Page 86 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf) 1907-1953

80

and not to cede, sell, mortgage, or otherwise give
occupation of any portion of their territories,
save to the British Government. In respect of
El Katr, -wo have at present no formal Conven­
tions. We havo declined, however, to recognize
Turkish protensions on the peninsula, and the
leading Chief has on moro than one occasion
approached our officers in the Gulf with a
request that he may be admitted to closer
relations with the Indian Government. Bahrein
has for long been, to all intents and purposes, a
British Protectorate; while, in the case of
Kowoit, though tho Turks have laid claim to
certain ill-defined rights of sovereignty, we havo
always asserted that the Sheikh enjoys a large
measure of practical independence, and Ilia
Majesty’s Government have promised him their
good offices. Tho maintenance of the maritime
peace in the Gulf is an object which, for moro
than a century past, wc have steadily kept in
view in all our dealings with the Arab tribes.
To secure this object wo have prohibited the use
of armed boats by tho Chiefs, and have taken
upon ourselves the duty of policing all these
waters. A necessary corollary of this policy is
that the Chiefs cannot themselves adopt forcible
measures for the preservation of their monopoly
in connection with the pearl fisheries. It is
clear, therefore, that we on our part owe to them
an obligation to defend their rights so far as they
can reasonably be substantiated. This duty
curries with it incidentally the advantage that, if
our right to police the pearl banks is recognized,
a large area of the Gulf becomes at once
practically British waters.
“ In the past we have on more than one
occasion intervened to prevent the intrusion of
foreigners. In 1803 a British steamer appeared
in the Gulf with trained divers and scientific
appliances, but the steps which were at once
taken by the Resident, with the approval of the
Bombay Government, sufficed to frustrate the
attempted encroachment. In 1874, and again in
1890, Her Majesty’s Government, on the advice
of the Government of India, declined to coun­
tenance proposals made by British Companies to
exploit the fisheries. In 1894 support was
refused to an application by a British subject to
the Persian Government for pearling Concessions
in the Gulf. In 1899, in connection with the
allcginl grant of certain privileges to two Euro­
peans by tho Persian Government, the Mushir-