Page 42 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

ill / hr Oiiyins of /hr Uni ltd Arab Emirates

w«m (Irhiirfl, ;»i if I < Xinman interference was excluded; the Anglo-Gcr-
m.in Convention of 1913, which was concerned primarily with con-
luiniiiff die Baghdad Railway; and the Anglo-Turkish Convention
«»( in which the southern boundary of Turkish Arabia from
the Red Sea was dcfmcfl. Other agreements with Germany confirmed
lliiiinli rights of navigation on the Tigris and Euphrates, as well
as demarcating the Turco-Pcrsian frontier from the Gulf to Mount
Ararat.
In November 1903, Gur/.on paid a visit to the Gulf, the first
by any Viceroy of India, in order to ensure international recognition
of Britain’s special position; the visit was concerned to display
evidence of British naval supremacy and was accompanied by much
pomp and ceremony. On 21 November the Viceroy held a durbar
off Sharjah for the rulers of the Trucial Coast. His address on
that day confirmed Britain’s special rights and outlined the main
points of British policy, a policy that he had been instrumental
in formulating:

We were here before any other Power, in modern times, had
shown its face in these waters. We found strife and we have
created order. It was our commerce as well as your security
that was threatened and called for protection. At every port
along these coasts the subjects of the King of England still reside
and trade. . . . We saved you from extinction at the hands of
your neighbours. We opened these seas to the ships of all nations,
and enabled their flags to fly in peace. We have not seized
or held your territory. We have not destroyed your independence
but have preserved it. ... The peace of these waters must still
be maintained; your independence will continue to be upheld;
and the influence of the British Government must remain
supreme. ...
The British Government have no desire to interfere, and have
never interfered, in your internal affairs, provided that the Chiefs
govern their territories with justice, and respect the rights of the
foreign traders residing therein.4

The British Government added its voice to this statement. In an
address to the House of Lords on 5 May 1903, the Foreign Secretary,
Lord Landsdowne, declared,

to me that our policy should be directed in the first
It seems
place to protect and promote British trade in those waters. In
the next place I do not think . . . that those efforts should