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'Memorandum on the Drafts of Despatches regarding the Affairs of Muscat and Zanzibar' [‎33v] (16/24)

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. .

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16
“ In short, I am firmly convinced that other
arrangements must be made for the ordinary mari
time police of the Gulf, and that they must be made
immediately, unless we would risk the massacre of
the Hindoos, *. e., the bulk of the trading community
at all the ports, and the interruption, with much
loss of life and property, of the telegraph line.
“ I will not trouble you with any of the various
plans which have occurred to me for establishing
such a police, unless you wish to have them ; but
all would be less costly than the old Indian Navy,
and more effective than our present reliance on
men-of-war, which cannot remain more than a few
cool weeks in those seas.
“ We must bear in mind that this revival of
Wahabeeism is only one undulation of the great
disturbance to which most Mahomedans look forward
in this or the coining year. I need not tell you that
the mystical numbers of Daniel and the Apocalypse
are discussed in many a mosque from Zanzibar to
Bokhara, as well as in Dr. Cumming’s church, and
in Arabic and Persian pastorals to the faithful, as
well as in the Doctor’s little books, and with very
much the same results, a conviction that some con
vulsion is to shake Islam and many heretical
Christian churches about this time ; 1867 is a date
very usually given.
“ You are more in the way of hearing of these
things than I have been since leaving Sind ; but few
weeks pass without my hearing or seeing some
evidence that there is a general expectation among
Mahomedans of something going to happen, and
that, according to their information and views, they
look forward with fear or hope to what the next
year or two will bring forth.
“No one knows better than your Excellency
how these things affect a population like that on the
shores of the Gulf.
“ 28^4 March .—Since I began this letter I have
seen Colonel Pelly and the Commodore, and the
additional information they gave me has shown me
little to add to or alter in what I had previously
written.
“ But 1 was sorry to find Colonel Pelly very sore
at your criticism on his proceedings. He says he
has repeatedly, within the last two years, risked his
own life in the discharge of his duty, and to accom
plish that which is usually done by a display of,—if
not the use of,—force, and he feels keenly the im
putation of having exceeded his instructions, and
unnecessarily resorted to force when it seemed to
him that a blow, promptly and decidedly struck
against the aggressors on their peaceful neighbours,
was the best mode of keeping the peace.
“ I hope to send you his official answer in a few
days. Meantime, he must return at once. He left
‘ all standing,’ as the sailors say, and the ‘ Panta
loon’ going to the Gulf, on her way to the East
African coast, affords the only chance of sending
him up in a man-of-war, but he has neither the
health nor the inclination to remain, unless he were

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Content

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
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'Memorandum on the Drafts of Despatches regarding the Affairs of Muscat and Zanzibar' [‎33v] (16/24), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/B2/3, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100030782368.0x000021> [accessed 27 August 2024]

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