'File No: E.7. Qatar & Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1913' [‎51v] (119/460)

sure that any other political officer in the Gulf Is m a position to give a ttiore sati'g*
factory An East India Company trading post. replv to the question 1 have posed abo"ve, nothing but personal acquain*
tance with the Shaikh himself is likely to enable us to form a reliable judgment.
Personal acquaintance with the Shaikh is also calculated to lead us to satisfactory
conclusions as to what iorm the support to him, on which 1 lia\(' tilicady Jaid
stress, should take, for I must confess that 1 am not in a position at present to put
forward any definite proposals on this point any more than 1 can form an accurate
estimate of the Shaikh's personal qualities. On both these points We require
fuller information.
While I am unable to submit more than the general lines of the policy on
which I venture to think we should embark, I can, with some confidence, state
that the present seems a favourable opportunity for the inception of that policy,
Shaikh Abdullah bin Jasim bin Thani has recently addressed an appeal for advice
to Khan Saheb Yusuf bin Ahmad Kanoo which seems to me to show the great
need in which he stands of assistance, and how fully he realises that need. A
translation of this appeal was hurriedly transmitted to me at the moment of clos
ing the mails by the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. and, though the English is crude and faulty,
evidently clerk's work, as I have not the original Arabic to refer to, I have con
sidered it advisable to enclose a true copy as an appendix to this report. The
meaning is clear enough. The answer I propose to send to this appeal is indicated
in the following paragraph.
Your telegram No. 588 -S., dated August 18th, to my address appears to put
the possibility of my making any long stay at Katar out of the question. I would
therefore propose to leave the report on the questions I have indicated to the Poli
tical Agent, Bahrain. Should he form a favourable opinion of the Shaikh's quail-
fications and power to rule, he might then sound him as to what form of support
would be most useful to him and report, giving at the same time his own opinion.
He might also indicate confidentially to the Shaikh the nature of the payment in
the shape of a treaty which we shall at the proper time when the Shaikh's power
is firmlv established, require for our services (vide enclosures to my No. Cf. 52,
dated 21st July 1914).
Captain Keyes has so far had only a comparatively limited experience of
Arab Chiefs but, since his arrival at Bahrain, he has thrown himself con amore into
all the questions connected with his charge, and I consider that he can safely be
relied on to form an accurate estimate of the qualifications and necessities of
Shaikh Abdullah. He will, I hope, receive valuable assistance from Khan Saheb
Yusuf bin Ahmad Kanoo.
Should, therefore, the Government of India agree generally with the conclu
sions I have reached in the above statement of the Katar problem, I have the honour
to request that I may be favoured with sanction to the despatch of Captain
Keyes on the mission I have assigned to him. On receipt of this sanction Captain
Keyes, to whom a copy of this letter is being forwarded, could arrange by corre-
spondence for a meeting with Shaikh Abdullah bin Jasim bin Thani when I could
place the R. I. M. S. " Lawrence " at the disposal of the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. for the pui'
poses of the meeting.
APPENDIX.
Translation of a note attached to a letter from Shaikh Abdullah bin Jasim al ThatO
to Haji Yusuf bin Ahmad Kanoo of Bahrain-
A.C.
In these days you informed me that you had some opinion and views con
cerning my interest. I had been waiting for it from you. Now some friction has
occurred from the side of my cousins. My brother Khalifah is with them in this
matter. The cause of all this is that I do not agree with them in high^handedness-
They do not care for a woman or a subject or any foreigner. Daily they coninu
more and more high-handedness. I do not agree with them at all, because sucfl
things do not last long. If right is proved against one I wish to make him to pay
it according to justice, they stand up against it and insist m not paying up the ngl^'