Page 334 - Records of Bahrain (3) (i)_Neat

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324 Records oj Bahrain

IThifl Documont ia tlio Property of Ilia iftitannic Majesty's Government]

PERSIA. [February 10.]
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 8.
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Mr. E. Grant Duff'' to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received February 19.)

(No. ll.) y>)
Sir, ( ft ' Tehran, January 27, 1900.
. n WITH reference to Sir A. Uardinge’s despatch No. 180 of tbo 21st August, 1905,
lo Jnncl my telegram No. 21 of tbo 25tli instant, X have tho honour to transmit horowith
; ' translation of a noto which I have received from tho Mushir-cd-Dowloh regarding the
claims of the Persian Government lo [Bahrein. In telegraphing the substauco oL*
I
his Excellency's noto to you, I ventured to expross tlio opinion that although tho
language of tho inclosed communication was not actually uncivil, its tone appeared
to mo to bo open to olqpolion. In these cireumstauccs, I had the honour to ask for
your instructions-as (p whothcr I should dcclino to receive it.
1 Tho note bcavs-evory mark of being the Shah’s own composition, as I doubt
whether oitlior the .Grand Vizier or the MusIuimTu-Dow tell would, 'on their own
initiative, havo addressed such a communication to the Representative of a foreign
Government.
I am confidentially informed that tho tono at Hit? Persian Court is very anti-
European, tho Shah and his courtiers apparently believing that wlmt Japan can do
Persia is also In a position to accomplish.
In u couutry where the Administration is hardly on a lovel with Mint of Huyti
or San Domiimo, aud whore tho chief power is in the hands of a Sovereign compared
to whom Bomba was an onlightcnod patriot, such pretentions can only oxcito mirth,
but I havo reported tho matter as a curious and, perhaps, significant effect of tho late
Russo-Japancso war on Persian thought.
I have, &c.
(Signed) EVELYN GRANT DUPE.
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Inclosurc in No. 1.
Mushir-cd-Dowlch lo Mr. E. Grant Duff'.
(Translation.) January 9, 190G..
IN reply to tho noto addressed by tho British Legation respecting tho natives of
Bahrein, I havo tho honour to slate that, in tho caso of Bahrein aud its inhabitants,
tbo Persian-Governmeht who consider that placo its own unquestionable proporty
and its peoplo its own subjects, and who, in uccordanco with tlio sacred Treaties,
expected every assistance from the friendly Power in caso of any emorgcncy, sco that
during this time, contrary to tho Treaties of 1809,1814, and 1857* all steps taken by
tbo English officials had no other object but to wcakon tho allegiance of tho peoplo
and tho Sheikhs of Bahrein to tho Persian Government, and to establish their own
authority in the bond tide property of the Persian Government, as it has boon also meant
in the note under reply. Frequent representations and protests havo been mndo both
hero and in London, but although the British Government have takon no exception to
tho ownership and Sovereignty of Persia over Bahroin, tho British Government havo
not allowed Persian legal rights to be enforced thcro.
Tlio present proposals for the intervention of tho British Consul-General on behalf
of tho Bahreinis, who arc Persian subjects, is oiio proof of tho compromising of tbo
rights of the Persian Government over their auciont subjects. Such is tho now titlo
given to tho Sheikh of Bahroin, calling him tho owner of that pluco and conoludiug
Treaties with him. Under tlicso circumstances tho Porsian Government is obliged
:
first* to protest ngniust ull such measures, which .ore, in fact, taking possession of and
• interfering with its lawful territories and subjects, and, secondly, to request Hu
• micrieriug wku its lawiui territories ana suujccw, ana, scconaiy,
Britannic Majesty’s Government not
Britannia Majesty’s Government not to loso sight of tho Treaty obligations, and that

, • • it should bo thoir oarncst dcsiro tto confirm tho allogianco of tho Porsian subjects to

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His Imperial Majesty tho Shall, as it is oxprcssly stipulated in tho Treaty of 1857.
Ilii [1845 l—B]