"ملخص لمراسلات تتعلق بشؤون الخليج الفارسي، ١٨٠١-١٨٥٣" [و‎‎٤] (٣٤٤/٧)

PREFACE.
THE history of the Persian Gulf Affairs from 1801 to 1853, which is treated
in this Frecis (excluding that of the Turkish Arabia affairs dealt
with in the Turkish Arabia Precis, 1801-1905), divides itself naturally and is
therefore divided into the following parts :—
PART I.
British Envoys to Persia and from Persia, 1801-18l4i.
PART II.
British policy in regard to Maskat and the Maritime Arab tribes on the
Persian Gulf, 1801-1815.
PART III.
Affairs on the Persian Coast and Islands, 1801-1820.
PART IV.
British Residents and Agents in the Persian Gulf and at Maskat, 1801-1813.
PART V.
British policy in regard to Maskat and the Maritime Arab Tribes. Vigorous
measures taken for the suppression of piracies and for security of peace in the
Gulf. Persian Coast and Islands Affairs.—1818-1823.
PART VI.
British policy in regard to Maskat and the Maritime Arab tribes, 1823-1853.
PART VII.
Affairs on the Persian Coast and Islands, 1823-1853.
PART VIII.
British Residents and Agents in the Persian Gulf and Maskat, 1823-1853.
An alternative arrangement would have been to treat the affairs of the
Persian Coast and Islands on one side, and those of the Arab Coast of the Gulfs
of Persia and Oman on the other, separately and chronologically and conti
nuously from beginning to end. But the political affairs of both the Coasts
and Islands of the Gulf become so frequently, especially during the period
from 1818 to 1823, inextricably mixed up, that we had to give up this
distribution for the one adopted.
So far as the Arab Coast is concerned, we must seek for detailed account
of the events in the Bombay Selections» 1856 (No. 24), while the reader will
find in this Frecis an ample exposition of the British policy in the Gulf in the
extracts from minutes and despatches, especially of the period from 1818 to
1822, when the foundation was laid of our present Gulf politics. In regard to
the Persian Coast and Islands, we have had to depend upon the records of the
Bombay Government (referred to as " Volumes ") for weaving together a
connected history of the political affairs in those regions.
1285 F. D.