'Muscat Dhows Arbitration. In the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague. Grant of the French Flag to Muscat Dhows. The case on behalf of the Government of His Britannic Majesty.' [‎43v] (95/208)

48
Inclosure 2 in No, 1.
Sir A. Hardinge to M. Laronce,
(Translation.)
8ir, Zanzibar, June 8,1898.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of to-day's date, on
the subject of Salim-bin-Seif. I have just had a conversation as to this matter with General
Raikes.
You are aware that a difference of opinion has for a long time past existed between our two
Governments respecting the question of the conditions which justify the registration as French
proteges ot persons who could not claim that character in virtue of their origin, or of the text
of the Treaties. The correspondence which has passed between Her Majesty's Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and
your predecessors on the cases (to cite only a few) of Sheikh Abdullah, of Salim-bin-Abderahman,
and of Salim-bin-AH Ei Eiani, indicates clearly enough the principles on which our view of
this question rests, and I am therefore unable to admit that the mere fact of Salim-bin-Seif's
being entered on your registers, or of the presence on board his dhows of a French flag, is
sufficient of itself to withdraw him from the jurisdiction to which he naturally belongs. I
have accordingly recommended General Raikes, before taking any further step, to inquire from
you as to the date and place at which the prisoner was registered, the authority which granted,
and the grounds which led to, his registration. Should these particulars establish the right
of Salim-bin-Seif to French protection, I will request the local Government to surrender him
to you to be tried before your Court. So far his examination has elicited no reason which would
warrant such a measure, for although he states that he was born (of an Arab father) in the
Comoro Islands, he left, on his own showing, that territory nearly fifty years ago, and therefore
at a period long anterior to the establishment of the French protectorate.
I have, &c.
(Signed) ARTHUR H. HARDINGE
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
M. Laronce to Sir A. Hardinge.
M. I'Agent et Consul-General, Zanzibar, le 9 Juin, 1898.
VOUS m'avez fait I'honneur de m'adresser le 8 de ce mois une lettre au sujet de I'affaire
Selim-bin-Seif. Vous constatez que nos deux Gouvernements professent une opinion differente
sur la question de nationalite des personnes qui se reclament aujourd'hui de la protection
fran9aise.
U semble que la consideration de ce seul fait, d'echange de vues entre Paris et Londres k
ce sujet, devait suffire a arreter le Premier Ministre de Sa Hautesse par interim dans I'application
d'une mesure qu'il ne saurait encore justifier.
Ainsi que je I'ai fait remarquer ce jour meme au General Raikes, I'enquete k laquelleil se livre
vis-k-vis de ce Consulat, apr&s les assurances contenues dans ma lettre du 7 courant, n'est point
d'une correction absolue au point de vue des regies de la courtoisie internationale.
Aucun Consulat etranger, a ce que je crois, ne saurait repondre a une pareille exigence de la
part des autorites locales en ce qui concerne une question d'ordre int&ieur.
J'ai rappele egalement au General Raikes qu'en Aout 1897, lorsque le " Majunga," appartenant
au meme proprietaire, fut arrets par Mr. Farler dans les eaux de Pemba, Sir Lloyd Mathews avait
partage a I'^gard de la nationalite de S61im-bin-Seif une opinion tout a fait contraire a celle qu'il
prof esse aujourd'hui.
J'ai signal^ au Premier Ministre par interim de Sa Hautesse la contradiction qui existe
actuellement entre son administration et celle du titulaire du poste qu'il occupe maintenant.
Enfin, en dernier lieu, il y a la une grave atteinte portee au pavilion derriere lequel s'est
abrit£ jusqu'ici Selim-bin-Seif, centre laquelle je proteste ; je reitere mes plus expresses reserves,
au nom de mon Gouvernement, quant aux suites de I'incident qu'a cru devoir soulever le General
Raikes.
Je profite, &c.
(Sign£) R. LARONCE.