"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٨‎٩‎٤] (١٧٨٢/١٠٤٩)

894
Action of
In Jane 1868 the injured Qataris took the law into their own hands
and attempted a retaliatory attack on Bahrain; but the movement began
and ended, it would seem, with a somewhat severe naval eng-ag-ement.
The secrecy and rapidity with which the campaign of the Shaikhs
the British 1 , ...
authorities of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi against Qatar was arranged and carried out
with.
reference lia( ^ deprived the British Government of an opportunity for prevention or
attack on intervention ; but, the affair having quickly come to be regarded
Qatar, 1868. throughout the Gulf as a test of British preparedness to maintain
peace at sea, rt was resolved to inflict an exemplary punishment upon
the offendirg chiefs and not to accept the excuse, which would probably
be tendered by Shaikh Muhammad, that he was entitled to punish by
any and every means his refractory subjects in Qatar.
Preparations Much delay was caused, however, by the demands of the Abyssinian
oegotialionn. expedition upon the marine resources of the Government of India ; and
for the time being, the only vessel actually in the Gulf was the "Hugh
Bosc" gunboat, manned entirely by natives of India and unable to
steam for more than eight consecutive hours. In May the steamer
" Sind" was placed at the Resident's disposal for a blockade of Abu
Dhabi, with the Shaikh of which place it was intended first to deal •
but, by an extraordinary oversight on which the Government of India
afterwards animadverted severely, she arrived iu the Gulf without any
shot for her guns. Meanwhile the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi whom the
Shaikh of Bahrain had privately agreed to reimburse for any indemnity
that might be extracted from him by the British Government, had
lecourse to a policy of shifts and evasions; but on the 8th of June 1868
these were cut short by a letter from the Resident, in which he was called
upon o pay 128,000 Qrans as damages, to restore to Qatar the persons
an property that he had rented, and to express regret for the pas
: ir io ; t better in ^
the Z 1 ^ aCtitn ^ the P 601116 0f Qatar ^"ted
the progress of events; and on the 23rd of July H, M. S. " Vigilant "
which had arrived on other ^ 15 , ^guant,
Persian fnlf TV, * ombay, was despatched to the
rersian Gulf. The commander, Cautain B ar
to enfm-pp n-n cn -i 1 Brown, was instructed
to entorce upon the Shaikh of Bahrain W 11 ,1.
1 1 • , Jjanrain, by all means at his disnoRil
but m consultation with Colonel Pellv tbo ' ,!■
«100,000, the surrender of the armed B .7" ed,ate i W™" 1 * of
Shaikh in his expedition and the a§:1, ahs ^ the
. a id the provision by the Shaikh of such