'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎884] (1039/1782)

884
Piracy by
Bani Hajir
and insolenre
of Shaikh
Muhammad,
1850.
Danger from
the Wahhabis
and sons of
the ex-
Shaikh
Abdullah
averted by
British
action,
1860-52,
1860.
"of Buteelsand the expectation of attacks; seeking the Resident's advice
" and speaking disparagingly of him for giving advice; the oppression of
" subjects, and the flight of the oppressed; the deputing of envoys, armed
" with full powers, to effect agreements and the return of the envoys to be
" censured for the agreements they had effected.-" Wo shall treat the
following period of nearly twenty years chronologically, without any
attempt to separate the closely intertwined threads of the narrative.
About the end of June 1850 a small Ghunchah from Kharag Island,
bound for Qatif, was captured off Has Tanurah by a party of 26 Bani
Hajir who were returning to the mainland in a Bahrain Baqarah; and the
Kharagis, after being plundered of all that they possessed, were landed,
stripped, on the Hasa coast, On the grounds that he had connected himself
by marriage with the guilty tribe, that he allowed them to frequent Bahrain
in considerable numbers, and that he was secretly instigating their lawless
proceedings, the Shaikh of Bahrain was compelled by the British Resident,
although the Bani Hajir were not his subjects and the crime had been
committed in the jurisdiction of the Wahhabis, to answer for the offence
and to disburse 100 Tumans as compensation to the sufferers.
At nearly the same time, in the course of a coirespondence relating to
the death of a Bahrain subject, Shaikh Muhammad sent messages of an
offensive character to the British Resident through Haji Q isim, the
Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent in Bahrain ; his insulting remarks referred in part to
Colonel Hennell personally, and in part to the British Government. A
ship of war was immediately despatched to Bahrain to require an explana
tion, whereupon Shaikh Muhammad, repenting of his hasty conduct,
deputed his brother ^Ali to Bushehr to offer an apology. Jn so far as he
was himself concerned. Colonel Hennell accepted this amende as suffi
cient , but he insisted that, at the next visit of Commodore Porter to
Bahrain, the Shaikh should visit that officer personally on board ship and
expiess icgiet foi his remarks derogatory to the British Government,—a
demand to which Ali, on the part of the Shaikh, readily acceded and
which was duly fulfilled.
In 1850 a breach between Shaikh Muhammad and the Wahhabis
n ^^ -n 0 -l' 0 * mm * nen t j an{ l the prospect was the more serious that the
n ish Resident had failed in an endeavour to persuatle the sons of the
a e ex-Shaikh 'Abdullah to settle peaeeably on Qais Island, in considera-
lon of allowances to be granted by the Shaikh of Bahrain.
' eelin ? 1 T aR exc ^cl by the Amir FaisaFs treatment of an
to B^h ' i ^ arnrnac ^ ) ^ 11 " Abdur RahTm, whom he had himself sent
T U , 0m ' 0n return from this mission . he despoiled of the
presents w .th wh.oh Shaikh Muhammad had loaded him and even impri-