‘Memorandum respecting the frontier between Mohammerah and Turkey.’ [‎30r] (59/82)

49
interview above referred to, and I am then to add that His Majesty's Government now extend
those assurances to your successors.
I am further to point out that His Majesty's Government have engaged to respect the
independence and integrity of Persia, and to explain that that undertaking involves the main
tenance of the status <jiio in that country, and includes the continuance of the state of autonomy
which your Excellency at present enjoys.
It follows from the above that any external aggression upon your Excellency would constitute
an infringement of Persian integrity which is recognised by the terms of the Anglo-Russian
Convention.
Trusting to have an opportunity of repeating the foregoing assurances in person at an early
date, I am, &c,
P. Z. COX, Major, British Resident in the Persian
Gulf, and His Britannic Majesty's
Consxd-General for Fart, &c.
The amplified assurances conveyed to the sheikh in the foregoing note were further
extended in a letter dated the 16th May, 1909, addressed to the sheikh by Major Cox,
acting In accordance with instructions received by him. This letter was as
follows;—
Consul-General Cox to the Sheikh of Mohammerah.
(After the usual compliments.) Mohammerah, May 16, 1900.
On the 1st December, 1908, I had the honour, by the direction of His Majesty's Government,
to repeat to your Excellency the assurances given you on behalf of (rovernment by his
Excellency Sir Arthur Hardinge, British Minister at Tehran, in his letter of the 7th December,
1902, to your address, and to inform you that the British Government were now prepared to
extend those assurances to your successors.
I was further directed to explain to you that the British Government had engaged to respect the
integrity and independence of Persia, and that that undertaking in itself involved the maintenance
of the status qito in Persia, and thus included the continuance cf the same state of autonomy which
your Excellency at present enjoys.
• I was then to point out that it followed from the above that any external aggression upon
your Excellency would constitute an act of infringement of that Persian integrity which has
received recognition in the Anglo-Russian Convention.
While expressing your thanks for these amplified assurances, you represented that they
seemed to you only to safeguard you so long as Persia continued to exist as a sovereign State,
and you pressed for a further assurance which would cover the contingency of Persia ceasing to
exist as a sovereign State and the intervention or occupation by foreign Powers.
You also expressed doubt as to whether the present assurance only provided immunity
against unwarrantable encroachment on your rights by the absolute government of His Majesty
the Shah, or whether it also covered prevention of similar action on the part of parliamentary
government. In reply to those representations, your Excellency was informed that Great Britain
and Russia being pledged to respect the integrity of Persia, the British Government were not,
properly speaking, able to admit even the possibility of Persia ceasing to be a sovereign State
or coming under the occupation of a foreign Power, but that in the unlikely event of such a
contingency the assurances already given to your Excellency would become even more binding
than before.
I was further permitted to inform you that whatever change might take place in the form of
government in Persia the British Government w^ere prepared to give you the same support
against any encroachment on your rights as was promised to you in 1902, and 1 was authorised
to add that they were now prepared to extend the application of those assurances to your " heirs
and successors."
Mr. McDouall and I have informed you that in our opinion the assurances as now extended
and expressed, appear to satisfy all your requirements; but you have further requested that the
words " heirs and successors may be changed and the words " own successive male descendants "
may be written instead; and you have gone on to express the hope that His Majesty's Govern
ment will be pleased to dispel the last shadow of doubt from your mind regarding their own
intentions in the future, by adding after the words " male descendants " as above, the words " up
to a period of 100 years " (or if it be possible 150 years).
I cannot give your Excellency any reply on this point without reference to Government, but
I will lose no time in communicating to them your representations.
I have, &c.
P. Z. Cox, Major, 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. .
In October 1910 a further communication Avas made to the sheikh with regard to
the support which His Majesty's Government were prepared to afford to him in the
event of any encroachment on his jurisdiction and recognised rights, or on his
property in Persia, by the Persian Government or by any foreign Power. The
assurances given on this occasion were not confined to the sheikh but extended to bis
male descendants. They were expressed in the following notes :—
[2440 c—10] O