Page 170 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

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148 Part V-Chap. XXXVI.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

REMOVAL OF Mr. BRUCE AIM) APPOINTMENT OF LIEU­
TENANT MacLEOD AS RESIDENT AT busiiire. ins­
tructions TO THE NEW RESIDENT AS TO THE
BRITISH POLICY IN THE GULF—NOVEMBER 1S22.
291. After tho rcceut uimtliorized proceedings of Mr. Bruco, especially in
connection with tho treaty concluded by
Volume 91 of 1822, page 358.
him with tho Shiraz Govornmont, Gov­
ernment had, as wo have seen, to remove him from tho Residency and
appointed in his place Lieutenant John McLeod, who had been omployod in
various capacities in tho recent expeditions on the Gulf. The instructions
issued to him by the Bombay Government as to the lino of policy to bo followed
by him on their letter No. 1584, dated 12th November 1822, is an important
dooument and printed therefore at length below :—
The Honourable tho Governor in Council having been under tho necessity of removing
Captain bruco from the situation of Resident at Bushire, for the reasons stated in the enclosed
copy of a correspondence with that officer, line been pleased to select you to succeed Captain
Bruce under the designation of Resident in the Gulf of Persia.
2. In furnishing you with the necessary instructions for tho regulation of your conduct,
it is necessary to premise that they embrace two objects; one, immediate, arising out of the
effect to be apprehended from Captain Bruce’s unauthorized proceedings, and tire other of a
permanent nature connected with your office of Resident and the maintenance of tho policy
which it has been dcteimined to pursue with the view of keeping down piracy in the Persian
Gulf.
3. The powers whose reliance on our good faith are likely to be shaken and their alarms
excited, by the agreement entered into by Captain Bruce, are the Imam of Maskat and the
Ufctubi tribe of Arabs in general, mid especially the Shaik of Bahrein, an island which it
has been an object equally with Persia and the State of Maj-k.it to reduce and annex to its
sovereignty, whilst a considerable degree of jealousy in establishing an ascendency over the
Persian Gulf has long subsisted between those two Powers.
4. The effect of Captain Bruce’s proceedings is calculated to impress the Imam of
Maskat and the Shaik of Bahrein with an apprehension that, instead of observing a perfect
neutrality in the Gulf, and limiting our interference to a control of all measurer likely to lead
to a renewal of piracy founded on Major-General Sir William Kier’s treaties, we have
throwu our whole influence in the 6cale in tavor of Persia in support of its general views of
supremacy over every island and possession in the Gulf of Persia.
5. The enclosed letters from the Honourable the Governor to the Imam of Maskat and
the Shaikh of Bahrein are intended to remove any doubts or apprehensions which the conduct
of Captain Bruce may have excited in that lvspect, it will be your duty to enforce on the
conviction of those Chiefs the assurances contained in those letters ; and of the determination
of the British Government strictly to adhere to the line of policy it has observed in its
relations towards the different powers in the Gulf, unuffocied, in the slighest degree, by
Captain Bruce’s agreement which having been unauthorized and disavowed has of courje no
existence.
6. You will also explain to them that our views are not at all changed by withdrawing
our troops from Kishm which is to be restored lo the Itnarn of Maskat as the power with
whose permission we occupied it.
7. The Governor in Council anticipates your experiencing a greater degree of difficulty
in removing the dissatisfaction of the Prince of Sepirnz in the disavowal of an agreement so
decidedly favourable to Persia than you will meot with iu reconciling the Imam of Maskat
and the Shaik of Bahrein to the integrity of pur views.
8. Should you find His Koyal Highness at all disappointed at our disavowal of Captain
Bruce’s agency on this occasion, you will express your regret that Hi* Royal Highness did
not demand from that officer his authority for proposing an agreement so muoh at varianoe
with our policy before he directed his minister to enter into the negotiation. You will refer to
the whole tenor of our communications to the Persian Government and of our conduct since
the occupation of Ki*bm and our negotiations with the Arab States for proof that the
permanent suppression of piracy, and the conservation of the peace of the Gulf by the
friendly interposition of our power and influence, has been alone the ruling principle of that