"ملف 29/6 العلاقات البريطانية مع خزعل، شيخ خرمشهر" [ظ‎‎٤] (٢٨/٨)

6
Conf. 9878,
No. 272.
Conf. 9878,
No. 416.'
Conf. 11794.*
Persian Gulf area, and, having satisfied themselves that the fault in the inci
dent had lain with the Turkish Vali and that Sheikh Khazal had subsequently
acted correctly and in accordance with British advice, it was arranged that
the Political Resident should proceed to Mohammerah in a warship, present the
Sheikh with the insignia of the K.C.I.E., and convey to him the revised
assurances on which His Majesty’s Government and the Government of India
! had agreed.
lb. The presentation of the insignia took place with due ceremony at the
Sheikh’s palace at Failiyah on the loth Octoher, 1910. In his speech the
Political Resident referred to His Majesty's Government’s good-will and esteem
and to their appreciation of the Sheikn's sustained efforts to preserve order and
security for trade in the districts under his control. In his reply, the Sheikh
spoke of the friendship between the Persian and British Governments and of his
hopes that he might be able to render service and devotion to the former and
to earn the approval of the latter. As regards the assurances, the Political Resi
dent addressed a letter to the Sheikh on the 15th October, the text of which is
reproduced as document No. 5 in the Annex, and also another in identic terms
(except for the omission of the words “ to be acceptable to your tribesmen ”)
which the Sheikh could show, if necessary, to the headmen of the tribes under
his control. The written assurances were accompanied by an important oral
statement by the Political Resident, in the presence of His Majesty's Consul
at Mohammerah and the Rais-et-Tujjar, to the effect that the Sheikh must under
stand that circumstances might arise in which it would be impossible for His
Majesty’s Government to intervene by force on his behalf. The Sheikh replied ^
that he quite understood this and that it was sufficient for him to know that
His Majesty’s Government really meant to safeguard him to the best of their
ability in case of emergency. Thus ended a long chapter, to which need be
added only the fact that in the following December the Persian Minister for
Foreign Affairs spoke to His Majesty’s Minister on the subject of the Sheikh,
saying that information had been received that the latter was under British
protection: to this Sir G. Barclay replied that the Sheikh was not a British
protected person but that His Majesty’s Government had special relations with
him, and that, in the event of any encroachment on his rights, he would receive
their support ; the text of the assurances were not, however, communicated to the
Persian Government.
The Assurances of 1914.
17. In December, 1913 (at a time when His Majesty’s Government were
contemplating the acquisition of a controlling interest in the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company), the Sheikh asked Sir Percy Cox for further assurances on the following
lines :—
(a) that we should make the position regarding the succession more secure
by a modification of the existing assurances;
(b) that we would take cognisance of a definite peace compact between the
Sheikh and the Bakhtiaris which would render him immune from the
necessity and expense of protecting his territory against their
aggression; and
(c) that we should endeavour to devise and take measures with the Persian
Government to secure to him the status of local autonomy to which
the history of the past entitled him and which he was then enjoying in
practice, although on a precarious basis.
These matters were still under discussion by His Majesty’s Government when
the outbreak of war in 1914 transformed the situation; the disintegration of
Persia and the encroachment of Russia, which had previously been the main pre
occupation of His Majesty’s Government in the Persian Gulf, were eclipsed by the
more immediate menace from Germany and Turkey, and it was regarded as clearly
essential that we should reaffirm and strengthen our assurances to the Sheikh,
who, there was reason to believe, was ready to act in collusion with the Sheikh
of Koweit, with Ibn Saud and with certain notables of Basra, in preparing the
way for a peaceful British occupation of that port. The Government of India
now recommended that the former assurances should be reaffirmed and
strengthened and that, in addition, we should undertake to maintain the Sheikh
in secure and untaxed possession of his date gardens on the Turkish side of the
Shatt-el-Arab.
18. On the 3rd November, 1914 (i.e. y before the formal announcement by
His Majesty’s Government on the 5th November that a state of war existed with
Turkey but at a time when hostilities had actually commenced), Colonel Knox,