'File 19/191 I (C 27) Bahrain, Persian Claim To' [‎4r] (16/478)

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[ This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Governmen t.]
EASTERN (A rabia) . ' |
October 24, 1927.
CONFIDENTIAL, Section 2.
[E 4499/184/91]
SirR. Clive to Sir Austen, Chamberla — 24.)
(No. 484.)
^i 1 "' Gulhek, 1927.
I HAVE the honour to enclose copies of two comprehensive despatches
addressed by the Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to the Government of India on the
subject of Bahrein and its future status.
2. Colonel Haworth recommends that the sheikh should, if possible, be induced
formally to request His Majesty's Government to extend to him the protection which
was refused to his predecessor in 1849.
3. I am only concerned with the possible reaction of any such request on the
Persian Government. I cannot help feeling, however, that, looked at solely from
the point of view of Anglo-Persian relations, it would be preferable—supposing that
His Majesty's Government and the Government of India approve in principle Colonel
Haworth's suggestion—to defer any such action until we have settled satisfactorily
some of our outstanding questions, including more especially the negotiation of a
new treaty.
4. Admittedly the Persian claim to Bahrein is extremely weak, but it is
significant that, when discussing recently with the present Prime Minister the
question of the air route to India, his Highness immediately caught me up when I
mentioned Bahrein as one of the probable landing grounds in the event of a route
along the southern side of the Gulf being decided on.
5. I naturally declined to be drawn into any discussion of the status of Bahrein.
I merely report this as showing that Persian pretensions have in no way lessened
with the lapse of time.
6. I would not, however, wish it to be supposed, in spite of the Prime Minister's
remarks, that any trouble need be anticipated with the Persian Government should
it be decided to construct an aerodrome on the island of Bahrein. I understood
his Highness's remark rather in the nature of a reminder that Persia's claim to
sovereignty had not been renounced than as a warning that the Persian Government
would enter a protest.
Copies of this despatch are being sent to the Government of India and His
Majesty's consul-general at Bushire.
I have, &c.
R. H. CLIVE.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Lieutenant-Colonel L. B. H. Hawtorth
Govemmmt of India in the Foreig
(Confidential.) '
Sir, 1, 1927.
I HAVE the honour to state that since I assumed charge of the appointment of
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. the question of our relations with the State
of Bahrein has given me some cause for reflection. Our position in that sheikhdom,
and the amount of control that we exercise, appear to be open to criticism when
viewed from an international standpoint. This would be of no great importance
but for three factors :■— -«■
(1.) Persia has never ceased to claim sovereignty over Bahrein, and our own
Foreign Office have recently not been desirous of raising the question of
the status of that place.
(2.) The de facto ruling chief, with whose consent we intervene, was placed in
his position by us, when we deposed his father from the chief authority.
(3.) The new growth of the Wahabi power.
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