PART II.

TREATIES AND ENGAGEMENTS

RELATING TO

MASKAT (MUSCAT).*

In the middle of the seventeenth century the Maskat (Muscat) Arabs having driven the Portuguese, who had occupied the Oman Coast since 1507, from Maskat, established their ascendancy in the Persian Gulf and, by the end of the century, had gained possession of Mombasa and other ports on the Africar coast. In the reign of Nadir Shah the Persians invaded Oman and gained supremacy over the country for some time but were eventually expelled by Ahmad bin Said, the Arab Governor of Sohar, a town on the Batinah Coast, about 150 miles north-west of Maskat, who contemptuously rejected Nadir Shah's claims to tribute. For this service Ahmad was elected Imam in 1741 and founded the present dynasty of the Al Bu Saidis. He died in 1775 and was succeeded by his second son, Said, who, however, proved an incapable Ruler, and ten years later the power was usurped by the fifth son, Sultan. It was in 1798, during the rule of this Chief, that the first Treaty (No. XV) with Maskat was negotiated by Mahdi Ali Khan, the Company's Agent at Bushire, with a view to exclude from Maskat the prejudicial influence of the French with whom Saiyid Sultan was brought in contact through his trade with the Mauritius. When Sir John Malcolm visited Maskat on his first mission to Persia in 1800, he formed another Engagement (No. XVI) with Saiyid Sultan, stipulating for the strict observance of the previous treaty and for the residence of an English gentleman in an official capacity at Maskat.

Saiyid Sultan bin Ahmad was killed on the 14th November 1804 in a contest at sea with his enemies, the Attubis and Kawasim. The rights of his two young sons were disputed by their uncles, especially by Saiyid Kais of Sohar, who aimed at usurping the government of Oman. To oppose their uncle's pretensions the two youths put themselves in the hands of their cousin, Saiyid Badr bin Saif, who called in the Wahabis (see Persian Gulf, Vol. X), and with their help defeated Saiyid Kais and recovered Bandar Abbas and Hormuz, which had been seized by the Shaikh of Kishm. The weakness reCompiled from Records in the Foreign Office, and Records of the Bombay Government, No. XXI of New Series.

sulting from this disputed succession, gave the Wahabis a footing in Maskat, which they retained until the occupation of Hasa by the Turks. In 1800 they made their first appearance in Oman. They reduced all the sea-coast of the Persian Gulf from Basra to Dabai, released the Chiefs of Zahira and Sohar from allegiance to Maskat, and forced Saiyid Sultan to beg for a three years' truce, which they broke soon after. They would probably have conquered all Oman if they had not been stopped by the assassination of their Chief.

Saiyid Said, the second son of Saiyid Sultan, succeeded Badr bin Saif in 1807. This Chief, to whom the religious title of Imam was not conceded by the Arabs, ruled for fifty years, during which time he cultivated a close intercourse with the British Government. In 1808, smarting under the insults of the Wahabis, whose agents were forcibly converting his subjects in his very capital, he roused the Arab tribes in Oman to a combination against them. If Maskat had fallen under the Wahabis, Saiyid Said would have been drawn into the general system of piracy which they encouraged, and would have been converted from a friend into a dangerous enemy. The British Government, therefore, resolved to support him. An armament was accordingly sent towards the close of 1809, which destroyed the piratical boats at Ras-ul-Khaima, Lingah, and Laft, and bombarded and took Shinas. No arrangements, however, were made to secure permanently the advantage then obtained. Piracy was soon renewed, and it became necessary to send another expedition against the pirates in 1819, in which also Saiyid Said co-operated. With these exceptions, till the year 1822, when a Treaty (No. XVII) was concluded for the suppression of slavery, there is nothing requiring special notice in the intercourse between the British Government and Saiyid Said, who was chiefly occupied in wars with his rivals, the Kawasim, and in fruitless attempts to possess himself of the island of Bahrain.

The treaty of 1822 aimed at the suppression of the foreign slave trade with Christian nations only, and not of the trade with Muhammadan countries and within the Maskat dominions, except in cases of kidnapping; and the permission given under the treaty to British cruisers to seize slave ships east of the line defined in the treaty, applied to His Majesty's ships only, and not to vessels of the Indian Navy. In 1839, however, a Treaty of Commerce (No. XVIII) was concluded with Saiyid Said by Her Majesty's plenipotentiary at Maskat, by the 15th article of which he confirmed the treaty of 1822 for the suppression of slave trade with Christian countries, and conceded power of search and seizure to vessels of the East India Company as well as those of the Royal Navy. On the 17th December of the same year he agreed

with the Resident in the Persian Gulf to add three additional Articles (No. XIX) to the treaty of 1822, authorising the right of search, and extending the boundary laid down in the treaty of 1822 from Diu Head to Passani, the eastern boundary of the Maskat possessions on the Makran coast, so as to include the coasts of Kathiawar, Kutch, and Karachi, and upwards of four degrees westward in the limits within which his subjects were forbidden to engage in the slave-trade. In the fourth article of the Arabic version of the treaty of 1822 no mention was made of the obligation of the ruler of Maskat or his authorities to assist in the apprehension of British subjects engaged in the slave-trade, although this obligation was distinctly specified in the English version. He was therefore urged to have the omission rectified by an addition to the Arabic text. He was, however, averse from alteration being made in the treaty; but in a separate letter, dated the 18th August 1845, he bound himself, his heirs, and authorities to afford assistance, when required by persons authorised to demand it, in apprehending British subjects engaged in slave-trade.

*

In 1845 Saiyid Said entered into a Treaty (No. XX) prohibiting, from the 1st January 1847, the export of slaves from his African dominions, and their importation from any part of Africa into his dominions in Asia; and agreeing to use his influence with the Chiefs of Arabia, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf to put a stop to the slave-trade. The treaty, however, did not prohibit the transport of slaves from one port in his African possessions to another. In consenting to this treaty he requested that three additional articles † might be added, prohibiting the search of his vessels in the limits * An Act of Parliament, 11 and 12 Vict., Cap. CXXVIII, was passed to give effect to this treaty. See Appendix No. 4.

+ADDITIONAL ARTICLES to the AGREEMENT concluded on the 2nd October 1845, corresponding to the 29th Ramzan 1261 Hijra, proposed by HIS HIGHNESS the IMAM of MASKAT.

ARTICLE 1.

That no vessels belonging to His Highness Saiyid Said bin Sultan, the Imam of Maskat, or belonging to his subjects, be searched by English men-of-war between the boundary of Lamu to the north and Kilwa to the south, mentioned in the treaty concluded on the 2nd October 1845, corresponding with the 29th Ramzan 1261.

ARTICLE 2.

It may perhaps be reported to them (the British Government) that an individual has stolen slaves from the territories of Saiyid Said, the Sultan of Maskat, which are in Africa; unless this be proved, His Highness Saiyid Said, the Sultan of Maskat, shall not be called to account for it.

ARTICLE 3.

It is known that the vessels belonging to His Highness the Sultan of Maskat and those belonging to his subjects coming from the Arabian and Red Seas do not bring slaves from those parts to the territories of the Sultan of Maskat which are in Africa; accordingly English men-of-war shall not search nor trouble them.

G

within which the transport of slaves was allowed under the treaty, and of his vessels coming from the Arabian and Red Seas to Africa, and stipulating that, if slaves were stolen from the Zanzibar territories, he should not be held responsible. These Articles do not appear to have been formally agreed to; but Saiyid Said was informed, in the name of Her Majesty's Government, that British ships of war would search only such vessels under the Maskat flag as might reasonably be suspected of being engaged in slave-trade; that, therefore, the description of vessels mentioned in the articles would not be searched unless there should be good ground for suspecting them to be so engaged; and that, in any case, if they should be searched and found not to be so engaged, that fact would be ascertained in a very short space of time, and they would not be prevented for more than a quarter or half an hour from continuing their voyage.

In consequence of some discussion regarding the right of Saiyid Said to duty on goods transhipped in his ports, he issued Rules (No. XXI) in 1846 for the levy of the full duty of 5 per cent. on goods transhipped, but exempting from duty ships putting into his harbours from stress of weather, and all stores of the British Government landed at his ports.

In 1854 Saiyid Said ceded (No. XXII) to the British Crown the Kuria Muria islands on the south coast of Arabia. The islands were valuable only for the guano deposits which were found on them and which are now exhausted. In 1874 a piratical outrage was committed by the Jaaferah section of the Beni Bu Ali tribe on two trading vessels at Hellania in these islands, for which they were fined 600 dollars, and a promise of future good behaviour was exacted from them.

During the later years of his rule the affairs of Saiyid Said in his Asiatic dominions fell into much confusion, owing partly to his prolonged residence at Zanzibar,* which in 1840 he made the permanent seat of his government, and partly to the incapacity of the agents whom he left at Maskat, and latterly of his son, Saiyid Thawaini. On more than one occasion his power was saved only by the intervention of the British Government. His contests with the Wahabis in 1832 and again in 1845 and 1852 are described in the Persian Gulf Narrative (Vol. X). In 1833 Saiyid Said concluded a treaty with the United States of America, † and in 1844 with France. In 1880 a

For some account of the connection between Maskat and Zanzibar, see the article on the latter in this Volume.

Consul for the former and in 1881 a Consular Agent for the latter were appointed.

Saiyid Said died in 1856. In 1844 he had intimated his desire to appoint his sons Saiyid Khalid and Saiyid Thawaini as his successors in his African and Asiatic dominions respectively, and had appointed them his deputies. Saiyid Thawaini accordingly succeeded to the government of Maskat on his father's death. In virtue of his succession to the chiefship of Oman, he claimed also feudal supremacy over Zanzibar (see Zanzibar, in this Volume), and prepared to establish his claim by force of arms. The dispute was submitted to the arbitration of Lord Canning, who in 1861 decided (No. XXIII) that Zanzibar should be independent of Maskat, but should pay an annual subsidy of 40,000 crowns.

In 1862 an Engagement (No. XXIV) was concluded between Great Britain and France, by which both powers engaged reciprocally to respect the independence of the rulers of Maskat and Zanzibar.

In 1864 Saiyid Thawaini agreed (No. XXV) to the construction of one or more lines of telegraph through the territory of Maskat, and in 1865 a Convention (No. XXVI) was made with him for the extension of the electric telegraph through his dominions in Arabia and Makran.

In February 1866 Saiyid Thawaini was assassinated at Sohar, where he had gone to organise an expedition against the Wahabis. Grave suspicions of having been concerned in this crime attached to his son and successor Saiyid Salim, and so much alarm was created at Maskat that trade was paralysed and the town was deserted by British subjects residing there. Envoys were shortly afterwards sent by Saiyid Salim to Bombay, but they were informed that while the British Government had no wish to interfere in the domestic affairs of Oman, it was compelled, under the circumstances of the case, to suspend friendly relations with the ruler of Maskat; at the same time the treaty obligations of the British Government with the State of Maskat, which had for their special object the protection of British subjects residing in Maskat territory, were in no way abrogated, and their fulfilment would be required from every ruler of Maskat.

Subsequently, however, as the people of Maskat had apparently accepted Saiyid Salim as their legitimate Chief, it was intimated to the merchants trading with Maskat that they might resume commercial dealings with that port, a Native Agent was appointed to the place, and finally in September