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'Report and Proceedings of the Standing Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence on the Persian Gulf' [36r] (76/94)
The record is made up of 1 volume (43 folios). It was created in Nov 1911. It was written in English and French. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
[ 31489 ]
( 3 .)
Lieutenant-Colonel Cox to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received August 29.)
(No. 5. Confidential.)
Sir, Bushire, August 7, 1910.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Foreign Office despatch No. 1 ,
dated the 27th June, 1910, in connection with the Turco-Persian boundary question as
affecting Mohammerah.
A copy has been duly forwarded to His Majesty’s acting consul, Mohammerah, for
information.
With reference to the concluding clause of the third paragraph of Mr. Mallet’s
communication, I venture to explain that your despatch No. 146, dated the 27th
October last, to His Majesty’s Minister, Tehran, was not actually cited or referred to by
Lieutenant Wilson or myself for the reason that only the purport, and not the number
or date thereof, was communicated to me in legation despatch No. 20 of the 6 th December,
to which my communication of the 8 th May was a reply.
The terms of it, however, were by no means overlooked by either of us. On the
contrary, we clearly understood from Sir George Barclay that the mediating com
missioners’ map of 1850 had been communicated to the Porte, and that His Majesty s
Government considered that, except after consultation with the Bussian Government,
and as the result of an agreement with the Turkish Government, they could not support
atfiy line but that of 1850.
The fact was, that at the time of our previous representations of July 1909, we
were not positive as to which precisely was the mediating commissioners map of 1850,
but having been enlightened on this point, and the aspect of the line therein traced (so
far as it could be determined from the small-scale reduction at our disposal) appearing
to be extremely inconvenient from a Mohammerah point of view, we ventured to draw
attention to this fact, and to urge a reconsideration of the decision come to by His
Majesty’s Government in 1908, should it be at all feasible to recede from it on the score
of expediency. ^ i j c
The following reasonings underlay our representation (if I may be pardoned tor
retailing them) :—
It is true that a copy of the map of 1850 was communicated to the Porte,^ but they
did not accept the lipe at the time. No mention was made of it in the identic map of
1869, nor was the commission of 1850 even referred to in the accompanying declaration
of that year. Evidence to show that it was upheld by the commission of 1876 does not
appear to be in any way definitive, and, lastly, it would appear that the Porte have not
been actually apprised of the attitude of His Majesty’s Government as indicated m
Foreign Office despatch No. 75 of the 25th February, 1908, to His Majesty s Ambas
sador at Constantinople. In view, therefore, of these considerations, we do not seem,
vis-d-vis the Porte, to be irrevocably committed as yet to father the line of 1850 _^ ow
that we realise (as far as it is possible to judge from the small-scale map available to
us) what that line apparently is, and see that the enforcement of it would mean a
highly inconvenient and impracticable alteration of the boundary locally accepted and
acted on for many years past, and would produce a most complicated situation, ’veiy
preiudicial to our interests with the Sheikh of Mohammerah, we beg to enquire il there
is no possibility of devising a way of escape from it in anticipation ol the raising o e
issue.
I learn from Mr. Mallet’s present letter that His Majesty’s Government, after
reconsideration of the question, hold that there is not, and that they feel obliged to
adhere to the decision intimated to me in Sir George Barclays despatch ol the
6 th December, 1909. -i , i o i
There are, however, one or two points brought out by your despatch under reply
upon which I venture to touch before concluding. . . ,
It is noted that in the records ol His Majesty’s Government neither the ongina
nor any copy of the mediating commissioners’ map of 1850 exists, the original having
been irrevocably lost before "it reached England. ^ The only authentic version of the
mediating commissioners’ map extant must therefore be the copy communicated to t le
Porte. Is it known for certain whether that document was a replica or a reduction ol
the original, and whether it still exists in the archives of the Porte, and could be
produced by them ? .,141
Again, short of the production by the Turks of the copy given to them, apparently
-’ 4 ] S
About this item
- Content
The report was printed for the Committee of Imperial Defence, November 1911, and approved on 14 December 1911. It concerns the situation in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. regarding the extent to which Turkish claims aligned with British interests, and engagements already made with the Sheikh of Koweit [Kuwait] and other chiefs.
It includes the following:
- Report - The Standing Sub-Committee advise on the terminus of the Baghdad Railway, control of the navigation of the Shat-Al-Arab [Shatt al Arab], and the limits of Turkish sovereignty in the Shat-Al-Arab and on the shores of the Gulf.
- Proceedings - minutes of the First Meeting, 24 May 1911; and minutes of the Second Meeting, 15 June 1911.
The following appendices are also contained in the report:
I. Memorandum on Turkish aggression in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , by the Foreign Office.
II. Memorandum on local action in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , by the General Staff, War Office.
III. Letter on the Shat-Al-Arab and Koweit, from the Naval Commander-in-chief, East Indies, to the Government of India.
IV. Report of the Inter-Departmental Conference on the Baghdad Railway terminus, by the Foreign Office, 1907.
V. Foreign Office correspondence on the frontier of Muhamrah (Mohammerah)[Khorramshahr].
VI. Memorandum on the Turco-Persian boundary question 1833-1906, by the Foreign Office.
VII. Foreign Office correspondence on the frontier of Mohammerah, 1906-1911.
Some treaty extracts and agreements are in French.
Also contains three maps:
f 25: 'MAP OF MOHAMMERAH AND DISTRICT PREPARED IN 1850'
f 43: 'Sketch of APPROACHES TO KUWEIT HARBOUR AND SHATT AL ARAB'
f 44: ' PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. AND ADJACENT COUNTRIES'
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (43 folios)
- Arrangement
The file consists of a single report and three accompanying maps. A contents page at the front of the volume (ff 3-4) references the volume’s original printed pagination.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 45; 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. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/130
- Title
- 'Report and Proceedings of the Standing Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence on the Persian Gulf'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:24v, 26r:27r, 29v:30r, 31r:32v, 33v:42v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence