'Memorandum on Sheikh Said' [‎55v] (2/6)

‘ still it maintained that it was no less incontestable that the
‘ proprietary rights of the Sheikh could not be disputed.’
“ The Sheikh Ali Tabat, however, assured the Governor of
Hodeida in writing, that the bargain was at an end, in consequence
of the purchase-money not having been paid.
“ It was reported that the scheme for this new commercial
Company was under the protection of the Turkish Government;
that the Messagerie Imperiale Company had undertaken to pur
chase land of the Company, aud to construct works upon it; and
that the French Government, although they had given out that
they would not support the scheme, had promised to keep men-of-
war always stationed at the Settlement.
“ Mr. iiarron was accordingly instructed to ascertain what the
Forte was doing in the matter. Lord Clarendon informed
Mr. Barron that ‘ the Sultan was the real Sovereign over the
district ’ (although a portion of it was outside the Straits of Bab
el Mandeb) ; but he nevertheless instructed him to tell the Porte
confidentially that the British Government would deprecate the
establishment of a foreign Settlement in the immediate vicinity of
Aden.
“ The Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, however, assured
Mr. Barron that the scheme was not in any way under the pro
tection of the Turkish Government; and he added that the French
Government had disclaimed all knowledge of the transaction;
that the Sheikh had no right whatever to sell the territory; and
that it was the intention of the Porte to send a flotilla of two or
three small vessels to the Bed Sea with a view of preventing similar
encroachments.
“ Nevertheless it was reported in the following month that the
same French Company had definitely purchased the territory
called ‘ Sheikh Saidbut the harbour was found to be too shallow
to be serviceable, and it was believed that the scheme would be
abandoned; although M. Aubert, Secretary of the French Embassy
at Constantinople, stated to Lord Lyons, in course of conversation,
that ‘ the affair of Sheikh Said was a pending questionand he
argued that the sovereignty of the Sultan over these remote
regions was far from being established, and at all events, that the
European guarantee of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire could
not be held to extend indefinitely in directions in which the
frontier was not distinctly mentioned.
“ Still the Porte continued to deny the right of any one to
alienate the land in question to a foreign State, and proposed
either to refund the money that had been paid for it, or to allow it
to be used as a station or depot for French commerce without
its being withdrawn from the Sultan’s jurisdiction.
“ In December 1871 it was publicly reported that the French
had finally abandoned Sheikh Said; whereupon the French Con
sular Agent at Aden wrote a letter to the British Agent at Aden,
in which he said ‘ the French, or, to speak more correctly,
‘ MM. C. et A. Bazier et Raband, Freres, of Marseilles, have in
‘ no way renounced their establishment of Sheikh Saeed, which
‘ remains, as heretofore, their property absolutely. Only, as it is
‘ necessary that the question between the said mercantile house
‘ aud the Government of His Majesty the Sultan should be treated
‘ in a diplomatic way, and as the status quo has been agreed to
by both parties, with a view to this, the personnel has been
‘ provisionally re-called home, in order to avoid useless expense.”
‘ But,’ he added, ‘ the rights of us French to this territory could
‘ not be discussed otherwise than favourably by the English press,
‘ seeing that they are founded, so far as regards Turkey, on the
‘ same basis as the Residencies of Aden and Perim, formerly the
pioperty of independent Chiefs, in spite of all pretensions to the
‘ contrary.’
“ In the following month the Turkish Governor of Hodeida
was reported to have written to the French Consular Agent at
Aden re-asserting the claims of the Porte upon the territory of
Sheikh Saeed, and apprising him that formal possession of it
would shortly be taken.”
Sheikh Said was visited in 1870 by Commander
W. Chimmo, of H.M.’s surveying ship “Nassau.”
He made a sketch of the place, and submitted a
report, in which he wrote :—
.... . j suns ai oneikn »
some civil engineers, &c., and they are living in two tents,
flying the Jb reach flag and the other the Company’s fla-
n*
Mr. Barron, No. 42, 28th March 1870.
Lord Lyons, No. 266, 29th March 1870.
Mr. Barron, No. 39,'11th April 1870.
Sir H. Elliot, No. 16, 1st May 1870.
No. 82, 22nd June 1870.
No. 703, 8th July 1870.
Enclosure to Secret Letter from India,
No. 42, dated 15th July 1870. India
Correspondence, Vol. 7, p. 109.