'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎38r] (80/180)

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him to be followed by the 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. steamer " Lawrence " to Abu Dhabi, where
he landed in full uniform. After spending some days with the Shaikh at Abu
Dhabi the Sartip paid a visit to Dibai; and then, returning to Abu Dhabi, he
took his departure for Lingeh in a native sailing vessel. The Trucial Shaikhs, who
had pledged themselves to reticence towards the British authorities, at first
preserved an impenetrable silence regarding the designs of Ahmad Khan; but
at length, the Shaikh of Dibai having been persuaded "to unbosom himself to the
Sultan of 'Oman, it transpired that the Sartip had proposed the establishment of
close relations between the Shaikhs and the Persian Government with a view to
the exclusion of British influence from Trucial 'Oman. In January 1888 Ahmad
Khan, apparently believing the way to be now sufficiently prepared, returned from
Bushehr to the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. in a native vessel. He brought with him a number
of Persian flags, presumably for distribution, and, being a man of method, would
have commenced operations in the neighbourhood of Ras Musandam; but the
inhabitants of that tract refused to let him land. Later, accompanied by the Shaikh
of Qishm and a number of armed men, he had an interview with the Shaikh of
Umm-al-Qaiwain; but soon after this, the impracticability of his scheme having
quickly become apparent, he again withdrew to Persia. The Persian Government,
on a complaint being made at Tehran by the British Legation, repudiated the
Sartip's action and even volunteered to reprimand him; and, though they
subsequently presented him with a sword of honour, their official disavowal, being
communicated through the Commander of H.M.S. " Osprey " to the Trucial
Shaikhs, assuaged the not inconsiderable excitement to which the proceedings of
Ahmad Khan had given rise along the coast.
In December 1887, between the first and the second visit of the Sartip to the
Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , a precaution had been taken by Colonel Ross which no doubt
contributed materially to the final discomfiture of the Persian emissary; it consisted
in obtaining from the Shaikhs of Abu Dhabi, Ras-al-Khaimah, 'Ajman, Umm-al-
Qaiwain, Sharjah and Dibai a written assurance on the part of each that he would
on no account correspond or enter into an agreement with any Government
whatever except the British, and that he would not, without the assent of the
British Government, allow an agent of any other Government to reside in his
dominions. These undertakings were forwarded by the Government of India to
the Secretary of State for India.
During a number of years, as elsewhere related, the Turkish Government
showed considerable interest in the dispute between the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi and
the Qubaisat rebels against his authority who had settled at Khor-al-"Odaid in the
vicinity of Qatar; and, subsequently, the protracted war between the Abu Dhabi
Shaikh and the A1 Thani Shaikh of Qatar provided the Turks with an excuse for
a correspondence with the former, in which they pretended to exercise authority
over him.
But the principal reason for attaching the Shaikhs of Trucial "Oman to the
British Government by new and more stringent obligations was the appearance
of two Frenchmen upon the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , whose object was suspected to be
political intrigue; for a forward movement on the part of the French Government
had, by the simple expedient of distributing French flags, lately been begun in
'Oman. Of the two suspicious individuals one was named Tramier or Thorny,
while the other was a M. Chapuy, " half adventurer, half merchant and wholly
intriguer", who two years later came to notice again through his proceedings at
Siir in the 'Oman Sultanate. The Shaikh of Umm-al-Qaiwain, who was three
times visited by the associates and received presents from them, fell to some extent
under their influence; he was easily convinced of the advantages of the French
flag, which now enabled more than a dozen vessels belonging to Stir to engage
in the slave trade without fear of molestation by British cruisers; and he even
offered to write a letter to the French Government, promising a good reception
in his country to citizens of the French Republic.
In view of the mischievous activity of MM. Chapuy and Framier, who were
at length reported to have obtained the grant of a site at Umm-al-Qaiwain, Major
A. Talbot, the British Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Gulf, suggested the conclusion of
a formal Agreement on the lines of the written assurances of December 1887; and,
his proposals having been approved by the Government ol India, an Exclusive
Agreement was signed on various dates in March 1892 by the Trucial Shaikhs
at this time six in number through the existence of a separate Shaikhdom of
Ras-al-Khaimah—and by the Shaikh of Bahrain. Under this Agreement the
Shaikhs bound themselves, their heirs, and their successors (1) on no account to
Preliminary
exclusive
assurances,
1887.
Turkish
intrigues.
Proceedings
of suspected
French
agents, 1891.
The Exclusive
Agreement.
March 1892.