"دليل الخليج. الجزء الأول. المواد التاريخية والسياسية. ملخص عن التوسع التركي على السواحل العربية للخليج العربي وشؤون الأحساء والقطيف" [‎١‎١‎١] (١٦٠/١٢٣)

s
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inflicted on^he commToe o£ the Persian Gulf bv the suceossion of oiratical expeditions which
l.ave issued duang the course o£ the last two years and upward from a portion of the coast of
Arabia over winch the Porte claims to have established its jurisdiction.
".'■rom the reports which have reached Her Majesty's Embassy of the injuries sustained
by British subjects, or others under British protection from these attacks, it is evident that
unless the marauders are effectually checked and punished, the peaceful traders of those waters
will be seriously disturbed.
" Certainly there has been no want of courtesy or good-will in the replies which have been
returned by the Porte to Sir H Layard's representations. But unfortunately whether from
the lack ot alacrity on the part of the local officials, or the want of an adequaie means for
efficient naval or military measures, the assurances of the Central Government have not
received any practical fulfilment upon the spot. As yet little has been done by the Turkish
authorities towards the capture or punishment of the offienders, and so far as Her MajestVs
Government aie awaie^ there has been no attpmpt on their part to obtain the recovery or
restitution of the plundered property, and there is too much reason to anticipate that the
oUenders emboldened by the absence of proper measures of prevention will continue their
depredations upon a large scale. Indeed, a report has lately reached Her Majesty's Embassy
that the Beni Hajir tribe have again been plundering boats of the Gutter coast in the Persian
Gulf. It i a clear that such a state of tilings should not be allowed to continue either in the
interests of the Turkish Government itself, or in that of other countries interested in the
commerce of the Persian Gulf.
" It would indeed, be incredible that the Turkish Government should allow any country \
really and effectively subject to its authority to be made use of in time of peace as a station
for the preparation of marauding expeditions directed for purposes of indiscriminate plunder
against the commerce of the surrounding waters, and Her Majesty's Government are
convinced that the Porte will readily co operate in any plan which may seem well adapted to
prevent such a contingency, and the irritating claims and questions to which it cannot tail to
give rise.
" They would propose for this purpose that the commanders of Her Majesty's ships
charged with the duty of keeping the police of the Persain Gulf, while they could be instructed
to pursue their operations outside the territorial waters of the Arabian mainland north of Aden
(? sic Odeid), should also have authority to pursue and capture piratical vessels within the
three-mile limit on that part of the coast whenever this course of proceeding mi^ht seem
indispensable to the attainment of their object.
" It would be understood that in case of any Turkish vessel-of-water being in reach, the
British cruiser would not act without the co-operation of the Turkish commander, and leaving
to him, if he desired it, the principal share in the operations, and further that, whenever
practicable the previous consent of any Turkish Governor, or similar official on the mainland
immediately adjacent, would be solicited.
u In either case any prizes made within recognized Turkish limits could be dealt with
according to the wishes of the Turkish authorities.
" I hare now the honour to reqnpst that Your Excellency will take this matter into your
consideration, and that you will have the goodness to inform me at an early opportunity
whether the Subime Porte is disposed to enter into an engagement of the nature described
above, the tendency of which would be rather to establish than in any way to diminish the
Sultan's authority in the districts concerned."
430. Mr. Goschen at the same time forwarded the following memoraudum
by Mr. Plowden:—
.n
« MEMORANDUM.
" Turkish Jurisdiction on the Arabian Coast of the Persian Gulf,
" 1- It appears that in the recent correspondence on the subject of Turkish jurisdiction
in the Gulf, the British Government has used expressions which amount to an acquiescence in
the existence of some Turkish authority on the El-Hassa coast, consequently Your Excellency
has resolved to conclude with the Ottoman Government an arrangement of the kind described
in Foreign Office No. 12 of 5th January, and to reject the alternative policy suggested in
another Foreign Office despatch No. 13 of the same date.
" All I could venture to say on this point is that an arrangement of the kind contemplated
in despatch No. 12, based as it is upon a definite recognition of Turkish sovereignty, may be
expected to facilitate the establishment of Turkish claims on the Arabian coast generally, and
will thereby strengthen in a very considerable degree the advantage already gained by the
Porte from the tenor of recent correspondence. Putting aside this correspondence, with
the precise nature of which I am not acquainted, valid objections exist to the Turkish title
both in El-Hassa and elsewhere on the coast. The conclusion of tne proposed arrangement
1