‘A collection of treaties, engagements and sanads relating to India and neighbouring countries’ [‎7] (24/578)

PERSIA.
7
prepare for the occupation of the island of Karak in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
as a position from which the British Government could either negotiate
v ith dignity, 01 act with effect if war should he declared. The instruc
tions given to Sir Harford Jones were that he should remain at Bombay till
the issue of Sir John Malcolm’s mission was known; but that he should
proceed to Persia at once in the event of Sir John either being obliged
to lea^e without attaining' his object, or succeeding in concluding a
preliminary treaty. On Sir John Malcolm’s return, therefore, he set out
for Tehran. Further instructions to suspend his mission reached him
too late. He arrived at Tehran when the Shah had lost all faith in the
professions of the French, which, in consequence of the peace with Russia
and reverses in Europe, they were no longer able to fulfil, and he there
fore found no difficulty in concluding a preliminary Treaty (No. V). By
this treaty, concluded in March 1809, all treaties contracted by the Shah
with European powers were annulled ; he engaged to prevent the passage
of European armies through his dominions towards India; and the
English w ere to assist him with troops or a subsidy if any European
forces should invade his territories, and to take no part, except as media
tors, in any war between Persia and Afghanistan.
The validity of this treaty, subject to such modifications as might
afterwards be agreed upon, was recognized by Lord Minto; who,
however, suspended the functions of Sir H. Jones, directed him to with
draw fiom 1 ersia, and again sent Sir John Malcolm as Envoy to the
Shah for the purpose of concerting further arrangements. Meanwhile
Sir H. Jones had received orders from England to remain at Tehran
till the arrival of another Plenipotentiary, Sir Gore Ouseley, whose
powers superseded those of both Sir H. Jones and Sir J. Malcolm. A
definitive Treaty 1 (Ho. \ I), based on the preliminary Treaty of 1809,
was concluded by Sir Gore Ouseley in March 1812; but some of the
stipulations were altered in England, and it was not till 1814 that the
teims of the treaty were finally adjusted (Ho. VII). The preamble of
this Ireaty of Adjustment provided for the subsequent conclusion of a
commercial treaty: and the British representatives, Messrs. Ellis and
Moriei, addressed an official note to the Shah proposing that commerce
should remain on the footing of the Commercial Treaty of 1801 (Ho. III).
1 his proposal was not accepted, the Persian Government maintaining
that,the Commercial Treaty of 1801 had been abrogated by the Treaty
of 1814: and no steps were taken to conclude a new one. The only
security enjoyed by British merchants in Persia was that afforded by the
general friendly relations of Great Britain with Persia : except a Farman
of 1824 (Ho. VIII) abolishing export duty on horses, and another of
This treaty, although never formally ratified by His Majesty’s Government
js inserted in this collection because it is referred to in the Treaty of 1814, and the
seope of the latter treaty cannot be fully understood without comparison with it.