'File 35/10 Attack on Muscat by Shaikh Salih, 1895' [‎116r] (231/240)

No. io 65-E.
From
The SECRETARY to the GOVERNMENT of INDIA,
To
The POLITICAL RESIDENT A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
Simla, the 2gth May i8g$*
Sir,
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter marginally noted,
^No. c, dated the 2isi March 1895. enclosing copy of a full report by the
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. , Maskat, on events con
nected with the late rising in Oman.
2. Details as to compensation to British subjects, for loss occasioned to
their property during the disturbances, cannot probably be-settled until the work
of the Committee now sitting to investigate the various claims is finished.
Meanwhile the Government of India approve of your view that reparation should
be exacted from the offending tribes in the form of a tax to be levied on their
export trade, and that a demand for this should be made on the Sultan.
3. Direct action against the tribes, such as that taken in 1879, after Sheikh
correspondence ending with the letter from Sallh's attack On Mattrah, should be
the Government of India in the Foreign Depart- ■jii,' * ri tt i •
ment No. 309 -E.P., dated the 18th February 1881. aVOlCleQ J DUt in VlCW 01 the Slight authority
exercised by the Sultan over the tribes who rebelled against him, and in order to
assist him in recovering the tax he will be called upon to impose. His Highness
may be authorised to notify in distinct terms to the tribes concerned that his
demands upon them are made at the instance of the British Government for
acts committed by the tribes against the property of British subjects during
the rebellion.
4. At the same time His Highness should be given clearly to understand
that his responsibility as Ruler of Maskat in the matter of making good the
losses of British subjects is in no way lessened by the fact that the Government
of India consent to the levy of compensation in the manner indicated.
5. Should you consider early action desirable with a view to the recovery of
a portion of the indemnity during the present year, the 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. may
intimate to the Sultan the decision at which the Government of India have
arrived in time to admit of the issue of the notification to the tribes and of the
imposition of the tax before the coming date season opens. The rate of the tax
may be settled by His Highness in consultation with the 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. , on the
principle that it should be sufficient to produce in two, or at the most in three
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