Page 265 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

Notes 231

22. R/15/1/276, Khalid bin Ahmad 10 Political Resident, Rabi‘ n 1343
(Nov 1924).
23. R/15/1/267, Humayd bin ‘Abd al-Aziz to Political Resident, Shawwal
133B (June, 1920).
24. Ibid., Il>n Sa‘ud to Political Agent Bahrain, 1 Mar 1921 (translation).
Enclosed in Political Agent Bahrain to Political Resident, 29 Mar
1921.
25. R/15/1/275, Commanding Officer HMS Fowey to Senior Naval Officer
July «934-
26. ‘Isa's relationship with the Indian merchants who lived on the Coast
is an excellent example of this. Their special position as British subjects
was a constant challenge to the Agent’s omnipotence. Furthermore,
his own commercial interests overlapped with his duties as Agent,
and one of the most common causes of strife between him and the
Indians was the matter of enforcing the payment of debts.
27. L/P&S/12/1966, PZ5015/32, Political Agent Kuwait to Government
of India, 4 Aug 1932.
28. L/P&S/12/1965, PZ6975/32, memorandum by Captain K. Mackay
(Royal Engineers), 18 Oct 1932. Enclosed in Air Ministry to India
Office, 17 Nov 1932.
29. Of the men who belonged to the Political Service Philip Woodruff
remarked, ‘They were picked men, picked from picked men. The
service presented the possibility of a career, which, as Lord Curzon
had said, might be as fascinating as any the history of the world
could offer’ The Men Who Ruled India: The Guardians (London, 1954)
p. 270).
30. He later published an account of these visits: Travels in the Middle
East (London, 1916).
31. R/1/4/143, Crown Representative Records.
32. Althougn v^ox s appreciation of I'owle is not available in R/1/4/143,
the references mfide to it there arc not particularly laudatory. Further
light on Fowle’s early career in Mesopotamia is shed by H. St
J. B. Philby, his colleague in those days. Trying to understand why
Cox was obviously pleased with his work, Philby ruminated, ‘Perhaps
we shone by contrast with the lesser luminaries of the Political mess,
of whom I would single out for special mention Leach man . . . and
T. C. Fowlc. . . . The latter was an intelligent but uninspired person
who always said the commonplace thing in a commonplace way and
scorned every enthusiasm for any cause or thing. I twitted him one
day . . . with always talking like a leading article in the Daily Telegraph
and I think he look it as a compliment’ (Arabian Days (London, 1948)
P- 135)*
33. Sir Ronald Wingate, Not in the Limelight (London, 1959) p. 73. Wingate
served as Political Agent in Muscat from 1919 to 1921.
34. One of the most eloquent expressions of this was written by Lieutenant-
Colonel Sir A. T. Wilson, himself Officiating Political Resident from
1918 to 1920: ‘We have maintained order and thereby promoted
trade; we have raised the standard of living and thereby encouraged
the spread of education; we have thus fostered the growth of individual