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'P. 3 733/1904. Muscat :- Commercial Treaties.' [‎329r] (243/286)

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The record is made up of 1 item (141 folios). It was created in 8 Feb 1903-23 Mar 1914. 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. .

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“THE TERMINATION OE THE ANGLO-OMAN TREATY”.
Maskat,
8 th (21st) February 1903.
(From the correspondent of the “ Novoe Vremya ”.)
The 20th February 1904 is a very important date in the history of the
development of British power in Asia On that day expires the twelve years
period named for the operation of the Treaty which was concluded on the 19th
March 1891, between Colonel Ross, British 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, and Feysal-bin-Turki-bin-Saiyid, Sultan of Maskat, the ratification of
which took place on the 20th February of the following year.
The circumstances under which this Treaty was signed were as follows :—
It is necessary, perhaps, to ascribe the termination of the absolute inde
pendence of the Oman kingdom, with regard to the Anglo-Indian Government,
to the 18th October 1856, when the great Iman Saiyid-bin-Sultan died after
a reign of 50 years. Moreover, it should be remarked that for two years before
his death he gave to his powerful ally a concession of no small importance, i.e.,
he ceded to them the island of Kuria Muria.
On the death of Saiyid-bin-Sultan his dominions were shared by two of his
sons, of which Thoweyni took the possessions in Asia, and Medjed those in
Africa.
Moreover, Thoweyni claimed suzerainty over the former African colonies
of Oman.
It was then that the Indian Government intervened in the relations
between the rival brothers, supporting the younger Medjed in his resistance,
and threatening the elder Thoweyni, so as to prevent his making the expedi
tion which he was preparing to make against his younger brother.
In the end the Anglo-Indian Government succeeded in pressing Lord
Canning on the rival brothers as arbitrator in their dispute.
On the 2nd April 1861, the decision was published, according to which the
Zanzibar Sultanate was recognised as independent, but agreed to pay his former
suzerain of Oman a yearly subsidy of 40,000 dollars.
Thus England made a double step forward towards mastery of the most
powerful of the kingdoms of Arabia and East Africa; on the one band, Oman,
a country of poor soil with a trading and warlike population, though it received
the subsidy (far from being assured for the future),—still lost the chief element
of its power ; and, on the other hand, the newly constituted African Sultanate,
rich, but with a slave population, while freed from one tutelage, was already
doomed to fall under another and more strict one.
The diplomacy of Napoleon III, who was then at the apogee of his power,
began to look askance at England’s action, and less than a year later (10th
March 1862) the French and English Governments signed a Declaration in
which they mutually agreed to respect the independence of both States—Maskat
and Zanzibar.
However, not more than four years passed before the Negro State Zanzibar
yielded to the necessity of becoming a vassal, and was under the thumb of the
Anglo-Indian Government.
Thoweyni, the Sultan of Maskat, died in 1866, and his African brother—
Medjed—declined to pay the subsidy to his son and successor, - L ^ 0 y ears
later Medjed yielded to the prudent and noble counsels of the Indian Govern
ment, and admitted his liability to pay the subsidy; but in order to maintain
his kindly dignity, expressed a wish—hardly on his own personal initiative—to
pay this subsidy into the Anglo-Indian Government treasury in Bombay,
which in May 1868, for the first time, paid the amount over to the Sultan
of Maskat.

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Content

The item discusses a proposal to revise the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation signed between Great Britain and Muscat in 1892.

The correspondence includes the opinions of the 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. , the Government of India, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Board of Trade, 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. , 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. and Consul at Muscat, and the Sultan of Muscat on the revisions required for the treaty.

The item concludes with the decision not to revise the 1891 Treaty, instead agreeing to an extension of the existing treaty for a further five years from February 1914.

Also discussed are questions arising from the proposed revision:

  • the protection of Goanese subjects of Portugal in Muscat;
  • the protection extended by the French Government to subjects of Christian powers residing at Muscat who did not have their own consul.

This is part 3 of 6. Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, year the subject file was opened, subject heading, and list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 item (141 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 208, and terminates at f 349, as part of a larger physical volume; 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.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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'P. 3 733/1904. Muscat :- Commercial Treaties.' [‎329r] (243/286), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/27/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100025795822.0x000041> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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