'PRINCIPAL DESPATCHES AND CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO PERSIA CONNECTED WITH THE SUMMARY OF EVENTS AND MEASURES OF VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDDLESTON IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. JANUARY 1899 TO NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV-PART IV. PERSIA.' [‎44r] (92/136)

1°
No. 183 of 1901.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA,
FOREIGN DEPARTMENT.
SECEET.
External.
To
The Eight Hon’ble LOED GEOEGE E. HAMILTON,
His Majesty’s Secretary of State for India,
Simla, the 7th November 1901.
My Loud,
In our despatches of 21st September 1899 and 6th September 1900,
we have already fully acquainted Your Lordship and His Majesty’s Government
with the views which are entertained by us with regard to British interests and
British policy in Persia. Subsequent events have more than confirmed the fore
casts that were contained in our earlier letter, and have iGyit additional weight
to our appeal for a clear and emphatic enunciation of British policy in regard to
that country. The negotiations for a further Eussian loan to the Persian Govern
ment, and for a new Commercial Treaty, designed in the interests of Eussian
and to the detriment of British trade ; the apparently imminent construction of a
Eussian railway from Ashkabad to Meshed, the capital of Ehorasan ; the activity
of Eussian representatives and agents in Seistan and the regions contiguous to
the Baluch border ; the obstacles placed in the way of the Nushki-Seistan trade
route by Eussian influence, both in respect of customs arrangements and of
quarantine; the appearance of Eussian Consular agents and of a mercantile
service subsidised by the Eussian Government in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. 'all of
these circumstances illustrate the rapidity with which the weakness of Persia
is being turned to account by her powerful neighbour ; wnile they also testify
to the unswerving purpose with which the policy of the Eussian Government
is directed to an obvious and unmistakable goal. _ We have so recently
submitted to Your Lordship our views of the imperative necessity of making
up our minds as to the point to which these ambitions may safely be pursued
without coming into direct collision with British and Indian interests, and
of shaping our future action, both diplomatic and commercial, accordingly, that
we do not propose upon the present occasion to trouble Your Loidship with any
repetition of opinions with which you are already familiar. It is sufficient to
say that the events of the past two years have but strengthened the unanimity
and force of the conviction to winch we have previously given expression ; and
that, in our judgment, the question of Persia and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is on the
yero-e of becoming the most critical issue of Central Asian politics, that these
views are not substantially dissented from by His Majesty’s Government is
apparent from the telegraphic information which has reached us from Your
Lordship since the above paragraph was written—to the effect that the
British representative at St. Petersburg has been authorised to speak frankly to