'File 19/109 VI (C 45) Bahrain Relations with Foreign Powers' [‎92v] (201/520)

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preferable that he should be in a position to make capital out of His Majesty's
Government s innocence of such a breach in the face of gross provocation. To
me it seems improbable that any useful step can be taken on behalf of the
Bahreinis apart from the settlement of the claims to Bahrein sovereignty in
principle. This settlement can hardly be achieved save as part of a general
treaty settlement; and in this respect, the sooner negotiations for a general treaty
can be resumed the better.
6. As mentioned above, I hardly anticipate that the Persian Governmer
would counter a move against Persians in Bahrein with a move against British
interests elsewhere in the Gulf. But one cannot be sure. And, if British prestige
is suffering from the impotence of His Majesty's Government to protect
Bahreinis from Persian oppression, the loss of prestige which would ensue from
such a humiliation as expulsion from Henjam would have still more violent
repercussions.
7. In their present frame of mind, the Persian Government resent what
Feroughi calls the exercise of unwarranted pressure. The lesson of the failure
hitherto to obtain an extension of Imperial Airways' permission to fly along the
Persian coast by a refusal to reopen the Duzdap Railway in default of it should
not be forgotten. Such pressure as that recommended by Lieutenant-Colonel
Biscoe would appear to the Persian Government as unwarranted, and would be
resented, and might make them still less sympathetic to the desiderata of His
Majesty's Government.
8. Recent legislation requires that agricultural landowners should be
Persian subjects. What effect this has had upon Bahreini landowners' loyalties
in Khuzistan I am at present unaware, and I am making enquiries. But most,
if not all, will, I anticipate, prefer to accept Persian papers and keep their land.
If this conjecture proves to be correct, the problem of protecting Bahreinis will
have been solved by events for an important part of them.
9. In conclusion, I may add that the Persian Government may be
encouraged in their attitude towards Bahreinis in Persia by their general
attitude on the question of Persian nationality. This is typified in the provision
of the nationality law by which any inhabitant of Persia is a Persian subject
unless he can prove to the satisfaction of the Persian Government that he is of
foreign nationality. In accepting or rejecting the proof, the decision of the
Persian Government is final.
I have, &c.
(For Charge d'Affaires),
L. BAGGALLAY.