File 200/1928 Pt 4 'Persia: Anglo-Persian Relations. General Settlement and Treaty Negotiations' [‎35v] (75/1256)

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which he objected as contrary to Persian sovereign rights, he was agreeable jn
principle to our having reasonable facilities at Henjam. What he particular],,
objected to were two points in paragraph (e), one, that the British naval authority
should have the right to send and receive sealed bags of postal matter. This, he sab
was contrary to international postal conventions and would be criticised in tb
Majlis, when the treaty came to be submitted, as a definite infringement of Pen^i
sovereign rights. The other point referred to freedom of customs for the good-
imported by His Majesty’s ships into Henjam. The same objections, he said, applied
On the other hand, he was quite prepared that goods and stores might be kept i n
bond at Henjam for the use of the navy, and that some means might be found of
allowing the small quantity which would actually be required ashore not to p av
customs duty. But he was not prepared to state in the treaty the right to customs
exemption for these stores. His Highness raised no other specific objections, but I
have the impression that he will submit a counter-draft of the article.
6. Article 5. With regard to this article, his Highness only remarked that the
second paragraph of section (b) seemed rather absurd to include in the treaty and
might be omitted.
7. Articled. He made no observations.
8. Article 7 {Bahrein). He at once objected to this as begging the whole
question of Bahrein. I said we would not discuss the point how , for in the end we
should have to consider the treaty as a whole.
9. Article 8. The same would apply to this article.
10. Article 9. His Highness said he would like to have something much more
definite with regard to lighting and buoying. I said this was all I had been
authorised to submit to him, but, as he would see, it left a way open to a discussion
of the whole question.
11. Article IQ (Slavery). I told his Highness that His Majesty’s Government
were not prepared to accept this counter-draft, but, as a concession, if he would
accept our original proposal, would be prepared to limit its duration until the year
1936. I said we hoped that before that date arrived the Persian Government midit
be able to play their part in helping to suppress slavery in the Gulf, and, in the
circumstances, I saw nothing wounding to Persian amour-propre in our proposal.
His Highness hotly contested this, and said that when he had proposed the reciprocal
right of search this was merely to save the Persian face, because, as I knew, the
Persians had no war vessels of any kind which were in a position to carry out a
search. He could not see, therefore,, why we should not accept his proposal, which
gave us all we wanted while saving the Persian face. He then went on to say that,
under recent legislation, any slave who set foot on Persian soil was automatically a
free man. Persia was as much opposed to slavery as His Majesty’s Government, and
was only too ready to collaborate in its suppression within the limit of her sovereign
rights. She could, therefore, never accept any one-sided agreement and would agree
to no form of slavery convention except on a basis of absolute reciprocity.
12. We did not discuss any of the other articles, and I am to have another
interview with his Highness on the 20th August, when he will have had time to study
the present proposals in detail and will, no doubt, submit his own counter-proposals.
13. I told his Highness that I was leaving the draft in its present skeleton form
in order that he might see roughly what sort of treaty we had in mind, and that it
appeared to His Majesty s Government more convenient to include all these various
subjects in one treaty. He did not demur to this, and I said that there might possibly
be other articles to be put in later.
^ 14. I am sending a copy of this despatch, with its enclosure, to the Foreign
Secretary to the Government of India.
I have, &c.
R. H. CLIVE
Enclosure in No. 1.
Projet de Traite.
i SA Majeste le Roi de la Grande-Bretagne, de Tlrlande et des Dominions
Drrtanmques au dela des Mers, Empereur des Indes, et Sa Majeste imperial k
Shah de Perse, J
Desireux de renforcer les relations amicales existant entre eux,