Notes Prepared for Reference during Curzon’s Tour of the Persian Gulf, and Other Papers on Persia and the Persian Gulf [‎256v] (512/678)

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ease, there has been another attack upon an Englishman, Mr. Tanfield, of Lynch and
Co., who has been dreadfully wounded and disfigured. I have the honour to inclose
copies of certain papers bearing on this case :—
Copy of a Report from Messrs. Lynch.*
Copy of Mr. Tan field’s statement.
Copy of Dr. Scott’s certificate.*
I have tried in vain to get the would-be murderer punished. He has been carried
off—nominally in chains for punishment in Tehran—and nothing whatever has been done
in Shuster, where the mob hooted and stoned Mr. Tanfield as he was carried down
wounded to the river. Not only have the local authorities taken no notice of this brutal
demonstration, but when Captain Sykes arrived to inquire into the matter the Governor
treated him with marked discourtesy, and refused to return his call.
Mr. Sykes is of opinion that an Englishman’s life is no longer safe in Shuster, and
Messrs. Lynch and Co. have decided not to send an assistant to replace Mr. Tanfield.
I am very reluctant to make any proposals which might be inconvenient to your
Lordship, and, when everything is going so well for us in Tehran, I am very reluctant to
advocate measures which will be unpalatable to the Persian Government. But our
merchants and officials have evidently some reason to urge that the state of affairs
described above is such as w r e ought not to tolerate, and that it is incumbent upon us to
insist both upon some reparation for the way we have been treated and upon the
introduction of such arrangements as will guarantee the safety of our people for the
future.
Shuster is the natural centre for our trade, and it is just there that fanaticism
and hostility to Englishmen have been most conspicuously shown.
On the Bushire road order and security will, I think, be restored before long, but I
see no chance of this on the Karun under present conditions.
I am therefore telegraphing to your Lordship suggesting that Her Majesty’s
Government should authorize me to demand the payment of a large indemnity to
Mr. Tanfield, the execution of his assailant in Tehran or elsewhere, and an ample
apology to be made by the Governor in person to Captain Sykes, at Shuster, for all the
misconduct of the Shuster people and the local authorities. I think that these demands,
if made, should be pressed upon the Persian Government in such a manner as to insure
their being accepted.
I have not suggested sending the “ Lawrence ” and f ‘ Sphinx ” to Muhammera, as
advocated by Colonel Wilson, Her Majesty’s Consul-General in Ears, because the heat in
the Upper Gulf is at this season too great to be faced without urgent necessity, and also
because I hope that the Persian Government will not force us to enter upon a naval
demonstration for the enforcement of our terms, but such a demonstration may become
necessary hereafter.
If the Persian Government accept our demands and carry them out the present
incident may be regarded as closed, but there will remain the question of our future
position on the Karun. At present our merchants naturally consider that an
Englishman’s life is not safe at Shuster, and Captain Sykes reports that the Persian
Government is really powerless to execute at that place the murderer of an Englishman.
The only way, so far as I can see, to establish security for the future, and let our trade
develop from this natural centre, is to appoint a resident Vice-Consul under the
protection of a trustworthy armed force. That force might take the form of an escort
of Indian troops, but it would, in my opinion, be much better on all accounts to raise at
the expense of the Persian Government a body of Bakhtiaris and Arabs under British
officers. It will be remembered that the Russians have an armed force under Russian
officers in Tehran itself. They could not logically object to our having a similar
force in the south, and the Persian Government if resolutely pressed would, I believe,
agree. They fully understand how hopeless they are against coercion from the side of
Muhammera where the powerful Sheikh Mizal, who controls the Karun up to Ahwaz,
only awaits a signal from us to throw off his allegiance to the Shah.
They are also, 1 think, beginning to understand that if they declare their
inability to protect Englishmen from murderous attacks they must expect unpleasant
consequences.
Moreover, the consequences would not be wholly unpleasant to them. The Persian
Government would not like paying for the corps, and they would not like the trouble of
overcoming possible Russian opposition; but, on the other hand, they could make some
reduction in their existing force, and they know that a body of trustworthy troops under
British officers would give the Central Government a firm hold on the province where it
* Already received.