File 3939/1926 Pt 6 'Revision of Aitchison's Treaties. Persian Gulf Section.' [‎491r] (417/818)

34
OMAN (MUSCAT)—NO. IX—1861
No. IX.
Letter to His Highness Syud ' Thowaynee bin Syeed Bin Sultan of
Muscat —1861.
Beloved and esteemed Friend !
^ I address Your Highness on the subject of the unhappy differences which have
arisen between yourself and Your Highness’s brother, the ruler of Zanzibar, and
for the settlement of which Your Highness has engaged to accept the arbitration
of the Viceroy and Governor-General of India.
Having regard to the friendly relations which have always existed between
the Government of Her Majesty the Queen and the Government of Oman and
Zanzibar, and desiring to prevent war between kinsmen, I accepted the charge
of arbitration between you, and in order to obtain the fullest knowledge of all
the points in dispute, I directed the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. to send an Officer
to Muscat and Znazibar to make the necessary enquiries. Brigadier Coghlan
was selected for this purpose, an officer in whose judgment, intelligence, and im
partiality the Government of India reposes the utmost confidence.
Brigadier Coghlan has submitted a full and clear report of all the questions
at issue between Your Highness and your brother.
I have given my most careful attention to each of these questions.
The terms of my decision are as follows :—
Is*.—That His Highness Syud Majid be declared ruler of Zanzibar and the
African dominions of His late Highness Syud Saeed.
2nd.—That the ruler of Zanzibar pay annually to the ruler of Muscat a subsidy
of 40,000 crowns.
3rd.—That His Highness Syud Majid pay to His Highness Syud Thowaynee
the arrears of subsidy for two years, or 80,000 crowns.
I am satisfied that these terms are just and honourable to both of you . and
as you have deliberately and solemnly accepted my arbitration, I shall expect that
you will cheerfully and faithfully abide by them, and that they will be carrie
out without unnecessary delay.
The annual payment of 40,000 crowns is not to be understood as a recogni
tion of the dependence of Zanzibar upon Muscat, neither is it to be considere as
Merely personal between Your Highness and your brother Syud Majid. It is
ex tend to your respective successors, and is to be held to be a final and perma
arrangement, compensating the ruler of Muscat for the abandonment of a c a
yn Zanzibar, and adjusting the inequality between the two inheritances derived
from your father, His late Highness Syud Saeed, the venerated friend of the Bn is
government, which two inheritances are to be henceforward distinct an sep
I am, Your Highness s
Port William ; Sincere friend and well-wisher,
2nd April 1861. Canning.