Page 192 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

48
185. This concludes the prdcis* of the correspondence leading up to the
ProcttdinRs No, 106 in Political a.,October 1868, letter from the Government of India,
Noa. 104-109. No. 1185, dated the 14th October 1868,
which recounted the entire correspondence from 1866 on the subject and
concluded in paragraphs 49 and 50 as follows:—
*‘49. If Persia would consent to the mediation of a British ofTicer or officers, Mis
Excellency in Council would be ready., even at this hour, to arbitrate between the two
States on the understanding that both would agree to abide by the decision at which His
Excellency in Council might arrive.
" 50. But before finally deciding what course should be pursued, Ilis Excellency in
Council would be glad to be furnished with any remarks or suggestions which the Govern­
ment of Bombay may be desirous of making on a review of the whole correspondence and
with reference to the substantial merits of the sole question at issue.0 Attention is invited
to paragraph 43 of the letter which recites the conclusion arrived at by the Government of
India after reviewing the correspondence, namely,—
“43. The tenor of every communication bearing on the subject is consequently to show
that Persia has always asserted her claim to this island, and that, as already observed, if
any question arose as to the rights of Maskat, or as to the necessity ot asking the consent
of the Sultan to any transfer, it was supposed to arise under the lease of Bandar Abbas
which had been granted in 1855 by the Shah to the Sultan and had reached its termination
during the period to which the correspondence chiefly refers.
“44. It is only after six years that Colonel Pclly has raised the question, apparently of
some separate and independent right of Maskat to this island, and though His Excellency in
Council would be willing, as already expressed, at the last moment to hear and consider
anything that could be urged in favour of the claims of Maskat to the island, he must
express his regret that it did not occur to Colonel Pclly at an earlier period to represent
the claims of the Sultan in the light in which he now has viewed and represented them.0
185A. The cable appears to have been landed at Angaum towards the end
of December 1868 and a telegraph station opened soon after.
* Drawn up by the Bombay Political Department and printed aboyc (paragraphs 152*84).