'Memorandum on Bahrein' [‎8r] (15/62)

15
Turkish protection, could not acknowledge or acquiesce in any such arrangement,
seeing that the Government of British India had had relations with Bahrein as
an independent State and had concluded with it certain treaties, namely, one in
1820 for the suppression of piracy and one in 1847 for the prohibition of the
exportation of slaves, and that Her Majesty's Government must object to any
arrangement which would transfer Bahrein to the dominion or protectorship of
any other Power.
62. In the correspondence leading up to this decision Lord Palmerston
remarked : " I come to the conclusion that it is the opinion of the East India
Company that the object first to be aimed at is to prevent Bahrein from falling
under the control of any foreign Power, and to keep that island in its present
condition of political independence. But I infer from what has been stated in
the despatches which you have communicated to me, that if that independence
could no longer be maintained, and if the ruler and the people of Bahrein were
determined to place themselves under some foreign protection, the East India
Company would think that less evil would arise from affording to Bahrein
British protection than from allowing French, Persian or Turkish authority to
be established in that island."
India Bd.
to F.O.,
3.2.1851.
F.O. to
India Bd.,
6.2.1851.
India Bd.
to F.O.,
7.2.1851.
Lor. I, 885.
F.O. to Sir
S. Canning,
Constanti
nople, No. 40,
12.2.1851.
Attitude of the Wahabis and of Muscat, 1852-53
63. In 1852 the Sheikh proposed to withhold his tribute from the Wahabi Lor. i, 885.
Amir, but on the advice of the Resident decided to pay it. In the same year the
Consul at Zanzibar was instructed to inform the Imam of Muscat that Her
Majesty's Government saw no reason to alter the views regarding the possession
of Bahrein communicated to His Highness in 1849 (paragraph 58 above). In
May 1853 the Government of India authorised the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. to
offer every obstacle to an attack on Bahrein by the Wahabi Amir (who was now Lor. I, 887.
nominally subject to the Turkish Government) on the ground that Her Majesty's
Government would not permit the occupation of Bahrein by the Turkish Govern
ment or by anyone acting for them or in their interest.
Principle of Non-Interference in Internal Affairs laid down by Bombay
Government (1854)
64. On 20th November, 1854, the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. in a letter to the
Resident laid down the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of
Bahrein, and authorised the Resident simultaneously to inform the Sheikh of
Qatif on the Arab mainland that the British Government would not tolerate his
further interference with the affairs of Bahrein.
Slavery Agreement with Her Majesty's Government (1856)
65. On 10th May, 1856, an agreement supplementary to the Treaty of 1847 Aitchison,
(paragraph 51 above) regarding the slave trade was made with the Sheikh. Its ^ ^234.
contents were identical with that of corresponding engagements entered into at
the same time by the Arab rulers of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .
66. The Sheikh's internal government continued to go from bad to worse.
In September 1858 reparation was secured from him for the ill-treatment of
British subjects in Bahrein. In 1859 a Wahabi attack was averted by British Lor. 1, 887.
intervention. The local Wahabi Governor sued for pardon to the Senior Naval
Officer ; the Wahabi ruler, however, made a formal protest, asserted his authority
over Bahrein, and declared that he was himself a vassal of the Sultan of Turkey.
The Resident, in reply, informed him of the determination of Her Majesty's
Government to preserve the independence of Bahrein, and pointed out the incon
sistency of his piratical attacks on Turkish shipping with his professions of
dependence on the Ottoman Government.
Sheikh's Appeal to Persia and Turkey , 1859-61
67. At the end of 1859 or early in 1860, as the result, apparently, partly I o , w
of apprehensions of the Wahabis and partly of irritation at the restraint ' ' '
exercised by the Resident over his piratical activities directed against the
Wahabis, the Sheikh made a simultaneous appeal for assistance to the Persian Resdt to
Governor of J^ars and the Turkish Wali of Bagdad. The Turkish answer was Bombay,
delayed. A Persian agent (Mirza Mehdi Khan), bearing a Persian Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). to u^leo-
the Sheikh, arrived in April 1860. The Persian flag was hoisted, Persian 2a, '
sovereignty proclaimed, and the Sheikh's agreement to pay tribute secured. These No 1 219
ceremonies were, however, scarcely over when a Turkish emissary arrived. The 26.7.1860.