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‘Memorandum respecting the frontier between Mohammerah and Turkey.’ [29r] (57/82)
The record is made up of 1 file (41 folios, 5 maps). It was created in 3 Apr 1912. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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APPENDIX (A).
British Assurances given io the Sheikh of Mohmhmerah, 3899 and 1902-10.
IN November 1899, when Sir H. M. Durand, Her Majesty's Minister at Tehran,
visited the Kamn, the Sheikh of Mohammerah, who had been anxious to obtain
guarantees relative to the independence of his territories in certain eventualities,
submitted a request for assurances. Sir H. M. Durand thereupon instructed Colonel
Meade, British Resident in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
, to make a communication to him to the
effect that—
we cannot, of course, undertake to maintain tlie sheikh against the Persian Government, nor
can we say that, if the Persian Government breaks up, we can guarantee his independence. Our
Government does not, I imagine, contemplate such a contingency. But we can tell him that we
consider him the most influential person in this part of the world, and we intend as far as possible
to support him, believing that it is for the interest of the country that he should be strong. If
ever he wants our advice we will give it. In return we expect he will help us in matters of trade
and the like.
As to the Customs withdrawal from Mohammerah, I will do all I can to help him. He may
rely upon our good-will at all times, and upon our help whenever we can give it without ill-faith
to the Persian Government.*
Cn the 7th December, 1902, Sir A. Hardinge, the British Minister at Tehran,
addressed a letter to the Sheikh of Mohammerah, in the course of which he stated that
the British Government had authorised him lo say that—
we shall protect Mohammerah against naval attack by a foreign Power, whatever pretext for
such action may be alleged, and also, so long as you remain faithful to the Shah and act in
accordance with our advice, shall continue to give you our good offices and support.
The full text of this note is as follows :—
Sir A. Hardinge to the Sheikh of Mohammerah.
(After compliments.) December 7, 1902.
I write to inform you, my honoured friend, of my return to Tehran from Europe and to
enquire after your health.
It was a great disappointment to me that I was unable to visit you this spring, but, as you
know, I was obliged to go to England instead. I hope, however, that it may be possible for me
at no distant date to have the pleasure of making your personal acquaintance.
T was very glad to hear from Hajji Reis-ut-Tujjar of the satisfactory arrangement concluded
between you and the Department of Customs. On general grounds of policy it is very desirable
that differences should as far as possible be avoided between the Persian authorities and the Arab
tribes under your rule. The relations between the British and Persian Governments are ot a
friendly character, and the preservation of the integrity and independence ot the Persian
monarchy has for many years been one of the great objects of British policy in this part of the
world. Disturbances of a nature to imperil that object would be a serious evil, and you would
gain little and might endanger much by throwing off the sovereignty of the Shah. I am
convinced that, under present circumstances, the Arabs, and yourself as their ruler, have every
interest in cultivating good and loyal relations with the Government of Tehran, and that the
latter has no desire to oppress you or curtail your authority. For this reason 1 think you acted
wisely in giving up all idea of forcible resistance to the establishment of a custom-house, and in
seeking rather to come, as I have from the first urged you to do, to a Iriendly understanding on
the subject with the Customs Administration.
Hajji Reis-ut-Tujjar asked me on your behalf to what extent you might rely on the protection
of the British Government, and I told him that so long as you behaved to us, as you have done
in the past, in a friendly manner, our influence would be exerted here to maintain you and your
tribes in the enjoyment of your hereditary rights and customs, and to dissuade the Government
of Tehran from any endeavour to diminish or interfere with them. Hajji Reis thereupon said
that you were not afraid of the Persian Government itself, nor of attack iDy neighbouring tribes
acting or professing to act under its orders; but that you wished to know whether we should
protect you in the event of an attempt by a foreign Power to depose you or deprive your people
of the rights which they at present possess. This might happen in two ways: either such a
foreign Power might be at war with Persia, and might, as an enemy of the Shah, send ships to
attack your district; or such a Power, pretending to be the friend of the Persian Government or
to act on its behalf, might attempt, also by means of its ships, to conquer you and the Arabs.
I replied that both contingencies were extremely unlikely, but il either were to arise we should, I
* Enclosure in Mr. Spring-Rice No. 15, March 20, 1900.
About this item
- Content
The memorandum concerns the border between Mohammerah [Khorramshahr] and Turkey, and was prepared by Alwyn Parker of the Foreign Office. There are a number of labels at the top of the first page: ‘Persia’, ‘Confidential’ and ‘Section 10’. The memorandum sections are as follows:
- Part I. A preface (folios 1-5), introducing the points at issue, with two maps, the first being a sketch map of the Mohammerah district, with the proposed Turkish, Persian and mediating commissioner’s lines indicated (folio 2), and a map compiled from plane table surveys by Lieutenant Arnold Talbot Wilson in 1909, with the frontier as defined by the mediating commissioners in 1850 (folio 4);
- Part II. An historical summary (folios 6-19) of British Government correspondence relating to the border dispute, with the chief focus being on correspondence exchanged during the period 1843-52, around the time of the Treaty of Erzeroum (c.1848). This part contains two copies of a map, a facsimile of a diagram of the disputed area, the original of which was enclosed by Colonel Williams in his despatch of 4 February 1850, indicating Turkish and Persian claims and the mediating commissioner’s proposal (folios 15, 19);
- Part III. Conclusion (folios 20-28), with a further map (folio 23), an exact copy of that found on folio 4.
The appendices that follow are:
- A: British assurances given to the Shaikh of Mohammerah, 1899 and 1902-10;
- B. Protocol of December 1911 (in French) for the proposal settlement of the Turco-Persian frontier question;
- C. An extract from Sir Austen Henry Layard’s Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia , published in 1887. The extract is from volume 2, pp 431-439;
- D. Rough notes made by General William Monteith when in Persia, on the frontier of Turkey and Persia, as communicated to the Foreign Office in 1843;
- E. Observations by Sir Henry Rawlinson on a Persian memorandum relative to the situation of the cities of Mohammerah and Fellahiah [Fallāḥīyah], 1844;
- F. Text of the Treaty of Erzeroum, 31 May 1847, in English and French translation;
- G. Copy of a despatch from Sir Stratford Canning, the British Ambassador to Istanbul, to Lord Palmerston, Foreign Secretary, dated 30 May 1850;
- H. Copy of a despatch from Lord Palmerston to Lord Broomfield, dated 12 July 1850.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (41 folios, 5 maps)
- Arrangement
The memorandum is arranged into three parts, labelled I, II and III, which are followed by eight lettered appendices, A-H. Historic correspondence referred to in the memorandum is referenced in the inside page margin.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: The booklet contains an original typed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/B380
- Title
- ‘Memorandum respecting the frontier between Mohammerah and Turkey.’
- Pages
- 1r:1v, 3r:14v, 16r:18v, 20r:30v, 33r:41v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence