‘Confidential. Persia’ [‎525r] (99/112)

06
in certain contingencies, and the statement
can perhaps hardly be termed sufficiently
“ frank and explicit ” to “ remove all
possibility of doubt or misunderstanding
on the part of the Persian Government.”
Secret E., February 1904, No». 24-32, Proceeding 4 . Q n 10th December 1903, Sir A.
Ko ' 24 ' Hardinge telegraphed to the Foreign
Office and to the Viceroy that the Moham-
merah question was again likely to become
acute. The Sheikh complained that the
Persian Government -was endeavouring to
evade the agreement made in 1902, and,
in contravention of it, was attempting to
impose duties on him and to introduce
additional Belgian Customs officials and
generally to undermine his authority.
He wanted to know definitely if we would
support him in resisting these encroach
ments, if necessary, by forbidding the
Persian Government to employ force
against him should he on his part repu
diate the arrangement unless the Persians
kept to it. Sir A. Hardinge was person
ally in favour of our doing so, and thought
that the unsatisfactory answer given by
the Persian Government to the question
as to the inclusion of Mohammerah in the
Russian loan security would justify our
being rather stiff in any matter relating
to that port. We ought not to lose the
opportunity of recovering our complete
influence over the Sheikh. The Russian
Government were bidding for him and
were sending him a high Russian decora
tion. Sir A. Hardinge advised telling him
that we would support him in insisting on
the execution of his agreement with the
Persian Government regarding customs
and in forcibly resisting, if necessary, any
attempt which the Persians might make
(though they were not likely to try it)
to coerce him.
The Viceroy was quite in accord with
the British Minister’s proposal about the
Sheikh of Mohammerah, provided it could
be shown that the Persians were pro-
‘ posing to depart from their recent agree
ment with him; and after discussing
the matter with Sir A. Hardinge during
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. tour, His Excellency
iwi, Proceeding No. 27 . on 21st December 1903 telegraphed to
the Secretary of State that in his opin
ion it would be wise to support the
Sheikh, if the Persians proposed to de
part from their agreement with him.
It seemed to the Viceroy unfortunate
that the Belgians were ever let into
Mohammerah, and it would certainly be
desirable to recover lost ground.
On 23rd December 1903, the Secretary
of State telegraphed to the Viceroy the