Page 261 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

Port VI—Chap. XLVIXX. 239
Highness,—to assure him that in no way had Persian troops oncroaohed upon
or injured his rented territories,—thoy had merely been despatched for the
purposo of settling affairs on the frontier. The Resident, in reply, refused to
intorposo, until the illegally confiscated indigo had been restored to its lawful
owner. In this rofusal, too, was ho justified, for the Persian Ministers had
both disavowed tho military proceedings of Hussein Khan, and commanded
the immediate restitution of the indigo. That they were not sincere, however,
in thoir professions of disavowal, is plain, for two reasons,—the indigo was not
restored until after much ovasion, and troops were again marched into the
vicinity of Bunder Abbas, Miuao being actually invested by Puzl Ali Khan,
tho Governor of Kirman.
440. 8yf bin Nubhan lost all patience, and was on the point of himself
carrying into oxocution the throats mode by His Highness of blockading the
porta on tho 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 reta­
liation were thus frustrated, and he had rocourae to another line of conduct.
He promised Pazl Ali Khan, in the event of his raising the siege of Minao,
and withdrawing his troops, that he would disburse to him the sum of 12,000
E. I. Company’s rupees. Whether or not tho money was paid, or whether
8yf 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 Minao
were suspended, and the districts were evacuated by the Kirman army.
441. 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 hia
dignity, and tho wrongs done to his territories, he again wrote to the Resident,
reiterating his request for sanction to proceed agaist the ports on the Persian
Coast. The Resident had hitherto sent no direct reply, but confined himself
to doing all in bis power to dissuade the Imaum from entertaining the idea of
a blockade; to assuring him that such an act would in the end prove detri­
mental 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 of affairs was greatly
altered,—indeed it is difficult to say where matters might have ended, or what
disturbances might not have arisen, had not His Excellency Haji Mirja
Aghasi, then Prime Minister at the Court of Persia, withdrawn from office,
consequent upon the death of Mahomed Shah, which occurred at this season,
and been succeeded by a minister more favourabe to British views, and more
inolined to give ear to justice ; for instructions had been issued by the Supreme
Government to the Resident, in reply to a reference he had made on the sub­
ject, that he was not to thwart or prevent His Highness from oarrying into
execution his threat to blockade the Persian ports, in the event of redress being
refused him. These instructions had arrived, and the Imaum had become
desperate. Mirza Aghasi’s successor was appealed to. He promised redress;
he fulfilled his promise: Euzl Ali Khan was removed from his post, and matters
were peaceably settled.
442. The opinion of the Resident at the time was that had His Highness,
in lieu of threatening to take the law into his own hands, plainly and soberly
laid his grievances before His Majesty the Shah, full redress would have been
afforded for any amount of wrongs he had suffered at .the hands of the
Persian Government; but the precipitate line of conduct His Highness adopted,
the objectionable tone of his written address to Sheikh Nassir, the proneness
to take offence displayed by Sheikh Syf bin Nubhan,—these all tended to
provoke and exasperate the Persian Ministers, and, naturally enough, to shut
out every hope of a peaceable settlement.
443. Towards the close of the year 1847, His Highness the Imaum
espoused a grand-daughter of the late Eath Ali Shah. This marriage
caused considerable surprise to many, for no one had in any way heard of the
proposed match until the lady made her appearance at Maskat, on her way to
join Hia Highness at Zanzibar. No political importance, it may be observed,
was attached to this Persian connexion by the British Minister at the capital.

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