'Memorandum respecting British interests in the Persian Gulf' [‎26r] (17/126)

continue to exercise these powers ? The history
of your States and of your families, and the
present condition of the Gulf, are the answer.
We were here before any other Power in modern
times had shown its face in these waters. We
found strife, and we have created order. It was.
our commerce as well as your security that was
threatened and called for protection. At every
port along these coasts the subjects of the King
of England still reside and trade. The great
Empire of India, which it is our duty to defend,
lies almost at your gates. We saved you from
extinction at the hands of your neighbours. We
opened these seas to the ships of all nations, and
enabled their flags to fly in peace. We have not.
seized or held your territory. We have not
destroyed your independence, but have preserved
it. We are not now going to throw away this
century of costly and triumphant enterprise ; we
shall not wipe out the most unselfish page in
history. The peace of these waters must still be
maintained ; your independence will continue to
be upheld; and the influence of the British
Government must remain supreme.”
(c.) Bahrein.
Government of
India’s despatch of
February 22, 1870
(Abstract), and
Bombay Records,
vol. xxiv.
Erom the eleventh century to the beginning
of the sixteenth century the inhabitants of
Bahrein, to whom a Persian and Arab descent
has been variously assigned, appear to have been
subject to Chiefs of their own race, though in the
time of Alphonso de Albuquerque the island fell
into the possession of the Portuguese, who were
eventually deprived of it by a dependent Sheikh
of Nejd. During part of the seventeenth
century, and for twenty-five years in the latter
half of the eighteenth, Bahrein paid tribute to
the Shah of Persia. With the death of
Karim Khan in 177-1 the influence of
Persia began to wane, and the petty Chiefs of
the Gulf, whose lawlessness had been controlled
by the strong hand of Nadir Shah and his
immediate successors, were soon involved in
contests for superiority.
A section of the Arab tribe of Uttoobees, which
had already been settled at Zobara for some years,
and had increased so rapidly in wealth and power
as to be virtually independent, took advantage of
the disturbed state of affairs to attack Bahrein in
1782. In the following year they accomplished
[1098] H
1782.