Page 328 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

800 Part VIII—Chap. LXXII.
8. Tho Committee then go on to show what further duties remain. They sum them all
up m tho surveillance of tho Arab Chiefs iu the
lb., paragraphs 49 and 61. Gulph which, they say, tho extermination of the

in tho* Gulph by tho abolition of tho Bussorali Agency will bo vory trifling."
9. Tho Supremo Government in transmitting to you this Roport informed you that u Iho
suggestions omtuinol in it had mot with their
Lsttor 28th Soptombor 1830. ontiro approba'ion, and that so far as thoy were
able to form a judgment the oconomioal measures proposed woro expedient and judicious."
10. Bosidcs tho opinion thus deolarod by the Supremo Government and tho Finance
Committee, that tho duties to be performod by way of Agenoy in tho Persian Gulph aro
trifling, thoro is ovidonco on record that such was also tho opinion of Sir John Malcolm.
11. Ia his Minute datod Dapooroe 10th Soptom’ier 1828, having supposed tho oaso of tho
Paragraph 117. abolition of tho Bushirc llueMoncy, ho says, «' that
1 lam satisfied cannot be dono at this momeut
whatever may bo the case hereafter evidently resting tho utility of any such residonoy on
temporary oircumstnnces, not at all on any pormnneut grounds ; and we are at no loss to ascer­
tain thoso temporary circumstances; they wero those assign id in his Minute of tho preceding
March quoted above, namely, tho war in whioh Russia was then engaged with both tho Turks
and Persians.
12. In the same Minuto Sir John deolares an opinion which merits particular attention ;
that whilo wo havo a political mission at Tehran, another in tho Gulph tends rather to evil
than good. “ While we maintain " ho says “ a mission at Tehran every minor local authority of
p , . our Government that has a political character must
aragrap . b0 projucljv0 0f mor,, evjj than good. No caution
can prevent the falsehoods and intrigues with which tho Prince at Shiraz, the Sheik of
Abushire and others will endeavour to convert the English Agent into an instrument to seoure
or to promote its interest."
13. He declares in tho 6ame Minutes that it is “ among the petty States in tho Gulf
alone, that tho iufluenoo of a Resident is re­
Paragraph 7.
16th Soptombor 1828. quired," and yet he says in another Minute,
dated on the preceding day %with respect to any
interference in the local disputes or differences, no better general rule can bo given for Major
Wilson's Government thau that suggested by tho Envoy at tho Court of Tehran, who in
answer to a referenco upon this subject obsorves
Pago 85.
“ I should feel inclined to suggest the interdic­
Paragraph 2. tion of the Resident from all interference in the
intestine quarrels of the different chiefs.
14. Tho views above stated in regard to tho duties of the Residency at Bushire appear to
ua to admit of some qualification. The surveillance of tho Arab Chiefs in tho Gulf appears to
us to be a matter of groator difficulty thau was contemplated by the Civil Finance Committee.
We shall advert moro particularly in a separate letter to tbo correspondence of Major Wilson
while acting as Resident at Bushire which was transmitted with several of your letters
dated in 1881 and 1882. A perusal of these interesting papers has led us to attach a higher
importance to tho surveillance of the affairs of the Gulph than is given to it in the preceding
extract from the Report of the Finance Committee. The fact indeed of tho destruction of the
piratical vessels in 1819, and tho Geueral Treaty which Sir W. Koir Grant on that occasion
entered into with tho Arab Chiefs might lead to an opposite iuforenco but the case of the
Morbut vessel, as described in Major Wilson’s Utter to you of the 13th August 1829, is of
itself sufficient to shew, that the disposition of the Arab tribes, to relanse into their former
habits of piracy, still exists in considerable force. It shows also that this tendency can bo
checked on the part of the officer stationed at Bushire, only by constant vigilauoe and by his
command of means to follow up every case by au instant application of an armed forco
adequate to chastiso and coerce.
15. We are still, however, of opinion that the Agenoy in Persian Gulph admits of consider­
able reduction without auy detriment to its efficiency. The officer at Bushire might be au
Assistant tothe Envoy in Persia, and suoh an arrangement whilo it would secure the presence
of an individual competent to the dnties of tho situation from tho opportunity of distinguish­
ing himself in their discharge, and the prospect of eventual promotion which it might hold
out would at the 6ame time possess tho additional advantage of plaoing our interests
both in Persia and in the Gulph under one superintendence. To u* it appears that the duties
at Bushire are evidently in their nature a branch of the duties which the organ stationed in
Persia to watch over the interests generally of the British Governmeut in that quarter ought
to discharge, and by no other immediate instrument can they bo so conveniently discharged.
We are satisfied that all the proper business of an Agent in the Gulph might be performed by
on Assistant of the Envoy m Persia. The advantages would be considerable in two ways.
In the first place, there would bo a great saving of expanse, the pay of au Assistant and a
very moderate establishment, being all that would bo required. And in tho next place, there
is every probability that all that is useful and necessary in tho business would bo better
1763 F. D.