'Memorandum respecting British interests in the Persian Gulf' [‎28r] (21/126)

29
Mr. Hertslet’s
Memorandum of
March 1874, p. 13.
1869.
1868.
1869.
1871
abstain from prosecuting war, piracy, and
slavery by sea, and the British Government on
their part engaged to maintain the security of
his territory against foreign aggression.
Her Majesty’s Government, having concluded
this Treaty with the Sheikh as an independent
ruler, informed the Persian Government of what
had taken place, and refused to concur in a pro
posal made by the Shah that the sovereignty of
Bahrein should he transferred to the Persian
Crown. Sir H. Rawlinson, then Her Majesty’s
Minister at Tehran, expressed in forcible terms
how indispensable the maintenance of the
Sheikh’s independence (of Persia) was “to the
successful working of those plans of maritime
police in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. which we have been
at so much pains and expense to establish.”
In 1868, in consequence of the intrigues of
the Persian Government, who had encouraged
the piratical faction, it was necessary for the
Indian Government to take forcible action
against the offending Chiefs, and a naval demon
stration took place. In November 1869 further
measures had to he adopted, two of the Chiefs
were incarcerated in an Indian fortress, and,
finally, Esa-bin-Ali, a member of the Khalifa
family, was installed as ruling Sheikh of Bahrein,
and has remained in power ever since.
In 1870 the Government of India wrote a
full despatch reviewing the history of the island
and emphasizing the importance of allowing no
Persian claims to sovereignty to pass without
firm remonstrance The Duke of Argyll, then
Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for
India, concurred in this view.
In the autumn of 1871, during the progress
of the Turkish expedition against Nejd, the
murder of a Turkish messenger by order of the
Chief of Bahrein re-opened the question of the
Ottoman claim to the island. This claim Her
Majesty’s Government had already refused to
recognize on three occasions, in 1839, 1851, and
1870. At the request of Her Majesty’s Ambas
sador, the Ottoman Minister for Poreign Affairs
eventually repeated the verbal assurances, for
merly given by Aali Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , that the Porte
did not entertain any intention of obtaining
supremacy over Bahrein, Muscat, or the inde
pendent tribes of Southern Arabia, nor con-
[1098] I