'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎320] (463/1782)

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activity and ambition of France and Russia in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , which
had been increasing for some years, received strong encouragement from
the diplomatic embarrassments and military difficulties in which Britain
seemed to be involved by war in South Africa from lb99 to 1902.
Views of The crisis was in one respect well-timed from the stand -point of
Lord Cnrzon. g^tish interests, for Lord Curzon at the time of his appointment to the
Indian Viceroyalty was already an expert in Persian affairs, had travelH
in Persia, and had made a particular study of the question of the Persian
Gulf, the importance of which he recognised. His personality, more
over, was forceful in a rare degree; he courted rather than feared respon
sibility ; and his methods were rapid and energetic. In a book entitled
"Persia and the Persian Question/' published in 1892, Lord Curzon—
then the Hon^ble George Curzon, M.P.—had expounded his views on the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and epitomised them as follows:—
I have now completed the entire periplus of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and have shown the
Persiau Government along its northern shores exercising a more vigoroas and undispnted
sovereignty than at any period since the reign of Shah Abbsts ; upon its southern coasf
the Turks endeavouring ,10 extends precarious influence over Arabia; and small Arab
states, retaining either wholly or only in part their original independence; while between
all parties intervenes the sworded figure of Great Britain, with firm and just hand holding
the scales. It is no exaggeratiot to say that the lives and properties of hundreds of
thousands of human beings are secured by this British Protectorate of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
and that were it either withdrawn or destroyed both sea and shore would relapselinto the
anarchical chaos from which they have so laboriously been reclaimed. That the Ptreian
Government has been enabled to reassert its authority upon the north littoral; that the
pirates of the opposite coast have been taught that rapine is not a safe religion, and.
where they once swept the sea with laden slave-dhows now dive harmlessly for pearls;
that the Arab tribe>i, instead of being subjected to the curse of pashas, retain the
liberty they so dearly prize, is due to the British Government alone. The very
soundings Measurements of the depth of a body of water. of the channels and survevs of the shores, by which navigation has bw
rendered easy for the vessels of the world, were the work of the officers of the old Indian
Navy, and have teen transferred without acknowledgment to the charts of other
countries navigating these seas. These considerations, to which I draw special attention
from a belief that they are not generally recognised in England, are essentia! to an
understanding of the attitude taken up by this country w^.th regard to the future control
of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and of her resistance to the possible intrusion of an enemy into
the waters for whoee security she has, both in treasure and in life-blood, spent so much.
Every claim that can be advanced by Russia for the exclusive control of the Caspian
sea could be urged with tenfold greater force by Great Britain for a similar monopoly of
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Hundreds of British lives and millions of British money have been
spent in the pacification of these troublous waters. Where the Unssiins in the north have
scared a few penniless buccaneers, the British in the south have effectively destroyed a
pirate combination and flset that recall the last century of the Roman Kepublic and the
exploits of Pompey. A commerce has been fostered and multiplied that, if it 18 ®dvw^
geous to Great Britain and India, is also the source of great wealth, and t lmust of li vei1
hood, to Persia, to Arabia, and to Turkey. Thousands of British subjects t eacefnFy F. v
their trade under the armed protection of the Union Jack. England, however, makes no