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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.' [‎37r] (78/386)

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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!Lord Lansdowne, tlie British Minister for Foreign Affairs, proposed after con
sulting the Cabinet that the whole question of the French flag in Oman
should be referred to the Hague Tribunal: the suggestion was accepted by the
Government of the French Republic and the Sultan’s prisoners were informally
released. A regular agreement for the transference of the dispute to the Hague
having been executed in London on the 13th October 1904, the case was in
due course brought to the cognisance of the Tribunal and was finally decided
by it on the 8th of August 1905. The award demolished the whole system of an
imppriiun in imperio which the French had laboriously erected in Oman.
Practically all grants of the French flag made after the 2nd of January 1892*
that is to say, a large majority of the grants were declared invalid; the transfer
of the French flag, even when regularly granted, to new owners or vessels was
prohibited ; and it was distinctly laid down that the possession of the flag could
not in any circumstances confer rights of exterritoriality or exemption from the
Sultan’s jurisdiction on shore. The question now appears to be all but closed
in so far as Onrm is concerned, and it is improbable that the grant of
French flags will hereafter be attempted in the other districts of the Gulf
which are not covered by the Tribunal’s decision. At the time of Lord Curzon’s
departure from India the local execution of the award had not been alto
gether completed.
It is a remarkable fact that the stringent measures of 1899, assisted by the
subsequent appointment to Maskat of Captain Cox, a Political OtEcer of unusual
qualifications whom Lord Curzon personally selected, had the happiest effect
upon the attitude of the Sultan towards the British Government, and that after
the crisis his entire influence was thrown into the British scale, while his rela
tions with the British representative were marked by exceptional cordiality
and confidence. In October 1899 payment of the subsidy was resumed, and in
1900 the financial obligations of the Sultan to the British Government were
completely liquidated out of the accumulated arrears of the subsidy. At the
beginning of 1903 Saiyid Taimur, the eldest son and heir apparent of the
Sultan, attended the Coronation Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). at Delhi on his father’s behalf; and
at the end of 1903, as we have already seen, Maskat was honoured by a visit
from the Viceroy of India, at which Saiyid Faisal was invested with the
G. C.I. E. The changed sentiments of the Sultan were clearly proved by his
behaviour after the massacre on Masirah island in August 1904 of the ship
wrecked crew of the British ship “Baron Inverdale,’* for he proceeded in person
to the scene of the tragedy and by persevering inquiries and personal exertions
at length succeeded in bringing several of the chief offenders to justice. The
reconciliation with Britain also reacted favourably on the Sultan’s political and
financial position. In the interior he was enabled to extend his authority in
several directions; the unruly port of Sur, which in 1898 had risen against him,
was in 1901 brought under a proper degree of control; and a rebellion organ
ised in the Rustak valley in 1903 by some of the Sultan’s hereditary enemies
failed ignominiously for want of support. At the end of 1899 the Sultan,
influenced by British advice, undertook a reform of his customs administra
tion ; and this, though partial only, resulted in a substantial increase of his
revenues. Notwithstanding considerable loans accepted by the Sultan from the
Government of India after 1900 for various useful purposes, including the
purchase of an armed steam-vessel, his liabilities, which in 1898 amounted to
some $200,000, had by 1905 probably been reduced; but the extent of his
indebtedness to private creditors is necessarily uncertain. The “ Nur-el-Bahr ”
has done good service in strengthening the Sultan’s authority over the ports of
Oman.
The question of the rendition of Gwadur by the Sultan of Maskat to the
Khan of Kelat, which had been discussed about 1860 and again in 1885 and
1891, was revived by Lord Curzon in 1902 in consequence of recent indica
tions that the attention of Russia had been attracted to Gwadur; it was
however decided that no immediate steps in the matter were necessary. In
1903 the Khan of Kelat requested but did not obtain the good offices of the
British Government to assist him in recovering Gwadur, and in 1904 a frivolous
claim to the place was advanced by the Jam of Las Bela and was discouraged.

About this item

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 3, 11, 13-15, 64-65, and 89.

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.' [‎37r] (78/386), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/533, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100070115181.0x00004f> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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