'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.' [‎50r] (104/386)

Confidential.
Bear
PAET II.
Detailed Account.
CHAPTER I.
Persia and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (General Policy).
For many years prior to liis assumption of office in India, the
question of British policy in Persia and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. had engaged the
Viceroy’s attention, and throughout His Excellency’s regime a constant inter
change of views on Indian interests in that region was maintained between
His Majesty’s Government and the Government of India. During the first
year of His Excellency’s Viceroyalty, His Lordship grappled with the Persian
Problem. On the 21st September 1899, the Secretary of State for India
was addressed in a despatch which dealt comprehensively, in view of the
uncertainty of Persia’s future position, with the principles upon which British
policy towards that country is based, the objects which it should keep in view,
and the scope and limits of the respective shares of responsibility, political and
financial, which should be assumed by the two parties, England and India,
with the result that Persia, which till 1899 was a matter of limited concern to
India, has now become a question which bulks largely in the work of the
Foreign Department, and about which no problem of importance is settled by
His Majesty’s Government without the Government of India being first asked
for their opinion and advice.
2. The general position of Persia at the beginning of the period of Lord
Curzon’s administration will best be explained by summarizing the despatch
which His Excellency addressed on 21st September 1899 to His Majesty’s
Secretary of State for India, the first of a series of despatches dealing with the
situation in Persia and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , which, in view of their effect upon
the policy of His Majesty’s Government, as revealed by the acts and declara
tions of British Ministers since 1899, mark an epoch in the history of the rela
tions of Great Britain and India with Persia and must in themselves be con
sidered among the most important facts requiring record during the period of
Lord Curzon’s Viceroyalty.
3. The despatch of September 1899 began by pointing out that there was
no clear definition of the principles upon
General PosUren of Persia. wWoh om , policy towacds p er?ia is based>
of the objects which it should keep in view, and of the scope and limits of the
respective shares of responsibility, political and financial, which should be
assumed by the two partners, viz.^ Her Majesty’s Government and the Govern
ment of India, who are jointly concerned in the defence of Anglo-Indian
interests in the dominions of the Shah. The need for such a discussion as to
how British interests should be definitely safeguarded in the future, and how
the necessary outlay should be shared between Great Britain and India was made
imperative by the existence of signs that the dissolution of Persia was drawing
near. The Government was clearly effete ; there was no prospect of recupera
tion or reform ; the country, hut feebly held together by any tie of race, religion
or loyalty, was saved from dissolution by the rival ambitions of two powers; the
rule of the present Shah was weaker than that of his predecessor; the encroach
ments of Russian power w r ere less veiled by any pretence of concealment, and,
moreover, other Governments and nationalities were being attracted to the scene.
4. Anglo-Indian interests in Persia, the despatch continued, were com
mercial, political, strategical, and telegraphic. The total annual value of
British trade with Persia had been cautiously estimated at three-and-a-half
millions' sterling, of which the south and eastern portion belonged to India, the
north and western more peculiarly to the British Isles.
5. The political interests of Great Britain in Persia, though in the main
Indian in inception, and still largely Indian in character, were also Imperial,