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The Preliminary Oil Concessions: 121

did ask for the ruler’s permission, firmly refused, for an exploration
party from Petroleum Concessions to visit Buraimi. ‘He could give
no adequate reason for his refusal, but persisted in it, and relapsed
into a sulky silence which continual until, the end of his visit.’67
The opportunity for finding a crack in Shakhbut’s armour was
presented when Basil Lermitte68 reported that a certain amount
of trading in slaves was taking place in Abu Dhabi; he related
a specific ease of a slave who, about to be sold, tried to seek
refuge with him. Fowlc was prepared to accept Lermilte’s statement
that the ease was not an isolated one. He argued that Lermitte
knew Arabic and could not have been mistaken; furthermore, the
Resident admitted that Abu Dhabi was far from Bahrain, where
the Political Agent could not possibly know everything that transpiral
on the Coast. On the rather flimsy evidence of Lermitte’s information,
together with a report from Weightman, who claimed evidence
from secret sources, Fowlc decided to reveal the possibilities of
British power to the defenceless Shakhbut. Without consulting cither
the India Office or the Government of India, and acting through
a third person, he instructed Weightman to instruct the Residency
Agent, then K. S. ‘Abd al-Razzaq,69 to tell Shakhbut that he
had lost the ‘good offices’ of His Majesty’s Government—i.e. his
travelling papers and those of his people were cancelled until further
notice.70 This was done on 11 March 1938, and Shakhbut’s reaction
seems to have amazed the Political Agent in Bahrain: ‘The Shaikh
of Abu Dhabi has had the impertinence to enquire why he has
been deprived of the good offices of His Majesty’s Government,
and to enquire also what reasons we have for stating that slave
trading goes on through his territories.’71 When, however, Weightman
visited Abu Dhabi in June of last year, he reported that the ruler’s
‘bearing towards me [was] unexpectedly pleasant and cordial, and
he professed to be eager to please His Majesty’s Government.’72
He tried to impress the Agent with his innocence regarding the
slave trade, but Weightman bluntly told him that ‘protestations
of loyalty and so forth arc better supported by deeds than by
words’.73 Shakhbut told the Agent that he had already started
inquiries regarding the slave trade, at the same time challenging
him to point out a definite case, so he could prove his loyalty
and punish the culprit.74
Alarmed that, so soon after the British Legation in Jeddah had
renounced its right of manumission,75 slaves from Abu Dhabi might
be being imported into Saudi Arabia, the Foreign Office asked
the India Office for a report on the consequences of punishing
Shakhbut and for any other information relevant to the slave trade.
The India Office accordingly asked Fowle for a further report
on slave-trading on the Trucial Coast, and requested that he start