Page 89 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

PART IV—CHAPTER XVI.
69

proper time to aid in the prosecution of the survey. It was intended that this
Agent should meet the officer sent from Sind at Gwadur.
On the 3rd June 1861 Mr. Badger submitted a report, detailing the result
of his enquiries at Maskat regarding the
Letter to Government No. 3 of 1861.
Coast between Bunder Abbas, Gwadur,
and Sonmeani. He also discussed in this report the question as to the extent
to which the Sultan of Maskat and the Beluchi Chiefs on Coast would be entitled
to enter into engagements with the British Government, consistently with their
obligations to the Persian Government; and again how far it would be fair in the
British Government to seek concessions from the Shah in a territory which the
Beluchis regard as their own. On these points the Governor in Council was of
opinion that it would be necessary for Her Majesty’s Government to recognize
the status which Persia actually possessed, and that the only sound course
to pursue would be to deal directly with the Chiefs with the permission of the
Sovereign Power.
A copy of Mr. Badger’s report was forwarded to the Government of India
_ M ... on the 12th July* with an expression of
0,930 1 x* these views, which it was hoped would
induce the Government of India to procure from the Court of Persia, through
Her Majesty’s Minister at Teheran, the necessary permission for opening nego­
tiations directly with the Chiefs.
Copy of a report from Major Henry Green, dated the 23rd June, was for­
warded to the Government of India at the same time, narrating the result of a
brief survey of the Mekran Coast made by him in the Hugh Lindsay, on his way
from Khelat to the Presidency in progress to England.
On the 1st July the Commissioner in Sind recommendedf the nomination
of his assistant, Major Goldsmid, for the
f Letter to Government, No. 2g8-A. of 1861.
proposed survey of the Mekran Coast, in
connection with the establishment of the telegraph. He also proposed to place
the services of Mr. Ryland, surveyor, at the disposal of Major Goldsmid, and
to provide him with an escort of 50 sabres of the Sind Horse.
These arrangements were duly sanctioned by Government, { but final
instructions for Major Goldsmid's guidance
2 No. 214, dated the 14th August 1861.
were delayed, pending the issue of a cor­
respondence with the Government of India regarding the extent to which
negotiations should be carried out with the Chiefs on the Mekran Coast. The
\ Colonel Durand's letter No. 134, dated the 28th Government of India$ eventually signified
November 1861. that they had no objection to Major
Goldsmid’s Mission, provided he did no
more than seek information, without either entering into any negotiation with the
Chiefs, or committing the Government one way or another as to any recognition
of the pretensions of Persia. Under these instructions, Major Goldsmid's
Mission, attended by a small escort, set out from Karachi on the 12th Decem­
ber last.|| On the 21st December Major
| Commissioner's letters Nos. 151, dated the 12th
December 1861, and 154, dated the 23rd idem. Goldsmid forwarded from Sonmeani a
report of his negotiations with the Jam of
Beyla, and applied for instructions as to the course which he was to adopt with
regard to the possessions between Gwadur and Bunder Abbas, to supremacy
over some of which it was possible Persia might advance pretentions. As the
Government were not aware of any preparations having been made for Major
Goldsmid’s reception by any Persian authorities, and as intelligence recently
received from Mr. Allison showed that the Shah’s Government might take
umbrage at any unauthorised examination of those Coasts, Major Goldsmid
desired not to extend his journey beyond Gwadur. He according returned1 by
sea to Karachi on the 5th February 1842, after an absence of eight weeks,
and submitted on the 22nd of the same month a report embodying the
* No >Q of 1862 results of his enquiries and proceedings,
of which he had kept Government-duly
informed during his progress on the Coast. In this report he estimated the