Page 308 - UAE Truncal States
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The External Influences
         arising oul of the development of Humanism and Protestant ethics. In
         their eyes there was no guarantee that English merchants in pursuit
         of trade on the Persian shores would not kill and plunder indis­
         criminately on the Arab shore if they had a chance.

         Qawasim resentment of British-Muscati rapprochement
         Such deep-rooted resentments against a Christian and European
         presence in the Gulf were enhanced by the practical consideration on
         the part of the Qawasim Rulers that whoever helped their enemies
         had to be considered as an enemy himself. The rivalry between the
         Qawasim-dominated tribes and the Omanis under the A1 Bu Sa'Td
         rule became acute by the end of the 18th century, and so the growing
         co-ordination of policies between the authorities in Muscat and
         Bombay was a cause of anxiety for the Qawasim.
           Muscat was the most flourishing entrepot port of the entire area by
         the end of the 18th century because most traders from the gulf called
         there to take on water and provisions or to trans-ship their cargoes to
         square-rigged vessels for transport to India or elsewhere. The larger
         and slower vessels did not dare to make the long voyage within the
         Gulf to and from Basra and Bushire. Thus for example the entire
         trade in coffee between Yemen and Iraq was trans-shipped at
         Muscat.
           Apart from desiring a share in this profitable trade for the British
         merchants in India, the British Government needed a sympathetic
         ally who could be relied upon to oppose the interests of Napoleonic
         France. To this end the Sultan of Muscat and Oman signed an
         agreement for political and commercial co-operation with Britain in
         1798.24 The British expedition to punish piratical attacks by the
         Qawasim on British vessels which culminated in the destruction in
         1819 of the entire Qasimi fleet was a triumph for Omani merchants,
         who could once again expand their trade in the Gulf unopposed.25


         The implications of the 1820 treaty

         The objectives of the British authorities
         Even before the British naval expedition of 1819/20 there was a
         considerable controversy among those who prepared it in Bombay
         as to the military and political objectives of the expedition, particu­
         larly with regard to the question of who was to enforce and police a

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