Page 329 - Records of Bahrain (2) (i)_Neat

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320 Records of Bahrain

( 18 )
Government lina lately shown a disposition to revive
but which^tho Government of India is not prepared
to admit*/ The Pcrsian~~Govcrnmcnl7 we* may rcmark,”
'h'^r| at the present moment, powerless to stop dis-,
turbances at sea. They have no navy, and even if
they were in a position to purchase vessels of war,
we could not surrender to them the protectorate of
the Gulf without the certainty of hostilities, not only
with Muscat and the Arab Chiefs of the Littoral,
who would not tolerate the pretensions of Persia,
but also with tho Wakubecs, and probably even with
. i
Turkey, who could ’ willi equal show of reason put
> *• 7/
forward obsolete claims to supremacy which our position
as guardians of the peace of the Gulf alone prevents
her from reviving. The obligations, moreover, which
1 we have contracted with tho Arab Chiefs to watch over
j the peace of the Gulf, to put doWn aggressions by sea,
and to take all necessary steps for the reparation of
i injuries inflicted on them, arc such ns we cannot abnc-
! gate. The only security for peace and the safety of
*
trade in these waters lies in our preserving that position
j which, with the consent of the turbulent tribes, we
\ somewhat reluctantly took up; which for more than
! } half a century we have, not without difficulty and at
< considerable cost, maintained; and which Persia with
her feeble resources aud the scanty respect paid to her by
^ the Arab Chiefs of the Littoral, could never assume.
18. With regard' to the opinion of the Persian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, as expressed in the cnclo-
sure to your Assistant Political Secretary’s letter dated
December 24tli last, to the address of our Foreign
Secretary, that the murder of Mahomed bin Khalifa,
Ex-Chief of Bahrein, had obviated the necessity for
Colonel Pclly’s proceeding to Bahrein, we have the
honor to repeat what wo hove in a recent letter
brought to your Grace’s notice, viz., that Mahomed bin
Khalifa was not killed in tho late disturbances. Ihit
bad he .been murdered, we consider that it wou*(
have been none tho less incumbent on us, under tho
Treaty obligations which wo have contracted wit i
Bahrein, to punish his fellow-aggressors for their 6hnre
in the breach of the maritime pcucc, and their ntlnc
on the island.
the Chirgi
19. In a recent conversation between
dy Affaires at Teheran and the Persian Minister for 'orci0i