ملف ٢١٨٢ لسنة ١٩١٣، الجزء ٣ "الخليج الفارسي، معاهدة قطر" [ظ‎‎٢‎٧] (٢٥٤/٦٣)

or to clianare Abdullah for a chief who would accord it, should the matter ever
become of sufficient urgence. I have little doubt, however, that now that our
relations with Qatar have been placed on an assured and definite basis these
desiderata will be secured without much difficulty in the course of time.
6 As regards the question of slaves already existing in Qatar the Govern
ment of India will realise that if Political Officers were to take any ill-consi
dered line of action in the direction of manumission of Qatar slaves pursuant
to the conclusion of this Treaty Shaikh Abdullah’s position among his
dependents would straightway become extremely difficult. The trade in new
slaves at all events by sea has practically ceased to exist m the Gun of late
years ; a few no doubt continue to be brought over from the Mecca side, but
very few ; and among those already here it is found that apart from the initial
evil of the truck-system on which from time immemorial the pearl-fisheries
have been run, cases of serious maltreatment are by no means common,
nor are the Shaikhs concerned unamenable to advice, f am of opinion
therefore that both our requirements and the interests of the negroes
will be adequately safeguarded by our making our abstention from
interference contingent on the hypothesis that the Shaikh and his depen
dents treat their slaves fairly. Shaikh Abdullah has assured me that he
will be at pains to see justice done in any cases which are brought to his
notice. In this connection it will be remembered that in^ the case of Kuwait
we have no slave Agreement at all and in the quickly improving conditions
and civilising influences of the present day we are getting on satisfactorily
without one.
7. I was prepared in connection with the negotiation of this Treaty to
be asked by Shaikh Abdullah to take action against his disaffected elder
brother Shaikh Khalifah, but their relations seem to be a little more satis
factory at present. I offered, if Abdullah wished, to send for Khalifah and
cfive him a homily and a warning, or to write one to him, but the Shaikh
thought it was not necessary at present, but said he would ask for such help
later if the circumstances made it unavoidable. He thought Khalifah’s
line of action would be, not any open opposition, but the incitement of
3edouins to harass Qatar so as to discredit his (Abdullah’s) rule.
8. No money passed between myself and Shaikh Abdullah; the necessity
for any payment did not arise. The Shaikh, however, explained that owing
to the stoppage of all supplies of arms in the market since his accession he
was very short of them and begged me if possible to let him have some in the
same way that we had supplied others of our friends. I told him that the
matter depended on what we had to spare at the moment, as we had had so
many such appeals but that I would see what could be done when I got
back to Basrah. Shaikh Abdullah was very friendly and cordial throughout
and I think quite realises which side his bread is buttered.
9. Captain Bowie, Acting Political Agent, Bahrein, accompanied me
and I also took with me Haji Yusuf Kanoo, a prominent merchant of Bahrein
(and possessor of the Kaiser-i-Hind medal) who is Shaikh Abdullah’s com
mercial agent in Bahrein and has his confidence. He rendered me a good deal
of help in talking sensibly to the Shaikh and re-assuring him in regard to
points of doubt.
Trusting that my proceedings will be generally approved.
Enclosure No. 1.
Treaty between the British Government and Shaikh Abdullah bin Jasim bin
Thani, Shaikh of Qatar.
Whereas my grandfather, the late Shaikh Mohammed bin Thani, signed
an agreement on the 12th September 1868 engaging not to commit any
breach of the Maritime Peace, and whereas these obligations to the British
Government have devolved on me his successor in Qatar.
r