Page 314 - Records of Bahrain (3) (i)_Neat

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304 Records oj Bahrain
d.
Ho roplied nt onco in tho nflirmativo saying that thcro woro two or tlirco
mQttors aiTooting him in regard to which thcro had boon neglect (alee) < on our
(1) Murd.rof 81ieikli 8olra»n bin Dinij. Vide l)arti* n8Uod to explain llO WOUt
Foioign liep«rtmont ondorismont No. 13tS*E.U., On to Say that tho first Bllbjoct to wllicll
daud 1211. Jm.u»ry 1005. jl0 rcfcvrod was that of tho murdor of his
kiusinan Shoikh Solman biu Diaij by Bchnih tribosmeu. Moro than iivcycaro
ho an id, had now passod sinco tho outrago had ocourrod ; but Govornmont had
porsistontly rofusod to lot him exact reparation himsolf and yet had not soon
fit to oxact it for him. At this point I aont for my file of tho caao which
among othora I had brought over, and explained to him, ns far as was
pormissiblo, what had passod up to tho last nssortion of tho Porto that Turkish
troops had killed 37 out of CO men couC&rucd. Tho acouracy of this Shoikh
Esa denied, aud furthor contended that any men who had boon killed had not
boon killed in counootion with this ease at all, and had indoed infliotod much
soverer lossos on tho Turkish troops than they had suffered thom6olvos.
To the Buggostion that after all tho incidont in question was really an
itom, aud not tho first one, in a tribal blood feud, ho repliod that this was
truo but that it was tho Behnih who had begun tho foud and that they were
still sovoral livos to tho good. Ho coulinucd that ho only wanted juslico;
that if Govornmont could not givo it him in ono of tho forms in which ho
asked for it, they should at least lot him exact roparation iu his own way.
The two altornativos wore, ho repoated, the delivory to him of 3 Bohaih for
oxocution ; or tho paymont of blood monoy for tho lives of thoso murdcrod aud
compensation for thoir looted property. Ho added in conclusion that ho
would prefer tho delivory of 3 mon for oxocution to tho monetary settlement.
I oxplaiucd to him that tho delivory to him of 3 possibly innocent men for
oxeoution in cold blood would not bo a courso to which tho British Govern­
ment could lend ilsolf, but with regard to tho rest I would mako anothor
roprosontation to Govornmont.
Shoikh Esa thon wont on to prefor his eooond complaint which°wa8 with
(2) Ti.o pir&oieiof AUuod tin S»lnun. Vide rofereuco to'the piracies of Ahiuod bin
For«ign Department endonement No. 217*E.B., Solmau. Horn again he said Govornmoufc
dated 17th January 1900. had fcakon no offeotivo punitivo 01* detor-
ront measures and yet, as in tho Bohaih ense, wo would not allow him to act for
himsolf as ho desired. Ho admitted that Captain Pridoaux had dono his
utmost by personal elfort and said that tho " Sphinx ” hud indeed cruised about,
but that this was of no uso, for tho pirates could see her miles off. Ho conti­
nued that his interests had in these matters suffurod immonsoly; that the
pirates from not boing puuishcd woro boooming or had beoomo tho moro
audacious and might at any time bo expected to cross ovor and commit raids on
outlying villngos of tho Bahroin Islands. I explained ,to him how Govorn-
raeut woro nut in the least forgotful of this matter and wore doing thoir utmost
to suppross tho piracies and I went on to ropoat to him Captain Pridcaux’s
argument that his own moasurcs would probably only ond iu the murdor of a
fow innocent pooplo; but ho would not bo convinced and said ho cithor claimod
effective slops on tho part of Government or permission to suppross tho
inaraudors in his own way.
It is I think doubtful if ho really imagines that ho has any well founded
griovauoo in this connection, and Captain Pridoaux considered that ho had
only put tho matter forward, as somothing spooiou9 to complain about.
Next Sheikh E6a referred once again to tho alleged throwing down of tho
(3) Tho oiiogod domoiition of tho FUgdaCE oa flagstaff on tho house at Manama which
8beikh Alt's houio at Manama. hod boon tho residence of Sheikh All. I
asked him had ho not been assured by tho Political Agent that tho flagstaff had
not boen thrown down and had lie not at tho timo withdrawn the statement ;
why then did ho persistently roturn to the obargo ? Ho ropliod that he only
knew what his pooploat Manama told himt< I rojoined that ho had tho Politi­
cal Agent’s word for it and my word for it that tho flagstaff had not been
thrown down oithor with our knowledge or by our orders and that it had not,
in faot, boon thrown down at all, but had fallen down in a galo of wind. I
continued that it was inorediblo that in spito of our ropcatcd aesurnnooa ho
should continue to givo crcdonoo to tho malicious statements of misohiof makors