ملف ١٩٢٦/٣٩٣٩ الجزء ٦ "تنقيح معاهدات أيتشيسون. قسم الخليج الفارسي." [و‎‎٢‎٩‎٧] (٨١٨/٢٩)

PERSIAN GULF — Nejd.
' 3
the close of 1903 Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, made a state
Stour in the Persian Gulf, in the course of which he visited Muscat, Shar-
gab, Bandar 'Abbas and the islands adjacent thereto, Lingah, Bahrein,
Koweit, Bushire and the British station of Bassidore. This was the first
occasion on which an Indian Viceroy had ever visited the Gulf.
1. The Wahabis and Nejd.
It was by instigating the Kawasim tribe of Arabs to acts of piracy in
the Persian Gulf that the Wahabis first attracted the attention of the
British Government.
This sect had adopted strict and puritanical doctrines. They denied
'divine honours to Muhammad; abhorred and destroyed all holy tombs;
abstained from the use of tobacco; and waged war against all Muham
madans who did not accept their peculiar views.
jWhen in 1809 it became necessary to send a second expedition against
the Kawasim (see Trucial Arab Chiefs of Oman, infra) the ruler of
Muscat was found to be in considerable danger from the aggressions of
the Wahabis. It was decided, however, not to attempt any operations
by land, and to show extreme forbearance to the Wahabi Chief. In
1811 the Wahabis appeared in the vicinity of Muscat and plundered the
territory of Saiyid Said. Application was made by him for the assist
ance of the British Government, but the request was refused on the
ground that the British Government had recently co-operated with him!
merely for the extirpation of the pirates who interrupted the commerce of
the Persian Gulf, not in prosecution of war against the Wahabis. A
heavy money payment induced them to retire for the time, but the in
vasion was renewed by Mutlak-ul-Mutairi in 1813.
Saiyid Said was relieved from this danger by the General’s death,
followed in 1814 by that of the Amir Saud, and by the invasion of Nejd
from the westward by the Egyptians in 1816. An envoy had been sent
by the Amir before his death to endeavour to negotiate a treaty of
friendship and commerce with the British Government; but it was deemed!
inexpedient to negotiate any treaty or to form any intimate connection
with the Amir, though a friendly intercourse was to be maintained with
him. !
Meanwhile the Egyptian troops had taken the holy places of the
-Muhammadan faith, and the Wahabi power in that quarter was broken
for the time. In 1818 Daraya (Diriyyah), the Wahabi capital, was taken
,by Ibrahim Pnsha and razed to the ground. The Wahabi Amir Abdulla
(Said’s successor) was sent prisoner to Constantinople and there
and the overthrow of the Wahabis appeared to be complete.
however, an insurrection against the Egyptians was headed by ur , 1 ’
the son of 'Abdulla; the Egyptian Governor was compelled to retire, and