cent both of the number and tonnage of the steamers engaged.
26. During the last thirty years the maintenance of the sub-marine cables of
the Indo-European Telegraph Company from Eao to Task, and of the land lines
from that place to Karachi, has also devolved upon the Indian Government, and
has tended to increase an already preponderant influence over both the waters
and the shores of this sea. Latterly there has been a deliberate but necessary con
solidation of our influence in certain quarters where trouble threatened or where
rivalry was feared. At the north-west extremity of the Gulf, we have, under
instructions from Her Majesty’s Government, entered into engagements with the
still independent Sheikh of Koweit, by which he has bound himself and his
successors not to receive the representative of any other Power and not to
alienate any portion of his territory to the Government or subjects of any other
Power—a proceeding which was dictated by the increasing encroachment of
Turkish authority and by the incipient intrigues of other Powers. Similar
machinations are known to be in progress at Bahrein, and will require to be
counteracted by a more strict enforcement of the conditions to which the Sheikh
is by treaty bound. Outside the entrance to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , but included
within the sphere of its political influence, the Arab State of Maskat has for
years been controlled by British influence; its trade is similarly in Anglo-
Indian hands; and its ruler has not merely for years been subsidised by the
Government of India, but in 1891 entered into an Agreement with us, under
the orders of Her Majesty’s Government, not to alienate any portion of his
dominions to any other Power.
27. Such, briefly summarised, is the position that has been won by Great
Britain, not without the expenditure of many millions of money and the sacrifice
of many valuable lives, in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . In its vindication we have
more than once been called upon to enter into military occupation of ports or
islands in the Gulf. The island of Kharak wm's occupied by Indian forces from
1838 to 1842, and again in 1856-57. Bushire was held during the latter years,
as also were Mohammerah and Ahwaz upon the Karun. The occupation of
these places was an illustration of the vigour with which in past years our
ascendency has been maintained. Their abandonment was a proof of the
reluctance which has invariably been displayed to emphasise or to perpetuate
these responsibilities. The latter, however, no less than the British position in
Southern Persia in general, are now threatened by an external competition, to
the evidences of which we next turn.
28. Sir M. Durand has in general terms described the commanding posi
tion which the proximity of the Trans-Caspian Railway and of her Central Asian
garrisons, the construction of the Ashkabad-Kuchan-Meshed cart-road, and the
annual expenditure of large sums of money, have enabled Itussia to take up in
the politics and commerce of the province of Khorasan. We proceed to
develop the argument by showing how the Khorasan position has been and is
being utilised as the base of a further and more southerly advance.
29. It was in 1889 that the campaign of what may he termed the Bussi-
fication of Khorasan was opened with the appointment of a Bussian Consul-
General at Meshed. In 1891 a native trader, named Haji Agha, appeared as