File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [‎167v] (339/566)

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Hio Maiestv’s consul, Bussorah, is accredited to a Turkish port, dwelling m a Turkish
atmosphere and hearing only Turkish reports and the Turmsh sideof the question, while
His Maiesty’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 interests of the country to which we are accredited should not be overlooked but 1
submit that a quarrel like the present cannot be regarded purely as an isolated lurko-
Persian incident, and no consideration be given to its bearing on British interests and
British policy ; and that in regard to the latter such a wide divergency ot 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 inter
national politics, our strongest interests in the Gulf are now focussed t e ea d °f h
and that our chief interests 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 m regard to this region
and it is at any rate one which has had the vindication of success m the direction of
commercial progress and advantage, which is the mam object of any policy. I must
confess that I cannot see how the attitude evidenced m Mr. Crows letter No. 46 or in
his telegrams repeated by His Majesty’s Embassy to the Foreign Office under their
Nos. 94 and 95 can be regarded as in harmony with it. Even if he were convinced that
the Sheikh of Mohammerah had by his conduct richly deserved the hostility of the vali
I submit that the British interests and position affected would have been better served
by his conferring at an earlier stage with our representative m Mohammerah, by urging
us to use influence with thee sheikh and by doing his utmost to restrain the vali m the
meanwhile, rather than by adopting the attitude he did, especially after ms cordial
testimony of the 10th March to the sheikh’s conciliatory behaviour ; and m view of the
fact that the proceedings of the vali, which he approved, must seriously affect or react
in the inrisdiction of a fellow consul as well as his own. _ That the vali should P assl ^y
go through with his arbitrary action by attacking Failieh or other means, and that
His Maiesty’s consul should ask the British Embassy at Constantinople to press for him
to be well equipped for the purpose, might serve purely Turkish interests and ml ght, i
Mr. Crow is correct in his belief, be salutary for the Sheikh of Mohammerah, but
encouragement to such a policy seems to me altogether to disregard British interests m
Mohammerah territory and the British position at the head of the Gulf, both o w ic
are inevitably affected, and both of which it is the function of us all to sa eguar an
3. I am now brought to the sheikh’s reply, to the particular accusations of recent
date quoted by the vali as the causes of his hostile action, and to the genera
accusations of the Bussorah authorities and Mr. Crow with reference to years P as h
It has added to the difficulties of the recent situation that the sheikh himsel was
away, out of personal touch with His Majesty’s consul, Mohammerah, ormysei , an
that in bis absence his interests had to reckon with an apparently heayy accumua ive
record of grievances recorded against him in the archives of His Majesty s Embassy,
necessarily based on information from Turkish sources, and, as far as he is concerne >
ex parte. I must be pardoned for exhibiting some anxiety lest the merits of his case
should suffer in his absence from this cause. It was from an analogous anxiety, an
because I realised the weak position in which Haji Bais found himself when he procee e
to Bussorah, that I was slow to take for granted that the one-sided solution whicn e
had provisionally to accept at the hands of the acting vali would be acquiesced m y
the sheikh. .
Sheikh Khazal has now returned and had an opportunity of stating his own case,
and I can best leave Lieutenant Wilson’s record of it to speak for itself. In any case
in the matter of detail I can add nothing. ,
In regard to the incidents of recent occurrence, the sheikh’s replies seem to e
satisfactory and to confirm the view that the vali had no real justification for is
action. In regard to the events of past years, Sheikh Khazal lays no claim to comp e e
blamelessness, nor has it been claimed for him. As you are aware, so far as ms o^n
territory is concerned, he has been a considerably more enlightened ruler than i
predecessors, and during the chaotic times of the last few T years his districts have een
the most secure and best governed in Persia. As ruler of a border province and as an
Arab landholder in Turkish territory he has always had a very difficult part to p a)
vis d vis the Turkish authorities at Bussorah, and left entirely to his own devices y ^
central Government, has had to protect his own interests and those of his tnbesmei
in che best way he could. It has been in the main a matter of self-preservation, an
do not think that the description of the position given in paragraph 17 of Lieu enan
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