Page 40 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

wards the pirates and the Wahabis, who never ceased from mur­
dering and plundering, Macaulay’s remark: \vc know of no
spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical
fits of morality’, might well apply in this ease. Political assasina-
tions, until quite recently, were of frequent occurrence in the
Gulf, there was an instance of it at Kuwait at the end of the last
century, and three predecessors of a Shaikh who now rules one
of the Gulf states were ‘eliminated’ during a period of six years.
In 1808, Said’s uncle, Qais, was killed in battle; his death re­
moved the last possible rival to the Sultanate. In the following
year, Said made representations to the British, urging them to take
action against the pirates who were as much their enemies as his.
This resulted in the expedition of 1809. It caused a temporary
lull in the pirates’ activities, but a few years later piracy was again
rampant.

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