Page 112 - The Persian Gulf Historical Summaries (1907-1953) Vol IV_Neat

10G

Tho servico that Great Britain rendered to
humanity hy preservin'; the
peace ot* the Gulf
tlunng the nineteenth century has already been
indicated. It found formal embodiment in the
maritime truco at first imposed upon the warring
Chiefs on tho coast in 1836, renewed from time
to time, and made perpetual in 1853. In her
ciforts to put down the Slave Trade Great
Britain had no help from any other Power.
How extensive it was may ho gathered from tho
fact that in tho early thirties the annual imports
of slaves into Kurrachce alone amounted to
between 700 and 800. Tho work of policing
the Gulf may be loss arduous than it was iu
old days, but tho spirit of piracy is latent, and
a break in the continuity of British vigilance
would bo followed by a return of tho old dis­
orders. The bcnoticial effects of our past policy
in this regard are frequently seen in tho manu­
mission at tho Consulate of Muscat of slaves
claiming their freedom under Sir Bartle Fr era's
Treaty of 1873. *In ono other noteworthy respect
Great Britain has contributed in a very sub­
stantial degree to tbe peace of the Gulf and tho
countries adjacent — iu tho help which the
British authorities, political and naval, have
given in the repression of tbe Arms Traffic.
The predominant position which Great Britain
has gradually acquired, and the policy evolved
from tho rights and obligations upon which that
predominant position rests, are forcibly demon­
strated in a series of official despatches aud public
statements included in tho records of the past
half century, From these a selection of three
has been made, viz., an extract from a despatch
from tho Government of India, written in 1870
and entirely approved by the Duke of Argyll as
Secretary of State for India; a declaration made
by Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords in
1903; and a despatch from Sir E. Grey to HU
Majesty’s Ambassador at St. Potersburgh, dated
August 1907.
L
«• Apart from the positivo engagements which
we have contracted with the Arab Chiefs, and
from which it is neither possible nor desirable
that we should recede, the present is not a time
when we can encourage tho revival of old and
• The subject of “ Quarantine " in dealt witli in a separate
Memorandum.