'File 35/86 I A 32 Muscat Commercial Treaty, 1891: revision of 1905' [‎131r] (265/480)

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justify fartlier proceedings, be handed over by
their British employers, or by order of the British
Consul for trial and punishment, a ccording to lex
talionis. And, likewise, British subjects, when
they shall be in the true service of His Highness
the Sultan, shall enjoy tihe same protection which
the subjects of His Highness the Sultan enjoy (2).
Notes . The alteration is a
poor
one for the
simple and salutary proviso of the draft Treat y.
The use of the Arabic word , instead of the
more usual and milder words for punishment looks
to me omino us and we m ight find a useful British
s ervant, caught in a petty thpft, having his hand
cut off, or mutilated, or subjected! to some othe r
barbarous form of torture .
(2) Unless we want to have Maskat made an
Alsatia for fugitives from British justice in India,
and the rather shady characters who already sar-
round the Sultan grow bold in wickedness, im agin-
ing that they are protected by the Sultan against
t he sanctions of British criminal jurisdiction) w e
must oppose this provision, it is a matter o f com-
mon knowledge why it is necessary to protect Britis h
domestic servants against the local authorities in
Oriental countries, but a similar rep roach has
never been laid to the charge of British officials .
Article XV.
Should a British subject, residing in the do
minions of His Highness, be adjudicated bankrupt,
the British Consul shall take possession of,
recover, and realise all available property and
assets of such bankrupt to be dealt with and distri
buted according to the provisions of the customary
(1) Bankruptcy Laws.
Note (1). A very poor substitute. I do not
imagine that any one knows what the customary
Bankruptcy laws of Maskat are; it is, however,
notorious that Maskat bankrupt subjects are
famous for their ingenious devices for successfully
evading the just claims of creditors.
Article XVI.
Should a subject of His Highness the
Sultan resist or evade payment of the just
and rightful claims of a British subject, the
authorities of His Highness shall afford to the
British creditor every aid and facility in recover
ing the amount due to him. Except that, should
it be verified that he is in indigent circumstances
and unable to pay the dues, then he shall, in tha t
case, be decreed in indigent circumstances (1) and
his relatives shall not be responsible for him (2).
In like manner, the British Consul shall afford
every aid and facility to subjects of His Highness,
in recovering debts, justly due to them from a
British subject.
Notes (1) and (2). The invariable replies g iven
already to the just demands of British subjects .
The office files are full of such lying pretensions
and I have two cases pending now be lore me, in
one of which a man, possessing a date-garden ,
pleads inability to pay a trifl ing ^ebt not one-tenth
of its value and is consistently supported by His