168
APPENDIX TO REPORT FROM SELECT COMMITTEE
Appendix, Xo. 8.
* Government
Selections, Persian
Gulf, page 211.
with regard to Muscat and Zanzibar, should the final arbitration of the Kio-ht Honourable
the Governor General decide that the latter shall hereafter form a separate kino-dom. In
the first place, I think it would be expedient, under such circumstances, tcT conclude
separate treaties of commerce and agreements for the suppression of slavery with the
rulers of both states, inasmuch as those now in force were entered into between the
British Government and the late Syud Saeed as the paramount sovereign of the conjoined
provinces. Several important alterations would be required in the word inn- of
those documents, and the occasion might be availed of to introduce any modification in
the existing commercial treaty which the interest of British trade, as well on the east
coast of Africa as at Muscat, may render desirable. Moreover, should Her Majesty’s
Government concur in the recommendations which I submitted in my late report on the
slave trade, the same opportunity might be taken to embody them in a formal aoreement
for the effectual abolition of that traffic on the east coast of Africa, and within the territories
dependent on Muscat.
64. My next suggestion is that, in the event of Muscat being permanently severed
from Zanzibar, a proper and duly qualified British agent should be accredited to the
ruler of the former state. I learn from the “ Persian Gulf” Government selections that
a British Besident was appointed to Muscat in 1840, who was shortly after created a
consul by the Home Government, and subsequently directed to establish his consulate
at Zanzibar, where the Imam thenceforth principally resided.* By the tenor of the
original appointment, it would seem that the Besident or Agent at Muscat was placed
under the general superintendence of the Besident of the Persian Gulf; but I ani not
aware how the removal of the former to Zanzibar affected that arrangement.’ The Government,
however, appears thereafter to have been represented at Muscat by a native Jew
a very good man, I understand, in his way, but perfectly unfitted, both from want of
social status and general capacity, to occupy such a position. This person, I believe, was
required to correspond on all matters affecting British interests, as well as on the current
political affairs of the country, with the Government of Bombay, the Besident in the
Persian Gulf, and with his immediate superior, the British Agent at Zanzibar ; nevertheless,
the man himself being unable to write, was obliged to employ an Arab to indite
his letters. Such was the state of our representative relations with Muscat until a few
months ago, when Lieutenant Chester, of the Indian Navy, held the post for a short time
and subsequently Mr. Hormuzd Bassam, one of the Assistant Politicals at Aden was
put in temporary charge of the British Agency at that place. '
65. There is valid ground for believing that many of the fierce contests which have
parties in Oman, and among the tribes bordering on the Arabian side
of the Persian Gulf, might have been restrained had there been a British representative
on the spot with sufficient authority and judgment to exercise a salutary influence over
them. The Agent at Muscat, even had he been so qualified, was not empowered to act
and the time which necessarily elapsed before instructions could be received from the
Besident at Bushire must have been a serious drawback on his efficiency, I am further
of opinion that the late serious misunderstandings between Syud Thoweynee and Syud
Majeed might have been prevented in a great measure had there been a discreet and competent
British Agent at Muscat capable of affording timely advice to the former 4s it
was. Ins Highness, of course, disdained to consult Hezkiel the Jew ; and Captain Jones', the
Besident at Bushire, if in every other respect fit and acceptable to the sovereign, was at
too great a distance to effect any good. As in some measure a fair proof of the truth of
the foregoiiig remarks, I may instance the fact that, since Mr. Bassam took up his residence
at Muscat, no disturbances whatever have occurred among the tribes of Oman and
those which were rife at the period of his arrival have been arrested.
66. Under any circumstances, therefore, it appears to me that an officer of becoming
^spectabiiity and of jiroper qualifications should be appointed to the agency at Muscat.
But such an arrangement will almost be indispensable in the event of that state beinopermanently
separated from Zanzibar. Muscat will then cease to be what it had virtually
become, a mere dependency since the late Syud Saeed fixed his abode at Zanzibar. It
vill be the residence of an independent sovereign, and the seat of the government of
Oman, exercising considerable influence, for good or for evil, over a large poition of
Arabia, including the western shores of the Persian Gulf; besides which, our commercial
interests in that quarter call for such a provision on the part of the Government. There
is a large trading community of British-Indian subjects within the territories of Muscat *
that town itself has become a station for the electric telegraph ; and it seems hio-hlv
probable that regular communication by steamers will shortly be established between
Bombay and the Persian Gulf, viâ Muscat, which will give an increased stimulus to the
trade of those countries.
67. These considerations will, I hope, induce the Honourable the Governor in Council
to recommend the appointment here suggested. It is to be regretted that Mr. Bassam
who was originally engaged for Aden, is not available for the post. He "respectfully
declines to remain permanently at Muscat ; and arrangements will, I trust, be made by
Government to relieve him as soon as practicable. Moreover, Mr. Bassam is urgently
required at Aden, where his services hitherto have been eminently useful ; I had almost
said indispensable. The difficulty, perhaps, will be to find a competent successor; for the
Agent at Muscat should be well acquainted with the Arabic language; have some knowledge
