"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٢‎٨] (١٧٨٢/٣٧١)

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The expansion of Egypt, a process initiated in 188!, began in 1839 to
threaten seriously the districts bordering on the Persian Gulf, notwith-
standing an assurance previously given by Muhammad ^Ali to the British
representative at Cairo that his conquests would not take an easterly
direction. In 1838 the Egyptian forces had overrun Najd, installing an
Amir subservient to Egypt; and towards the end of that year, or early in
the next, the maritime province of Hasa and its ports were occupied by
them. An Egyptian political agency was established at Kuwait, probably
as an outpost in the direction of Turkish 'Iraq ; and the proceedings of the
Egyptian Commander-in-Chief in Najd soon showed that it was his aim
to reduce Bahrain, Trucial 'Oman and the 'Oman Sultanate to dependence
upon Egypt.
The Government of India, aware that the encroachments of Muhammad
; Ali in Western Turkey were regarded unfavourably by Her Majesty s
Government, at once took steps through the Naval Commander-in-Chief in
the East Indies and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to frustrate
the Egyptian designs in the Gulf. The defence of the Bahrain Islands
by a British naval force was authorised ; the Shaikhs and tribes of Trucial
'Oman were encouraged to combine against the intruders, a British officer
even visiting Baraimi to infuse courage into the Na'im of that place,
whose attitude of all the tribes was the most decidedly hostile to the
Egyptians; and an alliance was promoted, with a view to resisting
Egyptian aggression, between the Saiyid of 'Oman and his relative the
ruler of Sohar. Certain local chiefs, however, among whom the Shaikhs
of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi were conspicuous, showed a disposition to
submit to the Egyptians, whom they imagined to be irresistible because
they had defeated the Wahhabis; and the Shaikh of Bahrain even
entered into a secret agreement with the Egyptian Commander-in-Chief
and became a tributary of the Cairo Government.
In the spring of 1840 a British blockade of the Hasa coast was about
to be enforced, when the Egyptians, alarmed by the prospect of coercion
at the hands of Britain and other European powers in the Mediterranean,
suddenly evacuated Hasa and Najd. The excitement which their
restlessness had caused in Eastern Arabia then at once died away.
The accumulation of difficulties caused in 1839-40 by uncertain
relations with Russia, a great war in Afghanistan, a diplomatic crisis in
Persia, and Egyptian aggression in Syria and the Persian Gulf, must have
been embarrassing to the British Government; and it cannot but be
admitted that they confronted the situation with energy and success.
After the Egyptians had retired, their policy of dictation towaids
neighbouring Arab principalities in the Persian Gulf was resumed by the