"الخليج العربي - الولاية القضائية التركية على طول الساحل العربي (الجزء الثالث)" [و‎‎١‎٦] (٣٠/٢٥)

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" collision with Turkish cruisers, and they will hand
tc over to the Turkish officials all offenders captured
" in Turkish jurisdiction. They will report all cases
" where operations have been undertaken within
" the three mile-limit to Her Majesty's Consul
" General at Baghdad, for communication to Her
* From Foreign Office, 25th July 1881. " Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople."*
ome, No. 527. It will be observed that in these instructions no
attempt is made to define the limits of e< Turkish
jurisdiction," captures within which are to be
handed over to the Ottoman officials, that question
being apparently left to the judgment of the naval
officers concerned.
The orders which had been issued were com
municated to Her Majesty's Ambassador at Con
stantinople in a Despatch from Lord Granville
(No. 515, dated 22nd July 1881), which, after
noticing briefly the past history of the question,
continued;—" As it is evident that the Porte is
" wanting either in the power or the will to protect
" British and general commerce in the Persian
" Gulf, and the constant representations of Her
" Majesty's Government, protesting against the
" continuance of unrestrained and unpunished
" piracy, have produced no result, it becomes in-
" cumbent on them, in the absence of the main-
" tenance of authority by the Power on which that
" duty would more naturally devolve, themselves
" to take measures for the protection of the life and
" property of the subjects of the Queen. Her
" Majesty's Government have therefore determined
" to modify the instructions issued in May 1879 to
" British naval officers in the Persian Gulf, whereby
" they were prohibited under certain conditions
" from taking hostile action within Turkish territory
" or waters. They will in future be authorized,
" when necessary, to take such measures as they
" may think Jit for the 'protection of British com-
" merce and shipping, without reference to the claims
" of the Sultan to territorial jurisdiction in those
" waters. I have to instruct your Excellency to
" make a communication to that effect to the
" Porte."
It is, perhaps, worth remarking, (1) that the
passage italicized indicates a course of action con
siderably beyond what has been actually authorized
by the very carefully guarded instructions that have
been issued; and, (2) that the reference to "British
tc commerce and shipping" might seem to imply
the exclusion of the commerce and shipping of
Bahrein and the Trucial Chiefs from the benefits of
our direct action, which, however, can scarcely be
intended.
The Admiralty having instructed the Com
mander-in-Chief on the East India station, in ac-
% cordance with the terms of the Foreign Office letter
f From Foreign Office, 26th July 1881. of the 11th July,t the papers were forwarded to
Home, No, 529. the Government of India, with a request that they
would issue such instructions to the Resident in
the Persian Gulf as might be requisite, and apprise
him of the nature of the orders which had been
6364. G