Page 133 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

Part V-Ohap. XXVII. Ill
41. Tho important services which hnro boon rondercd by my interpreter Captain
Thompson, I shall have oconsion to bring forward horeaCtor, when the final arrangement
oonsequent to my visit to the remaining ports are concluded.
42. Tito works at Rassulkhitna adverted to in tho 35th paragraph of my last despntch,
having been brought to tho required state, attd tho embarkations being almost completed,
I expect to bo ablo to proceed this aftornoon to accomplish tho fulfilment oE the preliminary
treaties, aftor which 1 purpose crossing over to tho Persian shore.
43. I oxpect in about tl.reo weeks to roturn to Rasaulkhima, where I hopo to be favorod
by tho rcccpl of instructions from the Governor in Council that will ooablo mo to form a
judgment respecting tho time when tho expedition may return to Bombay.
44. I have entrusted this despatch to my Aid-dc-Camp Lieutenant Marriott, to whom 1
bpg leave to refor for any further information which may be required respecting the subjects
mentioned in it.
232. Tho Bombay Government was not ontiroly satisfied with the terms
of tho treaty, and made tho following
Volumo t>2—4'J of 1820-1821,page 280.
oiitioisms and suggestions for futuro
guidance in caso alteration was possible or similar treaties had to he made with
other Chiefs (letter No. 37, dated 16th February 1320) : —
4. The Governor in Council would be disposed to introduce certain additions, whioli will
bo hereafter noticed, into tho treaty, but sensible that with a people so rude ns tho natives
of Arabia, any alteration mado here in tho ratified treaty, a'though offored again for their
confirmation or rejeotion, might be considered as a breach of an engagement already con­
cluded j ho therefore direciu mo to request that in caso there should still bo any of the piratical
porto not admitted into tho goneral treaty, or i£ from your opportunities oE observutim you
should conceive that those already admitted might be led to concur in any oE these addit ions,
you will be pleased to procuro tho consent of all the different Chiefs to them, but if you should
conceive that any doubts of our faith will bo excited by an attempt at such an alteration, it is
by no moans tho wish of the Governor in Council that the subject should be mentioned.
5. The additions desirable will be best communicated by pointing out tho objects whioli
it was thought expedient to attain, the degree to which they have been compensated by other
advantages acquired in the present troat.y, and the alterati ms which should be necessary to
improve such parts of that treaty an were not anticipated in tho former instructions.
0. After destroying all vessels of war and dismantling all forts belonging to Piratical
Chiefs which tho Governor in Counoil concludes has actually b-’cu accomplished, it would have
been desirablo to remove all Chiefs concerned iu piracy or likely to afford any countenance to
tho practice of that enormity; to detain in custody all such Chiefs no had rendered themselves
particularly obnoxious by their practice or countenance of piracy, and bad fallen into our bauds
in the course of our operations, together with all their piratical'adherents and to sot up in their
stoad 6uch Chiefs as could bo depended on for their discouraging piracy, or if no such could be
found to make over the country to tho Imam.
7. To prohibit the fitting out of armed vessels of every description at ports that have been
accustomed to practice piracy, to limit the size of those allowod for commercial purposes, so as
to render them easily resisted if applied to piraoy, and to stipulate for the right oE search and
of capturiag all such ag should be found to transgress this prohibition.
8. To restrain the exportation from India of timber for building largo ships.
9. Iu tho event of the Imauin’s refusal to accept of the piratical ports rendering it
nocessary to allow the same Chiefs to remain, the Governor in Council conceives that it would
have been expedient to restrain their known disposition to piracy by additional restrictions
such ns prohibiting th**ir rebuilding th-ir forts and stipulating for tho right of lauding and
destroying any works that they might attempt to raise and others of tho same nature. The
Governor in Council is aware that these engagements would have been occasionally evaded,
but ho conceives that they were better calculated than any others, attainable to answer the aid
in viow, and that uided by tho executions o£ the Olficer Commanding atour station in the Gulf
they would scarcely have failoJ in suppressing piracy.
10. Tho principal advantages gained by the present treaty appear to bo the promiso of
the Arab Chiefs to abandon piracy, and to renounce the slave trade, and the practice of
murderiug their prisouers. The two last stipulations appear to tho Governor in Council to
do honor to your humanity and havo his highest approbation ; while the first, if acted up to,
comprehends all the objects of tho expedition. The security, however, for the performance of
those conditions appears to the Governor iu Council to be unsatisfactory. The promise even
of a civilised nation to abstain from practices recommended by their habits, their interests,
and their religion could not of itself be relied on ; and the only means of securing its per­
formance provided by the treaty are tho institution of registers and port clearances together
with tho adoption of a particular flag ; to whioh may be added the promise of the Arab Chiefs
to co-operato against any of their number who may renew the practice of piraoy. With regard
to the u66 of registers and port clearances tho Governor in Council is compelled to avow hia
distrust of their efficacy.
If our cruizers were authorised to seize any vessels belonging to piratical parts which either iu
the size or in the. number had arms of their own exceeded tho extent necessary for commercial
purposes, the register would then bo useful to euable our cruizers to distinguish the vessels ol'