'Précis of correspondence regarding the affairs of the Persian Gulf, 1801-1853' [‎82v] (164/344)

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Part V-Chap. XXXIII.
been with him, and who found it nearly impossible to make up the difference existing
between them; indeed, so much so, that Rabma bin Jauba had gone down to Maskat to lay
his case before the Imaum and Abdella bin Ahmed had returned to Bahrein.
9. His Royal Highness, after the signing of the engagements now transmitted for the
consideration of Government, sent me, as a mark of honour and respect, a horse, sword, shawl
jubba; at the same time sent me word that an officer would attend me down to Bassadore
charg-ed with a similar mark of respect for Colonel Kennett, that the tribes in the lower part
of the Gulf may know the amicable footing existing and the respect His Royal Highness
entertains for the British force.
10. The Minister, Zikee Khan, and his son, Kair-oollah Khan, have also sent a horse
each in a present, and previous to my leaving this I shall make suitable returns to whoever
it may be necessary, and shall send His Royal Highness an appropriate present on my
return to Bushire, not having any articles by me just now that will answer for that purpose.
11. The Prince having gone out to the Chemisafah on a hunting excursion for some
time, I deemed it a mark of respect due to wait on him there, and accordingly did so on
the 31st ultimo, accompanied by Lieutenant Hart of the Pioneers, to pay my respects and
take my leave previous to my quitting this city. He was much gratified at the attention,
and very politely asked us to stay a few clays in his camp, from which I excused myself as
being anxious to arrange matters for proceeding down to Bassadore. He informed me he
had directed Saduck Khan, Failee, to attend me on the way down and until I should arrive
at Bushire, but desired I would not leave Shiraz for eight or ten days, to allow the weather
to become a little cooler, which would check the epidemic cholera, which prevailed in the
route of the southern ports.
12. I returned here from His Royal Highness's camp yesterday, and purpose leaving
this on my way to Bassadore about the 15th instant, and hope to be there by the end of the
month, when I shall have the honour to forward plan of my route down, which Lieutenant
Hart, who accompanies me, has undertaken to keep and draw out.
13. I shall be most happy to learn that my compliance with His Royal Highness's
wishes in coming up to Shiraz and my conduct during my stay here may meet the appro
bation of Government, who, I trust, will sanction and approve of the presents I must
necessarily make, and to which every due attention to economy shall be paid.
14. The horses which I have received shall be disposed of on my arrival at Bassadore,
as it would have a bad appearance if I was to do so here, and the sword and shawl jubba
I shall retain at the disposal of Government.
288. The following letter was addressed by the Secretary to the Government
of Bombay, to Captain W. Bruce, Resident at Bushire, No. 1491, dated the
1st November 1822 :—
You have been already apprised by my letters dated the 8th August and 23rd of
September of the Governor in Council's disapprobation of your journey to Shiraz.
2. I am now directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated September 8rd,
and to communicate to you the observations and instructions which it has suggested.
3. The Governor in Council directs me to express his surprise that you should have
entered on a negotiation with the Prince at l^hiraz which was never contemplated by Gov
ernment, and for which you were neither furnished with instructions nor with powers.
He observes that the treaty which has been the result of those negotiations is not only
unauthorized, but entirely inconsistent with the views of Government and with the obligations
of the public faith.
4. The treaty grounds your supposed mission on errors of the British Government,
which have never been admitted, and on which the Governor in Council is still unconscious.
5. It admits the claim of the King of Persia to Kishm contrary to aH history, to the
protections of His Highness the Imaum of Maskat, and to the repeated declarations of this
Government. It thereby admits the occupation of that island without the King of Persia's
consent to have been an unjust aggression, and it agrees to admit a Persian force into
Kishm, and to make over to the Persians the island which we received from the Imaum.
6. It acknowledges the King of Persia's title to Bahrein, of which there is not the
least proof and which the British Government cannot assert without injuring the pretensions
of the Imaum and the Attabees. It promises our aid against every power possessed of an
island in the Gulf, and expressly against the Attabees, to whom we are bound by a treaty of
friendship, and with whose conduct we have every reason to be satisBed.
7. It cancels, as an encroachment on Persia, the part of Sir W. Keir'g treaty, by which
the Attabees are bound to carry the flag of friendly Arabs ; it places our voluntary payment
to the sufferers at Linga on the footing of a concession to Persia ; and it makes the appoint
ment of a Resident at Bushire a point of negotiation with the Prince of Shiraz.
8. The effect of this treaty would be to compromise the dignity of the British Gov
ernment, and to overturn every part of the policy which it has adopted in relation to the
power of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
9. The Governor in Council has, therefore, heen obliged to disavow the treaty in the
post explicit terms ; and the more dearly to mark his disapprobation of the whole proceeding