'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎561] (704/1782)

owever '
:e(1011 ' ^ pii;
^ oittv
to Masai
tonally to al tte la
' liif orfe ^
Psted in writ^^;.
t elect,
«<1 a vist to tk St
general Dariar attci; •
n annouio
acewitltheFel,!-;:,
softheriglitsoffe
'ter 1899,
irive the F mc I i
r own control jlmtfe
jrdesijns.^foi
'ein ; (
rho owed Hsapj®' 11 '
l noftlleF^eIlciC^»5^-■
d that pnB«
:a ndin^ elS
jgubsequeDtij^
inch agents^
French m ](
i IE I''
the local representative of the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading
Company, and was joined in 1902 by two of his sons and by another
Frenchman; M. Goguyer had given trouble to his own Government
previously in Tunis and Abyssinia, but he had the powerful influence
of the French Colonial party behind him. A journalistic campaign
which he now inaugurated against British influence is described separately
elsewhere* In ]90l the chauvinistic M. Ottavi, who carried his anti-
British spleen so far as to be generally absent from Masqat, and so
to avoid dressing his flagstaff on Proclamation Day, was succeeded in the
French Vice-Consulate at Masqat by the more moderate M. Laronce.
The results of British action at Masqat were mortifying to the Settlement of
French Government, the more so on account of the publicity with which
they had been invested ; but they placed the question of the French tion qneation,
coaling station upon a clear basis and necessitated its being discussed
thereafter by the British and French Governments as a matter between
themselves. The French authorities, who evidently hoped to be able to
retain Bandar Jissah by means of suitable guarantees as to the natuie of the
French occupation, at first demurred to the view maintained by the British
Foreign Office, that the Declaration of 1862 precluded the acceptance by
either France or Britain of a cession or lease of 'Oman territory ; eventu
ally however they accepted the British reading of the tieaty. In aich
1899 an assurance was given to France that no obstacle would be laised to
her obtaining coal sheds in Masqat harbour on the same conditions as the
existing British sheds in the Makallah cove were held; this implied that
the national flag would not be flown, that defences would not be elected,
and that the basis of occupation would be sufferance merely, cornering no
territorial or sovereign rights. At the end of March Majoi Fagan, the
British Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , suggested that the British and Fiench coal } ai
might both be accommodated in the M akallah cove; and the unwil ingness
of the French Government to adopt this simple and natuial solution o
the difficulty made it even plainer than before that what t.l ie y rea Y
desired was a separate pied-a-terre in 'Oman, not coaling facilities a a ^
where steam vessels under the French flag hardly e\ei calle . 11
1899 the French Government proposed Riyam, and in Jaimaij •
Kalhuh, bays outside the Masqat harbour, as the site of the coalyar
allotted them; but the British Government declined to agiee to >
and at length in May 1900 the British offer of a division of the Ma a a^
site was accepted. The ground, after being somewhat enlarge , was
divided into two portions with equal superficies and fionta 0 e,
French, having been invited to choose, took the southern half-
unitioPj
Vide page 339 ante.
45