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The External Influences
failed, bul as a precedent for further treaties in which the British, as
an alien power, were able to assume the role of catalyst for
neutralising the regional rivalries. The British authorities in India
were not well prepared for this role of mediator in the Gulf: even after
the naval force had left for the Gulf in 1819 to subdue the Qawasim,
few of those in authority in Bombay had given much thought to the
problem of what should come after a military victory, and how the
adherence to the terms of the treaty, which formed part of the
instructions for Keir, could be brought about. The early involvement
of the Government in Bombay in the affairs of the Arab coast
therefore was not the result of neatly planned strategy, but the
consequence of the need to respond to violations of the treaty and to
enforce in particular the clauses about registration of Arab vessels.
The first step towards political intercourse between the littoral
shaikhdoms and British India (as opposed to a superior military
force held in awe by the defeated tribes) was the visit of the Resident
in Bushire, Lieutenant f. McLeod to all the signatories of the treaty
during 1823 to conciliate them. He explained that the role of the small
naval force in the Gulf after the evacuation of Qishim32 was to search
the ports for hidden warlike vessels and to arrange for the
registration of merchant vessels. The marine survey, which took in
1822/23 a hitherto unsurveyed passage between Sharjah and Doha,
symbolised the Arab coast’s transition from independence to
becoming the minor ally and dependent of the colonial power in
India. Sometime between 1823 and 1825 the Government of Bombay
appointed a Native Agent to reside in Sharjah and to represent
British interests, in the same way as such Native Agents were
appointed elsewhere on the fringes of the empire.
During the decades which followed the conclusion of the General
Treaty minor incidents of piracy still occurred, which were com­
parable to the desert raids (ghazu) of tribes at war with each other;
they were not, as before, expeditions organised purely for material
gain, and outright warfare between the Qawasim and the Omanis
decreased markedly. The more the British influence over the Trucial
Rulers and the Sultan in Muscat grew, the more the former became
extricated from the Omani scene. After 1820 the Qawasim had to opt
out of the struggle for supremacy in the Gulf because of the loss of
their powerful fleet. Under Sultan bin Saqr, re-established in 1820 as
Ruler of Ra’s al Khaimah as well as Sharjah, the Qawasim set out to
make the most of the new situation in which the more peaceful
atmosphere in the Gulf encouraged a revival in trade. Pearling was
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