File 345/1908 Pt 1 'Mohammerah: situation. British assurances to Sheikh.' [‎73r] (150/416)

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty s Government.]
PERSIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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[43528]
A’ ? DRC19© i"
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No. 1.
[November 29.]
Section 3-
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edward Grey.—[Received November 29.)
•(39^
(No. 207.)
Sir, ^ 1 Tehran, November 9, 1909.
IN ray despatch No. 147 of the 27th July I reported that the Sheikh of Moh
merah was not completely satisfied with the assurances given him for himself Hra 7
“ his heirs and successors,” and that he was anxious that the words in inv an
commas should be changed to “ his own successive male descendants up to a period of
one hundred years.”
I have taken advantage of Major Cox’s visit to Tehran to confer with him on the
question of our assurances to the sheikh, and he has embodied the sheikh’s wishes in
this matter in the accompanying memorandum (Inclosure 1).
I trust that the explanations given by Major Cox of the reasons which have
impelled the sheikh to ask for the extension of our assurances to his offspring will be
considered sufficient to warrant our giving him satisfaction on ehis point.
It will be noticed that the sheikh also desires an assurance of our protection for his
private property. I take it that, in the event of any encroachment on his property in
Persia, we should in fact find it desirable to give him the necessary assistance for a
satisfactory solution, so that assurances on this head—provided they were expressly
confined to his property in Persia, for we do not, of course, wish to do anything which
might encourage him to acquire more property in Turkey—would not increase our
practical obligations. I would therefore recommend that an assurance should also be
given him on this point, and, in order to give us what would be recognised as some
locus standi for helping the sheikh in the event of the Persian Government’s interfering
with his property, I venture to hope that it may be found possible to give effect to
Major Cox’s suggestion that a decoration be conferred upon him. A favourable moment
might be after the recent agreement with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company is
disclosed, provided that its disclosure does not arouse any great agitation in the
Medjliss, in which latter event the bestowal of the decoration might be postponed for
a while.
It will be observed from Major Cox’s memorandum that the sheikh wishes to be
given a document which could be shown to his tribesmen, setting forth in brief the
assurances we have given him at various times, and that at a recent interview he
dictated to Major Cox the form which he would like it to take. I venture to think
that His Majesty’s Government might see their way to giving him this document in a
somewhat modified form. Worded as it stands at present it is open to the interpreta
tion that we have accepted the sheikh as a British protected person. It is also open to
the objection that it contains nothing to show that our undertaking is dependent on
the good behaviour of the sheikh and his offspring. These points are covered in the
amended formula marked “ Inclosure 2 ” which I beg to recommend. It would probably
satisfy the sheikh, and it seems to Major Cox and to me to commit us to no more than
we should, even if it did not exist, find ourselves compelled in our own interests to
perform. The proposed formula covers the points already referred to in this despatch,
i.e., the extension of our assurances to the sheikh’s male descendants for a stated period
and protection for his property in Persia, but does not include two further assurances
which the sheikh desires to obtain, viz., those which relate to his treatment in the
event of Great Britain’s seizing the southern customs or intervening in the south.
Major Cox and I have discussed these two points, and he thinks that it would be
possible if the sheikh reverts to the question to make him understand that His
Majesty’s Government cannot give undertakings contingent on action of their own
which they cannot regard as at all probable, and to satisfy him on the points in
question with general friendly verbal assurances. On this point if His Majesty’s
Government have any special instructions they might be given to Major Cox before his
return to his post.
I have, &c
G. BARCLAY.
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