File 1912/897 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf. British post offices [also in Turkish Arabia]’ [‎192r] (388/462)

[Tills Document is the Property of Plis Britannic Maje sty’s Government.]
PERSIA. [January 19.]
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 1.
[2825] No. 1.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir P. Cox to Sir Edward Grey. — (Received January 19.)
(No. 115 .)
(Telegraphic.) Bushire, January 19, 1913.
RECENT Reuter telegrams emanating from Tehran and London seem to
adumbrate that His Majesty’s Government may be giving lively consideration to the
pros and cons of the grant of a further respite to the Persian Government for restoring
order on the Bushire-Ispahan road and in Ears generally, and, if this is the case, it can
only be in conjunction with an extensive scheme for the financing of the Governor-
General by Imperial Government.
Without touching on prospects of such a scheme, I venture to urge, in case
anything of the sort is on the tapis, the importance of our securing from the Persian
Government, in return for such forbearance, the preliminary settlement of various
desiderata, regulation of which would assist towards the consolidation of our position and
legitimate interests. Immediate loss both in trade and prestige which will be involved
to us by further long-suffering is so considerable that it would appear gratuitously
quixotic for us to refrain from requiring the Persian Government, as a condition of it,
to recompense us as far as they can for the damage their impotence brings on us.
Satisfaction of our requirements in these matters involves no difficulty or loss of
authority or dignity for the Persian Government, and, moreover, it is not our position
vis-a-vis of Persia which we seek to better thereby, but our position vis-a-vis of foreign
Powers. To the strengthening of this latter position Persia should be interested
little less than ourselves, for she must surely now see in Great Britain a friendly Power
whose [? aim] it is to uphold her.
Desiderata which occurred to me are as follows :—
1. Documentary recognition of our prescriptive rights to control lighting, buoying,
and policing of Gulf in the same way that our position has been recognised in respect
of quarantine, in regard to which the position might with advantage be reaffirmed
incidentally.
2. Documentary recognition as a permanency of the old prescriptive postal rights
and privileges which we still enjoy, and an expression of readiness to see those
extended to other Persian ports of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. as occasion may require.
3. Undertaking to refrain from giving any lease or concession, commercial or
otherwise, in Southern and South-Western Persia (i.e., in the area comprising the
British and neutral zones under the Anglo-Russian convention), or in Persian islands
of the Gulf, to any foreign subjects or Government, without the knowledge and consent
of His Majesty’s Government. We have precedent for such a request in the under
taking given by the Shah to the Russian Minister referred to in Mr. Marling’s telegram
of 27th August, 1908, to the Foreign Office, repeated by me to India on the following
day. This, perhaps, might be secured in the course of current negotiations for mining
concessions.
4. Extension of rights of navigation to the Upper Karun.
5. Abandonment of empty claims to sovereignty over Bahrein and recognition of
our protective rights over those islands and Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and our title to protect their
subjects in Persia.
6 . Undertaking to grant option to British company when the time is ripe for
formation of lighterage company in Gulf ports.
7. Acceptance of consular officer at Bampur when needed.
I make no suggestion here in connection with Kishm-Henjam position, as we
appear to be effectively consolidating ourselves in an unobtrusive way, and further
openings are likely to offer themselves.
I have expressed views on the strategical question in my telegram No. 10, dated
3rd January, to India and Tehran.
(Communicated direct to Foreign Office ; repeated to India and Tehran.)
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