Coll 34/7 'Slavery: Slave Traffic and Gun-running: Right of search by H. M. ships in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf' [‎244v] (488/576)

responsible for the present troubles in Fars, and to believe that they have supplied
the '2 ljCl T he Reproaches levelled at His Majesty’s Government are apparently thre^
namely:— . u
(1.) That they are in sympathy with the rebels, aI1( ^ ar ^ actively helping t em.
(2.) That they have furnished British rifles to the Qashqais.
(3.) That the British war vessels in the Gulf have not stopped the tiaffic
in arm ft
3. These allegations will be taken in their order.
The supposition that His Majesty’s Government are helping the rebels, or are
even in favour of them, is to any student of British policy so patently absur , aft
so sharply in contradiction with that policy, as to merit little notice. It is, indeed,
obvious that, while His Britannic Majesty s Government and the Government nt
India have everv interest in the peaceful and orderly development of States w T ith
which they have a common frontier, they have everything to lose by the existence of
disorder in these States. The information at the disposal of His Majesty s Legation
goes to show T that these reports have nevertheless gained wide credence in Shiraz,
where both the civil and especially the military authorities go so far as to assert
publicly that His Majesty’s Government are in sympathy with the rebels. His
Majesty’s Legation are convinced that the Imperial Government attach no credence
to such reports, which are no doubt assiduously spread by certain elements whose
habit it is to do all in their power to weaken the friendly ties uniting the British
and Persian Governments. His Majesty’s Government feel, however, that to allow
the present suspicions to continue can only do harm to Anglo-Persian relations, and
it is suggested that the Imperial Government might take an opportunity of letting it
be publicly known that these suspicions are entirely unfounded.
4. His Majesty’s Legation understands that the local authorities in Shiraz
have drawn further justification for their opinion from what they consider the
unhelpful attitude of the Imperial Bank of Persia and Indo-European Telegraph
Department in that town. It seems that, owing to the impossibility of procuring
a further supply of cash, the former was compelled to refuse to provide the military
authorities with sufficient funds for payment of the troops—a matter involving
several hundred thousand krans a month. This could only have been done by
depleting the statutory silver reserve which each branch of the bank is bound to
hold against its notes issued.
The troubles in Fars have, of course, resulted in widespread destruction of
telegraph lines. It was necessary to send out Gholams to effect repairs, but, owing
to the activity of the rebels, useless and dangerous to send them unescorted. The
local manager of the Indo-European Telegraph Department accordingly asked the
military authority for permission to send them with the troops. This permission not
being granted, Mr. Bartlett was compelled to inform the authorities that he could no
longer keep the lines open. Exception cannot in the circumstances be taken to the
attitude either of the Imperial Bank or of the Indo-European Telegraph
Department.
5. For the reasons given in paragraph 3 above, any suspicion that His
Britannic Majesty’s Government have in any way been privy to the supply of British
rifles to the Qashoais falls to the ground. It may nevertheless be true that a certain
number of British arms are in the possession of the rebels, although the reports
received by His Britannic Majesty’s Legation are to the effect that among the arms
so far captured and the cartridge cases picked up are those of both German and
French make. However that may be, admittedly during the war the Arab tribes
on the south side of the Gulf and in the Euphrates Valley came into possession of
considerable numbers of arms, some of which may have found their way into South
Persia. That they have done so lately is, although not out of the question highly
unlikely m view of the troubled situation m Arabia, which renders it to say the
least, improbable that the local rulers—or. indeed, private individuals—have been
™ 1 ! ,n " to t se!1 their arms. At the same time, His Majesty’s Legation understand
that a certain number of Oashqai tribesmen v^ere armed bv the Persian military
bn ‘ the I a , re a *. a J°r tn ktl ™ "hence arms have of late
reached the rebels, if-as they find it difficult to believe—they have arrived only
recently in South Persia. The arms traffic had, it was believed, at length been reduced
to verv inconsiderable proportions, and any positive evidence would accordingly he
welcomed, as opposed to unsupported rumours, which the Imperial Government can