'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA. PART I - The Persian Gulf.' [‎21v] (47/92)

69
authorised demands. Of those demands the most prominent were that a French
intriguer named Abdul Aziz should be permanently dismissed from the Sul
tan’s employment; that interest at the rate of 5 per cent, should be paid on the
balance of an indemnity due since 1895; that nowhere should a tax be levied
on British subjects which was not equally levied on Omani subjects; and final
ly that all import duties, and also a tax levied on dates brought from the inte
rior, should be reduced to 5 per cent, in accordance with treaty. An ultima
tum embodying the demands of the British Government and conveying a warn
ing in regard to the withholding of the subsidy and the possible withdrawal
of British support was accordingly presented to the Sultan on the 13th of Feb
ruary and discussion of its terms was refused. On the next day the Sultan
signified the cancellation of the French concession and requested British sup
port in case difficulties should arise between himself and the French, but he
returned no definite answer in respect of the other demands. On the 16th of
February Colonel Meade* considering the measure to be necessary, of his own
motion insisted that the revocation of the French concession should be made
public by means of notices issued by the Sultan. All these proceedings were
reported without delay to the Secretary of State who authorised a guarantee of
support being given to the Sultan in case he followed the advice of the British
Government; but publicity in regard to the cancellation of the French conces
sion was strongly deprecated. Colonel Meade was immediately instructed not
to require a public announcement; but the orders reached him too late
to be complied with, for on the 14th of February the Sultan had commu
nicated the facts to his subjects by the issue of a notification, and on the 17th
he had repeated the announcement in a speech w'hich he read at a public Dar-
bar. Meanwhile the controversy regarding the other demands was proceeding
and on the 16th of February, no satisfactory reply having been received, Ad
miral Douglas who had meanwhile arrived with his flagship the “ Eclipse *’
assumed charge of the negotiations and prepared to bombard the Sultan’s
palace and forts. The threat sufficed ; Saiyid Faisal came off to the flagship.
After some discussion he submitted unconditionally to all the British de
mand, but his subsidy was for some months withheld. The result of the whole
imbroglio, in so far as it concerned the French, was the substitution in 1900
of an ordinary coal yard in Maskat harbour for the independent position at a
distance to which they had aspired, and which they probably intended to con
vert into a fortified naval station and focus of French influence.
In the ultimatum of 1899 the Sultan of Oman was strongly advised to order
his subjects to use a distinctive flag and to explain that, after the issue of such
an order, the grant by the officer of a foreign pow er of a foreign flag and the
assertion by such officer of the right to protect in the Sultan’s dominions any
of the Sultan’s own subjects would be an instigation of such subject to disobe y
the lawful orders of his own sovereign, and, that if such instigation were made
by a French official, it would be an infringement of the Anglo-French Decla
ration of 1862. Tho Sultan was averse, chiefly on sentimental grounds, to any
alteration of the nondescript red flag of Oman, but he wrote on the 16th of
February 1899 to the French flag holders of Sur enjoining them to give up
their flags ; and on the following day he informed the French representative
at Maskat that he did not recognise the right of the French to exercise juris
diction over Omani subjects in Oman. Ko decisive result was achieved by
these measures, but in April 1903 the flag question was brought to a sudden
crisis by an Arab attack at Sur on an Arab boat flying French colours and by
the imprisonment at Maskat, under the Sultan’s orders, of three natives
of Sur who had been guilty of a breach of quarantine and were re
garded by the French Vice.Consulate as under its protection on account of
their connection with boats flying the French flag. In the second of these
cases the Sultan received an assurance of support from the British Govern
ment by whom his action was considered, in the unsettled state of the
question, to be reasonable. In May an attempt was made by the Com
mander of the R. F. “ Internet ’ to coerce the Sultan into releasing the
prisoners, but it failed, and discussion became direct between tie British and
French Governments. At one moment a deadlock was feared; but eventually