Page 25 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf) 1907-1953

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Imperial Defence, and their decision was con­
veyed to tlio Government of India in & despatch
dated the 10th May, 1003. It was to the effect
that the hoisting of flags was open to the
objection that it would not confer upon this
country any special rights in the places selected,
uuless it were accompanied by a specific pro­
clamation of protectorate or annexation. On tlio
other hand, an open assertion of British claims
to these places might excito the jealousy of
other Powers, and give rise to political com­
plications. Ills Majesty’s Government preferred
to adlicro to the Alternative method of making it
clear that they would not tolerate the occupation
by any foreign Power of any port or territory iu
tlio Persian Gulf, and, in this connection, atten­
tion was directed to Lord Lansdownc’s declaration,
mudo in the House of Lords on the 5th May,
1903, that “ wc should regard the establishment
of a naval base or of a fortified port in tlio Persian
Gulf by any other Power as a very great menace
to British interests, and wc should certainly
resist it with all the means at our disposal.” Iu
these circumstances, His Majesty’s Government
had arrived at the conclusion that the flagstaff's
on Sheep Island aud the Maklab Isthmus should
lie abandoned, while, in view of the result of
Mr. Lorimcr’s recent inquiries, which tended to
confirm tlio claim of the Sultan of Muscat to
sovereignty over the territory in question, the
Government of India were requested to furnish
their views as to tlio maintenance of the flagstaff
on Telegraph Island, which had been the site of
tlio original cable station.
The Government of India replied in their
despatch of tho 20th September, 1907, that the
flagstaff might conceivably bo useful in certain
circumstances, having regard to the German
desire for an increase of influence in the Gulf,
and for a telegraph line to tho cast; and as
neither the Sultan of Muscat nor any foreign
Power had over taken exception to its existence,
it seemed very improbablo that any inter­
national complications would arise from its
maintenance in the future. Tlio Government of
India had already given it as their opinion that
the erection of the flagstaff could not be regarded
as contravening, in any way, the provisions of
the Treuty of 1862, which binds both .England
and France not to trench on the independence of
the Sultan of Muscat; and, in these nircum-