Page 80 - Records of Bahrain (4) (ii)_Neat

382 Records of Bahrain

8
mentioned in the above paragraph, t.c., the international aspect, the eocond dealing
with the facts which led to our taking so intimate a part in the internal administra­
tion of the Islands and with the degree to which that interference has now reached.
The first despatch is bound to be a long one. When I say that tho important
dales which we have to consider today arc 1783, 1803, 1811, 1820, 1822, 1838, %18‘18,
1850,1809,1880, 1880 and 1892, while many other dates of almost equal importance
occur, it will be seen that a period is covered during which constant activity was
kept up, which cannot be disposed of in a few pages, and of which activity overy
incident which I quote has an important bearing on the decisions and the opinions
to be formed.
0. Tn this despatch then I will deal with the history of the Sheikhdom for the
last 150 years, showing how Bahrain became involved in our policy in tho Persian
Gulf and the facts upon which Persia bases its claim to the Island, a claim which she
has never dropped though it is a century and a half since she has had any form of
jurisdiction in the place.
In actually both the Wahabis and the Sultan of Muscat have had far more
recent possession of tho Islands and the claim of Persia has been kept alive by purely
diplomatic or fictitious incidents which have occurred through the difficulties in
which the Shaikhs of Bahrain have found themselves, either in preserving their
independence, or in meeting the activities of rival pretenders to the Sheikhdom.
The claims of Persia would not intrinsically stand the test of examination by
a committee of the League of Nations.
G. For the purpose before us it is necessary to go back to the year 1782 at which
date Bahrain was unquestionably in possession of the Persians, who had first
occupied it in 1G02, when they expelled the Portuguese. How long they held it
has apparently not been determined, but in 1718 the Islands were taken for a short
time by the Omani Sultanate. In the middle of the 18th century the Ilowalah
Arabs controlled the politics of the archipelago, but in 1753 the Persians definitely
occupied the Islands. In 1783 they were once for all driven out by the Arabs led
by the Shaikhs of the Utb tribe, who still hold Bahrain today.
7. When it is said at any time that the Porsiaus held the Bahrain Islands, the
expression needs explanation. Until as recently as 1854 Bushirc, from whence the
sea power came, was held by an Arab Shaikh under Persian sovereignty, and to this
day the Persian Islands of the Persian Gulf arc occupied by Arabs and Arab Shaikhs
who arc similarly Persian subjects. These are the men who supplied the ships and
the crews which acted for the Persians in Persian Gulf history ; the Persians have
never been seamen.
8. thus in 1783 Bahrain was held by the Arab Sheikh Nasir of Bushirc, under
Aiiuo m i/oo uanram was neiu uy r.nc Arao ttneikh msir oi jjusmrc, uiuiui
the orders of the Persian Government, then settled at Shiraz. The garrison when
wns r.ommanucd by Shaik
Nasir’s son^aiur-iffnr^o V*? ^0lI^lcrn I,miuland was commancTcd by Shaik
27th July and the mr ,S1C^C ° tW° m.on^,s duration the latter capitulated'on the
) the garrison were permitted to return to Bushirc.

assisted by Persian tr«on«J783'i^1C *>crs‘ai? Arab Shaikhs of Bushirc and Hormuz
Bahrain, in which the l^clmia.tl0»a on a large scale for an attack on
I
i i
1
cia! emporium of’thc Western «.d o fttSTS, oV.lf!'^' b°Ca,"C th° Cl"’°r C'0,nn,°r'
made to the independence of
. 10. Lor the next generation such threats as were l___
Bahrain curnc, not from Persia, but from other sources. *