‏"ملخص الأحداث والتدابير الرئيسية التي اتخذها سمو نائب الملك اللورد كرزون من كيدلستون، نائب الملك والحاكم العام للهند في إدارة الخارجية. ‏I‏. يناير ١٨٩٩-أبريل ١٩٠٤. ‏II‏. ديسمبر ١٩٠٤-نوفمبر ١٩٠٥. المجلد IV. بلاد فارس والخليج الفارسي." [ظ‎‎١‎٤‎٥] (٣٨٦/٢٩٥)

I hive still one agreeable function to perform. Only yesterday I received
the gracious permission of Ilis Majesty the King-Bmperor to confer upon Your
Hi-hness the high honour of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Indian Bm-
nire This distinction will be a proof to Your Highness of the sincere senti-
ments of friendship which are entertained towards you by the British Oovern-
ment • and it is also a recognition of the loyalty to which Your Highness has
criven’such fervent expression on more thin one occasion in the course of yester
day and to-dav It will now be my pleasing duty, as Grand Master of the
Order to proceed to the due and solemn investiture of Your Highness.
Enclosure III to 15.
Address by Eis Excellency the Viceroy at a Public Durbar held on board
11 M. S. “Argonaut” on the 21st November 1903, at Shargahfor the
Arab Chiefs of the littoral.
Chiefs of the Arab Coast tcho are in Treaty relations with the British
Government, —I have come here as the representative in the great Empire of
India of the'British authority which you and your fathers and fore-fathers have
known and dealt with for more than a hundred years; and my object is to show
vou, that though you live at some distance from the shores of India, you are
not forgotten by the Government, but that they adhere to the policy of guardian
ship and protection which has given you peace and guaranteed your rights for
the best part of a century; and that the first Viceroy of India who has ever
visited these waters does not quit them without seeking tlic opportunity of
meeting you in person and of renewing the assurances and engagements by
which we have been so long united.
Chiefs, yonr fathers and grandfathers before you have doubtless told you of
the history of the past. You know that a hundred years ago there were constant
trouble and fiditing in the Gulf; almost every man was a marauder or a
pirate ; kidnapping and slave-trading flourished ; fighting and bloodshed went
on without stint or respite; no ship could put out to soa without fear of attack ;
the pearl fishery was a scene of annual conflict; and security of trade or peace
there was none. Then it was that the British Government intervened and said
that, in the interests of its own subjects and traders, and of its legitimate influence
iu the seas that wash the Indian coasts, this state of affairs must not continue.
British flotillas appeared in these waters. British forces occupied the ports and
towns on the coast that we see from this deck. The struggle was severe
while it lasted but it was not long sustained. In 1820 the first general Treaty
was signed between the British Government and the Chiefs; and of these or
similar agreements there have been in all no few T er than eight. In 1839 the
Maritime Truce was concluded, and w T as renewed from time to time until
the year 1853, when it was succeeded by the Treaty of Perpetual Peace that has
lasted ever since. Under that Treaty it was provided that there should be a com
plete cessation of hostilities at sea between the subjects of the siguatory Chiefs,
and a “ perfect maritime truce ”—to use the words that were employe 1—“ for
evermore ; ” that in the event of aggressions on anyone by sea, the injured parties
should not retaliate, but should refer the matter to the British Resident in the
Persian Gulf, and that the British Government should watch over the peace
of the Gulf and ensure, at all times, the observance of the Treaty. Chiefs, that
Treaty has not, of course, prevented occasional trouble and conflict; it has some
times been neglected or infringed ; but on the whole it has well deserved its
name ; and under it has grown up a condition of affairs so peaceful and securo
that the oldest among you can only remember as a dim story the events of the
past, while the younger have never seen warfare or bloodshed on the seas. It is
now eleven years since the last disturbance of the peace occurred.
Chiefs, out of the relations that were thus created, and which by your own
consent constituted the British Government the guardian of inter-tribal peace,
there grew up political ties between the Government of India and yourselves,
whereby the British Government became your overlords and protectors, and you
have relations with no other Power. Every one of the State known as the