‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎181v] (361/949)

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All the ports of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and the Mekran coast, with the excep
tion of the Chahbar Bay, have perfectly open anchorages and of insufficient
depth. Chahbar presents a vast bay, protected from every wind except
from the south, with a good anchorage, and a depth fully sufficient to admit
vessels of the greatest draught
To calculate the volume of local freights I do not condsider necessary on
account of their insignificance, but it is open to any one to do so, on the basis
of materials in the statistical description of the regions traversed, forming the
second section of the first part of this report.
I have tried to calculate the transit of passengers and goods in my pam
phlet, “ Railway Route through Persia,” the data of which are true even now.
A more detailed calculation of transit goods will form the subject of a
special, extensive, and extremely serious investigation which is absolutely
necessary, as rough calculations founded on large and valuable freights gave
striking results as to the remunerativeness of the line.
The objections which I have heard against goods transit amounted to this :
that, on account of possible disorders and unpunctuality, goods would not be
delivered in time, and, therefore, foreign senders would prefer to dispatch
everything by the old sea route.
It seems to me that such objections cannot be considered as valid, as th©
old line will not be ready for some ten years, and by that time it must be
supposed that the conditions will be somewhat altered. In any case, such
want of punctuality and carelessness must not be made a fetish of by stopping
a national and world enterprise on its account.
To estimate the passenger transit I obtained from the son of the celebrated
constructor of the Suez Canal, Lesseps, a perfectly accurate account ot the
passenger traffic through the Suez Canal. The general considerations and
estimate of the revenue from this item were indicated in the aforesaid
pamphlet.
It now only remains to examine the importance of the line in political and
military respects.
In political respects the meridional direction possesses vast importance as it
places under Russian interests the whole of Persia; and excludes the possibility
of the division of Persia by England into two parts, north and south.
This line once carried through by us, southern Persia is lost for England
beyond recall, and the idea of an Africa-Indiau State incapable of realization.
We shall attain by this line our extreme limit on the south, and shall
achieve our world’s task—our natural gravitation to the open ocean.
From many I had occasion to hear that for Russia this is entirely uneces-
sary—that we without this would have more land than we know what to do
with; that we must concentrate our forces on the internal situation of the
State.
Such arguments have constantly excited my surprise. Can it be that ou r
home affairs hinder our historical aims? Surely they may go hand in hand*
In this sense our Society presents a remarkable phenomenon—a total incapacity
to embrace at once the whole position and to answer all the questions of life.
To fulfil our world tasks simultaneously with internal questions is our duty
up to the very moment that we shall be powerful and wealthy, while to cease to
think of the historical destinies of Russia and to acknowledge that our cycle is
complete, this means to acknowledge that we are weak, that we are fit for
nothing, and have finished our part in the work. But surely we have not come
to such a position. We have not acknowledged ourselves insolvent and worse
even than the English, who, notwithstanding the actual dissolution of their
organism, continue to dream of universal domination.
No, I think that such an argument is fit only for weak men, who fea r
every symptom of complications. Such arrest of our national problems i»
intelligible, indeed, on the part of people to whom every active movement ahead
brings an incredible amount of trouble and cares.