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41. French interests in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , either political or commercial,
are so small; her own territories are so distant; and the Gulf lies so far out
of the track of her merchant vessels or mcn-of-war, that we are unable to
construe these proceedings in any other light than as an attempt to cause
trouble and annoyance to a possible rival, and to lend an independent assistance
to the plans of a European ally. Substantial confirmation of these views
will, in our opinion, be derived from a study of recent French action at
Maskat, where, although French trade is infinitesimal, and a French man-of-
war has been in the habit of paying a passing visit on an average only once
in the year, the French Government have nevertheless during the past six
months been endeavouring to obtain, under the guise of coaling facilities, a
position w r hich would provide them with an independent pled a terre in the
neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . This policy has been foreshadowed by the
free grant of the French flag to Arab dhows, owning allegiance to the Sultan
of Maskat, and is facilitated by the influence over the latter petty potentate
that has been acquired by the French Vice-Consul, whose anti-British inclina
tions and intrigues are so well known to Her Majesty’s Government as to
require no recapitulation here. Confirmation of our suspicions regarding a
Franco-Russian entente in Persia and in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is further afforded
by a telegram, dated June 7th, 1899, from Sir M. Durand to Colonel Meade,
which has already been communicated both to Your Lordship and to the
Foreign Office, and in which Her Majesty’s Minister at Tehran remarks : “ You
may be quite certain that Russia and France are working in unison ”.
42. It should be noted that in the recent papers, with copies of which w e
have been favoured by Her Majesty’s Government, we have found a repudiation
of French ambitions in the quarter under discussion, no less explicit, than that
wdiich w r e have already quoted from the lips of Count Mouravieff. On July 19th,
1899, M. Cambon said to Lord Salisbury that “ France had no political
aspiration whatever in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; that she did not desire any kind of
fortification or settlement or political privileges, or anything beyond the
maintenance of those rights already insured to her by treaty We have been
gratified to read this assurance, by which we hope that" succeeding French
ministries may hold themselves bound. But w r e regret that it has not been
communicated, not merely to Her Majesty’s Government, but also to the
French Agents in those regions, who do not appear to be equally acquainted
with the view T s of the Government that they serve.
43. In recent years Germany has begun to display a positive and an
increasing interest in Persia and also in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . This interest has
been the historical, and perhaps the natural, sequel of a commercial policy
that has for some time aimed at securing the control of the principal railways
in the Turkish dominions in Asia Minor, and of a political ambition, that more
recently still, w r ould appear to aim at the protection of the Ottoman Empire,
alike in Europe and Asia. The obvious corollary to a system of German
railways in Asia Minor, would be similar railroads to the Persian border and
through Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Already, as Sir M. Durand has in
formed the Foreign Office, the Germans have procured a concession for the
construction of a road from Khanikin, on the Turko-Persian frontier, to Tehran,
and have apparently only abstained from pressing for a railroad in the same
quarter, because of the violent opposition with which the Russian Minister met
the proposal at Tehran. The second son of the Shah, Prince Malik Mansur,
has been spending several months in 1898-99 in Germany, wdiere his education
and proclivities are reported as having acquired a marked philo-Teutonic tin^e.
German military instructors have been proffered for the reorganisation of the
Persian army. Prolongations of the Turko-German railways to Baghdad and to
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. have been and are still being freely discussed; and the German
Government are endeavouring to procure an interest in the overland Turkish
i • ^ a °/ ^ ie itself a German Consulate w^as established in
1SJ7 at Buslnre, to safeguard the interests of six German subjects in the entire
ports of that sea. A Bremen firm opened business at Bushire, but the specially
chartered steamers which were sent out from Germany appear to have been a