File 345/1908 Pt 1 'Mohammerah: situation. British assurances to Sheikh.' [‎57r] (118/416)

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MINUTE.
The original assurance given by Sir A .Hardinge
to the Sheikh in December 1902 is as folloios
Hajji Reis-ut-Tujjar asked me on your behalf to what extent you might rely on the
protection of the British Government, and 1 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 by 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. 1 replied
that both contingencies were extremely unlikely, but if either were to arise, we should, I
believed, interfere, provided you had acted in accordance with our advice, and our fleet,
which is the strongest of any in the Gulf, would be employed to prevent any forcible
measures against you. I stated, however, that I would refer these questions to the
Foreign Minister of the British Government, and he has now authorized me to say that
we shall protect Mohammerah against naval attack by a foreign Power, whatever pretext
for such action may be alleged, and also,''s(rTong as you remain faithful to the Shah and
act in accordance" with our advice, shall continue to give you our good offices and
support.
eve
This was repeated in December 1908 and
tended as follows .*-
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fihg /o(j
1 am directed to repeat, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the assurances
given to your Excellency in the letter of His Majesty’s Minister, Sir Arthur Hardinge,
dated the 7th December, 1902, which is in your possession, and the terms of which
I repeated to you at our interview above referred to; and I am then to add that His
Majesty’s Government now extend those assurances to your successors.
I am further to point out that His Majesty’s Government have engaged to
respect the independence and integrity of Persia, and to explain that that undertaking
involves the maintenance of the status quo in that country and includes the
continuance of the state of autonomy which your Excellency at present enjoys.
It follows from the above that any external aggression upon your Excellency
would constitute an infringement of Persian integrity, which is recognized by the
terms of the,ApgloRussian Convention.,
This was further extended in May 1 09 as follows:-
While expressing your thanks for these amplified assurances, you represented that
they seemed to you only to safeguard you so long as Persia continued to exist as a
sovereign State and you pressed for a further assurance which would cover the
contingency of Persia ceasing to exist as a sovereign State and the intervention or
occupation by foreign Powers.
You also expressed doubt as to whether the present assurance only provided
immunity against unwarrantable encroachment on your rights by the absolute govern
ment of His Majesty the Shah, or whether it also covered prevention of similar action
on the part of parliamentary government. In reply to those representations, your
Excellency was informed that Great Britain and Russia being pledged to respect the
integrity of Persia, the British Government were not, properly speaking, able to admit
even the possibility of Persia ceasing to be a sovereign State or coming under the
occupation of a foreign Power, but that in the unlikely event of such a contingency
the assurances already given to your Excellency would become even more binding than
before.
I was further permitted to inform you that whatever change might take place in
the form of government in Persia the British Government were prepared to give you
seio. i. 724. the same support against any encroachment on your rights as was promised to you in
1902, and I was authorised to add that they were now prepared to extend the
application of those assurances to your “ heirs and successors.”