File 522/1922 Pt 4 'Persian Gulf: Bahrein: Internal' [‎111v] (227/616)

51. During all this time we have protected the State from outside encroach
ment, and since the Shaikh was put and kept in his place by our power we have felt
some responsibility for his internal administration and have felt that comnio
gratitude on his part must give us some rights of advice.
We have however always publicly insisted upon his independence and he h a
imbibed the idea of the fact that he is independent.
52. But with an uneducated Arab tribesman independence means the power to
do many things of which we do not approve. It means administering the Islands
for the benefit of the chiefs of the tribe to which he belongs, it means —- as it means
in many Native States in India—the exploiting of the people for the rulers, it means
to a bigoted Sunni the treating of the Shiahs as people of an unprivileged class
(as we see today in Ibn Saud ; s country, fifty miles away on the mainlandfit means
justice tempered with a consideration of the position of the ruling tribes, and to a
man of sixty, as Shaikh Esa was when the first crisis occurred, it means an abhor
rence of all new-fangled ideas. Thus the more we insisted, the more he felt his
position threatened, and the more he resisted. The trouble that came was bound
to come if we desired a clean administration and elementary justice.
Indeed Colonel Knox, knowing the type of man and the civilisation with which
we had to deal, pointed out when the reforms were made that it was inevitable that
the power should fall more and more into the hands of the Political A^ent at any
rate for some years. ° ’ "
53. But we have already had, in the past, our experience of trying to work by
merely advising, and the Government, not the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , finally had to insist
on threats instead of advice.
Shaikh Hamaa is a pleasant man, but a weak one, and it is idle to pretend that le
and his brothers would not backslide. He has already shown that he is very much
liable to the influence of Ibn Saud, and to other Arab influences. He has stated
please 0 ° kS t0 ^ SaUd ^ ^ 81641 Arab rUler Wb ° m they WOuld al1 wisil t0
o h . ; S e ’“ a ,7 a - v ’i lik ® 3 th , e British Officers he meets, but he, like every other Arab
his feH'ow°Arabs ^ 6 rK ° US 4 and h r ° back to his definite Arab ways amongst
little^we fltt®stion then is what are we going to do, now that Bahrain is, however
amrVfrnm ft d Rv u ° r h f Ve deS ‘ red it ’ administered as a British Province, for
nearly comnlefArl 0 p em P °y ees ’ Bevy Corps is entirely Indian and we have
nearly completed a Revenue Survey carried out by Indian Surveyors.
tion of thl^niimhp 141 ?et, ^!* s despatch submitting suggestions for the reduc-
Shaikh HamX W th t e ^ rltlsh employees and we are doing all we can to induce
btaikh Hamad to accept the responsibilities of the post which he holds.
ethics and in nrincfnl 0 ™ 1 ^ we ^ ave introduced are essentially Western in
and m principle and foreign to the Eastern mentality of an Arab Shaikh.
same grind^ouXwhich t^havt^* 1 Hanii 5 d his way> means to go through the
than in the mst to W h • aVe come ’ an ^ we cannot afford to-day, any more
or Western It must hp 1 ram C y me un ^ er influence of any other power Eastern
Shaikh Esa on t^^ron^am?^ 16 ^ 19 ° 6 ’ 37 ^ ars ^ we “ pU ]
notwithstanding our treaties withV T e ^, d ke P t tim from annexatl0I1 > and
ality. g tl6S Wlth him ’ he ideas of accepting Turkish nation-
doubt that with the devdoD^Tn^ f p t0 tiian ^ ever kas been ' Tiiere is
ened. It is for us to see of ^ Persi f our strength on that coast will be weak-
The PersL ^ ^ Weakened with the Arabs as welL
Bahrain is a keynoin/n^f^ t0 - US aS a P°^ n ^ on iine from which our oil comes,
could not maintain a serviep 16 r ° Ute t0 Pn< ^^ a an d the East, and without it, 1
outwardly strong nositinn rm f n 6 S anno ^ ^ ose Bahrain. But notwithstanding o
Esa and Hamad,°a ouarrel en • 6 an ds> a single serious quarrel with Shaik
Persia on political "rounds ^ ln i eeref b ^ Pbn Saud on religious grounds, or throuj
I grounds, and we should have to vacate our privileged