'Memorandum on the Drafts of Despatches regarding the Affairs of Muscat and Zanzibar' [28r] (5/24)
The record is made up of 12 folios. It was created in 15-20 Jul 1868. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
5
families with them, and still more rarely settle.
Their legal domicilium is always at ports of Western
India, 1 atta or K.urrachee in Jbind, in various towns
of Cutch and Kattywar, Bombay, or Calicut.)
(5.) we have, by treaty and long usage, an
almost exclusive right of interference with nearly
half the Arabian seaboard, and that we have, up to
the present time, actively enforced those rights.
The Indian Government* in former days, under
Lords Wellesley, Hastings, William Bentinck, and
Auckland, sent embassies and expeditions, fought
at Ras-el-Khyma, bombarded Mocha, occupied Kar-
rack, and took Aden, to maintain our position; and
no Government of India, up to three years ago, ever
dreamed of repudiating our powers and responsi
bilities in those seas.
, (6.) That France, America, and Russia are all
most anxious for a footing on these coasts. France
sent Mr. Gifford Palgrave “ to look for an island,”
and the French Commodore now in those seas has,
I have every reason to believe, an eye to the de
velopment of that idea. The operations of Prussia
and America, with a similar object in view, are in
abeyance while their hands are so full at. home, but
they are never concealed or denied by Americans
or Germans interested in the east, nor is there any
thing for Americans or Germans to be ashamed
of, or to be regretted by us, in their prosecution.
But it is quite certain that wherever we recede
from the position we have so long held, one of these
powers will step in. We shall not annihilate our
interest and responsibilities in
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
and
Arabian affairs. We shall simply transfer them
from the Indian authorities, to whom they tra
ditionally belong, and who do understand, or ought
to understand, them, and who can manage them
economically, and we shall make them over to the
Foreign Office, who will not, and cannot, know
much about them, or give them much real atten
tion, until some question arises which assumes the
aspect of a European complication, the solution of
which will cost millions.
(7.) That Russia is passive in Southern Persia
and Arabia, because whatever happens must work
to her advantage. Russia well knows that nothing
will induce us to attempt extending our Empire at
the expense of Persia, Affghanistan, or Turkey, and
that all three Empires must gravitate towards the
aggressive powers, which are at present Russia and
France.- If we prop up Turkey and Persia, and
help them, as we do now, to develop trade, and
to become richer, so much more valuable will be
the prize when it comes to be shared. Meantime,
we keep out French and Americans, and other less
peacefully disposed powers. In promoting our own
peaceful views we are doing the work of Russia,
and if we were, instead of a telegraphic line, to
make a railway from Tiflis to Bushire, Russia would
hardly object. It would aid her to sit astride of
9638 b. B
About this item
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Printed memorandum, written by Henry Bartle Frere, member of the Council of India, London, between 15 and 20 July 1868. The document broadly discusses British imperial policy in Persia and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , East Africa, and Western India. Its specific foci include the Zanzibar subsidy (payable to Muscat), Persia's desire for a naval presence in the Gulf, the suppression of piracy, the preferred nationality of the Agent at Muscat, and the protection of British subjects trading in the region. The memorandum contains proposals for change in the way the region is administered.
Several postscripts consist of extensive extracts from correspondence between Frere and John Lawrence, Viceroy of India, between 23 March 1866 and 12 June 1866. Included within this is a table of trade statistics entitled: Statement showing the Value of Trade between the Port of Bombay and Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (including Muscat), during the last five years, viz., from 1860-61 to 1864-65, as compared with the Trade twenty years ago, in 1844-45 , signed by A F Bellasis, Commissioner of Customs, Bombay, 27 March 1866.
- Extent and format
- 12 folios
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: ff 26-37.
Pagination: there is an original, printed pagination system, from 1 to 24.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/B2/3
- Title
- 'Memorandum on the Drafts of Despatches regarding the Affairs of Muscat and Zanzibar'
- Pages
- 26r:37v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence