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"The Secretary of State for India, ns will he seen from my letter of the 17th September
previous, would have preferred a different procedure, under which the commanders of Royal
Navy ships in tho Gulf would at once have been authorized to act as might he necessary for
the capture and punishment of marauders, without regard to Turkish claims of pretensions,
though scrupulously avoiding collision with Ottoman cruisers or troopB the Porte being left to
remonetrato against the action which might be taken in any particular ease, if it thought fit.
In the face, howover, of a report rccoived from the Law officer* of tun Crown and of other
considerations, Lord Salisbury was reluctant to sanction so decided a course, and, under the*e
ciroums'.ances, Lord Cranbrook felt that bo had no alternative but to acquiesce in an attempt,
in tho first instanco, to come to eimc friendly arrangement with tho Porte.
" As regards Mr. Plowdcn’s objections, I am directed to state that his memorandum, as
Mr. Gosohen observe?, reproduces the views of the Inliin Foreign Office whioh were fully con­
sidered when tho corrc<pondeuce of lust year was in progress. With respect to the territorial
limits within which Ottoman jurisdiction might recognized, it was then deliberately deoided
that, while interference either at OJoid, or with B ihrein, or with the coast occupied by tho
Trucial Chiefs, and the Sultan of Maskat, should not he permitted, there was no sufficient
reason—provided tho peace of the 6cas was preserved—for objcctng to such relations between
the Turkish authorities in ELIIassa and the tribes to the north of Odcid as might bo agreeable
to the parties concerned.
“ Lord Hartington is of opinion, therefore, that Mr. Goschcn's pnccedings should he
approved. His Lordship would, however, suggest that the particular attention of His Excel­
lency should be drawn to paragraph 2 of Lord Salisbury’s ‘ very confidential’ despatch, No. 13
of the 5th January Ia6t, which refers to possible Turkish pretensions over Maskat, Bahrein,
and the possessions of the Truciul Chieis and re affirms tho aften declared policy of Her
Majesty’s Government in respect to those territories.
" It also appears to Lord Hartington to be very desirable that Mr. Goschen should not
permit himself to bo entangled in any discussion with tho Porte on the territorial question, but
that, in the event of reply to his note being cither long delayed, or evasive, or otherwise
unsatisfactory in tenor, the negotiations at Constantinople should be dropped. It Would thea
be for consideration whether the policy suggested in my letter of 17th September 13 79 should
not be reverted to.”
A copy of this letter was forwarded to Iler Majesty’s Ambassador at
Constantinople for his guidance in negotiations with the Porte.
In a subsequent despatch to the Foreign Office, Mr. Goschen suggested
that, should he bo unable to obtain auy
8fcrct, January 1881, No. 118.
satisfactory offer of an arrangement from
the Porte, the commanders of Her Majesty’s ships in tho Persian Gulf might
lie instructed not to allow themselves to be too much hampered by the three-mile
limit iu pursuing and capturing pirates, especially a9 tho Turkish authority on
the coast was at so many poiuts of a very shadowy description.
434. This despatch was sent to the India Office, and Lord Hartington con­
curred with Lord Granville in thinking that the Porto should bo called upon,
for a reply to Mr. Goschen’s note of the 7th July 1880, which, as already shown
proposed that, subject to certain restrictions, Her Majesty’s cruizers should be
permitted to act freely within the territorial waters of that portiou of the Arab
coast of the Persian Gulf where Turkish authority was imperfectly established.
Should that reply be delayed, or bo uusatisfactory in tenor, His Lordship was of i
opinion that Her Majesty's ships engaged in the suppression of piracy in the
Gulf should he instructed not to permit their operations to he hampered by :
considerations connected loith Ottoman claims to jurisdiction along the coast.
Mr. Goschen was accordingly instructed, on the 2Gth October 1SS0, to
press for a reply from tlic Porto to the proposals contained in bis note to
Abcdine Pasha of the 7th July 18S0.
435. As no arrangement could ^e arrived at with either tho Porte or the Pasha
Secret Jnnaary 1881,No. no. of Baghdad, Her Majesty’s Government
secret December i88i, No.. 224-158. ultimately decided that tho naval officers
on the East Indian Station should not be hatnpered by the three miles limit in
pursuing pirate craft in Turkish waters.
Ibid Pro.. No. 224.
(See Seorotary of Slate’s Despatch No. 2W,
dated 6th August 1881).
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