"ملف ٦/ ١ المصالح الأجنبية: الإرسالية الأمريكية في مسقط" [و‎‎٤‎٣] (٢١٠/٨٥)

No. 1257, dated Maskat, the 23rd November 1909.
From—R. E. Hoi.la.xd, Esq., Political Agent and His Britannic Majesty's Consuh
Maska^,
To—The Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.
I have the honour to refer to your telegram No. 953, dated the 27th
September 1909, on the subject of the American Mission Dispensary at
Mutra.
2. The American Consul, Mr. J. A. Bay, arrived in Maskat on September
pX"" 27th and was received by His Highness the Sultan with his usual courtsey
and kindliness.
Mr. Bay has had several interviews with His Highness since his arrival,
hut he has not, on any occasion, introduced the subject of the American
Mission. A few days ago, however, he opened negotiations by forwarding
to the Sultan a formal letter in which he requested His Highness to withdraw
his objections to the establishment of an American Hospital in Mutra. I
enclose a copy of this letter wTdch has been furnished to me by His Highness
the Sultan and also a copy of the reply which His Highness has to-day
despatched to Mr. Bay.
3. His Highness showed me the draft of his reply before sending it off*
but I did not think it necessary or advisable to suggest any change in its form-
Saiyid Eaisal is still very unwilling to sanction the establishment of the
dispensary and his present intention is to persist in his refusal unless he
is forced to give way. As stated in my previous letter, His Highness’s objec
tions are partly religious and partly administrative. He fears that the doctor’s
successes will result in the conversion of patients, and that the missionaries will
then attempt to intervene in administrative matters on behalf of their proteges.
He thinks it possible that local disturbances may arise from the missionaries’
interference with their patients’ religion and he fears that, if he gives his sanction
to the enterprise, he will render himself responsible to the American
Government, in a greater degree than at present, for the protection of the
missionaries from the consequences of their actions.
4. I did not advise His Highness to agree to the American Consul’s request,
because Mr. Bay’s letter did not seem to me to afford an opportunity for a
reasonable settlement at the present stage. On the other hand, I carefully
„ refrained on this, as on all previous occasions, from saying anything which
might influence His Highness in the opposite direction.
The Sultan again asked that the British Government would help him in
the matter, and I informed him in reply that I would report the matter to the
Besident, but that I could give him no assurance that the British Government
would find it possible to support him.
5. In his letter Mr. Bay claims, in the first place, that under the terms
of the United States Treaty with Maskat, American citizens have a right to
practise medicine in the Sultan’s ports. This claim is, doubtless, valid, especi
ally having regard to the fact that British doctors practise regularly in Maskat.
In the second place, Mr. Bay claims that an American missionary doctor
is on the same footing as any other doctor, and he states that the United States
Government have invariably held that missionaries are traders within the sense