مجموعة ٣٠/٩٠ "المطالبة الفارسية بجزيرة البحرين" [و‎‎٤‎٠‎٧] (١٠٦٢/٨٢٦)

0
application, equally unsuccessful, to the Commander of the r , c,-
fnaot Ex P 1 edltl0 f I1 R “ Persian Gulf. In the earlv part of ’ 847 '
1820 the rulers of Bahrein made full submission to the Imam
of Muscat and agreed to pay him a tribute of 30,000 dollars
An instalment (12,000 dollars) of this tribute appears
subsequently to have been actually remitted. PP
Policy of British Government, 1819-20.
• . t0 be adopted by the British Government
m regard to Bahrein was examined between the Government
oi Bombay and the Government of India in 1819-20 and
was ultimately defined as one of complete neutrality. ’ The Govt of
ransfei of Bahrein to the Imam of Muscat had been contem- Bombay to
plated, but this project, so far as the British Government G - of L >
were concerned, whs now abandoned. The Government of 15121 f ^
Bombay suggested that the Sheikh should be informed that ^ 2 ' 3 -
so long as he restrained his subjects from piracy he would
reap the advantage of a friendly neutrality on the part of
Britain, whereas should a piratical spirit manifest itself
forcible measures of coercion would be applied to him.
I hey adc.ed that the conclusion of an engagement in
general terms with the Sheikh ‘‘would probably tend to
convince the Uttabi Arabs of the integrity of our intentions.”
British Offer to Persia of Mediation with Bahrein, 1820.
15. Simultaneously the Government of Bombay in a
despatch to the Charge d’Affaires at Tehran, remarked that Dated
w_e mean to avoid all interference in respect of the island 15.12.1819,
or Bahrein. . . . There is, however, reason to believe that P ara - 11 -
provided the Persian Government will consent to the Uttabis
continuing m the undisturbed occupation of Bahrein the
Sheikh would readily agree to pay them tribute, and for this
purpose the mediation of the British Government would be
gladly afforded provided it could be employed in such a
manner as to avoid anything which might in any shape
involve us in the transactions of the parties after the
conclusion of the negotiation immediately referred to. . . . ”
Treaty of 1820 between Bahrein and His Majesty’s
Government.
16. On the 17th January 1820 the Sheikh agreed to
surrender certain pirate craft which had taken refuge in
his territories, and undertook to the British Government
not to. admit any more boats of the same character until
authorised to do so by the British authorities. On the
5th February 1820 a preliminary Treaty of Peace was
signed between the Sheikh and His Majesty’s Government,
and on the 23rd February 1820 the Sheikhs were admitted
to the benefits of the General Treaty of Peace which had
been made between His Majesty’s Government and the Arab
rulers of the Persian Gulf and under which His Majesty’s
Government undertook, in return for abstention by those
rulers from piracy and the slave trade, that “if any shall
attack them the British Government shall take notice of it”
(Article 10). The Sheikh of Bahrein went so far as to
claim subsequently that the treaty in question established
relations of protection and dependence between the British
Government and himself, but it was made clear to him by
the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf while on a visit
to Bahrein in 1823 that this was not the case.
Proposal for British Mediation with Bahrein not taken up
hy Persia,
17. On 10th May 1820 His Majesty’s Minister at Tehran
reported to the Government of Bombay that he had been
received in audience by the Shah on 5th May and had put
Aitchison,
Vol. XI,
No. viii, 233.
Aitchison,
Vol. XI,
No. xix,
245-9.
Lt. McLeod
to Govt, of
Bombay,
No. 8, dated
17.2.1823,
paras. 30,
64-5.
Precis, 297.
2953
B