Page 164 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

142 Part II.
217. Thereupon Colonol Tvroedio took lip the question of the "Resident's
status. He contended that tho Resident is primarily Political Resident in
Turkish Arabia on bolmlf of the Government of India ; secondarily, a Consul-
General of Jlcr Majesty's Government, to the Pashalic of Baghdad ; that ever
since the latter title was given to him, tho Ottoman Government had shown a
tendency to ignore the status of the Political Resident and merely troat him as
a Consul-General ; that ns the dominions of the Baghdad Pashalic had boon
recently diminished by the separation of Basrah into a distinct yilayat, so the
duties and the responsibilities of the Consul-Goneral were becoming gradually
abridged and restricted. The cITo.ct was that the Resident had lost influoncc in
Turkish Arabia. Instead of an officer who could make his influence felt over
" that large portion of Arabia, including the Tigris and Eunhrates valleys, over
which Ottoman sovereignty has been more or less established," tho tendency
was to regard him as merely a Consul for the Yilayat of Baghdad, lie was
therefore of opinion that British interests and British prestige, especially at
this time, required—
'* vigorous unfettered Political Agent in the Government of India’s sense, pervading
with his person, his influence and his money, every portion of the Ottoman Empire lying
within reach of tho Persian Gulf.”
lie pointotl out liow, when Basrah was dependent on Baghdad, tho Con­
sul-General could (a) bring his influence to hear through the Baghdad Govern­
ment on Basrah questions; and (i) personally proceed to Basrah, as from a
headquarters to an outlying province ; whereas lie was now only a post office
between tlio Cousul at Basrah and Ilcr Majesty’s Ambassador at Constan­
tinople.
218. In these circumstances the questions raised by Colonel Tweedie
were—
(n) Is such in future to be accepted official status, quoad Basrah, of tho
Political Resident, Turkish Arabia, and Consul-General, Bagh­
dad ?
(ft) If not, what steps aro now called for, to save from disintegration
the official position to which ho stands gazetted, primarily by the
Government of India, and collaterally iu connection with lLer
Majesty’s Foreign Office.
219. Sir W. "White, in forwarding tho correspondence to Lord Salisbury
(despatch No. 80, dated 17th December 1S87), expressed his opinion as
follows :—
“ The position and office of a Foreign Political Resident in an independent country like
the Turkish Empire is most anomalous, and its very origin, unrecognised as it is by the
Sublim Porte, is for me a matter of pure conjecture.

u So far as Her Majesty’s Embassy is concerned, Colonel Tweedie is a Consul-General
and nothing else, nor has he ever been recognised ly the Sublime Porte in any other capacity
His Burnt and 1‘irman are fame as those accorded to othor Consular ofliccrs j and he enjoys
tho same privilege as other Consular officers.

° Any attempt to obtain his recognition as a Political Resident would inevitably rouse
the strongest feeling? of jealous resentment on the part of tho Imperial Government which
could only be alleged, if at all, by rc-assuriug cxplauatious of the duties and position of such
a functionary.”
In view, however, of tho persistence to which holders of the office of
Consul-General at Baghdad revert to the position and status property apper­
taining to them as Political Residents, and the fact that they are gazetted as
such by the Government of India, he proposed that cither—
- (a) the position and duties of tho British Political Resident in Turkish
a Arabia might he defined, with a view to an attempt being made
to obtain their recognition by the Porte, or
(i) that tho advisability of abolishing an “ empty title " might be
considered.
,