'Précis of correspondence regarding the affairs of the Persian Gulf, 1801-1853' [‎155v] (310/344)

290
Part VII Chap. LXVIII
To— Sir John McNeill, G.C .B., etc., etc., etc.
Sir,
I transmit to you herewith copies of a correspondence between this office and the India
Board respecting the wish of the latter department that measures should be taken for acquiring
possession of the Island of Karrak by purchase from the Persian Government. You will see
in my letter of the 23rd of August a statement of the grounds on which it appeared to me to
be inexpedient that Her Majesty's Government should make to the Persian Government
any proposition for the purchase of Karrak. The India Board, as you will gee, acquiesce in the
objections which I have stated, at the same time they express a wish that measures should at
all events be taken for establishing in Karrak a Kesident and a coal depot, or other magazines,
for the use of the British steam and sailing vessels frequenting the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
I have accordingly to instruct you, when the island of Karrak is to be evacuated by the
British forces, to explain to the Persian Government that a British Resident will remain
there for the protection of British commercial interests, and that a coal depot will be wanted
on the Island for the use of the British steam vessels navigating the Tigris and the Euphrates
and you will request the Persian Government to order the local authorities in the island
to alford facilities for that purpose.
I am, etc.,
PALME RSTON.
I ndia B oaed ;
Soth August 1841.
571. On the subject of the evacuation of Karrak, Sir John McNeill
Volume 68—-1243 of 184i —43, p. 206. ^ reSSe ^ ^ Orders to the
Ofhoer Commanding the detachment at
Karrak on 28th October 1811:—•
It was arranged between the British and Persian Ministers that on the conclusion of a
Commercial Treaty between the Governments the British troops should evacuate the Island
of Karrak, and in a despatch addressed to me by Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, dated July 3rd of this year, I am instruoted that "if the Shah should be
willing to ratify the Treaty at once without waiting for the Queen's ratification, and if the
Shah should give the ratification to be sent to England along with the Treaty itself, in that
case you should send word to that effect to the Officer Commanding at Karrak in order that
he may cause the British troops to evacuate the island without further delay.
I have the honor to inform you that the Commercial Treatv here alluded to has been
signed and that I ha?e received the Shah's ratification to be sent hom^ along with the Treaty.
The conditions on which the British Government has directed that the island should be
evacuated without further delay have thus been fulfilled by the Government of Persia, and I
have therefore*to direct that you will lose no time in causing the evacuation of the island of
Karrak by the British troops.
If arrangements for the transport of the troops shall not already have been made, I beg
that you will communicate with the Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. as to the means of giving the
necessary intimation as speedily as possible to the Bombay Government by whom the amount
of tonnage required will doubtle-s immediately be furnished, as that Government has certainly
for some time been in possession of instructions on the subject.
When the British troops shall have evacuated Karrak, you will deliver it up to the person
who may be appointed by the Persian Government to receive it, and y^u will inform that
officer that the depot of coals for the use of the British steamers will continue to be on that
island, and that a British officer will reside there.
572. The detachment of the Bombay Army was withdrawn from Karrak
in January-Pebruary 1812. * * *
(ii) Removal of 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. from Karrak—Resident's residence in Summer at Karrak.
573. The Officiating Resident H. D. Robertson removed the Eesidency
from Karrak to Bushire in May 1842.* The Resident, however, soon after
went back to Karrak and resided there for the summer months. The
Persian authorities remonstrated strongly to the British Charge d'Affaires
(Colonel I. Sheil) on this proceeding. The following letter dated the 3rd
November 184!2 (from Bushire) of the Resident to the address of Colonel Sheil
explains the circumstances in which he had proceeded to Karrak and the
condition on which he resided there
With reference to my letters dated the 11th of August and 3rd October last, I beg to
explain that on the 20th of May I recommended to the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. to take into
serious consideration the advisability on political grounds of making an effort for removing
the Resident from the town of Bushire to some plac« at least some miles distant from it inland,
or on the coast before expending any money in repairing 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. there, and that I
*Xo arrangements werd apparently made to maintain a 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 Karrak, as had been intended presumably
owing to the Peisian Government's objections.