Page 23 - Records of Bahrain (4) (i)_Neat

Appointment of Shaikh Hamad b. *Isa At Khalifah, 1923 13
6
Gentlemen of the Shiah persuasion and especially
those indigenous to these Islands:
I v/ish you particularly to weigh the following re­
marks, Much of the agitation of recent years has been fict-
itous, I am far from saying that you have had no cause for
complaint but what I mean to say is that I cannot subscribe
to the opinion that recent misrule is either more tyrannical

or more flagrant than it has often been in the past. The
state of these Islands, the signs of additional wealth that
meet the eye everywhere around give the lie to the content­
ion that misrule has been persistent and is increasing. We
have admitted some abuses and announced our intention of
fighting them. But I want you to remember that this is a

Sunni country and surrounded on this shore of the Gulf by
powerful Sunni communities who watch our proceedings with
vigilant interest and no small degree of suspicion. You
must not expect equality at a bound and Sunni previleges
cannot be swept away at once, if at all.
As Shaikh Hamad has told you, we shall endeavour to

see that you know to what extent you are being taxed, that
taxes are levied equally and not arbitrarily, that you re­
main in quiet enjoyment of the fruits of your labour and that
you are not exposed to outrage of any kind, as you have, I
fear, sometimes been in the past, and I look to you for loy­
al support of Shaikh Hamad who promises to protect you against

oppression and exaction. You have found recently that you
have a voice, and foreign advisers have taught you how to
use 1t. Be careful that you do not, by clamouring unjustly,
destroy the benefits you may reasonably expect from the in­
auguration of the present regime. To you,
To you, Gentlemen, who, to use a legal tag, are

Foreigners within the meaning of the Bahrain Order in Council,
I have little to say. The jurisdiction over Foreigners
will continue to be exercised in the future, as it has been
in the past, by the Political Agent. I believe it has been
to