'الاتفاقيات القائمة بين الحكومة البريطانية ورؤساء الإمارات المتصالحة، ١٩٠٦ [ظ‎‎٤] (١٦٠/١٥)

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We opened these seas to the ships of all nations, and enabled their
flags to fly in peace. We have not seized or held your territory.
We have not destroyed your independence, but have preserved it. We
are not now going- to throw away this century of costly and triumphant
enterprise; we shall not wipe out the most unselfish page in history.
The peace of these waters must still be maintained ; your independence
will continue to be upheld; and the influence of the British Govern
ment must remain supreme.
There is one respect in which the Chiefs themselves can avert any
renewal of trouble in the future. The British Government have no
desire to interfere, and have never interfered, in your internal affairs,
provided that the Chiefs govern their territories with justice, and
respect the rights of the foreign traders residing therein. If any
internal disputes occur, you will always find a friend in the British
Resident, who will use his influence, as he has frequently done in
the past, to prevent these dissensions from coming to a head, and to
maintain the status quo ; for we could not approve of one independent
Chief attacking another Chief by land, simply because he was not
permitted to do it by sea, and thus evading the spirit of his Treaty
obligations. I will mention a case that seems to lend itself to friendly
settlement of the character that I have described. You are all of
you aware that a certain portion of that strip of the Oman coast known
as the Batineh, on the opposite side of the Oman Peninsula, is under
the authority of the Chief of the Jowasmis. Nevertheless, his authority
is contested in some quarters. It is desirable that these disputes
should cease, and that the peace should remain undisturbed.
Chiefs, these are the relations that subsist between the British
Government and yourselves. The Sovereign of the British Empire
lives so far away that none of you has ever seen or will ever see his
face; but his orders are carried out everywhere throughout his vast
dominions by the officers of his Government, and it is as his representa
tive in India who is responsible to him for your welfare that I am here
to-day to exchange greetings with you, to renew old assurances, and to
wish you prosperity in the future.