'Précis of correspondence regarding the affairs of the Persian Gulf, 1801-1853' [‎161r] (321/344)

Part VII—Chap. LXXI.
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honor to state that the very large deficiency in the annual revenue, payable by the Governor
of Bushire, for the last two years, is the cause publicly assigned for his supersession.
2. In respect to the latter portion of Your Excellency's enquiry, whether in my opinion,
this measure is in any degree connected with the friendship which existed between Sheikh
Nasir and myself, I beg to say, that so far as the authorities of Shiraz are concerned, I should
be inclined to reply in the negative. My impression however is that an idea has been floating
for some time in the mind of His Excellency the Prime Minister, that considering the
intimacy which hai for several generations existed between the English and the Sheikh's family,
it would he for the interests of the Persian Government that this 'principal seaport of Persia
should be under the control of persons wholly unconnected with us, and who would be more
immediately subject to the influence of the inland authorities than it was likely any member
of the Ali Muzkar family would be. It was probably under some impression of this nature that
Esan Khan was nominated to the post of Dureya Besrgee during the time that Bahram Meerza
was Prince Governor A Prince of the Royal line who also acted as Governor of a large Iranian province during the Qājār period (1794-1925). of Fars, and it is not unlikely that Sheikh Nasir has been summoned to
Court on the present occasion in furtherance of this idea : Be this as it may, it is impossible to
deny that in the great defalcation in the Bushire tribute, the Persian Government have a
plausible reason to justify the removal of Sheik Nasti from the Government of that place.
3. The Sheik may plead with some justice, that the irregular and aggressive proceedings
of Bakir Khan of Tungistoon, by depriving him of the revenue of the outlying districts
interrupting the trade of Bushire and obliging him to maintain a large garrison at a very heavy
expense, have necessarily occasioned a great falling ofE in the amount of his annual payments for
the last two years. On the other hand, the reply is not without foundation, that a Persian
Governor, being free from all bias, and having no local interests, would not, like the Sheik, be
perpetually engaged in feuds and quarrels with his neighbours, and consequently no interruption
would be experienced in the regular collection and transmission of the revenue.