Page 304 - Gulf Precis (V)_Neat

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tliO British Government that it would object to any disturbance of the status quo aa regard®
those tribes, Her Majesty's Government might, if it wore doomed oxpodicnt, legitimately
decline to recognizo any part of the coatt south of Kowcit as subject to Turkey, even if Ottoman
authority were established thcro much more firmly than is really the case.
" Provided, however, that no obstacles bo interposed to any operation® which may bo
necessary to preserve the peace of the seas and to punish marauders, and that no interference i®
attempted either with Bahrein or the. Truoial Chiefs from Odoid to ltas-el-Khyma, or with
Maskat, Lord Cranbrook does not consider that exception noed be taken to the proceeding® of
the Turks at any point of tho coast north of Odeid.
In expressing this opinion. His Lordship does not forget that the Government of India
taould restrain the Porte from extending its influence beyond Ojair; but, subject to the condi­
tions above stated, Lord Cranbrook aoes not see any sufficient reason for objecting to the
establishment of suob relations between the Turkish authorities in ICLHassa and the tribos
of the Guttur peninsula to the north of Odeid, as may bo agreoablo to the parties concernod.
It will have beon gathered from the foregoing remarks that, in Lord Cranbrook’8 opinion,
it is essential to the restoration and maintenance of order in tho Persian Gulf, that no merely
nominal extension of Turkish authority should be permitted to hamper the action of the
officers of tho British Government, and that His Lordship would desire a return, a® faros:
possible, to the system followed until within the last few years, under which the Resident at
Bushire, and the British Naval authorities acting under his orders dealt direotly with the Arab:
tribes along the entire littoral, captured piratical, craft wherever they might be found, and ex­
acted from tha local Sheikhs redress for outrage® committed by their peoplo.
Under instructions which were issued by the Admiralty in tbo month of May last, the.
Commanders of Her Majesty’s ships in tho Gulf are prohibited from hostile action within
Turkish territory or its waters, without the consent or co-operation of tho Turkish authorities..
Lord Cranbiook would suggest that these instructions should be modified, and that naval
officers should be authorized, when 60 directed by the Resident in the Gulf, to act in any
particular case in 6uch wise as may be necessary for tho capture and punishment of marauders,
collision with Turkish cruisers or troops being, of.cpurse, scrupulously avoided;.
If, upon further consideration, Lord Salisbury should be prepared to acquiesce in tho.
policy above suggested; it might, Lord Cranbrook thibks, be left to the discretion of Her
Majesty’s Ambassador at Constantinople, either to ibtimnte to.thePorte at.once-the determina­
tion of,-Her Majesty’s.Government, or to await, a. remonstrance, against, the. action of; tha
British authorities in some particular case.
The pretensions, however, which Abdulla Pa<ha the Governor-General .of-Bussorah, has
lately asserted, to regard all ports in Southern, and Eastern. Arabia, including Bahrein' and
Maskat as 'lurkieh should, in Lord Craubrook’s opinion, be distinctly negatived aud the oppor­
tunity might, perhaps, be taktm of-, intimating plainly to tbe\Portc that, so far as Eastern'
Arabia, is concerned, to whatever extent Turkish-.suprema.oy may eventually bo admitted1 by
tho littoral tribes north of Odied, Her Majesty’s Government will not recognize its- extension
over either ibe Truoial Chiefs, or tho Sultan of Muscat..
^ *u conclusion, directed to state that Lord Cranhrook concurs in tho view which
Lord Sali'bury takes of the proposal for a revision of treaty rolatioos between the: British
Government and Sheikh of Bahrein, the Trucjal Chief*? and the Rulor of Maskat, which i®'
contained in the India letter of i2nd May last.
It docs not seem to Lord Cranbrook that closer connection, with those Arab potentate®
is necessary or expedient in .British interests, or that any object, which cannot otherwise be
obtained, would be gained by exacting from lbem tribute or any other formal recognition of
• 6UPfcmacy. Ihe policy of the Indian Government has always been to abstain from
interference in the disputes and conflicts of the Arab tribes on land, and a departure from that
policy, to which closer relations. might very well lead, would almost certainly result in
embarrassment.
Lord Cranbrook will reply to the Government of .India in the above sense, soon as.
W1^ k°r<^ Salisbury’s views on the main question which is . the subject*

413. The three different proposals as-to the manner in which Turkish juris­
diction in the Persian Gulf should be dealt1 with may be summarized as*
follow I-.
• 9°Yermnent of; India recommended the recognition of Turkish
jurisdiction within certain specified limits, subject to. the admission, of British
concurrent jurisdiction by sea, under ..certain .defined contingencies. And they,
are averse from any further extension of Turkish authority,
ii.—Tho
• j- English. Foreign Office opposed the establishment of‘concurrent
jurisdiction or a joint police, and advise the recognition -of Turkish 'authority