'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎20r] (44/180)

negotiations, were as follow: by the Shaikh of Sharjah, 6th January 1820; by the
Shaikh of Khatt and Falaiyah (Hasan-bin-Rahmah); 8th January; by the Shaikh
of Dibai, 9th January; by the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, Uth January; and by the
Shaikhs of Bahrain (through an envoy), 5th February.
The General Treaty of Peace, subscribed in turn by each of the above chiefs
after the obligations imposed on him by his preliminary agreement had been
fulfilled, and also by some additional Shaikhs, was signed as below: by Hasan-
bin-Rahmah of Khatt and Falaiyah, formerly of Ras-al-Khaimah and by Qadhib-
bin-Ahmad of JazTrat-al-Hamra, at Ras-al-Khaimah on the 8th of January 1820;
by Shaikh Shakhbut of Abu Thabi, at Ras-al-Khaimah on the 11th of January; by
Husain-bin-'Ali ol Dhayah, at Ras-al-Khaimah on the 15th of January, the day
of his release; by Zaid-bin-Saif, on behalf of his nephew the Shaikh of Dibai, at
Sharjah on the 28th of January; by Sultan-bin-Saqar of Sharjah, at that place on
the 4th of February; by Saiyid 'Abdul Jalll, envoy on behalf of the Shaikhs of
Bahrain, at Sharjah on the 5th of February, and bv the Shaikhs themselves,
Sulaiman-bm-Ahmad and 'Abdullah-bin-Ahmad, in Bahrain on the 23rd of
February; and, finally, by Rashid-bin-Hamaid of 'Ajman and 'Abdullah-bin-Rashid
of Umm-al-Qaiwain, at Falaiyah on the 15th of March. From their separate
signature of this treaty it would appear that the Shaikhs of 'Ajman and Umm-al-
Qaiwain were now considered to be independent rulers,—a status not conceded
to them in the preliminary agreements. This position they have retained to the
present day; but it may be observed, in the same connection, that the Shaikhs
of Dhayah (or Rams) and Jazirat-al-Hamra, who no longer enjoy any such
distinction, were apparently treated in 1820 as on an equality with those who
still do.
By the first article of the General Treaty of Peace the signatories bound
themselves to abstain for ever from all plunder and piracy by sea and land, in
the second article plunder and piracy were distinguished from lawful warfare; and
plunder and piracy, to whatever nation the persons attacked might belong, were
interdicted under pain of death and forfeiture of property. The third article
prescribed a flag for use by all Arabs included in the treaty, namely, that known
in the British Navy as " White-pierced-Red "; of this pattern the red centre was
understood to perpetuate the blood-red flag 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. , the emblem even at
the present day of most maritime Arabs, while the white border was symbolical of
peace. The object of the fourth article was apparently to make it clear that the
British Government entertained no political or territorial ambitions in the Persian
Gulf and would not interfere in ordinary local disputes. The fifth article, some
difficulty in enforcing which was foreseen by Sir W. Grant Keir himself
contemplated the introduction of two sets of papers, viz.,
identification of every vessel by means of measurements
signature of the chief, and a " Port Clearance," also signed bv the' chief, to certifv
the particulars of the actual voyage on which the vessel might be engaged, both of
which were to be produced on the demand of a British or " other " vessel; the object
of these provisions was to introduce law and order at sea and to prevent
irresponsible equipages from ranging the Gulf with impunity. Principally to
facilitate execution of the provisions relating to ships' papers the sixth article
empowered the " pacificated " Arabs to maintain an agent at the British Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
in the Gulf and the British Government to accredit an envoy to the Arabs, the
representative in either case to be paid or maintained by the party whose interests
he represented. The seventh article, introduced chiefly in order to make it clear
that failure of one or more signatories to conform to the treaty should not be held
to absolve the others from observance of the same, imposed upon the pacificated
Arabs the duty of co-operating with the British Government to punish plunder
and piracy. The eighth article condemned the barbarous Qasimi custom of putting
prisoners to death in cold blood and proclaimed a war of extermination against
those who should in future practise it. The ninth article, which was inserted at
the instance of General Grant Keir's Interpreter, Captain Thompson, afterwards a
distinguished Abolitionist,* prohibited the slave trade among the pacificated Arabs:
this article, which, strange to say, was accepted without demur, was described
as politically advantageous, inasmuch as the resistance to the British forces had
been carried on largely by means of slaves. The tenth article made the pacificated
Arabs free of British ports and conferred on them, in somewhat vague terms,
guarantee of British protection against aggression by all and sundry. The eleventh
a " Register " for
etc., given under
the
the
General
Treaty
concluded,
8th January,
1820.
Terms of
the Treaty.
a
See footnote in the history of the 'Oman Sultanate, page 463.
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