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'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎14v] (33/386)

The record is made up of 1 volume (189 folios). It was created in 1907. It was written in English. 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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rs
16
engaged the services of a Belgian Customs expert who was soon to play an
important part in Persian politics. Hons. Nans was accompanied to Tehran
b ™ P two compatriots. In the following spring the work of reform was
seriously begun. One Belgian officer was posted to Tabriz; a second o
Kermanshah! while Mens. Naus remained as adviser at the capital. Shortly
, a ft e r another Belgian subject was sent
The Belgian Customs. to Kerman; and in December 1899, ten
more Belgians were enlisted in the service of the Shah. Proposals for the first
Bussian loan were already nnder discussion, and the Sadr Azam was pledged to
q onmnlote reorganisation of the Customs revenues, which were to form the
security for the advance. By March 1900, the Customs of the Gulf Ports
had been taken under direct control. By the spring of 1901, Belgians had been
installed at all the more important ports, and the Department was able to
direct its attention to a quarter so remote and so unremunerative as Seistan.
These changes were not introduced without a considerable amount of
onnosition The^Mullas were opposed to the Christians, by whom the reform
was effected. The local Governors and the farmers of the Customs under the
old regime saw in the new order the loss of their previous gains, licit and illicit.
° The merchants found it difficult to
Opposition to the new Regime. adapt themselves to a novel system based
upon European models, in some ways ill adapted to the requirements of
an oriental country, and widely different from the earlier practice in which
laxness and venality prevailed. Einally, the new officials were not always
on the best of terms with the Consular representatives of Eoreign Powers.
Complaints of officiousness and of favouritism were preferred against them both
by British and by Bussian Consuls, and in some eases the friction became
acute. Various causes tended to this result. The Belgian officials had in
most cases been translated from subordinate stations in their own country
to posts of importance in Persia. In not a few cases they were ill-fitted
for their new positions. The British Consular Officers, it must be added, were
not in all cases able to converse freely with them in their own tongue, while
account must also perhaps be taken of a certain national feeling against
Great Britain, evoked in Belgium by events on the Congo and in South Africa.
In certain cases and notably in Seistan the Belgian Customs Officers have
deliberately taken sides with Russia to the prejudice of British interests. Such
instances would seem, however, to have been due to individual idiosyncracies
or to subservience to the Power which appeared to he the stronger and the
more overbearing, rather than to any deliberate policy inspired either from
Tehran or from Brussels. At the capital Mons. Naus gave greater evidence
of a desire to hold the balance impartially between British and Russian claims,
and was reported by the British Minister to have rendered signal aid to British
interests. But in the face of numerous difficulties, the Belgians have steadily
acquired a wider influence. Posts and Telegraphs, Public Works and Sanitation,
Mints and Treasuries have successively
been entrusted to their charge. Under
their supervision the net yield of the
Customs has steadily increased,* though
the hostilities in the Ear East have tended
to prevent the somewhat larger rise which
might have been expected from the revised tariff of February 1903.
*1898-99 £172,414.
1899 00 £260,973.
1900- 01 £293,214.
1901- 02 £346,304.
1902- 03 £358,047-
1903- 04 £523,774.
1904- 05 £465,517.
Of the entire Customs revenues about one-half are derived from the ports
of Southern Persia. The distinction is of considerable importance. The
British Government for many years have insisted that the Customs of
Southern Persia should not he pledged to any Eoreign Power. The Shah’s
,, __ ^ Ministers were addressed on the subject
“ Fars and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ”. . -, 0 r»o i • • -i or.* t j i
m 1892, and again in 1897. In reply
to the note of the latter year, the Mushir-ed-Dowleh wrote to the British
Minister in the following terms :—
“ You have written that there was a rumour that the Customs of Southern Persia would
be placed under foreign supervision and control as guarantee for a loan. I therefore take this
occasion of informing the Legation that this rumour is without foundation, and that they will
never be placed under foreign supervision or control

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Content

Printed at the GC [Government Central] Press, Simla.

The volume is divided into three parts: Part I (folios 5-47) containing an introduction; Part II (folios 48-125) containing a detailed account; and Part III (folios 126-188) containing despatches and correspondence connected with Part I Chapter IV ('The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ', folios 28-47).

Part I gives an overview of policy and events in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region during Curzon's period as Viceroy [1899-1905], with sections on British policy in Persia; the maintenance and extension of British interests; Seistan [Sīstān]; and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Part II contains more detailed accounts of selected topics, including sections on British policy in Persia, customs and finance, quarantine, administration, communications, and British and Russian activity in Seistan. The despatches and correspondence in Part III include correspondence from the Government of India in the Foreign Department, the Secretary of State for India, and the Viceroy; addresses and speeches by Curzon; and notes of interviews between Curzon and local rulers.

Mss Eur F111/531-534 consist of four identical printed and bound volumes. However, the four volumes each show a small number of different manuscript annotations and corrections.

This volume contains manuscript additions on folios 11, 40-41, 47, and 142-146.

Extent and format
1 volume (189 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a list of Parts I-III on folio 4; a table of contents of Part I on folio 6; a table of contents of Part II on folio 49; and a table of contents of Part III on folios 127-129, which gives a reference to the paragraph of Part I Chapter IV that the despatch or correspondence is intended to illustrate.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 191; 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.Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎14v] (33/386), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/532, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100070112822.0x000022> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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