'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.' [‎29v] (63/386)

45
In Nov-
a Erench
five miles south-east of thaf
taamof-war haXestabUshed a coaling station at Bunder Jisseh.
The French Government, while ^base^diT^
Indirect efforts to increase French neo j ect j n( ij ve ct means of increasing their
inttuence. _ . „ ]f A Vice-Consul of French nationality had
influence m m PaMaa M i t £or * foreigner . who formerly represented
already been substituted at French Vice-Consulate had been opened
^“V^^lSOraWi C^ul^Tgtey was established at LingSi in
at Bushue , in l&JJ ^V 1q0 , move was made for the inclusion of the
charge of a native, and i vioe . Consular district of Bushire. Attempts
Bahrein islands m ine I . . f i q f or Brench commercial enter-
were als0 “^^^“nchmerdiants endeavoured unsuccessfully to establish
prise. In UOd two^rc i, ia ^p^tionof taking part m the pearl fisheries,
themselyes at Bahrem wi f the “ Comite de I’Asie fran 9 aise ’*
^Won a t the course of which he made a
visitedtheGulfonac ^ Bahrein and tried, but without success, to
protracted stay at Ma ^ Arabia _ Meanwhile a scurrilous journalistic
arrange a to .^,'-Srlfish interests in the Gulf was carried on by M. Goguyer, a
campaign against Bu w w ; n tbe French and Kussian press ; and
French arms dealer settled ' policy, by °the medium of an Arabic
violent attacks wmtj nriac c th the Gulf and the rest of the Muham-
newspaper in the end traced, beyond possibility of
the Trench Fereign OGi„ .. F.*
«—■» tk * wf r ssgpsPirBsysrt®
German activity. wa y sc beme. In 1899 the German war
vessel “ Arcona ” visited the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , probably with reference to the
question rf a railway terminus. Xn the beginning of 1900 a German railway
commission arrived at Koweit overland from Constent.nop e and attempted to
negotiate with the Sheikh for the grant of a site on Koweit bay, but their pur-
™?e was defeated by the loyal adherence of the Sheikh to his secret agreement
Tith the British Government. A German Consulate had been founded at Hus hire
in 1897, and in 1905 the German Consul made enquiries regarding the position
of German subjects in Bahrein. In 1899 a party of Germans arrived a
Bunder Abbas to study the situation there, and about 1901a German film
engaged in the mother-of-pearl trade established a business in Bahrein. In
1901?moreover, Germany appears to have advised Persia to conclude a Com
mercial Convention, then under discussion with Russia,_ which was unfavour
able to British interests ; and in the same year information was received that an
influential German syndicate were negotiating with the Porte for a monopoly oi
the pearl fisheries on the Turkish coast of the Gulf.
A small Belgian enterprise in the Gulf deserves mention as showing the
readiness of the Belgians to partici*
Belgian enterprise. p a te, if a profitable opening could be
found, in the scramble initiated by Russia and Prance. M. Simais, formerly
Commercial Attache of the Belgian Legation at Tehran and in 1901 Director-
General of the Persian Customs of the South, was undoubtedly interested m the
operations ; he had visions of a Belgian trading syndicate which was to estab
lish a bank in Persia and a line of steamers in the Gulf to compete with the
existing British institutions. Prospecting operations w'ere carried out by the
“ Selika ”, a small Belgian steam yacht, which in the spring of 1901 remained
for about a month in the neighbourhood of the pearl hanks ; hut soon after
wards M. Simais died and the Belgian project was apparently abandoned.
The policy of Britain in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and North-Eastern Arabia w^as in
1 ^ . x . 1904 and 1905 vehemently denounced in
Pan-Islamic opposxtxon to Brxtaxn. ^ Arabic presSj especia H y that of Cairo,
and strongly anti-British sentiments were soon after found to prevail among
the official class in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. . This journalistic campaign w r as probably