Page 214 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

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MUSK AT.

of Shaikh Suggur, the Chief of the Beni Jansannee Arabs, who
were
at war with the Imanra, and supposed to be in the interest of his cider
brother, the deposed Prince of Oman.
22. The King of Persia, Baba Khan, who had
, . . recently succeeded
to the throne, reverting to the grounds of offence that subsisted against
the hnaum of Muskat, issued orders to Hie Shaikh of Bushirc, direct­
ing the immediate equipment of a considerable land force, to be
embarked on a fleet at Bussora, which was to co-operate in an attack
on Muskat.
23. Our policy being at this period actively directed to counteract
the intrigues of Buonaparte, in Persia and in the Gulf, for the purpose
of prosecuting his views on India, suspicions were entertained that the
Government of Muskat was more disposed to an alliance with the
French than with the British, a commercial intercourse which the
Imaum carried on with the Mauritius bringing him in constant com­
munication with the former power.
24. It being on these grounds deemed expedient to form a connec-
tion with Muskat, Mehedi Ali Khan, who was appointed Resident at
Bushire, was ordered to touch at the former port on his way to his
station, and, in pursuance of instructions for that purpose, concluded
an agreement with the Imaum, dated the 12th October 1798, the object of
which was to exclude the French and Dutch from having any factory
within his territories, or at Gombroon, to prevent the ships of the
former nation entering the cove, and to dismiss the French who at the
time were in his service.
25. At the close of the year, we find the Imaum of Muskat
threatening Bussora on account of some ancient claims on the Pasha of
Bagdad, and in order to enable him the more effectually to prosecute
his hostile intentions, the Imaum negotiated a peace with his forrnid-
able enemy the Joasmee Chief.
26. The Pasha remonstrated on this occasion against the conduct of
the Imaum, observing that whilst the Beni
a. d. 1798. Uttoobee Arabs were assisting him in an attack
they meditated on Kateef and the Wahabee power, the former should
seize, at a period, moreover, when the French were invading Egypt, that
opportunity to carry on hostilities against their allies and depen ent^
the Uttoobees (between whom and the people of Muskat there existe
some differences), a conduct on the part of the Imaum ^huM cou°
teracted the expedition, and deprived it of the assistance vv jci w°
otherwise be received from the marine force of those Ara »•
Pasha expressed an anxious wish that two of the Company s -n
might be ordered immediately to Bussora, for the purpose o
concert with his fleet.

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