'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA. PART I - The Persian Gulf.' [‎29r] (62/92)

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recognition of Bahreinis as entitled to British protection in Persia were com-
menced at Tehran, but they were not concluded till after Lord Curzon’s time"
Notwithstanding all the difficulties upon which it has been necessary to dwell*
a remarkable increase of trade and material prosperity has been a leading
feature in the recent history of Bahrein. °
The relations of the Government of India with the Turkish authorities in
EiHassa. Hassa, arising chiefly from British
interests or obligations in Bahrein, are at
most times unsatisfactory, and the period from 1899 to 1905 was no exception
to the rule: this unfortunate state of matters is due partly to the weakness and
inefficiency of Turkish rule m El Hassa and partly, perhaps, to positive hosti-
1 • towards British interests on the part of the Turkish officials in that
province.
A serious question in El Hassa, necessitating the intervention of the British
Government on behalf of the Sheikh of Bahrein, sprang from the murder by
A1 Morrah Bedouins in December 1900 of Selman, cousin of the Sheikh, and
about 20 other Bahreinis who had gone for sport to Dhahran on the mainland
opposite Bahrein. The occurrence w r as immediately brought to the notice of
the Wall of Basrah, hut no steps were taken by him to enforce punishment or
reparation, and in August 1900 strong representations were made to the' Porte
by the British Ambassador at Constantinople. Still no result followed. Early
in the next year serious trouble broke out between the Turkish authorities in
El Hassa and the Bedouin tribes of the country, and in April 1902 a consider-
able Turkish military detachment was destroyed near Ojair by an assemblage
of tribesmen among whom were some of the*Al Morrah. In September 1902
the Turks were successful in an engagement with the rebellious Arabs, but
they still showed no intention of obtaining satisfaction for the Sheikh of
Bahrein. In 1 03 the matter was again pressed upon the attention of the
Turkish Government hut without success ; and it w r as finally decided by His
Majesty’s Government, in accordance with a recommendation by Lord Curzon,
that the Sheikh should be permitted to take direct action against the A1
Morrah on condition that territory recognised as Turkish should not be violated
by him in his operations. This decision was communicated to the Porte
in October 1904, but it was in the end withheld from the Sheikh of Bahrein
on account of his reprehensible conduct in other matters.
In the summer of lb99 four piracies, one of them accompanied by loss of
life, were committed by denizens of El Hassa upon sailing craft belonging to
the Bahrein islands and were brought to the notice of the Wali of Basrah,
hut he treated the complaint wi^li indifference, alleging that Bahrein was a
Turkish, not a British dependency. In 1901 serious representations were made
to the Porte on the subject, and at the beginning of 1902 the Assistant Political
Officer in Bahrein w T as sent to Katif by the Government of India to ascertain
whether any steps were being taken by the Turkish authorities; he met, how
ever, with an uncivil reception and tne visit had no results. In the summer of
1902 ^hmad-bin-Selman, an exiled scion of the ruling family of Bahrein who
had his domicile in El Hassa, committed two piracies on Bahrein boats, and
a reference was made to the Turkish authorities by whom he was shortly after
captured but again allowed to escape. In 1903 an attempt by Ahmad to
resume his piratical career was frustrated, and he was said to have been con
victed and sentenced (in his absence) by the Turkish courts in EL Hassa. In
1904, nevertheless, he committed a fresh piracy on a Katr boat between El
Kair and Bahrein, and in 1905 two more piracies occurred for which he was
responsible. This led to the arrest of some of his followers by the Kaimmakam
of Katif, but the gang merely retorted with a fresh piracy accompanied by
murder. In September 1905 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. in Bahrein visited Katif
where he had a not unsatisfactory interview with the Kaitnmakam on this and
other subjects, but Ahmad remained at large.
Since 1900 steps have been taken to improve the position of British Indian
traders at Katif. A small but thriving colony of Indian merchants formerly
dwelt at that place, but in 1900, in consequence of inadequate^ protection and
unfair treatment by the Turkish authorities, it had ceased to exist. The traders
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