File 1508/1905 Pt 1 'Bahrain: situation; disurbances (1904-1905); Sheikh Ali's surrender; Question of Administration Reforms (Customs etc)' [‎230r] (465/531)

and his people that I am sorry to say I cannot at all share your views which
you formed on the case. Since I have given you all the details of the matter
in my first letter to you and since from your answer it appears that you have
quite satisfied yourself as to the literal correctness of my narrative, I do not
think it necessary to mention these happenings over again; I only wish to
rectify some errors of yours.
Firstly, you say you “ do not believe that Sheikh Ali himself had any
intention of causing Mr. Bahnson to be beaten.” As for this it will not be
possible to ascertain what really Sheikh Ali’s intentions were, but Mr. Bahnson
who ought to be able to judge best by the Sheikh’s behaviour at that time and
I myself are absolutely unshaken in our belief (which by the by is shared by a
good many people) that Sheikh Ali was the instigator of the assault on
Mr. Bahnson.
If you think “ it is difficult to say whether the servants struck him acci
dentally or through exasperation at his intervention ” I think you might take
it for granted that there could be no question of accident as Mr. Bahnson has
not been hidden (sic) once or twice or even three times accidentally, hut
Mr. Bahnson affirms emphatically that he has been systematically beaten. The
question of it having occurred accidentally is quite out of possibility. What
their motives were I myself have no doubts. I do not believe either that it
was caused by “ exasperation at his intervention.”
The large wound which Mr. Bahnson sustained in this assault luckily did
not prove to be of serious consequences, but I can assure you that all the same
Mr. Bahnson lost pounds and pounds of blood; in fact, before I bandaged his wound,
Mr. Bahnson on account of loss of blood when lying in the easy chair nearly
fainted, but still I agree with you that his “ sense of dignity was even more
seriously hurt.” If it appears to you that the coolie A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. was not very much hurt,
I and everybody with me, who saw the man, will be of different opinion.
The man was sick afterwards and was laid up for more than a week being
unable to work and even now he is unable to do heavy work he had to do before
the assault.
The fra§as had just subsided when I arrived on the scene and it is quite
true that Sheikh Ali accompanied me upstairs, but if you conclude from that that
he left me again “ on getting some idea of the terms which you contemplated
demanding of him ” and that he thought them unreasonable, you are mistaken,
since neither I nor anybody else spoke a single word to him about terms or
compensation or anything of that sort. I invited him to sit down which he did
for about a minute or two whilst I bandaged Mr. Bahnson’s wound. I only
addressed him with a few words asking him to tell me how the matter had
come about. It was only when Mr. Gaskin had arrived in my house that the
question of compensation or terms was raised by Mr. Gaskin by addressing
Mr. Bahnson, and it was only then that the proposed terms were fixed. I may
add here that when the Sheikh was spoken to by Mr. Gaskin his behaviour
was of such a kind as to show clearly that he did not regret the affair at
all and Mr. Gaskin himself remarked “ he is not at all apologetic ”.
"While Sheikh Ali was sitting down I sent a second man to Mr. Gaskin to
inform him the first messenger having been sent by Abdullah before
Mr. Bahnson went downstairs but was overtaken by the second one.
When the Sheikh heard me mention Mr. Gaskin’s name he got angry and
left in spite of my invitations to wait until Mr. Gaskin had arrived; on the
contrary, he said if anything was wanted of him they would know where to find
him.
Sheikh Ali bin Ahmed’s behaviour after having come upstairs with me
was not at all apologetic. In fact, he did show an overbearing manner at that
time.
I now come to what you call “an error of judgment committed by
Mr. Bahnson by going down into the Melee ”. When Mr. Bahnson heard the
row downstairs it was his duty to go down and to see what was going on in my
house; when coming downstairs he saw that an innocent coolie A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. employed by me
was being brutally beaten by several of Sheikh Ali’s men, it was again his duty
to interfere and tell them to stop this; or do you expect Mr. Bahnson or me