"دليل الخليج. الجزء الأول. المواد التاريخية والسياسية. ملخص عن شؤون قطر، ١٨٧٣-١٩٠٤." [ظ‎‎٣‎٤] (٩٢/٦٨)

although reluctantly, to annul the appointment, and Mr. Crow's despatch No. 25 oF the 16tli
ultimo shows that, although action has been delated, the Wali does not deny that he
has received instructions in the sense desired by His Majesty's Government, or that he will
attempt ultimately to evade their execution.
In my telegram No. 218 (Secret)* of the 14th November 1903, I carefully refrained
from expressing the opinion, as Your Lordship's
• Paragraph 220 ante. despatch under acknowledgment seems to infer,
that an arrangement, sufh as the Convention
with the Trucial Chiefs, did not involve any departure from the policy of maintaining the
political status quo in the Persian Gulf, to which His Majesty's Government have declared
their adhesion. The question seemed to be one essentially requiring careful consideration,
setting its urgency and advantages against the ill-feeling which it will provoke in the minds
of the Ottoman Government, and seeing how far it could b.e justified as giving His Majesty's
Government the right to restrain foreign int erference in El Katr without attempting in any
other way to disturb, vis-a-vis to the Turkish Government, the status quo. This i* the one
argument that will be of much use in reconciling the Turkish Government to the Convention,
although I should also remind them that it was" only a continuance of the agreement made
in 1868 with Sheikh Muhammad-bin-Thani, referred" to in the India Office letter of the 2Uth
May.
In any case I would suggest, should His Majesty's Government decide in favour of
^concluding a Convention with Sheikh Ahmed on the lines of the Trucial Conventions, the
expediency of doing so in as quiet and secret a manner as p^sible, and basing their action
upon the necessity of acquiring power to suppress piracy, ancf to maintain intact the pearl-
fishing rights of the Arab tribes on the coast.
I do not consider that it is Your Lordship's desire that I should express mv opinion
on the merits and necessity of the policy that prompts the Government of India to advocate a
Convention with the Sheikh of Katr, Ahmed-bin-Thani, as there are others far more com-
potent to give a valuable opinion upon this subject. But I would venture to point out to
Your Lordship that at the present moment we are threatening Turkey with an armed ex-
pedition, to be manned by Bahreinese and supported by England, to avenge the murder of
Sheikh Selman, committed by the Almurrah tribe in revenge for the murder of some of their
people; that it has been decided to establish a British Post Office at Koweit and t) attach
a Resident to the Sheikh; and that we are at the same time insisting upon the removal of
the Turkish military post from Bubian Island, as also from Um Kasr, although not with quite
the same pressure. I pass without comment the observations I have made to the Sublime
Port# under Your Lordship's instructions in regard to the military operations in the Nejd.
229. The views of the India Office are expressed in the following Despatch
of the Secretary of State (No. ^l-Secret, dated 9th September 1904)
Your Excellency will observe that His Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople reo-rets
that a further question should be raised with the Turkish Government at the present moment
when there are already other matters of importance under discussion between the Porte and'
His Majesty s Government, and that he does not consider that the conclusion of the proposed
agreement with Sheikh Ahmed is warranted by the delay of the Turkish Government in
cancelling the Mudirate at Wakra. It appears, however, (from His Excellency's Despatch of
28th June 1904, that he considers that such an agreement might be justified to the Turkish
Government on the ground that its object is to give His Majesty 's Government the rio-ht to
restrain foreign interference in El Katr, without attempting in any other way to disturb the
status quo so far as the Turkish Government is concerned.
The decision, therefore, depends upon the question whether the objects to be attained br
the proposed agreement are of sufficient^ importance to counterbalance the suspicion and ill-
will which it would be calculated to arouse in the minds of the Turkish Government. The El
Katr coast at present constitutes a break in the continuity of our maritime influence "along the
shores of this part of the Gulf, lying as it does between the island of Bahrein and the Pirate
Coast. The absence o!; any agreement with the Sheikh may, prove, in certain contincrencies a
hindrance to the proper exercise by His Majesty's ships of their duties in the suppression of
piracy and the maintenance of the peace of the Gulf. It also presents a difficulty of considerable
importance from the point of view of the protection of the pearl fisheries from outside interfer-
rence, to which reference is made in your letter under reply.
The argument which Sir N. O'Conor bases on the multiplicity of points in the Persian
Gulf, regarding which he is simultaneously pressing the Ottoman Government, is of some
weight, and it seems doubtful whether the considerations referred to in the second part of the
preceding paragraph are of such immediate and urgent importance as to justify immediate
action in spite of his reluctance to add at present to his difficulties with the Turkish Govern
ment.
. I shall therefore await a further expression of your views by telegraph before authority
is given to you to conclude au agreement with Sheikh Ahmed, even with the precautions and
reservations suggested by Sir N. O'Conor.
Here the matter rests at present.
28th September 1904. ' J. A. SALDANA.