"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٦‎٦] (١٧٨٢/٤٠٩)

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succeeded each other with great rapidity, and in all of them the march of events lias been
such as to demand a prompt decision on questions of the greatest international importanoe.
We have, indeed, repeatedly found ourselves salled'on, iu matters which had apparently
been long settled, to consider questions involving the past, present, and future policy of
Government, to decide rapidly, and to act promptly.
Nearly all of these questions have been of a purely imperial character, such as no
authority bat the highest in India could venture to decide. Some of the most mo
mentous of them have arisen from the attitude assumed towards neighbouring Powers by
the Governments of Turkey and Persia in matters closely affecting the [most important
interests of the British Empire. They have involved correspondence ;with Foreign
Powers, judgments on the acts and policy of nations represented in the Councils of
Europe, and action in important international affairs, which no local Government has
either the knowledge of or the intluence to enable them to control, and the settlement of
which, even if they had, could not, consistently with what is due to powerful indepen
dent nations, be left in the hands of any authority subordinate to Her Majesty's
Government of India.
In former years, when steam communication was in its infancy and^telegraphs were
unknown, it may have been thought desirable to leave a larger voice in these questions
to the subordinate authorities, with whom communication with those countries could bo
most rapidly and regularly maintained. But such necessity has long passed away.
There is no part of the countries "referred to which cannot be communicated with as
quickly through the telegraph, and nearly as quickly through the post, by the Gov
ernment of India as by the Government of Bombay. The reasons for the [exceptional
course hitherto followed have therefore ceased, and the control of purely political relations
with Foreign Independent Powers ought consequently to revert to the authority to which
they properly belong, and by which alone they can be conducted with safety and
advantage to the interests of the Empire, Indeed, the necessity for this change has
been so strongly felt of late, that when matter's of extraordinary importauceor urgency
have arisen—such, for instance, as the Turkish expedition to Nejd~we have not
hesitated to communicate instmctions direct to the Representative of the British
Government on the spot, sending a copy to the Government of Bombay for their inform
ation. But even on such occasions—still more of course, on other occasions, when the
entire correspondence, telegraphic or other, is conducted through the medium of the Local
Government we find that a speedy and full comprehension, by the local British Agents,
of the line of policy which the Government of India desires to pursue, and the receipt
of timely information by ourselves of the state of affairs, are seriously impeded by the
interposition of a local Government.
A number of particular cases were cited in the Government of India s
despatch to illustrate the inconveniences which they held to bo inseparable
from the interposition of the Government of Bombay between themselves
and the British political officers in the countries in question.
Later in the year ; a personal change having meanwhile taken place )"
the Governorship of Bombay and no reply having as yet been received
from Her Majesty's Government^ the Government iOf Bombay of theii
own accord proposed that the control of the Political Residency ir 1
Persian Gulf and the Political Agency in Zanzibar should be transfes'
from them to the Government of India in the Foreign Department, o.* 1
such information as they might find of value or urgent importance being