"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎١] (١٧٨٢/٢٨٤)

141
At this unfortunate juncture Karim Khan interposed, asserting the
Ka'ab to be Persian subjects, and insisting- that both the British and the
Turks should retire from Persian territory ; but he promised that they
should be compensated for the losses inflicted, on them by the Ka'ab. Ihe
Turks, it should be mentioned, had been much harassed by the Ka'ab in
recent years and had already taken partial action against them, with
British support, in 1761-62, 1763 and 1765. In October 1766, in conse
quence of the intervention of Karim Khan, the Turks refused to carry
on the war any longer and retired, notwithstanding the earnest and
repeated, protests of the British Agent aud Council at Basrah, within
their own borders ; and the joint campaign against the Ka'ab came to
an end. Reinforcements as strong as the original expedition were
despatched from Bombay at the beginning of 1767 ; but before their
arrival at Basrah the question had entered on a new phase, and active
operations could not with propriety be resumed.
The change in the situation was due to the arrival of a Persian envoy
at Basrah with proposals, on the part of Karim Khan, for the British
and the Turks. In consequence of the communication to the British,
Mr. Skipp of the Basrah Factory proceeded to Shiraz in April 1767 with
perplexing, if not conflicting, instructions from the Government of
Bombay and from his immediate superior, Mr. Moore, who had now taken
the place of Mr. Wrench as Agent at Basrah. Mr. Skipp, though the
visit of a European gentleman to Shiraz had been invited by the Vakil,
was not at first well received ; but in the end he was able to arrange,
provisionally, a not unsatisfactory settlement. Mr. Moore, however, who
had conceived a strong aversion both for Karim Khan and for Mr. Skipp,
referred the proposed settlement to Bombay instead of immediately rati
fying it; and he even went so far as to suggest a military combination
against Karim Khan between the East India Company and Mir Mahanna.
The Bombay Government, on learning how matters stood, authorised a
second journey by Mr. Skipp to Shiraz for the purpose of accepting the
offered settlement, or such terms as Karim Khan might still be willing to
grant; but, subject to a condition that no hostility should be shown to
Karim Khan, the Agent was invested with full discretion to make the
best arrangements that he could. Finally, on the 14th of April 1768.,
Mr. Skipp obtained an agreement from the Vakil, under which, in
consideration of the British reducing or making a serious effort to
reduce Mir Mahanna, Karim Khan was to obtain compensation for them
on account of the outrages committed by the Ka'ab and to transfer to
Intervention
of Karim
Khan
between the
British and
the Turks on
the one side
and the
Ka'ab on the
otherj 1766-
Settlement
arranged
between the
British and
Karim Khan
1767-68.