'File 12/1 [1 A/1 I] Persian Claims to Bahrain' [‎24v] (53/502)

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To Teh.,
No. 22,
30.3.1870.
f
(see paragraphs 94-95 below), but in any event could not
admit “ that such overtures, made without its knowledge and
consent, can in any way affect its treaty relations with Bahrein.
British Reply to Persia, March 1870.
93. Her Majesty’s Minister was therefore instructed by the
Foreign Office that it appeared possible that Her Majesty’s
Government, instead of furnishing explanations to Persia,
might have cause to complain “ of the proceedings of the
Persian authorities in endeavouring to communicate with a
piratical chief who had been guilty of a breach of the Mari
time Truce, and who had attacked the Chief placed in power
at Bahrein by the British Government,” and was informed
that no notice would be taken of the complaints against the
Resident until the Persian Government gave a full explana
tion of the intercepted letters.
Supplementary Reports by Her Majesty's Minister, Tehran,
April 1870.
94. On 6th April 1870 the Minister at Tehran reported
as follows to the Government of India : —
“ In my Despatch No. 81 ... I reported that the
Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). of appointment was originally in the name of
Ali bin Khalifa, but that, on hearing of his death, it
was altered in favour of his brother, Md. bin Khalifa.
This information had reached me from a relation of
. . . one of the principal Persian officials in Shiraz, and
not . . . from the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
When further intelligence reached Shiraz from the
Gulf and it was supposed that Md. bin Abdullah
would retain possession of Bahrein, the Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). was
probably again altered in his favour, as it was to him
that it was eventually forwarded. In conversation with
the Persian Minister this afternoon His Excellency
admitted that this was probably the case. He said that
Mirza Mehdi Khan on leaving Tehran had received
general instructions for his guidance respecting the
Bahrein question, but that the details were settled at
Shiraz and the Finnan was issued in the name of the
Persian Governor of Fars and not in that of the Shah.
The name inserted in this document had certainly, he
said, been altered once to his knowledge, and it was
not unlikely that it had been changed a second time
before being forwarded to its destination.
“ With regard to the overtures said to have been
made by Ali bin Khalifa to the Persian Government,
as reported in my Despatch No. 81, I have the honour
to state that that information also reached me from a
private source and not from the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs. His Excellency has, however, asserted very
positively to me to-day that Ali bin Khalifa had
repeatedly written to the Persian Government professing
allegiance to the Shah and that a number of letters
containing assurances of this kind are now in his (the
Minister’s) possession.
“ It appears to me that on the receipt of a correspon
dence which passed last April between Her Majesty’s
Government and the Shah’s representative in London,
the Persian Ministers, believing that the Bahrein Chief
was himself well disposed to further their designs
resolved to take measures with a view to establishino-’
if possible, the Shah’s authority in that quarter and
make good his claim to exercise sovereign rights over
Bahrein. Mirza Mehdi Khan was accordingly dispatched
to Shiraz and Bushire and a certain latitude was given
to him as to the mode in which he should proceed to
carry out the wishes of his Government. The Persian
authorities in Shiraz finally determined that a Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’).
should be addressed to Md. bin Abdullah, conferring