. The Persian problem; an examination of the rival positions of Russia and Great Britain in Persia, with some account of the Persian gulf and the Bagdad railway . ately well defended. The affair of 1895 wasone of those regrettable incidents which happen indiplomacy as well as in warfare. The Britishpolitical agent of those days had a great oppor-tunity of asserting British supremacy in Maskatwhen each side in turn appealed to his of settling matters with a firm hand, he leftthe Sultan to make his own bargain with theBedouins, and contented himself with sending in aheavy bill
. The Persian problem; an examination of the rival positions of Russia and Great Britain in Persia, with some account of the Persian gulf and the Bagdad railway . ately well defended. The affair of 1895 wasone of those regrettable incidents which happen indiplomacy as well as in warfare. The Britishpolitical agent of those days had a great oppor-tunity of asserting British supremacy in Maskatwhen each side in turn appealed to his of settling matters with a firm hand, he leftthe Sultan to make his own bargain with theBedouins, and contented himself with sending in aheavy bill of damages. Of course it may be argued that we desire nosupremacy in Oman nor in any part of the ArabianPeninsula outside of Aden. We have, moreover,an agreement with France of over forty years stand-ing, whereby both Powers renounce all intention ofterritorial acquisition in the kingdom of Oman. Yet,in spite of that agreement, circumstances have forcedupon us certain obligations with regard to- Maskatuntil we have reached a position where we do exer- O 3. ^ Ea r- $ n> ►> 3 ^ P o 5* X o > ir Ct ^ o_ M P» C/) H o a r £ 0 g> >. FRENCH INTRIGUES AT MASKAT 25 cise a protectorate over the Sultan in all but accepts our subsidy ; his chief adviser is theBritish Political agent; the very life of his capitaldepends upon its commercial intercourse withIndia, carried on by means of British steamers; andhe is now put in direct communication with theouter world by the extension of the Indo-Persiancable to Maskat. The so-called Kingdom ofOman, over which the Sultan owns hardly more thanthe shadow of authority, can only advance on theroad to civilisation by coming more and more underthe influence of a European power, and we owe it toour past history to take care that that EuropeanPower is Great Britain and none other. Nor coulda single stone be thrown at us on account of anyaction we may take to open up the interior of theArabian Peninsula. Of all passages in Britis
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