PZ 4718/1934 ‘Historical Memorandum on Bahrein.’ [‎23v] (46/48)

Government have never
admitted the ownership or sove
Such a claim is m
their
reignty of Persia over Bahrein,
view entirely inadmissible.
Review of the Persian Claim.
149 It is relevant in the first place that from 1847 to
101 ‘1 the Turkish claim to Bahrein was pressed with at let.
e/dJir to the Persian claim, and that through much o
that pXd Ae Turkish claim had a stronger practical
iustification than can be claimed by Persia since a perm
lone prior to 1783, in that Turkey was the suzerain of the
adjoining^continental littoral of Arabia and held or preferred
claims to both sides of the Gulf by which Bahrein ,s
vhich m the early part or the
established a
enfolded. Moreover, Muscat, w
19th century on more than one occasion
temporary control over Bahrein and drew tribute from it,
was P deterred from urging its claims by force from 1829
onwards only by the attitude of His Majesty s Government,
while the Wahabi Amirs brought effective pressure to bear
on Bahrein and drew tribute from^ it, though latterly
probably in respect only of Bahreini possessions on the
mainland, at frequent intervals through the early part oi
the 19th century, and desisted only with their subjugation
by Turkey in 1870. Persia, in other words, was up to 1913
one only of the claimants to Bahrein, and through much of
the period 1847 to 1913 if anything.a less insistent and to
some extent a less plausible claimant than 1 urkey.
150. These considerations, however, apart, the general
effect of a review of the history of Bahrein over the last
150 years and of an examination of the specitic arguments
put forward by Persia and referred to in paragraphs 147-8
above is to suggest that there is no solid basis for a Persian
claim to suzerainty or sovereignty over the islands. The
geographical remoteness of the islands from Persia and
the fact that their population is Arab are admittedly not
decisive arguments. The real weakness in the Persian claim
appears to be that there has been no effective exercise of
Persian authority in the islands since the expulsion of Persia
by the ancestors of the present ruling house in 1783. Such
incidents as the momentary hoisting of the Persian flag in
1860, its flying side by side with the Turkish flag in 1860-61,
or the temporary tender of allegiance to Persia in 1799,
1816-17 and 1839 must be considered in relation to the
history of the islands as a whole, in the period now under
consideration, and in particular to the consistent claim of
Turkey between 1847 and 1913 and to the absence of any
sequel to such momentary acknowledgment of or appeals to
Persian power; and they cannot carry the weight of a long
dealing extending over a course of years. The remarks of
the Government of India in 1870, quoted in paragraph 97
above, are relevant in this connection, as are the observa
tions in paragraph 8 of the British A 1 ote to Persia of
18th February 1929.
It may be added, too, that during the period from 1783
Bahrein has at various dates been in a position to enter into
treaty engagements or discussions with neighbouring States
such as Muscat (paragraph 26), Turkey (paragraph 103),
the Egyptian Viceroy, Mehemet Ali (paragraph 34) and
His Majesty’s^Government on a basis inconsistent with her
being at the time subject to Persian jurisdiction. A further
point of some importance is the absence, so far as available
records show, of any reference to Persia by the Sheikhs of
Bahrein, at any date since the conquest of Bahrein by the
ancestors of the present rulers in 1783, on the occasion of