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Persian Gulf Administration Reports 1883/84 - 1904/05 [‎74v] (153/602)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (299 folios). It was created in 1884-1906. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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28
ADMINISTRATION REPORT OP THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. POLITICAL
orders to El Bahrein, Koweit, andRas El Khyma to fit out their fleets to scour the Gulf against
J Omani commerce. To these orders the Uttoobees and Kowasim demurred, as the pearl fishery
season was now commencing, and all their men were engaged, and they accordingly represented
to the Amir that they could not abandon their occupation, but the commands were repeated in
so peremptory a manner that the tribes no longer hesitated to obey, and the pearl fishery that
year was abandoned in favour of piracy. The news of the Amir's intention to extend his
aggressions by sea, as well as by land, induced the Persian Government and the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of
Baghdad to ally themselves with Seyyid Sultan against him. In the naval war that followed
Seyyid Sultan personally took an a ctive part, and did his utmost to protect his own coasts and
commerce from the insults and ravages of the piratical fleet ,• but his success was not great.
His allies had, after some show of assistance, left him in the lurch, and he was now threatened
with an invasion by land.
In this critical position, Seyyid Sultan deemed it best to try and propitiate his enemy.
He accordingly despatched a mission to Derayeh, and purchased a truce for three years by the
payment of a large sum of money, the promise of a yearly tribute of 1^,000 dollars, and the
establishment of a Wahhabee Agent at Muscat. The Amir, however, had no intention of
relinquishing his grasp on 'Oman, even on these humiliating terms. He took advantage of
the truce to re-intorce El Harik at El Bereymi, and, shortly after, perfidiously broke it by
ordering his General to march. El Harik at once poured down into the Batineh, where he
committed unspeakable atrocities, and easily overpowered the resistance he met with from the
disunited tribes in his path.
Seyyid Sultan, on hearing of El Harik's movement, hastily gathered as large a force as
he could muster, and a battle took place in Wady Heimali above Soweyk, in which the Omanis
were routed by the Wahhabees. This was the first great disaster experienced in 'Oman at the
hands of these fanatics, and Seyyid Sultan was constrained by the alarm felt everywhere to call
a council of war at Barka to discuss a plan of operations. The Shaikhs of tribes of both
actions assembled there agreed to combine against the common enemy, and it was arranged
that each tribe should contribute its quota and assemble at Khabooreh on a certain day.
El Harik after, the affair at Heimali, retired towards Sohar, to which he laid siege, and
there quietly awaited the advance of the army of defence Seyyid Sultan was raising, and which
soon numbered 12,000 men.
At this juncture the news of the death of the Wahhabee's Amir Abdul Aziz, who had been
assassinated at Derayeh in October, reached El Harik at Sohar, and the advices he then
received of affairs at home induced him to raise the siege and retire without delay to El
Bereymi, Helieved from the pressure of their exacting masters, the Kowasim speedily made
peace with Seyyid Sultan, and the 'Omanis, unacquainted with the real cause of the sudden dis
appearance of their foes, ascribed it to their own superiority in numbers or to the success of the
negociations that had been carried on by Seyyid Sultan with El Harik.
When the death of the Emperor Paul dissolved the treaty for the joint Franco-Russian
invasion of India overland, Napoleon determined that the substitution of French supremacy for
English in India should follow as a natural consequence upon the subjection of England itself,
for which purpose he at once began to make preparation. With this grand scheme before him
Napoleon, towards the close of the year 1802, while the treaty of Amiens was yet in force,
selected one of his ablest Generals, Decaen, to be the Captain General of the French possessions
in the East, and despatched him with Admiral Linoi's expedition, which sailed from Brest on the
6th March 1803.
The mission of General Decaen was to observe closely the position of the English in India
in their relation to the Native Princes, and to prepare the way for the French conquest and
occupation of India by procuring full information as to the state of affairs and extent of
armament required. After visiting Pondichery, General Decaen fixed upon the Island of
Mauritius as his head-quarters and post of observation, and on establishing himself there
immediately despatched M. de Cavaignac in the Atalanta frigate to his destination.
This M. de Cavaignac had been appointed by Napoleon Agent and Consul for France
at Muscat, and as his mission had the same object in view as that of General Decaen, to whom
he was subordinate, it may be as well to transcribe here the concluding paragraph of the long
letter of instructions written for the General's guidance by Napoleon, which indicates clearly
enough that the scheme for the conquest of India had not been relinquished, and that Decaen
might possibly be entrusted with the enterprise—
"The mission of the Captain General is, in the first instance, a mission of observation, political and
military, &c., but the first Consul, well informed by the Captain General, upon whom he relies for the punctual

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Content

The volume contains printed copies of Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Administration Reports. The Reports are incomplete (according to the introductory letters and lists of contents). Some of the Reports bear manuscript corrections. The following Reports are represented :

The Reports include a general summary 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. (covering the constituent agencies and consulates that made up 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. , and topics such as the slave trade, piracy, the movements of Royal Navy ships, official appointments, and the weather); meteorological tables; separate reports on Muscat (also referred to as Maskat); reports on trade and commerce; and a number of appendices on special topics, such as supplementary notes on the care and culture of date trees and fruit (Report, 1883-84), historical sketch of the Portuguese in eastern Arabia (Report, 1884-85), notes on a tour through Oman and El-Dhahireh [Al Dhahirah] by Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Barrett Miles (Report, 1885-86), notes on cholera in Persia (Report, 1889-90), report on the cholera epidemic in Maskat, Matrah, and Oman (Report, 1899-1900), and information on individuals and tribes.

Extent and format
1 volume (299 folios)
Arrangement

The Reports are arranged in chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume. There is an introductory letter/table of contents at the front of each Report, but these show that the Reports are not complete.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation system in use commences at 3 on the second folio after the front cover, and continues through to 299 on the back cover. The sequence is written in pencil, enclosed in a circle, and appears in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. page of each folio.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Persian Gulf Administration Reports 1883/84 - 1904/05 [‎74v] (153/602), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/709, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023373225.0x00009a> [accessed 1 December 2024]

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