مجموعة ٣٠/ ٣٣ "الخليج الفارسي، الساحل المتصالح. سياسة حكومة بريطانيا. قائمة شيوخ الساحل المتصالح" [و‎‎٢‎٠‎٢] (٨١٨/٤٠٣)

1. In a despatch "o. C/o 6 dated 16.11.34, to the
Secret ry o. "tite i'or India the Honoiable Tne 'olitt ;al
Realdent - to the 1 orsian Gulf outlines the policy which he
suggests sho il*i oe adoutcxi towards t.he Rulers of --he Tr icial
Coast; this is to abstain from any intervention in their
i ituin*! affairs.
C. The Trxcial Coast, which stretches from ^he
a s tern aide o: TAT.wR to Cape l ‘ T T D , comprises seven
principalitieBf each ruled by an independent ,rab CIiai<h.
vrum tiiae to tiuie over a long period of years, the Government
of India has negotiated treaties . i th these 3hai<hs, the
original intention being to enable Great Britain to intervene
to put an end to the constant warfare between them and to
stop their piratical and clave trading activities, hater,
the Ghailehs undertook to have no de alings vith any other
power and not to grant pearling or oil concessions without
Great Britain's consent, no s ibsidies see : to have been
paid, and until the establishment of the Air Route, the
only expenditure incurred in res sect of the r 'racial Coast
was the ma* ntenance of a Residency Agent < native) at ' T •• J v* .
Or* it Britain’s only committment v as an undertaking to each
Shaikh to protect hi . from attack by sea; she consistently
avoiaed entimplement in their internal affairs and confined
herself to recognising successions (often secured by
assassination) subject to the acceptance ay the new shaikh
ui the treat,, obligati o ; .s under taken by his predecessor.
5. Last month, when a dispute seemed likely to
result in th< murder of the 'haikh oi GJ’A.l, certain steps
were taken by the Political author!ties wnieh they claim
were in accordance with their policy of non-intervention in
Internal affairs. lince, ho»ever, it vas found advisable
to send the Political Agent, P-aHIAZ" to aboard one
of H.f. warships, to ask lor demonstrations by aircraft and
to vivo the ffnaikh a pit sent o* .mis »rvd .nuaunitiou, iuu
since it is admit ted that tnese iueusures had n i.,^oi tant
effect in a t >holding the prestige of uhs Shaikh and bringing
iiavereru to his aiue, the i istlnctiuii between intei vedtion
md non-intervention is a very fine one. The reason for ohc
action taken on this occasion is that property ana lives
oi British subjects were in ©anger, but, as there are probably
a fe*. Indian traders in each o: these Gull ports, th .t
possibility must have arisen on numerous occasions in the
past when no action was taken.
4 . it is considered that the action taken at PI ; Al
last month was most advisable and should mark a change in the
policy of -rt at Britain towards the Shaikhs of the Trucial
Const, for nowadays SI TUI is a refuelling station lor- flying
boats and many of the stores for the landplanc station at
G” v} JA t? are landed there. bus internal mreet which
interfered ith the facilities for aircraft which have been
obtained would be a very serious matter.
Um The esident, Persian Gulf defines his
responsibilities as
(a) “Protection of lives .no property of British subjects’.
There appears to be some doubt us to what steps *»fc
are cntitlca to take under the wreatiee to ensure this.
(b) “To prevent hostilities at sea, arms traffic and slave trader
- with the exception of a very fev. isolated cases, th s
* responsibility ceased to exist eow t e ago.
.. i
(c) “The safety of the Air Route”
/although