‘Memorandum respecting the frontier between Mohammerah and Turkey.’ [‎32r] (63/82)

53
directed into the Shatt-el-Arab ; consequently Persia now claimed the left bank of the
Shatt-el-Arab below the Haffar, with the town and district of Mohammerah, as Persian
territory. The original mouth of the Karun, the Bamishere, was still open and
navigable, at least to vessels of moderate draught. The earlier mouths of this river to
the east of the Bamishere had been gradually deserted by it, and were silted up and
dry. In fact, the Karun had for centuries been forcing its way westwards until it
found a convenient outlet for the principal portion of its waters through the Haffar canal
into the Shatt-el-Arab.
The Porte contended, not without reason, that as the Euphrates was a Turkish
river, running through the dominions of the Sultan from its source, it was unjust, and
against universally recognised principles, to give to Persia the control of its outlet into
the sea, merely because a Persian stream had changed its course, and had invaded
a territory which did not appertain to the Shah. The command of the trade and
navigation of a great river, which had flowed for more than one thousand miles through
Turkish territory, would thus be transferred to a Power which might, if hostile to
Turkey, close that river at its mouth. The Bamishere, the Porte maintained, was
the true outlet of the Karun, and might without much trouble or expense be rendered
navigable to trading vessels of any size, and that consequently the possession of the
entrance to the Shatt-el-Arab was in no way necessary to Persia for the water
communication between the sea and the province of Khuzistan. It was further
able to show r , by ancient maps and documents, that the frontiers of Persia had never
reached the Euphrates, and that the whole of the delta between the mouth of that river
and the Bamishere had originally belonged to Turkey.
I considered the contention of the Porte just and well-founded. I consequently
proposed in my scheme, as a fair compromise, that the new frontier line should be
drawn through the desert country to the w T est of Hawizah, at some distance from
the Shatt-el-Arab, across the Haffar, and midway down the delta to the sea. Turkey
would have thus remained in possession of the banks of the Euphrates throughout the
whole of its course.
My suggestion, approved and adopted by Sir Stratford Canning, was submitted by
Lord Aberdeen to the Russian Government, w r hich declined to accede to it, and not only
upheld the claims of Persia to Mohammerah and the left bank of the Shatt-el-Arab from
the Haffar to the sea, but insisted upon the cession to her of territory on its east bank
{i.e., left bank), which she had not even claimed, almost to the junction of the
Euphrates and Tigris at Korna—thus giving her the control of the navigation of
both those rivers, which form the means of communication between the sea and
the south-eastern provinces of Asiatic Turkey.
Lord Aberdeen, who was desirous of deferring to Russia, accepted her views
and instructed Sir Stratford Canning to recommend them to the Porte. He sent for
me after the arrival of Lord Aberdeen's despatch to this effect. I found him walking
up and down his study, his brows knit, his thin lips compressed, and his delicate
complexion scarlet with anger. Without saying a word he handed me the despatch.
I read it, and remarked that I was deeply grieved to lind that Lord Aberdeen had come
to a decision which, in my opinion, w r as not consistent with justice and right, and w T as not
in the interests of England. He requested me to draw up an answer to Lord Aberdeen's
despatch, pointing out the objections to the arrangement proposed by Russia, the
injustice that would be done to the Porte, and the discredit that would fall upon
England as a mediator if she showed so flagrant a spirit of partiality to Persia.
I wrote the draft of a despatch in this sense, which was adopted by Sir Stratford
Canning. But it failed to produce the desired effect, and nothing remained to him but
to carry out the instructions he had received from Lord Aberdeen. The Porte protested
against the decision of the mediating Powers, and against the sacrifice of territory it was
called upon to make by it. But it was in the end compelled to yield,* in the face of the
threatening insistence of England and Russia.
1 was deeply impressed with the position of Mohammerah, and its great importance
to any Power having commercial and political interests in the East. It commands the
entrance to the Euphrates and Tigris, which are navigable to the very heart of the
Turkish dominions in Asia, and to that of the Karun, which flows through one of the
richest, though one of the most neglected, provinces of Persia. These rivers are
destined to become great military and trading highways. It is, consequently, to the
interest of England that their mouths should not fall into the possession of a Power
which might be hostile to her.
Turkey having been compelled to accept the Russian project for the settlement of
* In the Treaty signed at Erzeroum in 1847.
[2440 c—10]
P