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174 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

based on the strong conviction that the British presence was a
civilising element in a semi-barbaric land.31 He often alluded to
the Arabs of the Gulf as living in the distant past—any time
from the seventh century to the fifteenth, to judge from the referen­
ce8 and intimated that it was up to him and his successors to
bring civilisation to the area.35 How Fowle expected to do this
is not clear, unless merely the presence of a handful of British officers
was considered to promote some form of social evolution; certainly
no encouragement was given to political, educational or health
reform. Furthermore, the fact that the Gulf states were deliberately
made inaccessible to any visitors36 did not make them particularly
amenable to the stimuli that inevitably accompany the influx of
foreign ideas.
Fowle’s personal attitude towards the Arabs of the Trucial Coast
was in some ways strongly paternalistic: he treated the rulers much
like children, to be given a pal on the back when they behaved
and a sharp rap on the knuckles when they misbehaved. The
harsh realities of life in the Gulf prevented him from indulging
in any romantic identification with the people, such as other Eng­
lishmen who had come to the Arabian peninsula had manifested;
and the fact that he was already well acquainted with the area
when he became Resident, having first travelled there twenty years
earlier, served to give him a realistic outlook and to strengthen
his awareness of himself as an Englishman. Yet he was not totally
devoid of romanticism, as is shown by the fact that a raiding
party sighted near Hamriyyah made him think of the world of
the Border ballads.37
Fowle steadfastly argued against interference in local affairs, always
pointing out that the existing methods of control were sufficient
for the required results and that further commitments would not
justify the added expense. His definition of non-interference was,
however, highly personal. In 1934, when Shaykh Sa‘id of Dubai
was about to be deposed, Fowle sent a sloop to the shaykhdom
with a strongly worded message that any damage to British lives
and property would be treated very seriously. The warning gave
rise to the assumption in Dubai that the Resident was openly
supporting Shaykh Sa‘id, and the opposition temporarily collapsed.
In his interpretation of the events, Fowle seemed convinced that
Shaykh Sa‘id himself had quelled the uprising, with only ‘a measure
of support’ from Britain; in this he saw a powerful justification
for continuing the policy of non-interference that he so strongly
advocated. He realised the new importance of the Trucial Coast,
especially since an airport had been built at Sharjah, with landing
grounds, anchorages and petrol stores elsewhere on the Coast; but
he thought that preoccupation with the safety of the air-route
had tended to obscure Britain’s responsibility for protecting the