"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٩‎٨] (١٧٨٢/٣٤١)

the 9th the town was occupied without resistaucej after a short
which the artillery played the principal part. The enemy
Settlement
with the
Qawasim and
General
Treaty of
Peace, 1820.
: " vi il'tti
198
operations, but arrived too late to be of service. Lieutenant Bruce, the
British Resident at Buehehr, was attached to General Grant Kcir's staff
as his political adviser. A landing was made on the 3rd December 1819,
and on
siege in
suffered heavily in the fighting ; but the British losses were, by compari-
sion, very slight. The hill fort of Dhayah near Rams was taken on the
2-2nd December, when nearly 400 fighting men laid down their arms and
became prisoners of war; and serious operations were then at an end. In
January 1820 a fort having been constructed and a British garrison
established at Ras-al-Khaimah, the other ports of the Pirate Coast weie
visited, and a clean sweep was made of their military defences and of
their larger war vessels. A squadron also repaired to Bahrain and
obtained the surrender and destruction of several piratical craft which
had found refuge there; and similar measures were taken at Lingeh,
Mughu, ^Asalu and Kangun upon the Persian side.
These decisive proceedings quickly resulted in the submission of all
the Arab chiefs of the Pirate Coast; aud on the 8th January 1820 a
General Treaty of Peace was framed, to which on various dates they
severally became parties, and to which the Atbi Shaikhs of Bahrain also
adhered. By this Treaty the Arab signatories bound themselves and
their subjects to abstain for the future from " plunder and piracyas
distinguished from lawful aud open warfare, by sea; and various
arrangements were prescribed for ensuring a strict observance by them
of their new obligations, among these being the adoption by the tribe
of a common distinctive Hag, and the institution of a system of ships'
papers for purposes of identification. The Treaty also contained articles
directed against the inhuman practice, hitherto common, of butchering
prisoners of war, and against the slave trade. It was clearly recognised,
however, at least by the commander of the British expedition, that
security in the future would dopeud less upon the paper engagements
subscribed by the Glawasim and other tribes than upon the ability an^
alacrity of the British Government to punish violations of the same,
The policy involved in this view having fortunately been accepted
by the British authorities in India, who never again allowed a piratical
proceeding in the Persian Gulf to pass without instant notice and
punishment, the old regime of lawlessness and violence at once becam
obsolete; bat for some years vigilance and occasional action continued
to be required in order to prevents its return.