File 345/1908 Pt 1 'Mohammerah: situation. British assurances to Sheikh.' [‎157r] (318/416)

In then- despatch of the 30th July, 1903, the Government of India recommended
that an endeavour should be made to come to an arrangement with Turkey
permdtmg vessels under the Turkish flag to be searched for arms by British shins of
war, or failing this that the Porte should be asked to notify formally to ffi,
Majesty s Government that the importation of arms into Ottoman dominions without
special licence was prohibited.
r S ![ I J-. 0 ’ Co “ 01 ’ T' 11 ',’ was con f ul 1 te<1 « le matter, drew attention to the notifica
tions that had already been made by the Turkish Government, and suggested that
they might sufficiently serve the purpose the Government of India had in view As
regards the right of search,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
willing enough to co-operate
but that the right to search
Sir N O’Conor wrote “ In conversation with the
I gathered that the Turkish Government would be
in our endeavours to suppress the traffic in arms,
uikish vessels could only be conceded in exchange
Govern
ment of
India’s
letter of
July d0,
1003.
Sir N.
O’Conor
to Lord
Lans-
downe,
N c veinber
16, 1903.
for a reciprocal privilege ; an arrangement which, however one-sided it might prove in
practice, would, m principle, be open to obvious objections.”
6 . Persia.—In 1881 the Persian Government issued a Decree that “no arms
or munitions of war, such as guns, caps, gunpowder, &c., should enter Persian
territory without the permission of the Great Government” In announcing the
issue of this Decree to the British Legation, the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs
wrote as follows on the 3rd July, 1881: “Since the right of purchasing "arms and
introducing the same into Persia belongs to the Persian Government, who exercise
it through their own specially appointed officials, and if this absolute right were not
exclusively confined to the Government, and everybody who thought lit to do so
were allowed to purchase such articles and introduce them into the country, this
great governmental privilege would become obsolete, and considerable evils would
result to the State. Therefore His Majesty the Shah has issued orders that no
one shall import arms of any description whatsoever into this country from abroad,
and any person in whose possession arms of foreign make are found will be liable to
have them confiscated by Government.”
As regards the measures taken by the Persian authorities to enforce the Decree
of 1881, it may be noted that in May 1891 both the Shah himself and the Amin-es-
Sultan telegraphed to the Governor of Bushire complaining of the sale in Tehran
of arms by British and Parsee merchants, and giving strict orders that the prohibition
on imports should be maintained, and all arms imported should be confiscated. In
the year 1893 the local authorities seized seventeen cases of arms consigned to a
Muscat firm, which were landed at Bushire for transhipment, on the ground that
complaints had been received from the Turkish Government of arms being smuggled
from Persian territory. The goods were confiscated. In the year 1895 the British
steamer “Zulu” landed by mistake at the Bushire custom-house several cases of
arms consigned to Muscat; these were seized by the local authorities. In January
1897, while the “Zulu” case was still pending, the first preventive officer was
appointed at Bushire by the Persian Government.
Apart from these incidents, there is nothing to show that effective measures
were taken to prevent the smuggling of arms, and on the 15th April, 1898,
Sir M. Durand, in a despatch to Lord Salisbury, admitted that there could be “little
doubt that a considerable illicit import of arms into Persia is being carried on,
and that European firms are not wholly unconcerned in it.”
At the close of 1897, as a result of British pressure, the Persian Government
agreed that “ in addition to such measures as may be taken by Persian officials, Her
Majesty’s ships should examine and search all merchant-vessels trading in the Persian
bull, and confiscate and hand over to the Persian Government all prohibited arms
tound on board.” The Grand Vizier’s note of the 18th December, 1897, in which
this Agreement was embodied, further stated that the Persian Government was
ready “to join with Her Majesty’s Government in requesting the Sultan of Muscat
h> notify in the ports and territories of Muscat that arms should not be imported
hom that side into Persia or Hindustan, also that English ships should exercise
m regard to search and confiscation the same rights in Muscat as in Persian
waters”
I he joint representations to the Sultan were successful, and it was owing to
the conclusion of an Agreement with Muscat that Her Majesty’s ship “Lapwing”
was able, on the 24th January, 1898, to seize the steamer “ Baluchistan,” near
Muscat, and capture the cargo of arms she was carrying. An action was brought
hy Messrs. Fracis, Times and -Co., who had shipped a consignment of arms by the
“ Baluchistan,” against the Sea Insurance Company, Limited, to recover a loss under
[2878 s— 1 ] C
Mr Thom
son to
Lord
Granville,
July 12,
1881.
Sir M.
Durand to
Lord
Salisbury,
June 10,
1898.
Sir M.
Durand to
L< >rd
Salisbury,
April 15,
1<>96.
Mr. 0.
Ha rdinge,
to Lord
Salisbury,
January
5, 1898.
“ Times ”
Law
Reports,
July 5,
1898, and
July 9,
1901
hsuemP T to youv Kxce