'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.' [‎142v] (289/386)

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only by a Consul, with no subjects, and next to no trade, enjoys a treaty
equality with Great Britain—was such as to emphasize the desirability of
terminating with as little delay as possible a situation so anomalous and it
might almost be said so grotesque. On the concluding afternoon of my stay at
Maskat I invited His Highness the Sultan to a private interview at which I
asked him to say anything that was in his mind. Before conferring upon
him the insignia of the G.C.I.E., by order of His Majesty the King-Emperor,
on the morning of the same day, I had stipulated that His Highness should
place himself entirely in the hands of the Government of India and should act
upon their advice in respeet of his desire to abdicate, previously reported by
me to you. This subject accordingly was not mentioned during the private
conversation. The Sultan raised two small points about which it is unnecessary
for me to trouble you in this letter, and I spoke to him about the management
of his Customs, which is not altogether satisfactory. He expressed anxiety
to know when the flag question between himself and the French would come
before the Hague tribunal, to which 1 could return no more satisfactory reply
than that that Court had a good deal of work on its hands which might occupy
some time. The Sultan evidently feels keenly on the matter, as lie very
rensonably may ; and it is one in which I would press upon His Majesty’s
Government the desirability of accelerating progress as much as possible.
5. After leaving Maskat I spent an entire day in making, in company with
the Admiral, a mo>t careful inspection of all the harbours and inlets on both
the Eastern and Western Coasts of the rocky and deeply indented promontory
commonly known, from its extreme point, as Ras Musandim. The upshot of
these investigations will be separately dealt with.
6 On 21st November I arrived at Shargah upon the so-called Pirate Coast,
which had been selected as a central point at which the Arab Sheikhs, who are
inclose treaty relations with the British Government, and who are commonly
known as the Trucial Chiefs, should he brought together to meet me in the
ceremony of a Darbar 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). . The Chiefs of Abu Hhati Shargah, Debai and Ajman,
with their sons, and the eldest son of the old Chief of Um-el Kawain, had been
collected in the “ Patrick Stewart ” from different parts of the Coast; and the
Darbar 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). held, as at Maskat, upon the “ Argonaut,’* was a ceremony that can
Enclosure No. in. hardly fail to have left upon them a great
impression. I enclose a copy of the
address that I delivered at this Darbar 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). , which may be described as an epitome
of British history in the Arab waters of the Gulf during the past century.
7. From Shargah I crossed to the Persian coast at Bunder Abbas, where
I arrived on 22nd November, and was received on behalf of the Shah by His
Excellency the Salar-i-Moazzam, Governor of the Gulf Ports. The Ala-ud-
Dowleh, Governor-General of Ears, was originally to have met me at Bunder
Abbas, and in view of subsequent events, it is to be regretted that this part of
the programme was departed from at the instance of the Persian Government.
Courtesies were exchanged between the Salar-i-Moazzam and myself : and
Enclosure No. iv. a ! s0 re ceived an address from the
f . .. „ ri Indian traders, my reply to which will he
found in the Appendix. While at Bunder Abbas I landed upon the islands
of Hormuz and Kishm, and discussed with the Admiral the question of Naval
defence and strategy at the mouth of the Gulf.
S. After leaving Bunder Abbas the “ Hardinge ” skirted the southern shore
of the island of Kishm and halted in the Straits at Hen jam, in order to enable
e Admiral and myself to form an opinion upon the question of re-openin" the
telegraph station at the place We formed a very definite conclusion in its
favour, m preference to Bassiduh ; and this will form the subject of an inde
pendent communication A visit was next paid to the British possession of
Bas iduh or Bassidore at the western extremity of Kishm, where the British
Hag is kept flying and where a small Arab and Persian population Las formed
a colony under its protection. The possession of this territorv is invaluable
because of the hold that it gives to us over Kishm: but owing to the tortuous
and shallow nature of the channels, it does not seem likely that we shall again
eqime to use it as a naval station, or that it could advantageously be turned