'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎16v] (37/180)

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under orders from the Government of India, detailed suggestions for the pacifica
tion of the Gulf. It was believed that a stubborn resistance would be offered by
the Oawasim, to overcome which, a strong land force, estimated by the Government
of Bombay at 3,000, and by the Government of India at 4,000 or 5,000 men, would
be required; and, as on account of the position of affairs in the Dakkhan not a
single battalion could be spared in time for service abroad during the approaching
winter, the Government of India directed that the expedition should be postponed
until the following year. The Wahhabi power in Central Arabia had recently been
overthrown by Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , son of Muhammad 'Ali Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , Viceroy of Egypt;
and it was hoped that the eastward progress of the Egyptians, whose active
co-operation against Ras-al-Khaimah it was at the same time resolved to invite,
would in the meantime make the task of the British easier by striking terror into
the Oawasim. Pending a settlement the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. maintained the
system, which had already been for some time in force, of protecting trade by
giving convoy up and down the Gulf to trading vessels,—a duty in which they
were materially assisted by His Majesty's ships. Some of the East India Company's
vessels were placed for this purpose at the disposal of the officer of the Royal
Navy commanding in the Gulf, while others were stationed off the Persian Coast
to prevent piratical attacks upon that side.
In the following year, 1819, discussion of the measures to be taken in the Gulf
was resumed, and various schemes were proposed for ensuring the maintenance
of peace after the conclusion of the expedition. The Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. ,
who did not regard the possible introduction of the Egyptians into Gulf affairs with
much satisfaction, inclined apparently to a scheme under which the Saiyid of 'Oman
should be placed in charge for the future of the Pirate Coast and Bahrain Islands,
and should in return authorise the formation of a British settlement upon the
island of Oishm, and even defray the cost of maintaining it. The Government of
Bombay considered that the Saiyad had a hereditary claim to suzerainty over the
Pirate Coast, and that the Shaikh of Bahrain had forfeited all claim to consideration
by harbouring and protecting pirates; and they understood that the Shah of
Persia had expressed his readiness to agree to the occupation of Bahrain by the
Saiyid on condition of an annual payment of 30,000 Tumans to himself out of a
total estimated revenue of 200,000* Tumans; but they entertained some doubt
of the expediency of destroying the independence of the Shaikhs of Bahrain, and
they evidently anticipated serious opposition on the part of the Persian Govern
ment to the location of a British post on Qishm. The course which was in the
end adopted, after argument,t will appear from the sequel: it involved the
acceptance of naval and military aid from the Saiyid of 'Oman and the ultimate
occupation of Qishm under his authority, but without his financial assistance.
* The estimate must have been excessive for the Tiiman was then worth about a pound
sterling, while the present revenue of Bahrain is only about £20,000 per annum.
t An independent line was adopted by Mr. F. Warden, who had made a special study of
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. subjects, who in his capacity of Chief Secretary had not been consulted by the
Governor of Bombay in regard to the expedition, and who therefore, as a provincial member of
the Bombay Board, delivered himself on the 12th August 1819 of a monumental minute on policy.
Mr. Warden's main contention was that the Wahhabis, not the Qawasim One of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates; also used to refer to a confederation of seafaring Arabs led by the Qāsimī tribe from Ras al Khaima. , were principally to blame
for the piracies committed by the latter; and he observed: " The result of my researches has
" established this important fact, that piracy is not indigenous to the soil or the shores of the Persian
" Gulph, but of recent growth; on the contrary every tribe is rather disposed to engage in
" commercial pursuits." He argued that the molestation of British vessels was to be attributed
to undue interference by the British Government in native affairs in the Gulf; he endeavoured
to explain away the " Bassein " and "Viper" cases of 1797; and he represented the Qasamin
and 'Utiib as obliged by the Wahhabis to engage in piracy against their will. Of the Qawasim One of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates; also used to refer to a confederation of seafaring Arabs led by the Qāsimī tribe from Ras al Khaima.
he wrote: "The Joassmees then, not being free agents but compelled by the Chiefs placed over
" them by the Wahabee to engage in maritime depredations, do not appear to be so atrociously
" guilty, so deeply stained with the crimes of piracy, as 1 thought when I was less acquainted
"with their history.* * * * prevalence of piracy, then, in the Gulph of Persia
" may be attributed wholly and exclusively to the instigation of the Wahabee tribe. Under that
"impression I feel disposed in some degree to advocate the cause even of the Joassmee tribe, and
" to palliate their enormities." Mr. Warden regarded the Saiyid of 'Oman, on whose weakness
and restlessness he dwelt at length, as a most unsuitable chief to be invested with any sort of
general supremacy in the Gulf; and it cannot be doubted that he stood on firm ground when he
insisted that the Saiyid had no valid claim to the overlordship of the Pirate Coast, that the Persian
Government would object to his being placed in possession of Bahrain, and that his claim to
sovereign rights over Oishm, as against Persia, was probably ill-founded. Mr. Warden was in
favour of reducing the strength of the proposed expedition and of limiting its scope to the
restoration of the authority of Shaikh Sultan, the lawful non-Wahhabi head of the Qawasim One of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates; also used to refer to a confederation of seafaring Arabs led by the Qāsimī tribe from Ras al Khaima. , for
which purpose he would have invoked the co-operation not only of the Saiyid of 'Oman, but also
of the Shihuh, the Bani Yas, the 'Utfib of Bahrain and Kuwait, the Persians and the Turks. He