File 4535/1928 Pt 8 ‘ – PERSIAN GULF – QUESTION OF ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTECTORATES OVER KOWEIT, BAHREIN, MUSCAT, TRUCIAL COAST.’ [‎32r] (57/194)

shall be declared in the case cf Bahrein
must to some extent depend on, our success
in persuading the Persians to drop their
claim to suzerainty. The matter will call
for further consideration at a later date,
but, as at present adyised, I am inclined
to the view that, failing the withdrawal oi
the Persian claim, it may be desirable,
with a view to regularising our position
in the Islands,, that the Sheikhs should
be led to invite us to enter into a ? formal
Treaty of Protection with them, and that
we should agree to do so.
muscat.
6. The most important proposal made
by the 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. is, however,
that for the establishment of a formal
protectorate over huscat. I have given
very careful consideration to this
proposal, but the objections to it are, in
my view, insuperable. It is no doubt;
the case that the State is preserved as an
independent political entity by our
presence in the background, and.that, in
the absence of His Majesty’s Government,
the fanatical tribes of the interior, or
powerful vassals such as the hmir of
Jaalan, v/ho is now causing trouble at
Sur, would partition the country betwean
them. It is also possibly the case that,
as suggested by Sir Lionel Haworth, we
are now offered an opportunity of a sort
to regularise our position in Muscat by
the/