Page 377 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

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At the sort of family council at the Shaikhs Abdulla did all the speaking & showed himself far more
intelligent than Hamed, he always does, its a great pity but there is no doubt that he would make a better Shaikh than
Hamed - except for his bad character.

Tuesday 13th [March]

Went down to the Customs to talk to de G about question of dismissing a clerk for theft. Afterwards to the Agency.
The "Royal Family" were out & Barrett alone, talked to him about various things till lunch time. Sh Mohamed called
in the afternoon expecting to meet the Shaikh here but he didnt come in & to come tomorrow instead. He stayed 1½
hours. I am sorry that he has been chosen as the one to go to Geneva with a letter to the League, he is a mean
unprepossessing little creature and I fancy very anti English, full of anti English ideas picked up in India. His great
feature is meanness, as usual he complained of the doings of his wretched Baharni tenants who he squeezes as much as
possible. Tea & Bridge at Holmes' stayed on to dinner & played again after.

Yesterday night Abdulla b jabr came in & had a long talk about the Dawasir business, said that what the
Shaikh really wanted was that PR should give him a letter saying that he was not to pay back the rents so that he could
tell Bin Saoud that he wanted to but could not do so. The PR talked about it a few days ago and was entirely against
giving them back.

Wednesday 14th March

Went over to Agency in morning. The P.R. has entirely altered his ideas about Dawasir & is going to let the Shaikh
give them their money back, though the Shaikh himself is not really very anxious to do so as long as he can excuse
himself by saying the Resident wont allow it. I am furious, its a mistaken policy & bad that we should change about so
in the matter - cant see why it is unless to butter up Bin Saoud. Really the P.R. is doing a big lot of harm here, so far
everything he has done has been retrograde. Makes it awkward for us & also bad for British prestige.

Another meeting with the Shaikh at the Agency. Mohamed & Abdulla came to see me first & the Shaikh
came late. The Shaikh was very fed up & looked cross & uncomfortable. Sh Mohamed brought the reply of Sh Isa to
the Residents request that he would write a letter saying that Bahrain was under Brit protection. His reply was more or
less "You say that we are independent but under your protection externally - how are we independent if I am not the
Ruler, if my son (Sh Hamed) acts against my wishes and if he employs Englishmen in his Govt and Indian police, all of
which I disapprove. Also he complained against the money from the Customs going to the Bank. The Shaikh looked
exceedingly uncomfortable, he sat on the sofa, his legs curled under him, looking like a small boy whose bad school
report is being read out to him. The gist of Isa's objection was that Bahrain is supposed to be independent but is run by
the English. The PR's reply was that the Govt could not exist without our help in it & in return for our external
protection we must have some say in internal government. The meeting lasted 3 hours. The PR also talked about
Dawasir show & told the Shaikh he could pay them the Rs 68,000/- The Shaikh seemed pleased at that. Altogether an
unpleasant afternoon. Mohamed said he thought he could persuade Isa to be sensible. The obstinate old man is over
80. It is absurd of the PR to make so much of Isa. It will result in him getting it into his head that he is still the boss.

Bridge at Mespers & afterwards dined at de G's & played roulette. Won 14/- Feeling very angry about
the Dawasir business & the extraordinary attitude of the Resident. These politics are very exhausting. The situation
here is becoming more & more complicated. I asked Resident if he had considered the possibility of Sh Mohamed