Page 199 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

55
Their aid in furnishing supplies and carriage, their forbearance from molestation of our
convoys and sources of information, and from any marauding upon ground from which our
supplies arc drawn, might, I should hope, be secured by money and by friendly and judicious
treatment.
As regards the Shah's troops I see no reason why the tribes should not be left to take
their own course. I would not attempt to enforce their neutrality.
If the Shuh has misgoverned and alienated them, he must take the consequence. All
that is necessary for us to do is to make it well understood by the tribes that we do not seek
to put them in collision with the Shah's forces ; that it is not for this purpose, but for the
purposes above mentioned, that we pay them and seek friendly relations with them. That
for such services as we ask, an amnesty will be required of the Persian Government, but
that beyond this we have no intention to interfere between the Shah and his subjects. It I
requires more information than the Government of India has at present at command, to
judge whether any impediment to this course will be found in the character of the tribes in
their relations to their Government and to each other, or in our position towards them. So I
far as my knowledge goes I sec no reason to think that such a course will be impracticable.
These are the views which present themselves to me upon a consideration of this
important subject as set forth in Sir James Outram's despatch. If they meet with the
concurrence ol my Honourable colleagues, I propose that they be communicated to Sir
James Outram, not as instructions, because these will come from Her Majesty's Govern­
ment who can alone explain, or if thought necessary, modify the instructions which they
have already given; and therefore Sir James Outram has most properly addressed Her
Majesty’s Government upon the subject, but because in a question of much difficulty arising
in such circumstances as the present, it is not right that the opinion of the Governor General
in Council should be withhold from him."
Minute by the Honourable J. A. Dorin, dated 21st March 1857.
I assent entirely to the line of policy recommended by the Right Hon'ble the Governor
General. It is indeed the only one that can be adopted with prudence under the views
thus far entertained aud communicated to us by Her Majesty’s Government in respect to
the war with Persia.
It must be remembered that so far as we are informed there is no intention of retain­
ing permanently any portion of Persian territory. That when the objects of the war are
accomplished all acquisitions on the mainland of Persia will be abandoned, and knowing
this to be the case it will only be a source of embarrassment if engagements arc contracted
with subjects of Persia which cannot be relinquished as easily as we shall withdraw our
own forces from Persian soil. H<r Majesty's Government have distinctly declared that
" they have no wish to weaken the hold which the Shdh may have on the allegiance of his
people or to enlist the subjects of Persia in the ranks of the British Army," and it seems
necessarily to follow, now that Sir James Outram has found that the tribes with whom he
is likely to come in contact are not independent, as he had been led to believe, but are
Persian subjects, that it would be contrary to the spirit in which the war is undertaken if
any attempt is made to enlist them to serve as soldiers under British command agaiust the
Government of Persia.
The neutrality or even countenance of these tribes over whom the Shah possesses little
real authority may probably be rendered willingly, or may be acquired by good manage­
ment or by purchase or by other methods of self-interest, but beyond this it can scarcely
be advisable to enter into engagements with men to whom the British Government can
extend no effective protection and with whom they will have no link of affinity when once
the ends of the war with Persia are accomplished.
Minute by the Honourable J. P. Grant, dated 22nd March 1857.
On the important question regarding the policy of enlisting Persian subjects into our
ranks, to make war against their own sovereign, I have only to express my entire con-
currence in the view takon by the Right Hon’ble the Governor General, for all the reasons
stated in His Lordship’s minute.
We have no quarrel with Persia excepting in the matter of her external relations, and
we have no intention of taking the subjects in question under permanent British protection.
Sir James Outram’s argument that a temporary military occupation of a country warrants
an inhabitant in throwing off his allegiance, and taking arms against his sovereign, because
it warrants him in a temporary submission in matters civil to an irresistible power, is
untenable. I think the proposed course would be unjustifiable, would be inexpedient, in
the highest degree.
On the question of communicating to Sir James Outram the opinion of the Governor
General upon this point, on which that officer has received instructions immediately from
Her Majesty s Government, I observe that this opinion is consonant with those instructions ;
wherefore the communication in the manner proposed seems to me very proper. The
expedition which Sir James Outram commands is an Indian expedition. The utmost