File 522/1922 Pt 5 'Persian Gulf: Bahrein: Administration: Internal Affairs: British Interference' [‎61v] (133/356)

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51 Durins 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 common
gratitude on his part must give us some rights of advice.
We have however always publicly insisted upon his independence and he has
cmhiW 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 mainland) it means
nistice 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 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. , 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 Hamad is a pleasant man, but a weak one, and it is idle to pretend that he
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
that he looks to Ibn Saud as the great Arab ruler whom they would all wish to
please.
He, in a way, likes the British Officers he meets, but he, like every other Arab
Shaikh, would gadly be rid of us all and go back to his definite Arab ways amongst
his fellow Arabs.
54. Thequestionthenis what are we going to do, now that Bahrain is, however
little we may desire it or have desired it, administered as a British Province, for
apart from the British employees, the Levy Corps is entirely Indian and we have
nearly completed a Revenue Survey carried out by Indian Surveyors.
55. I am separately from this despatch submitting suggestions for the reduc
tion of the number of the British employees and we are doing all we can to induce
Shaikh Hamad to accept the responsibilities of the post which he holds.
56. But the reforms which we have introduced are essentially Western in
ethics and in principle and foreign to the Eastern mentality of an Arab Shaikh.
To relax too much, to allow Shaikh Hamad his way, means to go through the
same grind through which w r e have come, and we cannot afford to-day, any more
than in the past, to let Bahrain come under the influence of any other power Eastern
or Western. It must be remembered that only in 1906, 37 years after we had put
Shaikh Esa on the throne, and after we alone had kept him from annexation, and
notwithstanding our treaties with him, he had ideas of accenting Turkish nation
ality.
57. Bahrain is more important to us than it ever has been. There is little
doubt that with the development of Persia our strength on that coast will be weak
ened. It is for us to see that it is not weakened with the Arabs as well.
The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is vital to us as a point on the line from which our oil comes.
Bahrain is a keypoint on the air route to India and the East, and without it we
could not maintain a service. We cannot lose Bahrain. But notwithstanding our
outwardly strong position on the Islands, a single serious quarrel with Shaikhs
_jsa and Hamad, a quarrel engineered by Ibn Saud on religious grounds, or through
1 eisia on political grounds, and we should have to vaCate our privileged position