‏"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." [ظ‎‎١‎٥‎١] (٣٨٦/٣٠٧)

44
forthcoming programme; and I sent you a telegram on the 25th November
sug^estin" °a form of words in which the communication might be made to
His^Majesty the Shah Sir A. Hardinge simultaneously wrote a long and
confidential letter of explanation to the Mushir-ed-Dowleh, explaining the point
of view of the British and Indian Governments. Before either of these
messages, however, had reached their destination, Mr. Grant Duff had acted
upon his instructions. There can, I think, he little doubt that His Majesty the
Shah must have resolved from that moment to express his dissatisfaction with
the Government of India by action directed against its head.
There remains to he considered what steps should be taken by His Majesty’s
Government. This is a matter in which I place myself entirely in your hands.
I have no anxiety to be either the author or the subject of a diplomatic incident.
It is also probably true that in the eyes of the Eastern world the indignity which
the Persian Government endeavoured to place upon me will have recoiled upon
them, because of my refusal to land upon their shores and to accept the hos
pitality proffered to me. It is even likely, as Sir A. Hardinge pointed out to me,
that the Persians may represent themselves as the^ injured parties, and myself
as having rudely refused the courtesies of His Majesty the Shah.
It will be for His Majesty’s Government to decide what value to attach to
these pleas. On the other side there will probably be quarters in which the
incident will be represented as a serious rebuff to His Majesty’s Government
and as a deliberate affront to the Government of India. The fact remains in
either case that the representative of the British Sovereign, travelling in cir
cumstances of peculiar state and importance, was so treated by the Persian
authorities under direct orders from their sovereign that he had no alternative
but to decline the slight that was attempted to he placed upon him. Before this
letter has reached you explanations will probably have been forthcoming from
the Persian Government which will have shown their view of the case. Unless
these supply an excuse which cannot at present be anticipated, His Majesty’s
Government will doubtless consider the propriety of demanding an ample
apology or compensation for conduct which was as discourteous as it was unsus^
pected and unprovoked.
Enclosure to 16.
The following is a narrative of the events that led up to the incident at
Bushire :—
1. On October 27th Sir A. Hardinge telegraphed to me the programme
that he was proposing to the Persian Government for my reception in Persian
Ports. At that time it was contemplated that the Ala-ed-Dowleh (Governor-
General of Ears) should receive me not merely at Bushire, but also at Bunder
Abbas, the first place at which I was to touch on the Persian Coast. Accord
ing to this programme, the Governor-General was to receive me at the landing
place, to accompany me to the British Consulate, and to pay me the first
official Hsit there. I was to return his visit at his official residence and to
dine with him in the evening. This arrangement was at once accepted by
me, was submitted by Sir A. Hardinge to the Persian authorities, and was
similarly accepted by them. It was in accordance with the ordinary diplomatic
usage, under which the host pays the first visit to the guest, and under which
a foreign sovereign or his delegate frequently makes the embassy, legation, or
residence of his local representative his official quarters for the time being.
2 A few days later Sir A. Hardinge telegraphed that there was delay in
the Ala-ed-Dowleh’s arrangements, which would render it difficult for him to
receive me at Bunder Abbas, unless I altered the entire programme of my
tour, arid took Bunder Abbas last instead of first. I was unable to do this,
since it would have dislocated the plans made at each halting place in my
cruise, and would have prevented me from carrying out an installation ceremony
in Bajputana for which I had to he back in India at a given date. But in
the circumstances I willingly dispensed with the proposed reception by the
Ala-ed*Dowleh at Bunder Abbas, which it was arranged should be discharged
on his behalf by the subordinate Governor of the Gulf Ports.