Page 367 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

10

25* On tho 15tli October 18G3 Mr. Alison enclosed, for Lord Russell’s
information, another lcttor from the
Pogo 631 of Volamo 112 of 1863.
Persian Minister asking for information
whether the Sultan of Maskat was about to lease the ports of Gwadur and
Charhar to tho British Government; and denying his right to perform any
such not— J
" because there can be no question that these places form a part of the Mckran territory
belonging to Kerman, and arc clearly and absolutely the property of the Persian Government.
“ Though for a time they had been in the hands of the Imam of Maskat in the same
manner that Bunder Abbas, the Islands of Kishra aud Hormuz, the districts of Issitajian,
Shcmil and Miuab, and the Port of Khainir have all been held temporarily by him from
the Persian Government, thcro can be no reason to justify the Imam of Maskat in adopting
such measures with respect to Persian territory. This proceeding on his part, should it have
been accomplished, will cause the Persian Ministers to feel great dissatisfaction with the
Imam of Maskat, and will oblige them to weigh in their miuds the nature of the relations
which at present exist between them and His Highness, with a view to some other measure
beiug adopted in respect to this state of affairs.”
“ It was distinctly agreed with the Imam of Maskat that, in regard to the territories
entrusted to him, no foreigners were to obtain a footing therein, but the above proceeding
is wholly at variance with that engagement.”
26. At the olose of the year 1863 instructions were issued by the Govern-
Prom Secretary to Government, to Li.ui.ntnl* “°afc °f t0 tUo officer, who had
Colonel Goidfliuid. No. 3986, of nth December keen deputed to make tho preliminary
18S?. Telegraph arrangements between Kar-
oumo 0 ’ p"e° achi and Gwadur, to poruse tho pro­
ceedings on record in tho Secretariat, and prepare a detailed statement for
communication to Her Majesty’s Minister at Tehran through the Secretary of
State for India, showing, according to the best information available, how far
the claims of Persia, Kclat, or Maskat, or any other State to any sovereign
right in any town or district in Mekran are founded on Treaty or possession
or acknowledgment by the local rulers.
(v) Colonel Goldsmid’s Report of December 1863 in regard to Persian claims in Mekran.
Dat'd 19th Deeorabor 1863. 27. The following paragraphs of a
Volume 101 of 1863, page 139. Report by Colonel Goldsmid resulting
from these instructions are given chiefly in extetibo :—
“ As to bor right, I know of none but of the strong over the weak; of the prestige of a
high sounding monarchy over the obscurity of a small Chicfdom. More than one hundred
years ago Nadir Shah appointed Nussir Khan Brahui the Beylerbey, or Governor of the
whole of Baluchistan, inclusive of Mekran, and in such capacity he was no doubt to some
extent a feudatory of Persia, but it is also more than one hundred years ago that he exchanged
the quatiscrvice of tho Shah for that of the Afghan King. His allegiance to Candahar
was no less binding than to Persia. It was the allegiance exacted by a stronger arm than
his own. When the Afghan monarchy fell to pieces, the service ceased; but Baluchistan
also fell to pieces, and its Chiefs 6ct up claims of independence for themselves. Then came
the opportunity for Persia to regain what she had lost. She had, however, in this case, no
great prize to recover, and could allow her Governor of Kerman, or a subordinate at Barnpur,
to proceed leisurely in the work of oppression, and set forth, as occasion served, absolute
claims. Of late years she has, perhaps, been more than usually active in this re-assertion of
Mekran sovereignty. The present state of affairs in Kelat must be specially favourable to
her views. Anarchy in that quarter cannot but afford occasion for intrigue, if not for the
actual advance of troops. But no new argument will bo needed to show that anything like
the dismemberment of Kelat would be as advantageous to Persian interests as detrimental
to our own.
** If possession for a period of years must necessarily imply * acknowledgment by tho
local rulers/ it is the acknowledgment of helplessness. I do not for a moment believe that
the Persian yoke is acceptable to the Sirdars of Mekran west of Kclat. A petition was presented
to me when at Gwadur in February last year, from one of the neighbouring Chiefs, and
others had been forwarded to the Commissioner at Karachi before my departure from that
place, praying generally for British interference against the tyranny of the * Gujjurs *
collecting the revenue. None of these could be noticed at the time, and that addressed to
myself was, if I rightly remember, returned to the bearer unread, so soon as its purport was
ascertained.
" And yet, if wc acknowledge tho right of prior conquest, in the wide sense of the word,
whether for Nadir Shah on behalf of Persia, Ahmed Shah of Candahar, or Nussir Khan oE
Baluchistan, it is not clear how exception can be taken to any description of past territorial