Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎769v] (1555/1814)

October 11, 1913.]
sP'
(The Times of India, Tuesday, October 7.)
England has lost a goc
The Sultan and loyal friend in the Sul-
of Maskat. tan of Maskat, whose death
after a brief illness has just
taken place, He was a fine representative
of. the patriarchal family from which he was
descended, the Yemenite imams, who con
solidated the power of the Arabs in Zanzi
bar and on the East African coast and
raised Oman to its position as the most
powerful state in Arabia during the first
half of the nineteenth century. It was his
misfortune to live in a time when he became
something very much like the shuttlecock
of international politics and so had little
opportunity of showing his real qualities
is a ruler. Of his ability there is no
doubt. Sir Valentine Chirol said of, him
that he wag the most genial and intelligent
of the Arab rulers he had met in those
parts, and other travellers privileged to
know him have come to the same conclu
sion. He took a keen delight in conversing
with foreign visitors, but had no personal
knowledge of other countries than his own
finding the business of administration,
which he personally conducted, too arduous
an affair to allow of his going abroad even
to the durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). at Delhi to which he was in
vited. The son who succeeds him has had
a wider experience of the world but will
need all his father’s ability if he is to
maintain his position even as Sultan of
Maskat: the title of. Sultan of Oman, as
recent events show, has become more honori
fic than indicative of the actual state of
affairs.
It has been said that the late Sultan was
a loyal friend of England and he had good
reason to be, for Maskat owes its preserva
tion on more than one occasion to British
arms. The Oman empire at one time in
the early part of the nineteenth century
extended from Zanzibar to Gwadur and
Bandar Abbas, even threatening Bushire
and Basra, and it wag only the intervention
of the East India Company which prevent-
ad Maskat from becoming a dependency of
Nejd while Seyid Sultan was looking after
lis more fertile African possessions. After
the death of that potentate, both before and
rfter the partition of the empire of Oman,
British help was constantly asked for, and
never refused, to gave Maskat from the
attacks of its enemies. It is true that
nothing was done to preserve for the king
dom its territory on the mainland of Persia,
and Kishm, Ormuz, and Bandar Abbas gra
dually lapsed from the control of the Sultan.
It then became a question of protecting
the Sultan against his enemies on Arabian
soil only, and in 1883 , three years after the
accession of the late Sultan, disaster was
only averted by the guns of the cruiser
Philomel when Maskat was attacked by a
rebel army under the command of a chieftain
from the neighbouring port of Matrah ; and J
a similar rising against the Sultan, of
which we have not yet heard the last, marred
the peace of the concluding days of his life.
But he lived to see a great source of mis
understanding and annoyance removed, the
traffic in arms. The history of how the
French iappointed a consul to Maskat in
1894 is too well known to need recapitula
tion, and we need only recall that it was
followed by the attempt to obtain the grant
of a coaling station which might have deve
loped into a naval base, and by the un
reasonable insistence of the French that the
protection of their flag should be extended
to native craft sailing from the old pirates’
haunt on the coast of Maskat. It was the
latter event which led to continued friction,
both at Maskat and in Europe, between
England and France, for so long as the
French stood out for their “rights’’ in this
respect was it impossible to put an end to
the arms traffic of, which the evil effects
were felt by us on the North-West frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan.
of India. The establishment of happier re
lations with France made possible an ar
rangement in this matter, and, as was an
nounced the other day, a bilateral agree
ment for the suppression of the arms
trade has now been entered upon between
England and France which would never even
have been dreamt of in the stormy days
when M. Ottavi, as French consul at Mas
kat, was actively working against British
interests in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . In the later
phases of the campaign against the gun
runners the Sultan of, Maskat was of the
utmost assistance to the British authorities
and the arrangement for a bonded ware
house for arms at Maskat, which was intro
duced in September 1912 , could never have
been carried out without the loyal co-opera
tion of, the Sultan. How well it works may j
be seen from the latest consular report,
issued in mail week, which shows that as
soon as the new regulations came into force
there was a drop in the imports of arms
amounting to 75 per cent, and prices im
mediately went up by 50 per cent. It was the
determination of the late Sultan not to con
nive at any infringement of those regulations
which led to the recent revolt against his
authority and though there may have been
contributory causes for that revolt, such as
a heavy tax imposed on pomegranates which
form almost as important article of export
from Oman as dates, it was really the
loyalty of the Sultan to his word that was
in the main responsible for the whole
trouble. It should always be remembered
to his credit that he had those excellent
qualities of the true Arab, gratitude to his
friends and unswerving loyalty to his pledged
word.
The history we have given of the fortunes
of Maskat, brief as it is, will show that both
by tradition and self-interest we are bound
to see that Maskat is protected. Our ob
ligations are now transferred from the late
Sultan to his son, who inherits a kingdom
divided against itself and only saved from
anarchy by the presence of Indian troops in
the. capital and British men of, war in the
harbour. His father never exercised much
more than a nominal control over the in
terior of Oman, and had lately lost even the
fertile date land of Semail. But to restore
the valley of Semail to the new Sultan would
be an operation requiring a larger force
than that we now have at Maskat, and would
be both laborious and dangerous. It is to
be hoped that by wise negotiations with the
turbulent tribesmen the authority of the
Sultan may once more be established; Sir
Percy Cox has before now carried more
difficult affairs to a successful issue. It is
of. course impossible at present to form an
opinion of the effect which the Sultan’s death
will have on local politics but we do not
see why it should be adverse if it is made
known that Maskat will still continue, as
for the last hundred years, to be the object
of our care. Its strategic importance is
too great for us to be able to adont any
other attitude.
October 11, 1913.]
only averted by the guns of the cruiser
Philomel when Maskat was attacked by a
rebel army under the command of a chieftain
from the neighbouring port of Matrah; and |
a similar rising against the Sultan, of
which we have not yet heard the last, marred
the peace of the concluding days of his life.
But he lived to see a great source of mis
understanding and annoyance removed, the
traffic in arms. The history of how the
French :appointed a consul to Maskat in
1894 is too well known to need recapitula
tion, and we need only recall that it was
followed by the attempt to obtain the grant
of a coaling station which might have deve
loped into a naval base, and by the un
reasonable insistence of the French that the
protection of their flag should be extended
to native craft sailing from the old pirates’
haunt on the .coast of Maskat. It was the
latter event which led to continued friction,
both at Maskat and in Europe, between
England and France, for so long as the
French stood out for their “rights’’ in this
respect was it impossible to put an end to
the arms traffic of which the evil effects
were felt by us on the North-West frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan.
of India. The establishment of happier re
lations with France made possible an ar
rangement in this matter, and, as was an
nounced the other day, a bilateral agree
ment for the suppression of the arms
trade has now been entered upon between
England and France which would never even
have been dreamt of in the stormy days
when M. Ottavi, as French consul at Mas
kat, was actively working against British
interests in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . In the later
phases of the campaign against the gun
runners the Sultan of. Maskat was of the
utmost assistance to the British authorities
and the arrangement for a bonded ware
house for arms at Maskat, which was intro
duced in September 1912, could never have
been carried out without the loyal co-opera
tion of the Sultan. How well it works may