"ملف ٢١/٣ المسؤول السياسي في قطر والشؤون السياسية بها" [و‎‎١‎٦] (٩٤/٣١)

2/?-
COFFIDE^TIaL.
URGENT.
PERSIAN GULF RESIDENCY,
BAHRAIN.
(18/16/49)
19th May 1949.
iw
Please refer to your S.O. letter No.C/R-207-3/21 of the
18th May about the undertaking to be given regarding the
manumission of slaves in Qatar.
2. I have discussed Hie'question with Burrows and he is
not very much in favour of the draft forwarded with your
letter No.C/R-147 of the 14th April, and suggests that if
we are compelled to adopt it something 6n the lines of "until
further agreement is reached with Your Excellency on the
subject" should be inserted between "I can assure you that"
and "such an Agent" at the beginning of the second sentence.
3. I enclose two alternative drafts prepared on lines I
have discussed with Burrows. I think the draft referring
to Sir Percy Cox's letter is probably the better one.
4. I must leave it to you to negotiate the best terms possi
ble. If you reach an agreement with the Shaikh, the draft
of it will have to be forwarded to the Foreign Office for
scrutiny before it is finally signed. Our main object is
to bring into force the Articles of the 1916 Treaty which are
in abeyance and I think it will be accepted that, if necessary
in order to achieve this, we may give an undertaking not to
interfere with existing slaves. It is necessary however
that this undertaking should be so worded as to give the least
handle for criticism should its contents become known.
.J. Pelly, Esq., O.B.E.,
Political Agent,
Bahrain.