Letter from Louis Mallet, Under-Secretary of State for India, to Robert Bourke, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs [‎146r] (4/8)

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the Tm-V?.i r' auth0nt y alld responsibility of
f nmrJ»t tv, r I ,1 - lei would b8 recognized as
mplete within certain territorial limits to be fixed
tt limit?' a W0Uld be Wh0lly disallowe(i %ond
The limit of Ottoman jurisdiction along tbe
coast, if it is to be defined at all, could scarcely be
fixed at any point north of Ojair, which is opposite
the southern extremity of the island of Bahrein;
but it is precisely between that spot and Kateef
tliat, smce the settlement of the Beni Yas at Odeid
was broken up in 1878, the operations of the
piratical tribes have been carried on with almost
complete impunity. Upon this point Lord Cran-
brook would invite Lord Salisbury s attention to
Colone l Ross s letter of the 8th JVIayj enclosed in
Government of India Despatch, No, 91, of the
28th July last, which was communicated to the
Foreign Office on the 6th instant.
His Lordship apprehends that the effect of formally
recognizing any particular part of the Arab coast
and the waters adjacent as Turkish, and as, in con
sequence, closed against British cruisers, so far as
action against piratical craft is concerned, would be
the formation of an asylum which would be taken
advantage of by marauders in general, whom the
local Ottoman authorities would be unable to
control without a considerable and permanent in
crease to the Turkish naval force in the Gulf, which
the Porte has declared itself precluded from making
by considerations of expense, and which would be
open to many objections on political grounds.
The conclusion, therefore, to which Lord Cran-
brook is led is that negotiation or discussion with
the Porte on the territorial question should be
avoided; but that, in order that the obligations
contracted by the Government of India towards the
Sheikh of Bahrein and the parties to the maritime
truce may be efficiently fulfilled, the Resident in
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. should be authorized to adopt all
necessary measures for the preservation of the
peace of the seas, without regard either to Turkish
pretensions to sovereignty over the whole Arab coast,
or to the recognition of Ottoman supremacy by in
dividual Chiefs such as the Sheikh of El Bidaa, or
to the presence of Turkish officials at isolated
points.
It seems to Lord Cranbrook that Her Majesty's
Government have a right to regard the fact of
particular ports being used as bases for piratical
attacks, and certain tribes being engaged in those
attacks, as primdfacie evidence that such ports,
and such tribes are not under the effective- control
of the Ottoman Government, and that they would
be justified in issuing instructions to their officers
in accordance with this view. _
Lord Cranbrook is further of opinion that,
bavin 0 ' regard to the repeated assurances given b}
the Turkish Government in 1871-72, at the time
of the operations in Nejd, that no interterence wit
the littoral tribes was intended, and to the as otten
3122, A 2
m
14-2.