'File 19/191 III (C 56) Bahrain, Persian Claim To' [‎103v] (225/396)

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Resdt. to over his piratical activities directed against the Wahabis,
Bombay, tlie Sheikh made a simultaneous appeal for assistance to the
No - 118 '. Persian Governor of Fars and the Turkish Wall of Baghdad.
No" The Turkish answer was delayed. A Persian agent (M.rza
Siseb ; Slehdi Khan), bearing a Persian F.rman to the Sheikh, arrived
No. 219, in Aoril 1860. The Persian flag was hoisted, lersian
sovereignty proclaimed, and the Sheikh's agreement to pay
SrL tribute seeured. These ceremonies were, however, scarcely
No So, over when a Turkish emissary arrived. I he Persian flag
16 7.1860. continued to fly during the Sheikh s negotiations with the
Resdt. to Turks but on the latter withdrawing, and subsequently
JmsSx communicating assurances of a character satisfactory to the
Sheikh from the Turkish Government, the Turkish flag was
hoisted on the forts in place of the Persian flagm May 1860
and the Sheikh agreed to pay tribute to lurkey. Ihe
Persian emissary, however, refused to leave Bahrein or
surrender his imaginary authority in the Sheikhdom. ine
Resident reported in July 1860 that ' the Ottoman flag has
now become the national one." The Sheikh appears to
have endeavoured to play off each party against the other.
Views of the Minister
o
68. The Minister at Tehran regarded the matter as one
of relatively small importance. He pointed out to the
Persian Government " that under no circumstances can the
British Government be expected to concur in the proposed
transfer of the sovereignty of Bahrein to the Persian Crown,
since we have contracted engagements with the Arab Sheikhs
of the island as independent Chiefs, and since the mainten
ance of their independence is indispensable to the successful
working of those plans of maritime police in the Persian
Gulf which we have been at so much pains and expense to
establish " ; and obtained an assurance from Persia that no
Teh. to Bu. military occupation of Bahrein should be attempted until
^o- 16 ° f the title to the island had been settled through the diplomatic
channel. He advised the Resident that, while hostilities
against Bahrein were to be repelled by force, a voluntary
tender of allegiance by the Sheikh to any other Power might,
so long as it was unaccompanied by any military occupation,
be ignored as of no particular importance. In the light of
the Minister's views 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. instructed
the Resident that he should not interfere with the occupation
of Bahrein, whether by Persia or Turkey, save by protest
and by an intimation that the matter had been referred to
Her Majesty's Government; but at the same time that the
agents of both Powers (Turkey and Persia) should be warned
that aggression by or in the name of Bahrein on neighbour
ing tribes would not be allowed and would, if necessary, be
Dec. 1860. prevented by force. In representing the matter to the
Secretary of State for India they urged that in the interests
of the peace of the Gulf it would be better that Bahrein
should be regarded as independent and as subject neither to
Turkey nor to Persia, that its independence should be
recognised, and the engagements into which in the interests of
humanity we had entered, with its rulers for the preservation
of the peace and good order of the Gulf should be maintained.
Her Majesty's Government decide that Bahrein shall be
regarded as independent (1861).
69. In February 1861 tier Majesty's Government, after
t 1 0 to 10 lscuss ^ ori between the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and the Foreign Office,
12.2.61. ' ''PP 1 oved the recommendation of the Government of
S. of S.toG. _ ombay. The Resident and the Minister at Tehran were so
2 ' ln ^ 01i y ie ^- During part of the time at any rate that the
question was under consideration in London the Turkish
an ^ ersian agents or their representatives appear (though
it is not clear how consistently) to have remained in
ahrem, and the flags of both Powers to have been flown