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Notes Prepared for Reference during Curzon’s Tour of the Persian Gulf, and Other Papers on Persia and the Persian Gulf [‎85v] (170/678)

The record is made up of 1 file (337 folios). It was created in 4 Aug 1895-21 Nov 1903. It was written in English and French. 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. .

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if she ventured to make any, would be answered much as were those of
Denmark when we seized the Danish fleet to prevent its being captured by
Napoleon. In such a case the detachment of any troops from the defence of
India for operations in the interior of southern Persia would be of no advantage,
even if it were feasible, and Persia, except where parts of her territory were
more or less temporarily occupied for its own convenience by one or other of
the hostile armies, would doubtless lapse into a condition of anarchy similar
to that which prevailed between the death of Nadir Shah and the accession of
the Kajar Dynasty, until her future status and Government were settled with
out reference to herself by England and Russia at the peace.
The position would, however, be very different if the entry of Russian
troops into Persia were occasioned by a question arising within Persia itself,
for it may, I think, be taken for granted that if we did not, in the event of a
Russian invasion of northern Persia, do more than hold Bunder Abbas and
Seistan, Russia would take possession of all the rest of the country, at any
rate of the great cities and of the routes connecting them, and would not
evacuate it until she had reduced it, like Manchuria, to the condition of a
Russian Egypt. She might, as the price of our acquiescence in this state of
things, leave us Seistan and Bunder Abbas, and I do not see why she should
not do so, if she had all the rest of the sea-board and of Khorassan, for once
she had made her military railways through Persia to the coast and to our
Indian frontier and had connected them with the existing system she would
have acquired the means of taking these places from us later on without very
great difficulty, unless of course we became, not merely as we should do in
a geographical sense, but in respect of our military system, a regular con
tinental power.
She might not indeed need to occupy the whole or even the greater part of
Persia. If she marched into Tabriz, Tehran and Meshed, put down the revolu
tionary movement by stern measures in those cities and reorganised the Per
sian army as Sir Evelyn Wood did that of Egypt, she might well afford to-
evacuate the country on condition that we withdrew simultaneously from
Seistan and Bunder Abbas. Persia would, however, from that moment be to
all intents and purposes a Russian Egypt, even if no regular Russian garrison
remained within its borders, and English influence would be as completely dead
and buried, not merely at Tehran but throughout the length and breadth of the
land, as Erench influence has been in the Nile Valley since the day when
Colonel Marchand hauled the tricolor down at Eashoda. It may, in fact, be
doubted whether we should not he more discredited in the eyes of the Persians
and Afghans, and throughout the Mahomedan world, if we* abandoned Persia,
all except a few outlying points, to he dealt with by a Russian army as it
pleased, without making an affort to assert our rights and interests in a coun
try in which we have hitherto claimed a position of at least equality, than if we
were to strike in defence of them a momentarily unsuccessful blow.
In any case the effacement of British influence in Persia, whether brought
about by our acquiescence in a temporary or permanent occupation by RusGa
of the greater part of the country, including the present and ancient capitals
would he so damaging to our prestige throughout Asia that it is worth while
considering, before we finally decide to endure it, whether we could not, besides
holding Seistan and Bunder Abbas, occupy, in alliance with the Arabs, Bakhtia-
ris and other south Persian tribes, the corner of South-West Persia, described in
Major Douglas’ memorandum, and even put a few thousand men into Isfahan
our occupation of which, as the old historical metropolis of Persia would
balance a Russian occupation of Tehran and deprive the Russians of any excuse
for advancing further south on the pretext of preserving the Shah’s authority
m the southern portion of his kingdom. It would probably not be necessary
for us to take any military measures in-the interior of Ears or of Kerman for
the presence of a Russian force at Tehran and of a British force supported by
the Bakhtians at Isfahan, or within striking distance of it, would, in all likeli
hood, put an end to a revolutionary movement whose leaders would have to
12

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Content

The file contains papers relating to Persia [Iran] and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , including a document entitled ‘Notes on current topics prepared for reference during his Excellency the Viceroy’s tour in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , November 1903.’ It also includes printed extracts of letters relating to the tour from Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Arnold Kemball, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and Major Percy Zachariah Cox, Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Maskat [Muscat], dated August to October 1903.

In addition, the file includes the following papers:

  • Handwritten notes by George Nathaniel Curzon, Viceroy of India, including notes on Muscat, Koweit [Kuwait], and the Mekran [Makran] Coast
  • Memoranda concerning Koweit
  • A copy of a letter from Colonel Charles Edward Yate, Agent to the Governor-General and Chief Commissioner in Baluchistan, to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, forwarding the camp diary kept during his tour in Makran and Las Bela, from 1 December 1901 to 25 January 1902
  • A copy of a 'Report on a Journey from India to the Mediterranean via the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Baghdad and the Euphrates Valley, including a Visit to the Turkish Dependency of El Hasa' by Captain J A Douglas, Staff Captain, Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department in India, 1897 (which includes three sketch maps: Mss Eur F111/358, f 138; Mss Eur F111/358, f 158; and Mss Eur F111/358, f 141).

Folios 232 to 338 largely consist of printed copies of correspondence between Sir (Henry) Mortimer Durand, HM Minister at Teheran [Tehran], and the Marquess of Salisbury (Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated 1895-1896, relating to Persia.

The file includes a copy of a Collective Letter addressed by the Turkish, British and French Consuls to the Valiahd regarding the Tabriz Riots, 5 August 1895, which is in French (folios 332).

Extent and format
1 file (337 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in roughly chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 339; 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 and French in Latin script
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Notes Prepared for Reference during Curzon’s Tour of the Persian Gulf, and Other Papers on Persia and the Persian Gulf [‎85v] (170/678), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/358, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069731504.0x0000ab> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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