Coll 6/67(1) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar.' [‎268v] (541/794)

22
P.R. to Bo.,
14.2.65.
Bo. to S. of
S., No. 14,
28.3.65.
para. 3.
P.R. to Bo.,
No. 20,
8.4.65.
To Bo.,
14.2.65.
Lor. I, 464.
Nejd Precis,
§ 92.
Bo. to G. of
I, 21.12.65,
No. 197.
G. of I. to
Bo, 24,1.66,
No. 66.
i
1865. Colonel Felly's Visit to the Wahabi Amir.
110. In February 1865 Colonel Felly decided to visit the Wahabi Amir at his
capital. This visit is of some importance, as Ibn Sand has tended to suggest (both"
recently and in 1913, see paragraph 152 below) that an agreement (in 1913 alleged
to have been oral) was reached between Colonel Felly and his ancestor on this
occasion, it may, therefore, be recorded that the Resident’s visit, though subse
quently formally approved by both the Government of liombay and the Government
of India, was undertaken on his own initiative and without any previous reference
to or sanction of either Government; that the Resident had no instructions on the
basis of which he could have conducted negotiations. The Despatch reporting that
he was proceeding to Riyadh remarks : “ I hope that I shall leave the Wahabi
Provinces on polite terms with the people, and with the prospect of more friendly
relations with the Wahabi Government. It is possible, also, I may find an
opportunity for a casual and friendly office towards smoothing the present
differences between the Sultan of Muscat and the Wahabis.” But no report can
be traced suggesting that any understanding or agreement was reached during his
visit, or that the visit aimed at, or achieved, any object other than the establishment
of friendly personal relations, the dissipation of the view previously apparently
held that it was difficult if not impossible for a European to penetrate to Riyadh,
and some preliminary exploration of the ground in regard to the differences which
had arisen between the Wahabi Amir and the Sultan of Muscat. Nothing can be
traced in support of the suggestion that the Resident concluded any agreement
with the Amir, verbally or otherwise.
111. It may be added that among Sir Lewis Felly’s private papers Documents collected in a private capacity. in the India
Office there exists a rough private journal of a fragmentary character, which
contains inter alia some notes of his conversations with the Wahabi Amir. Here
likewise there is no reference to or suggestion of any agreement, but the following
notes are of interest: “ Assurance to my interpreter after my departure that he
[the Amir] was very pleased with the visit, that for the future he would open a new
book of relations with me, and keep all his proceedings (? unveiled) from and in
direct communication with me ” . . . “ Imam’s remark that if more cut off from
the world than other States, he was still an independent sovereign and feared
no one.”
112. Later in 1865 the Resident, with the approval of the Government of India,
offered to mediate between the Amir and Muscat, and British intervention proved
necessary owing to Wahabi activities at Sur.
Claim by Wahabi Amir that Proceedings of his Agent at Baraimi are justified by
an Agreement with H.M. Government^ 1865.
113. Meanwhile, the Amir, in reply to the remonstrances addressed to him,
endeavoured to justify his action and defended the proceedings of his Lieutenant at
Baraimi on the ground that there existed between the Wahabi Amirs and the
British Government an agreement originally effected in the time of the late Amir
Saud, and again ratified in the time of the present ruler, Turki.
114. No trace of any such treaty as that mentioned by the Wahabi Amir could
be found in the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. at Bushire or in the records of the Government of India.
The Government of India stated that it would be advisable “ for the Bombay
Government to inform the Wahabi Amir that the British Government is not aware
of the existence of any formal agreement between itself and the Amir, but that if
any such document does exist, a copy of it, no doubt, must be in the Amir’s
possession, and the Amir will do well to produce it for verification.’ 5 They proceeded,
that any encroachment on the territory of Muscat would be viewed "with grave
concern.
British Punitive Action against Wahabis, 1866.
115 Considerable subsequent discussion and correspondence took place in
regard to the affairs of Muscat during 1866, and on the 6th January in that year
a formal warning was addressed to the Amir, with a request for full and written
apologies for the Sur incident. During the month, Wahabi towers and ships were
destroyed by the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Squadron, and in February the forts at Sur were
equally destroyed by gunfire and a severe punishment inflicted on the local Wahabi