‘Administration report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for 1887-88.’ [‎16v] (30/72)

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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 EI Bahrein, Koweit, and Ras El Khyma to fit ont their fleets to sconr the Gulf against
'Omanl commerce. To these orders the Uttoohees and Kowasm demurred, as the pea y
season was now commencing, and all their men were engaged, and they accord.ngly repre ented
to the Amir that they conld not abandon their occupation, but the commands were repeate m
so peremptory a manner that the tribes no longer hesitated to obey, and the pearl flshery that
year was abandoned in favour of piracy. Th6 news / the ^ S mt ™ " ^tbT iv 'ha of
aggressions by sea, as well as by land, induced the Persian Government and the Pa ha of
Baghdad to ally themselves with Seyyid Sultan against him. In the naval war that followed
Sevyid 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 12,000 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-inforce 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 fiom 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 boweyk, 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 K.habooreh 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. Relieved 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, politieal and
military, &c., but the first Consul, well informed by the Captain General, upon whom he relies for the punctual'