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File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [‎148v] (301/566)

The record is made up of 1 volume (281 folios). It was created in 1910-1915. It was written in English. 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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present Wali been replaced at our instance by a less aggressive man, the Sheikh
would have recognised the value of our mediation, and would have had no
interest of his own tQt serve,,, still less excuse to give us, for disregarding our
guidance and lending his ear to the overtures which he received from the rest
less Arab element on the river. \X wll be OP^d frpjm Lieutenant Wilson’s report
that these were by no means lacking.
(tv) The question of' policy involved.^-k\\s Majesty’s Government have had
difficulty in forming a definite opinion on the actual situation owing to the fact
that the views of His Majesty’s Consul, Basrah, and myself, on the subject,
were opposed.
His Majesty’s Consul, Basrah, is accredited to a Turkish port, dwelling in
a Turkish atmosphere, and hearing only Turkish reports and the Turkish side of
the question, while His Majesty’s Consul at Mohammerah^ and I perhaps, only
see from the Persian point of view and only hear the Persian version. We are
all equally entitled to be anxious that the interest of the country to which we are-
accredited should not be overlooked, but l submit that a quarrel like the present
cannot be regarded purely as an isolated Turko-.Persian incident, and no con
sideration be given to its bearing on British interests and British policy ; and
that in regard to thedatter, such a wide divergency of opinion as would appear
to exist among us should not be possible.
I think I am right in believing that, under the present conditions of general
international politics, our strongest interests in the Gulf are now focussed at the
head of it, and that our chief interest|in Persia lie in Mohammerah territory and
Arabistan. I have, in the course of. some years’work in the Gulf, arrived at a
fairly clear personal conception of' what the policy of His Majesty’s Government
is in regard to this region, and it is at-any rate-one which has had the vindica
tion of success in the direction of commercial progress and advantage, which is
the main object pf any policy. I must confess that I, cannot see how the atti
tude evidenced in Mr. Crow’s letter No. 46, or in his telegrams repeated, by Bis
Majesty’s Embassy to, the Foreign Office under their N.os. 94 and 95, can be
regarded as in harmony wjth it. Even if be were convinced that the Shaikh of
Mohammerah had by his. conduct richly deserved the hogtility of the Wali, Isub-
mit that the British interests and position affected would have been better served
by his conferring %t an earlier stage with our representative at Mohammerah, by
urging us to use influence' with the Shjeikh, and by doing his utmost to restrain the
Wall in the meanwhile rather than by adopting the attitude he did, especially
after his cordial testimony of icth March to the Sheikh’s conciliatory behaviour;
and in view of the fact that the proceedings of the W T ali, which he approved, must
seriously affect or react in the jurisdiction of a fellow Consul as well as his own.
That the Wali should’ possibly go through with his arbitrary action by attacking
F-ailiyah or other means, and that- His Majesty’s Consul should ask the British
Embassy at Constantinople to press for him to be well equipped for the purpose,
might serve purely 1 urkish interests and might, if Mr. Crow is correct in his
belief, be salutary for the Sheikh of Mohammerah, but encouragement to such a
policy seems to altogether to disregard British interests in Mohammerah
territory and the British position at the head of the Gulf, both of which are
inevitably affected, and both, of which it i$ the function of us all to safeguard and
promote.
3 I am now brought to the Sheikh’s reply, to the particular accusations of
recent date quoted by-the Wali as to the causes of his hostile action, and to the
general accu^ations of the Basrah authorities and Mr., Crow with reference to
years past.
It' has added to the difficulties of the recent situation that the Sheikh him
self was away, out of personal touch with His Majesty’s Consul, Mohammerah,
or-myself, and that, in^is absence, his, interests had to reckon with ap apparently
he^avy accumulative record of grievances recorded against him in the archives of
His Majesty’s, Embassy, necessarily based pn information from Turkish sources,
and, as far as he is concerned, ex parte, I must be pardoned for exhibiting
some anxiety lest the merits of his case should suffer in his absence from this

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Content

Correspondence including telegrams, hand written letters and printed enclosures, discusses an attack by a Turkish gun-boat on a village - Zain, belonging to the Shaikh of Mohammerah - which lay on the Turkish bank of the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The correspondence outlines the circumstances that led to the quarrel between the Turkish authorities and the Sheikh of Mohammerah, and suggestions that the Porte should be urged to replace the Wali of Basrah with a less aggressive official.

Correspondence discusses the proposal to give the Shaikh of Mohammerah assurances against naval attack, whatever the pretext for such action; letters and telegrams also discuss the award of a decoration (Knight Commander of the Indian Empire) to the Shaikh of Mohammerah.

A letter (dated 7 December 1913) from Percy Zachariah Cox, 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. , outlines the Government of India's interests in Arabistan including: the oil fields and their future; irrigation; railway enterprises; telegraphs; Russian and German activity.

Correspondents include Percy Zachariah Cox, 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. ; Sir Gerard Lowther, Ambassador to Constantinople; Charles Murray Marling, Ambassador to Tehran; Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign affairs; Francis Edward Crow, H M Consul at Bussorah [Basra]; Arnold Talbot Wilson, H M Consul at Mohammerah; Shaikh Khazal bin Jabir, Shaikh of Mohammerah; Wali of Bussorah; Viceroy of India.

Extent and format
1 volume (281 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 345 (Mohammerah: situation) consists of two volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/132-133. The volumes are divided into two parts, with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 278; 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.

The folio sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the one ending flyleaf.

An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel throughout; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

Written in
English in Latin script
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File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [‎148v] (301/566), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/133, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100030525714.0x000066> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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