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'Memo on Mussondomom' [3r] (5/18)
The record is made up of 1 file (9 folios). It was created in 1863. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
rfs
3
and the settlement, would do more to civilize the former and to open up Arabia
to commerce and progress, than would do all the menaces that a Resident
might fulminate from Bushire, and than all the annual visits of state that
could be made before the year 1900; a little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump; and strong healthy life expels disease by its very nature.
Tlh.—Notification should be made of the freedom of the port, and all
people should be invited to settle there without any other condition than that
of paying rent or purchase-money for the ground they might secure, and of
becoming subject to any municipal-rules which the community might impose
on itself.
8M.—No Turkish wall, no works with plunging fire would be required.
Persons entering the settlement must come unarmed, and if any outrage
occurred, punishment, severe but prompt, should be administered, and no further
altercation or retaliation dreamed of.
9M.—The officer entrusted with the charge of the settlement should have
full powers until all was settled. He could never have a fair chance of success
if subordinates, whether afloat or ashore, were allowed to cavil or offer the vis
inertia.
lOlh.—The Naval force should consist of two handy screw steamers.
Vessels on the more recent plan as to engines would be most efficient and cheapest
in the long run. The title of Commodore or Senior Naval Officer (which in
practice is only another name for Commodore, with the extra inconvenience
of the officer by reason of his real want of rank being more than commodorely
jealous of his dignity) should have no place in this little armament. The
vessel should be attached to the chief of the settlement, and should be wholly
at his disposal whether for anti-slave work, telegraph communication, suppres
sion of piracy, conveyance of the chief to other points of the gulf, and for
miscellaneous cruising and maintenance of peace along the pearl bank. As a
general rule, one vessel should be on the move, the other in harbour ready to
relieve or to meet accitlents.
llth. —The functions of Government, and the actions of Government ser
vants in the settlement should be limited to the removal of obstacles, to the
maintenance of the peace, to the protection of commerce, in so far as to render
its development really free and unmolested, and to the erection of remunera
tive public works, such as a telegraph office, a post office, bridges, wells, &c.
I 4 or the rest the settlement should be allowed to grow of itself.
Uth. —Muscat, whose interests and territories are thoroughly interlaced
with those of its neighbours about Mussundoom, should form part of the Mus-
sundoom charge; there might be a
native Agent
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
in the town of Muscat; and
the one now at Sharga might go there.
About this item
- Content
This is a copy of a printed memorandum, with correspondences by Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Pelly, the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. at Bushire, dated January to February 1863, concerning locating the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. at Cape Mussundoom [Musandam]. In letter No. 2A (folios 1-4), dated 1 February 1863, with post-scripts dated 2 February 1863, to the Honorable Henry Lacon Anderson, Chief Secretary to Government in the Political Department, Bombay, Pelly enumerates some of the benefits of changing the location to Musandam and poses thirteen points for consideration should Government approve. Following this is an earlier letter, No. 1A (folios 5-9), dated 12 January 1863, Pelly writes to Anderson with his original memorandum proposing the change of location for the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in the context of developing the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. steam line and telegraphic communication. Pelly gives an overview to the background in which Bushire was chosen as the location for the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. and why it was not well selected, and then gives reasons why Musandam would be better suited. Pelly lists eleven reasons, which include: centrality, telegraphic station, coal depot, and strategic location for policing piracy.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (9 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover, and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/B388
- Title
- 'Memo on Mussondomom'
- Pages
- 1r:9v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence