Page 16 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf) 1907-1953

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required to dismiss q particular advisor must depend on
the speoial circumstances of the case, it is hardly oom-
patible with the independence of Muscat Hint the Sultan
should be compelled to accept Ministers and advisers
who are acceptable to tho British Government.
“ (Signed) RICHARD E. WEBSTER.
EGBERT B. FINLAY.
“ I.axo Officer*' Dcjxirtment,
i/arch 8, 1899.”
I
With regard to the French coaling station at
Bunder Gisscb, Her Majesty’s Government ex­
pressed both to His Highness the Sultan and to
Franco tho view that tho sale or lease of any
part of TTis Highness’ dominions to a foreign
Power was not only a breach of the Sultan’s
Agreement with Great Britain of 1S01, but was
also inconsistent with the Declaration concluded
between the British and French Governments in
]SG2. The Government of the French Republic i7»/« liriLfrli
accepted the British reading of the latter in- SllsrauViIlm’s
strumont, viz., that neither State might accept Arbitration.
any cession or lease of Muscat territory; and
it was agreed that France should be free
to establish a coal dep6t on tho same terms
as those granted to Great Britain, viz., ou
sufTerancc, and such a depot has been established
iu Muscat Harbour on a portion of the ground
originally allotted to Great Britain for tho
purpose. Tho result, therefore, of Britisli action
nas to prevent a lcaso or cession of territory to
France in contravention of the Declaration of
1862, which Mould otherwise have Liken pl .ee.
In other words, the British protest, so far from
being a breach of that Declaration as argued
by the French Government, prevented its breach
by France.

Grant of French flags to Muscat Dhows.

France lias always refused to permit the exer­
cise by the war-ships of any other Power of the
droit de vitite on the high seas as regards ships
carrying the French flag, and, by only partially
ratifying the Brussels General Act in IS02, she
preserved this claim to resist the right of search.
The French officials in Obokh, Madagascar,
and tbe Comoros have granted, from time to
time, French ships’ papers and flags to subjects
of the Sultan of Muscat, and the same course
has l>cen taken by the French Consuls at Aden,
Muscat, and Zanzibar. Most of the Omanis who