'File 10/3 VI Qatar Oil Concession' [‎74v] (160/481)

Nejd Precis,
§ 116.
Political A,
June 1866,
Nos. 64-5.
24
" Secondly, I assure the Resident in the Persian Gnlf on the part of the
Imam Abdulla bin Feisul that he will not oppose or injure British subjects
residing in territories under the authority of Abdulla bin Feisul ; and
"Thirdly, I assure the Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , on the part of Imam
Abdulla bin Feisul, that he will not injure or attack the territories of the
Arab tribes in alliance with the British Government, especially of the Kingdom
ol Muscat, further than in receiving the zakat that has been customary of old."
119. It will be observed that this declaration was volunteered by the Wahabi
representative and does not in itself constitute a treaty between the two parties.
Its acceptance was approved by the Government of India, and the Resident
thereupon wrote to the Wahabi Amir a letter from which the following is an
extract : —
" I have received Your Highness' friendly letter by the hand of your
confidential servant, Md. bin Abdulla bin Mana and suite.
" You state that you are desirous for peace, and your envoy has handed to
me a paper, copy of which I enclose and which has been approved by H.M.
Government.
" II difficulties should hereafter arise as to the payment to be made to you
by Muscat, the English Government do not wish to interfere or become
guarantee in a matter which concerns you and the Sultan. Rut the English
Government would not object to my using my good offices in arranging the
details of an agreement, and your Envoy informs me that in the contingency
of such question arising, you will write and request my good offices. . . .
I hope this may find you in health, and if you have any difficulty send to
me a confidential Agent, and I shall always be happy to meet him on friendly
terms as I have Md. bin Abdulla bin Mana.' 1
Basis of a Wahahi Claim that H.M. Government had entered into previous
Agreements with Wahahi Amirs, 1866.
120. The Resident, in reporting the result of his final interview with the envoy,
wrote : " I asked the Wahabi envoys what the Amir meant by stating in his letters
that agreements had existed of old between his Government and the British. The
envoys replied that the Wahabi Amirs had, from time to time, received friendly
letters from the British authorities, and that the Wahabi Government considers a
friendly letter to be synonymous with a Treaty Agreement. ..."
Government of India and Turkish Claims to Suzerainty, 1866.
121. In connection with the Sur disturbances Sir Lewis Pelly appears to have
suggested that Turkish interference should be invoked against the Wahabi Amir.
The Government of India, on 11th June 1866, recorded the following comments
G. of I. to on proposal. " . . . The Government of India entirely concurs with the
Bo., No. 602, 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. in discountenancing Lt.-Col. Felly's suggestion that the
11.6.66. interference of the Turkish Government should be invoked. No good, but much
harm, would result from the question of Turkish supremacy over the Wahabi
territory being imported into our relations with the latter power. It has always
been our policy (see letter from H.B.M. Consul-General at Bagdad to our Ambassador
at Constantinople, dated 1st January 1862) [paragraph 108 above], to repudiate the
Porte's claim to authority in that quarter ; and the Governor-General in Council is
satisfied that any deviation from the principle will give rise to complications much
to be deprecated."
122. There were no further developments of importance between 1866 and the
fall of Baraimi in 1869.
Summary , 1840-1870.
123. At the beginning of this period the Wahabis were subject to the Egyptians.
Between 1843 and 1865 they reasserted themselves, re-established themselves
(though not apparently on the same scale or with the same influence as in the past)
in Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , were deterred from annexing Bahrein only by British interference,
and conducted operations against Muscat. The Government of India found it
necessary to remind them of the independence of the Trucial Sheikhs, and of the
special relations between H.M. Government and those Sheikhs (1853, 1855) to defend
Bahrein against them (1850-51, 1859), to intervene to prevent them from aggression
on Muscat, and to conduct effective expeditions against them or their proteges in 1861
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