"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٧‎٦] (١٧٨٢/٣١٩)

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now resolved that Kharas' should be occupied bv a force under General
Malcolm without the consent of Persia, partly as a precaution against a
forward movement by France or Russia, between whom since the pacifica
tion of Tilsit in July 1807 instead of war a close political understandiu^
had existed, and partly as a guarantee for observance by the Persian
Government of a more respectful attitude towards Britain than that
displayed in their recent treatment of General Malcolm. In the Bpricg
of 1809 Captain Grant, an officer on General Malcolm's staff who was
sent in advance of the intended Kharag expedition, explored Pereiac
Makran and travelled thence by land to Bandar "".Abbas; the object oi
his mission was to report on the military aspects of the country traversed
with reference to the possibility of a European attack on India.
Meanwhile Sir H. Jones had arrived in Persia, where a change of
circumstances very favourable to British interests had taken place, for it
had become evident to the Shah that no decided step would betaken by
France to restrain her Russian ally—the power which he chiefly dreaded
and with which he was now at war—from aggression on Persia. The
influence of General Gardanne at Tehran was rapidly on the wane, and
Sir H. Jones had little difficulty in reaching the capital and carrying his
negotiations to a successful conclusion. His chief embarrassments, or
what he himself esteemed as such, were the projected descent by Genera
Malcolm upon Kharag, of which the Persians had by some means become
aware, and distinct orders to retire from Persia which he received from
Lord Minto; but he took measures which would probably have ensured
provisional submission by the Persians to the British occupation of Kharag,
even if General Malcolm's expedition had not in the end been counter
manded by the Government of India in consequence of news oi the
difficulties in which Napoleon had become involved in the Peninsula, anc
he simply disregarded as ultra vires the commands of the Governor-
General to suspend the mission, now fairlv entered on, with which he
had been charged by His Majestv's Government. Complete success
rewarded his determined behaviour; and on the 12th March 1S09 a
Preliminary Treaty was concluded with Persia, whereby the Shah
annulled all his previous arrangements, whatever they might be,
other European powers, and undertook to refuse a passage through Persia
to a European army proceeding against the British dominions in India,
while Britain on her part engaged to assist the Persian Governmen.
with troops, or in lieu thereof with a subsidy, individual British oticer;
aiid military stores, against any European invader of Persian territory.