'Seistan' [‎361r] (723/782)

ici)
[ 13 ]
have also recently been beard of at the latter place (the two latest, M. Babit-
chioff and Baron de Schedenore, as lately as August in the present year). It
should not, moreover, be forgotten that it was Russian opposition that in 1898
broke down the loan to the Persian Government from the Imperial Bank of
Persia, the security of which was to be the customs of the southern ports, to
be collected by agents of the Bank.
39. AVe are aware that on April 18th of the present year, with reference
to reports that have been published of Russian designs upon the island of Kishm,
adjoining Hormuz, Count Mouravieff assured Sir C. Scott, Her Majesty’s
Ambassador at St. Petersburg!!, that “there was absolutely no intention on the
part of the Russian Government to add to the burden of their existing respon
sibilities by acquiring outlying ports or stations which would require naval
defence in time of war”; and we do not doubt that this emphatic assurance
represents the views sincerely entertained by the Emperor of Russia. But
our faith in the value of this assurance has been somewhat shaken by the later
information received from a Persian official of high rank and station, known
personally to the Viceroy, to the effect that he believes Russia to have acquired
certain rights in regard to a port in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , which however it may
not suit her at once to enforce. Moreover there is in practice a limit to the
duration of all such pledges, which, even if given by the sovereign, are not
always regarded as binding by his officials; and previous experience is not
altogether encouraging to the belief in a prolonged existence of the present
undertaking, should circumstances compel an opposite course. There are more
over other means, well-known to Her Majesty’s Government from recent
experience in other parts of the world, of obtaining political and territorial
influence, independently of the actual acquisition of harbours or stations.
40. It is, in our opinion, more than a coincidence that simultaneously
with the increasing Russian interest in Central and Southern Persia which we
have described, there should also have been a notable revival of French activity
in those quarters. In 1896 the Messageries Maritimes Company commenced
a subsidised service from Bombay to the ports of the 1 ersian Gulf, although,
owing to vessels of unsuitable draught having been employed, the enterprise
was not a success and was shortly abandoned. In 1897 a French Vice-Consul
(M Ferrand) was for the first time appointed at Bushire, although the value of
French trade with the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. in that year amounted only to the modest
total of £82,618 (of which £73,899 was sugar). He was succeeded in 1898 by M.
Bryois. who recently informed the agent of one of the British Trading Companies
at Bushire that the French Government intended shortly to establish a subsidised
line of steamers to Mohammerah and tbe Karun. It was perhaps in connection
with this project that in March 1899, M. Bryois paid a visit to the Karun, where
a French scientific party, under M. de Morgan, has for some time been engaged
in politico-archaeological researches in Arabistan. M hen the French Charge
d’Affaires, Comte d’Arlot, recently visited Ispahan^ the Zil-es-Sultan vouch
safed the corroborative information to the British Legation that the object of these
movements on the part of the French was to obtain a footing at Mohammerah
Shushter and Dizful. During our recent negotiations with the bheikh ot Roweit
about the future of that harbour, it was with some surprise that we learned from
him that the French had already approached him on the subject. In Bahrein a
so-called French merchant, M. Goguyer, who until recently was engaged m Maskat
in an attempt to revive the traffic in arms under the French flag has been
reported as endeavouring to induce the inhabitants to purchase Irene i pio ec-
Hon bv the pavment of small sums. In 1899 a French Consular Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. was
established at Lingah, where the same ingenious system of manufacturing
French subjects (for the most successful illustration of which we must look to
Siam) was started, and where the French flag was hoisted by the Diagoma
the French Vice-Consul at Bushire. Finally, Her Majesty’s Government are
letter aware than ourselves of the recent negotiations for a French h«n to the
Persian Government upon the security of the customs of the Gulf ports, and a
promise of a railway monopoly in that country.
1\>Z