Page 344 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

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Resolution by the Hon'blc Board, dated the ijtJi May iS6j.
RESOLVED.—These letters, like everything that proceeds from Colonel Pclly’s hands,
have a merit apart from their immediate purpose. The Government may or may not be
able to act on the Resident's suggestions, but the letters will constitute a valuable contri­
bution to our knowledge of the Gulf, and will supply facts and considerations which may
hereafter exercise an unexpected influence in diiscussions connected with Persian or
Arabian complications.
The Hon'ble the Governor in Council concurs generally in the views submitted by the
Resident as to the superiority of some place on the south-western shore of the Gulf to
Bushire as the position of the Residency, but other considerations besides those of con-
vcnicnce or even appropriateness to the objects which the British Government contemplates
in its policy in the Gulf must cuter into the discussion. The removal of the Residency
from Bushire to a Muscat port would excite the jealousy of Persia, which regards with an
evil eye the operations of the Mekran Telegraph. On the other hand, any attempt to
acquire a territorial possession in Arabia, however small, might lead to contingencies at
present entirely unforeseen ; it would probably be regarded as the thin end of the wedge,
and, notwithstanding all moderation and disinterestedness on our side, might involve the
Government in antagonisms which it would be questionable policy to evoke. The Hon’ble
the Governor in Council docs not then deem it expedient to take action in any way on
Colonel Pclly’s suggestions; but in justice to that intelligent and able officer he will
forward copies of his communications for the consideration of the Government of India,
accompanying those communications with a brief expression of the views contained in the
present Resolution.
127. The Government of India do not seem to have passed any orders on
the subject.