Page 273 - Records of Bahrain (3) (i)_Neat

British influence and foreign interests, 1904-1906 263

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both of us, but (he observations contained in your lottcr give mo good grounds
for referring you again to the 6th demand of Government, which rcTorrejd to tho
future ; and for reminding you of the last two interviews l bad withyQU in March,
at which in terms of complete friendliness and capitulation you assured -me that
you were entirely amenable to the wishes of Government and thaA you And your
sons realised that you had no one else to look to for help in difficulty. My last
piece of advice to you then was—and your last promise to mo—that you should
cease to lend your car to the advice of evilly-disposed persons and should in
future look upon your Political Agent as your best friend and advisor.
It is consequently very disappointing to me to find from your prosent letter,
that you arc forgetting your promises so soon and again giving oar to the' winds
of evil wishers.
If the truth be said, a letter written in such a contrary spirit hardly deserves
to be answered ; but although I know well that the Political Agent has already
given you answers to many of the questions which you ask, nevertheless l bo<tr
with you and answer them lest you should wrongly attribute my silence to un­
friendliness.
Firstly with regard to your nephew Sheikh Ali. Have you forgotten that on
34th Zilhijjch, with professed readiness, you issued a proclamation offering a re­
ward of Rs. 10,000 for his capture, for the expressed reason that he had rebelled
against your orders, and had set at nought the commands of the British
Government ; and that at the same time you proclaimed him an outlaw 7 .Yet
you now identify yourself with this same outlaw and take it as a porsonal griev-
ance that he has been expelled from Bahrein and cannot be forgiven.
When however you say that you have been awaiting replies and that nothing
has transpired, you are njt speaking in accordance with tho facts.
Captain Pridcaux wrote to me on nth March saying that certain influential
persons were asking him what terms the British Government would .give if Sheikh
Ali offered to surrender himself. I then instructed the Political Agent to reply to
Sheikh Ali’s representative that if he wished his overtures to be considered serious­
ly, he must write a letter signed and sealed by himself notifying his willingness to
surrender to a British man-of-war.
Government were informed of that answer and have not disapproved it.
The British Government is as merciful as it is great and you must realise
that Sheikh Ali is no more than a mouse to them, that they should wish to harm
him on their own account ; in spite of his evil deeds All they wanted, and still
intend to effect, is that he shall be prevented from meddling with the Govern­
ment in Bahrein and from practising oppression either against British subjects or
others.
It was for this reason that they decided to keep him away from Bahrein for
a term of years.
But Sheikh Ali rebelled against their decision and (led away. If Sheikh
Ali docs not like life in Katar let him submit himself to the British Government
and they will appoint a place for him to live in peace with his family. This was
always their intention if he had not run away.
If Government change their mind I will tell you, but this is their intention
up to now.
I told you when l last saw you that as you had failed to comply with all the
demands made upon you, I was not sure whether Government would be satisfied
with your conduct, and that several points would have to await their final deci­
sion.
The time they have taken to consider it may have seemed long to you, but
you must remember that the Government of India has multitudinous important
manors to deal with—not simply the affairs of Bahrein. *
The reply of Government is datod 1 7th May and only reached me on return
from Masknt 6 days ago, since when there has been no post to Bahrein.