'Précis of correspondence regarding the affairs of the Persian Gulf, 1801-1853' [‎84v] (168/344)

148
Part 7— Chap. XXXVI.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
REMOVAL OF Mr. BIllJCE AXD APPOINTMENT OF LIEU
TENANT M AC LEOD AS RESIDENT AT BLSHIRE. INS
TRUCTIONS TO THE NEW RESIDENT AS TO THE
BRITISH POLICY IN THE GULF-NOVEMBER 1823.
291. After the recent unathorized proceedings of Mr. Bruce, especially in
Volume 91 Of 1822,page 358. connection with the treaty concluded by
him with the Shiraz Government, Gov
ernment had, as we have seen, to remove him from the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. and
appointed in his place Lieutenant John McLeod, who had been employed in
various capacities in the recent expeditions on the Gulf. The instructions
issued to him by the Bombay Government as to the line of policy to be followed
by him on their letter No. 1584, dated 12th November 1822, is an important
document and printed therefore at length below :—
The Honourable the Governor in Council having been under the necessity of removing
Captain Bruce from the situation of Resident at Bushire, for the reasons stated in the enclosed
copy of a correspondence with that officer, has been pleased to select you to succeed Captain
Bruce under the designation of Resident in the Gulf of Persia.
2. In furnishing you with the necessary instructions for the regulation of your conduct,
it is necessary to premise that they embrace two objects ; one, immediate, arising out of the
effect to be apprehended from Captain Brace's unauthorized proceedings, and the other of a
permanent nature connected with your office of Resident and the maintenance of the policy
which it has been determined to pursue with the view of keeping down piracy in the Persian
Gulf.
3. The powers whose reliance on our good faith are likely to be shaken and their alarms
excited, by the agreement entered into by Captain Bruce, are the Imam of Maskat and the
Uttubi tribe of Arabs in general, and especially the Shaik of Bahrein, an island which it
has been an object equally with Persia and the State of Maskat to reduce and annex to its
sovereignty, whilst a considerable degree of jealousy in establishing an ascendency over the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. has long subsisted between those two Powers.
4. The effect of Captain Bruce's proceedings is calculated to impress the Imam of
Maskat and the Shaik of Bahrein with an apprehension that, instead of observing a jjerfect
neutrality in the Gulf, and limiting our interference to a control of all measures likely to lead
to a renewal of piracy founded on Major-General Sir William Kier's treaties, we have
thrown our whole influence in the scale in tavor of Persia in support of its general views of
supremacy over every island and possession in the Gulf of Persia.
5. The enclosed letters from the Honourable the Governor to the Imam of Maskat and
the Shaikh of Bahrein are intended to remove any doubts or apprehensions which the conduct
of Captain Bruce may have excited in that respect, it will be your duty to enforce on the
conviction of those Chiefs the assurances contained in those letters j and of the determination
of the British Government strictly to adhere to the line of policy it has observed in its
relations towards the different powers in the Gulf, unaffected, in the slighest decree, by
Captain Bruce's agreement which having been unauthorized and disavowed lias of course' no
existence.
Yon W\\\ to them that our views are not at all changed by withdrawinq
our troops from Kishm which is to he restored to the Imam of Maskat as the power with
whose permission we occupied it,
7. The Governor in Council anticipates your experiencing a greater degree of difficulty
in removing the dissatisfaction of the Prince of Sepiraz in the disavowal of an agreement so
decidedly favourable to Persia than you will meet with in reconciling the Imam of Maskat
and the Shaik of Bahrein to the integrity of our views.
8. Should you find His Royal Highness at all disappointed at our disavowal of Captain
Bruce's agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. on this occasion, you will express your regret that His Royal Highness did
not demand from that officer his authority for proposing an agreement so much at variance
with our policy before he directed his minister to enter into the negotiation. You will refer to
the whole tenor of our communications to the Persian Government and of our conduct since
the occupation of Kishm and our negotiations with the Arab States for proof that the
permanent suppression of piracy, and the conservation of the peace of the Gulf by the
friendly interposition of our power and influencey has been alone the ruling principle of that