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lease or by some other understanding between the two parties, in the possession
of the Imam of Maskat, and that, tkereforo, if the Telegraph was to pass through
those districts, or through any portion of the territory actually in the posses­
sion of Persia, an arrangement would bo made between the English and
Persian Governments for its construction. But the Minister for Foreign
Affairs informed Mr. Alison that the object of the Persian Government in
advancing this pretension was simply that any claims which they might possoss
to territory in those traots should not be affected by the construction of tho
present line of Telegraph, without their sanction having previously been
obtained; and His Excellency assured me that Ibrahim Khan of Bampur
would be ordered not to interfere in this matter without special instructions
from tho Persian Ministers.
Mr. Alison stated that it had not been found necessary to act upon tho
authority granted by the Imam of Maskat to land English troops for the protec­
tion of parties engaged in constructing the Telegraph ; as ho believed that tho
fact of British troops, evon in small number, being landed on tho coast near tho
Persian frontier and perhaps in places to which the Persian Government pre­
tend to have some sort of claim would produce an unfavourable impression at
this Court, whore the circumstance would be represented in the exaggerated
form usual to Persians, and the consequences of such a measure being adopted
might therefore provo to bo embarrassing as regards future arrangements
respecting our Telegraph communications in this quarter.
23. After communicating these occurrences to the Foreign Office,
Mr. Thomson transmitted translation of two letters which he had received
from the Persian Minister for-Foreign Affairs, together with his reply. The
Minister said that the Persian Govern­
Page 369 o! Volume 112 of 1863.
ment, though they considered Gwadur and
Charbar to be their own property, and that therefore with regard to the
Indian Telegraph the English officers should have entered into an arrangement
with Persia for its construction, still as they were desirous to show their friend­
ship and to oo-operate with the English, they would not object to issuo instruc­
tions to their Governors and Agents in Kerman and Baluchistan to assist in
facilitating the construction of tho Telegraph from Karachi and its extension
from Gwadur to Charbar; so that those engaged in this work might not be
troubled with any obstacles which otherwise those Persian Agents might have
been justified in imposing. But in return for this co-operation it was incum­
bent upon the English Government to give to the Persian Ministers an
assurance that the fact of the Telegraph passing through those districts would
not affect any rights which Persia may possess to those places. It was clear
that tho English Government would not allow this Telegraph, which ought to
prove beneficial to both Governments and of special advantage to the English
Government, to become the cause of weakening the territorial rights
of the Persian Government—because, otherwise, if the Persian Ministers
perceived that by the construction of this line their rights would be
impaired, they would bo obliged to pause and hold out upon the general
question of tho Telegraph. But as the only object on both sides was to show
friendship to each other, they felt assured that the English Government would
re«assure them on this point, and that the Telegraph line, which must tend to
cement the friendly feeling subsisting
Page 373, Volume 112 of 1863.
between tho two Governments, would be
completed.
.24. Copies of the above correspondence were 6ent by Mr. Thomson to the
Bombay Government, and it was pointed out to him in reply (letter
No. 214, dated 15th July 18«.3) that
Page 388, Volume 112 of 1803.
from Gwadur eastwards the Persian
Government had not for generations past professed or exercised any rights
whatever ? that the line was not to be extended westward of Gwadur by land,
and that nothing whatever lias been done by the parties in charge of the
Telegraph works between Karachi and Gwadur to give the slightest justifica­
tion for tho unfriendly and unauthorized proceedings of the Persian authorities
at Bampur.