File 948/1909 'Persia: Situation in the South; Condition of the Roads. Attack on Mr Bill. Road Guard Scheme.' [‎361v] (727/744)

himself of habits and bias of long-standing, and continues to be a con
siderable source of inconvenience to our Consulate and interests through
the instrumentality of several Persian agents whom he employs on
missions of espionage and intrigue. I may mention two who are chiefly
prominent; firstly, the Sadood-es-Sultaneh, a drunken, but clever, little
Persian with whom, when Foreign Office Agent at Bushire a few vears
ago, the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. refused to hold communication owing to his undesir
able character and his obstructive attitude towards British interests;
secondly, one Abdul Kassim, at one time a Munchi in the British
Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , but discharged as an undesirable character. AVhenever any
strings exist which can be pulled to our prejudice, those persons and
others like them are there to pull them, either by newspaper articles or
by the encouragement of local Medjliss and Persian “ patriots ” in pro
moting the new doctrine of “ Persia for the Persians and away with
foreign influence.” Foreign influence, so far as they and the Gulf are
concerned, is a synonym for British influence, and it is to the efforts of
such persons and others of their kidney that the frequent difficulties
which we now experience in effecting the protection of Bahreinis and
subjects of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. are primarily due.
4. It is of interest to note here that whereas I have always prohibited
the Pei sian employes of the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. from joining the numerous
mushroom Societies which the national movement has generated, and
from identifying themselves with party politics, the representatives of
other I owe is appear to place no such restrictions on their men, who, in
the case of Bunder Abbas, seem to be actively encouraged thereto by
-^b Ovseenko. But it is difficult to formulate definite charges m such
matters, which could be_ fully substantiated if necessity arose, and I can
only hope that the evil is a temporary one which, in view of our altered
relations with Russia, will disappear with AL Ovseenko s departure on
leave or elsewhere, or perhaps with the relinquishment altogether of the
Russian Consulate at Bunder Abbas for which there is now no serious
justification.
With the above exception, Russian competition in the Gulf, whether
commercial or political, may, I think, be regarded for the present as
giving us little or no cause for anxiety.
5. The attitude of Germany—Until comparatively lately the German
Lonsuiate at Bushire may be said to have been merely a post of obser-
yation, but since the inception of the Hamburg-Amerika steamer service
to the Gulf and the conclusion of the Anglo-Russian Convention, it can
no longer be regarded m that light.
In May 1907 Dr. Listemann, the incumbent of the German Consulate,
was translated to his Legation for the summer, and since his return
after six months under the influence of Herr von Richthofen, his bearing
has altogether altered. Whereas formerly he used to mix freely with
the rest of the Bushire community socially, he is nowadays seldom seen
anywhere and keeps much to himself. Officially, though outwardly
fi lendly, he shows himself m many little ways more prone to worry than
y or f.’ an ^ at PA e ® ent the question of Gulf quarantine seems to be the
direction in vrhich, apart from the Abu Musa case, his energies are
c lefly directed. But though it will no doubt assume more of a political
aspect as time goes on, the present Anglo-German question in the Gulf
and Southern Persia is essentially commercial, and it is to that aspect of
it that we now need chiefly to direct our energies. In this connection I
may mention that Messrs. Wonckhaus’ agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. at Lingah is being worked
with great activity under Air. Brown, who has sometimes two, at other
times three, German assistants with him, and they appear to be usin-
u gah wheie, owing to the absence of serious competition from our owS
tionals, they can practically do as they like, as a training-ground for
their newly-arrived assistants and as the head-quarters of their Gulf
operations, as distinct from their Bussorah-Bagdad branch. Moreover