'Muscat Dhows Arbitration. In the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague. Grant of the French Flag to Muscat Dhows. The case on behalf of the Government of His Britannic Majesty.' [‎58r] (126/208)

v.— THE GEOGrliAPHY OF OMAN.
It is suggested in the Erencli Case (p. 35) that,
in order to ascertain whether the complaint made
against France is well founded, it is necessary to
inquire what are the limits of the territory of the
Sultan of Muscat, and who are his subjects.
An inquiry of the nature suggested is not
necessary to enable the Tribunal to deal with the
questions involved, because, with very few, if
any, exceptions, all the Omani Arabs, whose
protection by France has caused the present
dispute, are natives of, and resident in, Stir.
That place has been part of the Sultan's dominions
certainly since 1821, when it Avas conquered by
the then Sultan of Muscat, with British aid, and
it is to be observed that, while the bulk of the
French Case is filled with suggestions that Great
Britain has in various ways interfered with the
independence of the Sultan, at p. M it is hinted
that the Siir tribes have never ceased to proclaim
their independence of the Sultan. The French
Government do not venture to rest their Case on
a distinct declaration or recognition of this
alleged independence, which would be a patent
breach of the Declaration of 1862, and they fail
to indicate, though it is the fact, that the
insubordination of these tribesmen is mainly
caused by the protection given them by France
by the methods of which Great Britain and the
Sultan complain.
The maps annexed to the French Case, opposite
pp. 85 and 80, do not correctly indicate the
boundaries of the dominions of the Sultan of
Muscat. The statement made in the French
Case (p. 35), that at the time of the Declaration
of 1862 the south coast of Persia, from Bostanah
to Djask, and certain islands there named,
belonged to the Sultan, is misleading. The
predecessors of the present Sultan occupied
territory for a good many years on the Persian
coast from 13under Abbas to Lingah with the
Island of Kishm, under a Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). of the Shah of
Persia, to whom they paid rent or tribute.
In 1856 a lease for twenty years was
granted at an annual rent. In 1868 a new
arrangement was made for eight years, also
at a rent, but, on the occasion of civil war in
Muscat in 1868, the Shah cancelled the lease,
under powers given by the Convention, and
resumed occupation of the territory in question.