"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎١‎٢‎٦] (١٢٦٢/٦٤٣)

2126
now desire, to alienate any part of its territory, to the extent of a span, to anyone
for the erection of fortifications against the English Government. The latter should not
listen to false reports and become suspicious of Us, It should have full confidence in
our good-will, and rest assured that we are doing our best to encourage British trade
and will continue to do so in so far as such efforts of Ours do not affect the independ
ence of Persia, in which case no foreign power has the right to expect this of Us.
In the summer of the same year, the Shah being then in England,
Lord Lansdowne took the opportunity to impress upon His Majesty at
a private interview^ the cardinal points of British policy in Persia, stating
that His Majesty's Government adhered to their oft repeated recogni-
tion of the independence of Persia, but that they were specially con
cerned in the southern part of Persia and in the Persian Gulf, and that
they were determined, should occasion arise, to put forth their whole
strength in order to prevent encroachment by foreign powers in those
quarters.
From the beginning of 190^ onwards, occasion was frequently taken
to announce to Russia and to the world in general, through the medium
of ministerial speeches in the British Parliament, the policy deliberately
adopted by His Majesty's Government with refex^ence to Persia and, more
particularly, the Persian Gulf. On the 22nd January 1902 Lord Cran-
borne, Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, declared in the
House of Commons :
We are anxious for the integrity of Persia, but we are anxious far more for the
balance of power ; and it would be impossible for us, whatever the cause, to abandon
what we look upon as our rightful position in Persia. Especially is this true in regard
to the Persian Gulf, as I had the honour to state to the House a few days ago. It
is true not only of the Persian Gulf, but of the southern provinces of Persia, and those
provinces which border on our Indian Empire. Our rights there, and our position of
ascendancy, we cannot abandon. In the Gulf itself, as I ventured to state on the pre
vious occasion, our ascendancy is not merely a question of theory ,but a question of fact.
On the 5th May 1903 Lord Lansdowne, as Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, made a weighty and unmistakable pronouncement on
the subject of British policy, which, relating as it did exclusively to
the Persian Gulf, is quoted verbatim in the chapter on the general history
of that region. After this official and final statement, the Russian
Government were approached with reference to the possibility of a definite
adjustment of the respective interests of Britain and Russia in Persia^
and a suggestion was thrown out that separate spheres of influence uiig^t
be arranged ; but the Tsar^s Ministers were not at the time disposed
to enter into negotiations on the subject.
In February 1903 Muzaffar-ud-Din Shah was invested with tto
Order of the Garter by the hand of Lord Downe, who, at the head o^
a British complimentary Mission, was deputed to Tehran or the purpose.