'Selection from Correspondence Relative to the Traffic in Arms in the Persian Gulf, 1897-98. Part I' [‎5r] (9/54)

and in view of the urgent need for putting some limitation upon it, I am
to request that you will take an early opportunity of submitting these
various proposals for the consideration of the Secretary of State for .Foreign
Affairs.
I have, &c..
The Under Secretary of State, Horace Walpole.
Foreign Office.
No. 2.
Foreign Office to 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. .
Foreign Office,
Sir, 13th December 1897.
I have laid before the Marquess of Salisbury your letter of the 1st Political
instant, inviting His Lordship’s attention to the necessity for adopting some No * 241 6/97.
measures to cheek or control the trade in arms and ammunition which is
now carried on with Muscat and other parts of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , from whence
it would appear that they find their -way into Afghanistan and possibly to
the tribes on the North-Western frontier of India.
Lord Salisbury concurs with Lord George Hamilton in thinking it very
desirable that some steps should be taken with this object, and I am to offer
the following observations on the various measures suggested in your
letter.
Firstly, as regards the possible prohibition of the export of arms from the
United Kingdom to Muscat, the difficulties of which are fully recognised
by Lord George Hamilton, I am to enclose a memorandum on the subject by
the Librarian of this Department, from which it will be seen that in the
present state of the law it is not practicable to forbid by Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council.
the export of arms and ammunition from the United Kingdom to certain
specified places, but that the prohibition if issued must be general.
Secondly, as regards the alternative course of obtaining from the Sultan of
Muscat a prohibition of either the export or import of arms from or into his
dominions. On this point I am to invite Lord George Hamilton’s attention
to a further memorandum by the Librarian of this Department, of which a
copy is enclosed, showing the Treaty engagements of Muscat with foreign
Powers. It will be seen that under the treaties with France, Holland, and
the United States, as well as under the Treaty of Commerce with this
country, the Sultan is precluded from prohibiting the import or export of
any articles of commerce, and that, although on one occasion, in 1892, he
prohibited the re-exportation to Africa of guns imported from that continent,
it is doubtful whether this measure could be justified if objections had been
raised to it as contrary to Treaty obligations. In view of the recent failure
of the negotiations with France for an increase of the duty on the import of
arms into Muscat, of which you were informed in the letter from this Office
of the 3rd ultimo, it seems clear that the French Government would not
agree to an actual prohibition by the Sultan of the import or export of arms
into or from his dominions.
These objections would not, however, in Lord Salisbury’s opinion, apply
to a proposal that the Sultan of Muscat should be requested by Her Majesty’s
Government and the Persian Government to issue—not a prohibition—but a
warning to residents in Muscat, both native and foreign, against the export
of arms and munitions of war to Persia and British India where such traffic
is forbidden ; and a telegram of which a copy is enclosed lias been sent to
Her Majesty’s Chargd d’Affaires at Teheran, inviting the concurrence of the
Persian Government in this cause. Should this proposal be agreed to, it
might be arranged that the warning should be strongly worded in such a
manner as to enable the authorities in this country to take the steps suggested
in your letter.
With regard to Bahrein, I am to enclose a memorandum from which it
will be seen that the Chief is not bound by any Treaty engagements which