'Memo on Mussondomom' [‎7r] (13/18)

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10. That tlie element of a telegraphic communication is now introduced,
and that it would be convenient to have tlie main station, or the one from which, in
the contingency of breakage in the line on either side, communication could be most
readily supplied by steam, at the same point with (he 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. and Coal Depot.
11. That a Coal Depot is an element which, must now be considered on an
increased, and an increasing scale, and that it would be advisable to have this depot
at the entrance of the Gulf for the following reasons:—that the colliers would there
by be saved the risk, delay, and cost of working up the Gulf against its prevailing
wind, a nor-wester; that coal taken in at the mouth of the Gulf would be suffi
cient in every steamer (even when well laded) to run her up to her extreme possi
ble terminus of Busreh or Koonah and back; that the entrance of the Gulf is the
point first reached by a steamer coming in from a distant port, and liable therefore
to be short of coal; that the entrance of the Gulf is conveniently situate half way
between Western India and Busreh; that the great difficulty ships coming to the
Gulf trade experience, is not arrival at the entrance, but the sailing up and down it;
and that, consequently, it may be expected that as trade developes, it might become
convenient for it to be carried by sailing craft to Cape Mussundoom, and thence to
he distributed round the Gulf, and up the Tigris line by steamers, which, in like
manner, would collect goods along the Gulf shores, and bring them to the central
entrepot at Mussundoom.
12. That even political consideration, Persian territory is not so convenient
for our purposes of a 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. , a Telegraph station, a Coal Depot, and a free port,
of trade, as might be some other point in the Gulf. The Persians have some good
qualities, but they are jealous and small-minded beyond any people I ever came
across in the course of twenty-two years' travel. Almost any Government in the
world affords privileges of wholesome lodging to foreign representatives, but what
is the fact at Bushire ? They would not allow the Resident to build a house, although
such a house was essential to his health! When the question was referred to England,
the Resident was reluctantly allowed to build a house of the dimensions of his tent!
The Physician in charge 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. venturing to do the same, his house was
pulled down by the order of the Persian Government, and in contempt of the Resi
dent. I give these facts simply in illustration of our political relations with Persia
after forty years' diplomacy and great expenditure. The simple truth is, if I may be
allowed to judge from my experience in the Legation at Teheran, and here in the Resi
dency, there will never be real political confidence on the part of Persia towards Eng
land, so long as we attack her when she aggresses eastward, and so long as we decline
a defensive treaty with her to the westward. So situate, our relations with Persia may
he disturbed suddenly and overawed by Russia, or from her own jealous tempera
ment, Persia might interrupt our eastern communication via the Gulf in her juris
diction, before force or diplomacy could intervene to save them.