Page 536 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

40 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF TIIE PERSIAN GULF
a gang of Arabs, of whom some were undoubtedly Persian subjects of the
Shaikh.
The Wali claimed a large quantity of dates and a heavy cash compen­
sation from the Shaikh, in satisfaction of the losses alleged to have been in­
flicted on the Mishri family by the Shaikh’s tribes. The matter was also re­
ferred to Tehran by the Turks, and the Shaikh received a communication from
Tehran containing the usual vague exhortations to do all that was right and
proper in the matter. The Porte declined to sanction a proposal of the Wali,
previously negatived by his Council at Basrah, to bombard Mohammerah and
Fallahiyah forthwith. The fact that the Council w'ere seriously asked to
sanction such a step shows to what lengths the modern Young Turk will go,
and how completely devoid he is at present of any sense of proportion or
restraint.
The Shaikh’s troubles, actual and potential, with the Bakhtiari, reached
an acute stage in April, when it was
Rotations of tho Shaikh with the Bakhtiari. generally believed that his old enemy,
the Sardar Assad, then Minister of In­
terior, was manoeuvring to establish himself with the assistance of his tribes­
men and relations in a position of permanent predominance. After much
vacillating, due to his unwillingness to do anything of which the British Gov­
ernment might disapprove, the Shaikh signed an agreement in company with
the Sowlct-ud-Dowleh, Ilkhani of the Kashgai, and the Sardar Ashraf, Wali
of Pusht-i-Kuh, nominally to promote constitutionalism and peace, and the
safety of roads within their respective dominions, to assist and strengthen
the Medjliss, and to support each other in case of attack.
The last two conditions were plainly intended as a hint for the benefit of
the Bakhtiari. The agreement remained, as it was probably intended to be, a
dead letter throughout the year, but it served a useful purpose in reminding
the Sardar Assad of the probable effect of the policy which he was believed to
contemplate.
The Shaikh’s apprehensions were to some extent relieved by an assurance
from If is Majesty’s Minister, in April, that our understandings with regard
to encroachments on his rights, etc., by the Persian Government applied
equally to the Sardar Assad as long as he was Minister of Interior.
Shortly after this the Sardar Assad ceased to be Minister of Interior,
though he still remained in the Cabinet as Minister of War, but the question
did not again assume an acute phase till September, when Bakhtiari designs
on the Sowlet-ud-Dowleh caused the latter to appeal to the Shaikh to make
good his promises. The Shaikh replied with vague assurances, and the ques­
tion was eventually relieved by the espousal of the Sowlet’s cause by the
Amir-i-Muffakham’s party with whom the Shaikh had made an informal
compact for mutual assistance in May. The Shaikh was therefore not called
on to make good his promises of assistance to the Sowlet.
A few' weeks later however hostilities threatened between the rival fami­
lies of the Khans, and Arair-i-Mufiakham appealed to the Shaikh to assist
him by bringing pressure to bear from the south on the lands of his opponents.
The Shaikh again responded by vague assurances which he was luckily not
called on to make good, as, thanks no doubt in some measure to the possibility
of his intervention, the opposing parties came to terms, and a peace was
patched up.
The practical value of the compact between the Amir Muffakham and the
Shaikh was again shown in December in the following way. Throughout the
year, A. Rahim had continued his policy of the previous winter, and left no
stone unturned to seduce Farhan Assad from his allegiance to the Shaikh and
in so doing there is no doubt that he was acting under the direct orders of the
Sardar Zaflar. The Shaikh, who had earlier in the year experienced trouble
with Farhan, was finally compelled to send a punitive expedition against the
latter to ex»act punishment for various aggressive acts, and to obtain the
revenue for the previous few years, which was in arrears. Farhan, the bulk