'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎132v] (275/1904)

18
point to Hasan's letters of 30th January 1905 and July 1906, wmch die no
form enclosures to the previous memorandum presented to the German Govern
ment. v
(56) He {Malcolm) further expressly : " sure of
hiqher price we shall not get the fanner Agre "—Mr. malcoim dxa
not favour me with a copy of this letter, and the line oi^ argument or
persuasion used therein is unfortunate, but it will be noted that it was written
in yfMfcto Hasan's letter to him, dated 14th October 1906 (Enclosire ho. 14
of British Memorandum), and after Malcolm's communications to me on the
subject of Hasan's intrigues with the German firm and his refusal to suppt. a
copy of the Contract {vide his letters to me referred to in Item 54 above).
'Ihe object of the missive was simply to allay Hasan's suspicions and induce him
to send a copy of the contract, and I suppose Mr. Malcolm worded it in the terms.
most likely in his opinion to have the desired result.
(57) When Malcolm later on received a copy
about it and accordingly acquiesced %n it. —It will be seen from his letter to me ^ that
he did not acquiesce, but by the time he got the copy (not till December) I had
also then got one, and he was awaiting informal ad vice from me as to what action he
should take. I could give him none, because he had not produced his deed, of part
nership.
I think we might say that Malcolm did protest to 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. , both at the
conclusion of the contract without his being consulted and at the refusal of Hasan
to supply frbn with a copy,—but that being unable at the time to find his deed of
partnership there was nothing on which he could base a formal complaint against
Hasan.
(55) .4s the correspondence shows Abdul —Neither Abdul
Latif nor any one else had any objection to the mere sale of the stuff to
Messrs. Wonckhaus. All Abdul Latif's expressions of approval were made in
ignorance of the precise text and bearing of the contract and in the belief (a natural
one after his repeated admonitions) that nothing more than a sale of the mineral
had been agreed upon.
(59) It is not till about four months later * * * l e g S
to send him a co'py of ihe agreement. —For the simple reason that up to i.ow Abdul
Latif had trusted to Hasan's good faith, but had now received news which aroused
his apprehensions, namely, that Hasan had granted a monopoly and bound himself
for a number of years.
{60) He {Abdul Latif) gffijs on to say : "
than to do as he {the German) wishes ¥ * * *
translates the passage in question as follows "
hotter than its acceptance —In the German Memoranda a great deal of argument
has been based on the wording of this passage translated in the sense which they
contend should be attributed to it. In support of their version they quote the opi
nions, firstly of a young American Missionary of Busreh, and secondly of a German
Professor of Berlin. Both opinions are theoretical and conjectural and do not
profess to pay any regard to local usage.
In refutation of them I bring forward—
(i) A statement from Abdul Latif that what he meant was " the annulment
of this contract is better than its acceptance " (Annex 34);
{ii) Proof that Hasan Samaiyeh understood him in that sense, and requoted
his words back to him, but more grammatically and unmistakably
(Annex 34) ;
(m) The opinion of the well-known Missionary, the Revd. S. M. Zwemer
who has laboured for some 15 years among the Arabs of the Gulf and
probably knows their local peculiarities of speech and writing better
than any living man- He has no hesitation in saying that the meaning
intended, and the natural interpretation to place upon the sentence is-
" The annulment of this contract is better than its acceptance " (Aa-
nex 35).