Page 308 - UAE Truncal States

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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