'Persian Gulf - Turkish jurisdiction along the Arabian coast (Part I)' [‎137r] (14/30)

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Gu ^'SrLf P 0Ur SUp f macy iu the ^ ers ian
noi h v r, v Tr z
now ply weekly from oae end of the Gulf to the
in the ^ ?'i r , sul !j ects 1 ' ave embarked large capital
m the pearl fisheries on the coast, and in the com-
meree of Mesopotamia, Persia, and Arabia. Every
day the importance of the Gulf as a commercial
highway between Europe and the East is increasing.
iiven it the political engagements which we have
contracted admitted of such a course, and Persia
were possessed of an adequate naval force, it would
be almost impossible and certainly impolitic to
commit to her the guardianship of these vast and
varied interests. Any indication on our part even
01 a desire to do so would probably be followed by
the decline of trade, the outbreak of hostilities,
piracy, and plunder, and a return to the disorder
and lawlessness which during the last half century
we have so successfully restrained."
In a further Despatch, dated the 20th May 1870
(No. 28, Secret), Lord Mayo's Government pointed
out that the action of Persia in regard to Bahrein
had had the effect of reviving equally obsolete
claims on the part of Turkey, and declared the real
status of the island to be that " of an independent
" State, subject neither to Persia nor to Turkey,
" neither to the Wahabees nor yet to Muscat, nor
" yet to the British Government." They then went
on, para. 12 :—
"We have already, in our Despatch of 22nd
February, so fully explained our position and policy
in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. that we have little or nothing
to add. "We can only repeat that our protectorate
in the Gulf is a matter of obligation rather than of
right; that we have pledged ourselves to the Arab
Chiefs who are parties to the maritime peace to
watch over the peace of the Gulf, to put down
aggressions by sea, and to take all necessary steps
for the reparation of injuries inflicted on them,
and that from these obligations we cannot, in good
faith, recede, Persia has not the means, even if
she had the will, to undertake the duty of pro
tecting the peace of the Gulf. She has no naval
force. Her interests, as the present correspondence
so well illustrates, are antagonistic, not only to
those of the petty Arab Chiefs, but to those of the
other great powers whose dominions extend to the
shores of the Gulf and the neighbouring seas, and
it is our deliberate opinion that even were we pre
pared to abandon engagements to the performance
of which British faith is pledged, our withdrawal
from our present position would most probably be
followed not only by war but by a return to that
state of piracy and anarchy against which our long
course of action in the Gulf has been so successfully
directed. , . ti -
" We cannot too strongly impress upon Hei
Majesty's Government that there is no middle
2982.
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