Page 265 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

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MUSK AT.
The Governor of Fars likewise seems to have had a wholesome dread
of the Imaum’s naval superiority ; for although he did not actually
deign to express such feeling, he besought the Resident to pacify and
appease His Highness,—to assure him that in no way had Persian troops
encroached upon or injured his rented territories,—they had merely
been despatched for the purpose of settling affairs on the frontier. The
Resident, in reply, refused to interpose, until the illegally confiscated
indigo had been restored to its lawful owner. In this refusal, too, was
he justified, for the Persian Ministers had both disavowed the military
proceedings of Houssein Khan, and commanded the immediate restitu­
tion of the indigo. That they were not sincere, however, in their
professions of disavowal, is plain, for two reasons,—the indigo was not
restored until after much evasion, and troops were again marched into
the vicinity of Bunder Abbas, Mcenao being actually invested by
Fuzl Ali Khan, the Governor of Kirman.
Syf bin Nubhan lost all patience, and was on the point of himself
carrying into execution the threats made by His Highness of blockad­
ing the ports on the Persian Coast,when an intimation reached him from
the Resident, “that he would not be permitted to carry on hostilities at
sea in the name of his master, and thus disturb the peace of the Persian
Gulf.” His designs of retaliation were thus frustrated, and he had
recourse to another line of conduct. He promised Fuzl Ali Khan, in
the event of his raising the siege of Meenao, and withdrawing his troops,
that he would disburse to him the sum of 12,000 E. I. Company’s
Rupees. Whether or not the money was paid, or whether Syf bin
Nubhan merely guaranteed its payment, with a full intention to break
his promise so soon as a favourable opportunity presented itself, I know
not. Ruse or no ruse, however, it had the desired effect: hostilities
against Meenao were suspended, and the districts were evacuated by
the Kirman army.
His Highness had up to the present time behaved with much for­
bearance, and entirely abstained from acts of aggression ; but in October
1848, perceiving that no amends were likely to be made for the insults
offered to his dignity, and the wrongs done to his territories, he again
wrote to the Resident, reiterating his request for sanction to proceed
against the ports on the Persian Coast. The Resident had hitherto
sent no direct reply, but confined himself to doing all in his power
to dissuade the Imaum from entertaining the idea of a blockade ; to
assuring him that such an act would in the end prove detrimental to
his own interests; and to holding out to him hopes that, through
the exertions of the British Envoy at the capital in his behalf, justice
would yet be done,—amends would still be made : but now the aspect

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