"ملخص لعلاقات الحكومة البريطانية مع قبائل وشيوخ عربستان. بقلم الملازم أ. ت. ويلسون، القائم بأعمال القنصل في عربستان" [ظ‎‎٣‎٣] (١٤٣/٧١)

52
Affaires Etrangeres a 1 honneur de 1 informer sur une communication de
son Altesse le Grand Vazir que les Autorit&j Imperiales du Vilayet de
Basrah out regu I’orde d’effectuer desormais a Basrah meme les perquisitions
qu’elles se trouvent dans le cas de faire a bord des navires anglais naviguant
sur le Shatt-al-’Arab.
Note Verbale, No. 148, dated 2nd December 1896 (thus in original).
“ His Majesty’s Embassy have the honour to acknowledge receipt of the
Sublime Porte’s Note Verbale No. 104 of December 20th (sic) stating that
(vide supra) ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية His Majesty’s Embassy take note of
this communication, but it is well understood that British ships enjoy perfect
liberty to proceed direct to Mohammerah or any other portion of Persian
territory and cannot be compelled under any pretext to stop at Fao on their
way thither or to Basrah unless they themselves desire it.”
No reply was received to the latter Note, and it may therefore be inferred
that the claim made therein was admitted.
In April 1899, the Basrah authorities were making an embankment
on the Diaji border which were extended across the frontier- On a
personal protest by the Shaikh of Mohammerah’s deputy they withdrew and
since then there have been no disputes as to the border. The islands of
Aqawat and Barin were formerly said to be under dispute but are now
recognised by the Shaikh as Turkish territory.
In the autumn of 1907, there seemed some possibility of Turkish aggres
sion in the neighbourhood of Mohammerah, and Sir N. O’Conor, then His
Majesty’s Ambassador at Constantinople, was informed on 25th February
1908, that “ as regards the district in the neighbourhood of Mohammerah,
His Majesty’s Government were not prepared to recognise any other frontier
than that laid down by the mediating Commissioners in 1850. Any disturb
ance of the status quo at Mohammerah would affect British interests, and
might not improbably lead to the active intervention of His Majesty’s Gov
ernment who have given the Shaikh certain assurances in regard to his terri
tory.” This pronouncement was not, however, communicated to the Turkish
Government, nor to the Shaikh, the latter being simply informed that we
were fully alive to the situation, and did not anticipate Turkish aggression
in the neighbourhocd of Mohammerah. The Shaikh’s fears, however, were
net realised, but the inaction of the Persian Government, who left the Shaikh
entirely in the dark in regard to what was passing, gave him no instructions
as to what course he should pursue in the event of hostilities breaking out,
and failed to provide him with guns or munitions of war, was considered by
the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to provide us with a useful argu
ment in future in support of the preservation of his semi-independent and
tribal position
In the following year the Resident took advantage of the presence o-f an
officer with two surveyors to cause the Shatt-al-’Arab and Bahmanshir
rivers to be surveyed on the scale lm= 1". In the course of this survey the
actual position of the locally recognised frontier beyond Failiyeh was as
certained and accurately delimited. It was then seen that it differed widely
from that laid down by the mediating Commissioners in 1850 and that, were
the Turks to insist on being put in possession of the territory allocated to
them by the mediating Commissioners in 1850, Persia would lose a strip
of land over 6 miles broad, from Diaji to Failiyeh, and the Shaikh would
find not only his palace, (which had been completed in 1907) but also his
other residence and offices and prison at Failiyeh and between Diaji and
Khaiyin, in Turkish territory. Such an alteration in the status quo existing,
as far as evidence is available, since 1843, could scarcely fail to be very pre
judicial to British interests, and failure to support the Shaikh »in opposition
to it would be misunderstood by him. Moreover, whereas the centre of the
practice for many years past, the Commissioners’ line gives the Porte the
whole channel, including the islands of Muhalleh and the Dawasir.