Page 41 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

Chapter I. 19
67. About the close of tbo year 1845 wo find tbo Persian authorities at
Mohammorab ncgociating with Haji Jabir,
Seorot C., dated 24th January 1846, Noa. 18-19.
for his return to that place. They propos­
ed in the first placoto withdraw the Persian garrison,and leave him in comploto
possession of the country, provided that ho would furnish good socurity for
the payment of an annual revenue of 30,000 krans (about 1,600£) and that ho
would send his son as a hostage to Dizful. After some deliberation, Daji
Jabir acooptcd these terms, and rcturnod with his tribe to the immediate
vicinity of Mohammorab to arrango for his execution of the details,
Tho Persians however then insisted that he should accompany the troops
on thoir return to Dizful and swear foality to tho Shah in the presence of
Suliman Khan, Governor of tho province ; but tho ICaab leader suspecting
treachery, abruptly broke off the conference and recrossed the Euphrates into
tho Turkish territory.
68. It appeared to bo tho general improssion that the Persians had never
really entertained the idea of evacuating Mohammerah, but that they had carried
on tho recent ncgociations in the hopes of obtaining possession of the person
of Haji Jabir and thus removiug tho only prosent obstacle to their own
ascendancy on the Ilafar.
69. Simultaneously with these proceedings, communications had taken
place between tho chiefs of Eellahieh and Sheikh Thamer which had terminated
in the voluntary return of tho latter to tho Persian Territory. He had been
induced to adopt this step from tho persuasion that he had nothing to expect
from tho Turkish Government, while under Persian auspices he might bo
restored to the Chicfship of the tribe in succession to Sheikh Paris, who
was unpopular amongst the Kaab and with whom the Persian authorities
were supposed to be dissatisfied. It was surmised, however, by many parties
that the invitations from Fellahieh, and the ostensible dissatisfaction of the
Government with Sheikh Paris were mere artifices, which aimed at the
inveiglement of Sheikh Thamer into the hands of the Persians : they hoped
by such moans to put a stop to tho emigration of the Kaab, which if he
had continued much longer in the Turkish territory, threatened to drain the
Persian districts of their inhabitants and to establish the chief seat of the
power of the Kaab upon tho right bank of the Shat-el-Arab.
70. Tho Governor of Basrah appeared iu all these matters to have observed
with scrupulous attention the instructions furnished him Trom Baghdad prohi^
biting liis interference in tbo affairs of the Kaab : he had neither encouraged
the continued expatriation of Haji Jabir and the Mohammorab colony nor had
he placed any restriction on the movement of Sheikh Thamer (Major Bawlinson’s
despatch to tho British Embassy, No, 30, dated 6th September 1746).
71. The following report of Major Rawlinson throws light on the uneviablo
position now occupied by the Kaab chiefs
Sccrot C, dated 26th Septombor 1846, lioi. 69-60.
between an exacting Government and their
turbulent tribesmen
No. 62, datod British Consulato, Baghdad, tho 26th November 18*15.
From—Majob II. C. Rawlinson, Consul at Baghdad,
To—His Excbllbnct thb Rioiit HoN’ntB Sib Sibatpobd Canning, o.c.b., Her Britannio
Majosty’s Ambassador at Constantinople.
I was lately favorod by Colonel Sbeil with the copy of a letter addressed by the
Governor of the Persian territory conterminous with Basrah, to the Minister for Foreign
Affairs at Tehran, complaining of the conduct of the Turkish authorities in promoting
intrigues among the Kaab, and requesting permission to retaliate. The contents of this lefctw
will no doubt Lave been communioatcd to Your Excellency, and I do myself the honor there­
fore to submit a few remarks in explanation, a recent arrival from Basrah having put me
in possession of Kaab intelligence as late as the 15th instant.
Undoubtedly there have been communications between the Kaab, both of Mohammerah
and Fellahiah and tho refugee chiefs of the tribe, who reside in the Turkish territory but these
communications have certainly originated on the Persian side, and have been carried on for
some time with the understood conuivancc of the Governor of Dizful.