'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎53v] (111/180)

96
Arabian
interference
in the war,
1888.
Turkish
support of
the Shaikh of
Dohah in the
war. 1889.
1890-91.
Rumoured
design of the
Turks to
occupy
'Odaid,
1890-91.
Wahhabi
attacks on
Kuwait.
1793-95.
he subsidised freely a number of the Bedouin tribes. On Ibn-Rashid makina a
favourable response to his overtures disturbances on a serious scale, and even an
attack by Jasim and his allies upon Abu Dhabi, began to be apprehended by the
British political authorities.
The Turks, however, possibly on account of warning against interference
which the Government of India asked might be conveyed to the Porte, did not
move; Ibn-Rashid also remained inactive; and Shaikh Jasim's reprisals eventually
took the shape of incursions into Liwah, in January and February 1889, in which
date plantations were cut down and men, women, and children barbarously
murdered. Shaikh Jasim also prohibited the subjects of the Shaikh of Dibai, who
had now thrown in his lot with the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, from landing in Qatar
for trade or for any other purpose. In April the Bani Yas in their turn retaliated
by an expedition to the distant region of Barr-al-Qarah, from which they carried
away a large number of camels belonging to the Bedouin tribes that supported
the Shaikh of Dohah. In June a counter-raid was made by Jasim's people in the
direction of Abu Dhabi, from which they returned with camels taken from the
Darn' and A1 Bu Shamis Na'Im. In August a number of the A1 Morrah transferred
themselves to the side of Shaikh Zaid and promised to act with him against raiders
from Qatar. In his eagerness to strike, Shaikh Jasim ventured upon one occasion
to despatch armed men and ammunition by boat to Sila', a place on the coast
considerably to the eastward of Khor-al-'Odaid and therefore under Abu Dhabi;
for this act he was severely reprimanded by the Resident under the orders of the
Government of India, an intimation being added that repetition of the offence
would entail serious consequences.
During the continuance of the war the Turkish garrison at Ddhah received
orders to assist Shaikh Jasim in defending the town, if attacked; but they were
prohibited from operating at a greater distance than 4 hours' march from Dohah.
At the end of 1889 the Wali of Basrah tried to arrange a reconciliation and wrote
a letter to Shaikh Zaid of Abu Dhabi, in which he exhorted him to submit to
Turkish arbitration with a view to the avoidance of strife and bloodshed, and for
the sake of the Muhammad an religion, common to the disputants, and of the
" latentsovereignty of the Sultan of Turkey over both, which other powers were
seeking to deny. To this communication the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, advised by
the 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. , replied that it was his own wish and intention, so long as
the Shaikh of Ddhah abstained from aggressive movements, to confine himself to
the government and protection of his own territories.
In 1890 raids and counter-raids continued, the advantage on the whole resting
with the Shaikh of Dohah; and in 1891 a raiding party from Qatar actually reached
a point beyond Abu Dhabi town and succeeded in evading pursuit.
In 1890-91, as already mentioned, there were rumours of an intention on the
part of the Turks to post a Mudir at 'Odaid; but, though a Mudir designate
actually arrived in Bahrain from Basrah at the end of 1890, they came to nothing.
Operations of the Wahhabis in Eastern Arabia, 1765-1803.
[pp. 1056-7]
Seriously occupied as the attention of the Wahhabis must have been in the
littoral districts of the Red Sea, their energy and resources were at this time such
as to permit of a simultaneous and hardly inferior display of activity along the
whole Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , where their cause made considerable
progress.
During the period from 1793 to 1795, while the British Factory An East India Company trading post. from Basrah
was temporarily established at Kuwait, frequent demonstrations and one more or
less serious attack were made upon the town by the Wahhabis, but here they gained
no success: some details ot these hostilities are given in the history of the Kuwait
principality. In regard to the nature of the relations subsisting between the British
representatives at Kuwait and the Wahhabi Amir there is some doubt; for on
the one hand it is stated that presents were regularly sent to the Amir, who in
return* protected the British desert mail to Europe, and on the other it is alleged
that the Factory An East India Company trading post. once helped the people of Kuwait to repel a Wahhabi attack,
According to Coransez (page 50) the Amir undertook to protect the British mail only so
long as he should be at peace with the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Bachdad, but once put a man to death for
tampering with it. ""