File 21/1911 Pt 1 'Aden Protectorate:- Italian & French recruitment of Arabs.' [‎164r] (121/270)

ENCLOSURES.
1
Enclosure No. 1 .
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. to Foreign Office.
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. ,
T 1 st February 1912.
1 am directed by the Secretary of State for India to forward, for
the consideration of the Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs, copy of
correspondence’ 1 ' with the Govern
ment of India regarding the rights
of subjects of Foreign Powers to
enter or prospect within the terri
tories of the protected Chiefs in
Sir,
* Secret Despatch to Government of
India, No. 21, of 4th August 1911.
Secret letter from Government of India,
No. 3, of 4th January 1912.
Letter from Resident, Aden, No. 467,
of 28th October 1911 (vide Bombay Pro
ceedings, November 1911).
the neighbourhood of Aden.
Premising that it is most desirable that the British Government
should possess unquestionable power to exclude foreigners from the
territories in question, I am to say that the Secretary of State for India
felt some doubt whether the practice of the local authorities did not to
some extent outrun their treaty rights. The treaties will be found in
\ oh XIII. of Aitehisoli’s work, and attention is invited especially to
numbers 23, 24, 30, 31, 37, 43-45, 47-52, 54-60, 65, 66 , 68-72, 76" 77
79, 81-83. ’ ’
It is clear that these treaties confer certain powers upon the British
Government as against the Chiefs concerned ; but it is not clear whether
they confer those powers as against foreigners. They entitle the local
authorities to ‘ advise ’ the Chiefs not to admit foreigners and to enforce
that advice. But do they justify a statement to the Italian Government
in terms so wide as those used by the Assistant Resident at Aden to the
Acting Consul-General for Italy, that “it is not possible to permit the
“ subjects of a foreign power to prospect in tracts which are under the
protection of His Majesty s Government, or his refusal of permission
to that official to visit Lahej ? In connection with this latter incident it
appears from paragraph 6 of the Governor of Bombay’s letter of 9 th
November last that the procedure followed in the case of a French
subject in 1901 was “ to advise the Padhthli Sultan to cause him to
withdraw from his territory ” ; and it will be remembered that in
August la-st, when a Turkish Consul was reported to be about to visit
the Trucial coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. (with whose Chiefs the Government of India have
somewhat similar treaties), it was proposed to send a ship in advance
and warn the Sheikh that he should refuse to allow him to land. It
appears to the Secretary of State for India that the procedure followed
in these two cases w'as the correct one.
But it will be seen that the Government of India and the
Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. have no doubt that their practice is in
accordance with the treaties, though it is not clear that the latter
Government appreciate the difference between the two methods of
procedure indicated above, and in paragraph 7 of their letter they
have misapprehended the intention of the Secretary of State. In
view, therefore, of the increasing attention that is likely to be
paid in future by Foreign Powers to the regions in question, His
Lordship would be glad to have the views of the Foreign Office on the
point at issue, and to know whether, if such a proposition as that of the
Acting Resident were laid down (for example) in connection with Abu
Musa, and were challenged by the German Government, Secretary
Sir E. Grey would be prepared to defend it.
I have, &c.,
The Under Secretary of State, R. Ritchie,
Foreign Office.
S. 143.