Coll 30/90 'Persian claim to the island of Bahrain' [‎102v] (209/1062)

V
Teh. to F.O.,
No. 69 of
22.6.1844.
Teh. to F.O.,
No. 19 of
25.2.1845.
Teh. to F.O.,
No. 28 of
18.3.1845
Secret
Committee to
Bd. of Control
31.7.1845.
F.O. to Teh.
No. 38 of
7.8.1846.
12
Discussions with Persia, 1844-4o ^ _
45 On a communication in these terms bemg^made tj the right of
Minister, the Prime Minister “ said he wouhl wou ld not make
Persia to possession of that island and ^ notificat ion of such an intention
any movement against it without gi^ i g I
to the British Government Tehran sent home a letter receiver!
46. In February 1845 the fj p e ar ed that the Persian claim we 1
from the Prime Minister, from w 11 between Captain Bruce and the
essentially based on the Convention of ISii^betwee P ^ above .)
Minister of the Prince Govemoi o , ' said tiiat he had informed the
47. In a subsequent despatch the Minister ^ ^ ^
Prime Minister that the Bruce Minister had thereupon sent him
repudiated at the time, and t.. . p prs j an claim. The result of enquiries
a fuller statement of the grounds o . e nt on the receipt of this state-
which His Majesty’s Minister “ade con^quent on the ot
ment “confirmed me in the t he Kajar dvnasty [1795 j. It
the dominions of Persia siM^th . ^ ^ bab jii ty from time to time
1S true that the Chiefs of » h ^ this co [r nt ry [Persia] as a mark of
given peeshnesh, olierm s o tinue to d o, without an acknowledgment
superiority, as Kandahar and _ , tbat tbe m lers of that island may
of subjection,0 and it is also threatened with sub-
have declared themselves to he Persia has exercised any
jugation from Bagdad, but c.. -1 vearg y The Minister added that
in^urther support'of their claim the Persian j a Jtoh
coin struck at Bahrein in 1817 in the name of Fateh All Shah Kajat, « ,
he belmved to £ t of claim put forward by the Persian Government
was invesTJated by the Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. of the East Indm Company, who,
after detailed examination of it, reached the conclusio ked t , )at tbe
legitimate claim to the sovereignty of Bahrein. > p - an n n \i from
Persian claim was largely based on a general claim that the Persian ijuit nom
the Shatt~el-Arab to Muscat and all the islands in it belonged to Persia, that
he employment in English of the term “ Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ” was itself evidence of
this- that from about 1300 a.d. the island of Bahrein had always been m the
possession of the Governors of Pars and had paid revenue to them until i s
concmest in 1783 by the Uttabi Arabs, from which tribe itself, likev ise, presents
have leneraHy been sent to the Governors of Pars - that Her Maiesty’s Govern-
ment "had recognised the position when they warned Mehemet Ah °1 Egypt m
1840 not to attack Bahrein, which did not form part of Arabia, but ^ tiie
of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; “ and that accordingly the British Government would not
allow him to extend the hand of possession over that island ; tnat the BriUsn
authorities had formally and repeatedly asked Persia to rent the island to them
and that British representatives at Tehran had frequently declared teat liei
Maiesty’s Government had no right whatever to the Gull or its islands [there
is no foundation for either statement]; and that the fact that Captain Bruces
treaty was on record supported the Persian claim. The following extract, which
(except as regards the initial date) appears correctly to represent the true tacts,
may. however, be placed on record from the Prime Minister’s memorandum :
“ In the commencement of the reign of His Majesty the late Shah, the Arabs
of Beni Attabi came f rom the desert and conquered the island by sea. I he
object and desire of the Persian Government has since always been and is the
recovery of that island from its spoilers.”
49.* Her Majesty’s Government, in view T of the unlikelihood that Persia had,
or could give effect to, any serious designs in Bahrein and the undesirability
of engaging in those circumstances in a correspondence which might merely^ cause
irritation without serving any useful purpose, instructed the Minister at Tehran
not to revert to the subject unless it was forced upon him by the Persian Prime
Minister. In that case he was to employ certain arguments supplied to him
(apparently the critical comments of the Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. of the East India
Company on the Prime Minister’s memorandum) to show generally the grounds
on which Her Majesty’s Government were cc unable to recognise as valid the
claims advanced by Persia to the sovereignty of Bahrein, and you may add 2
( 2 ) On this point the Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. of the East India Company remarked: “Presents
and complimentary messages do not imply an acknowledgment of sovereignty, and they have
not been confined to Persia.” ( Secret Committee Pre-1784, the Committee responsible for protecting East India Company shipping. Post-1784, its main role was to transmit communications between the Board of Control and the Company's Indian governments on matters requiring secrecy. to India Board, 31st July, 1845.)