Page 34 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

360 Records of Bahrain
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that the-Porte entertained not the least intention
to attach nor obtain any supremacy over the inde­
pendent tribes on the coast of the Persian Gulf, nor
did it harbour any design of subduing them.
With regard to Ncjd, Server Pasha observed that
informed an integral part of the Ottoman dominions,
and that the Porte, as a matter of course; was
endeavouring to assimilate it to the other provinces
of the Empire, and felt anxious to establish there
permanent order and tranquillity.
With regard to the construction of Turkish naval
stations in the Guff, Server Pasha said that all the
Ottoman steamers had always been stationed there,
on account of the proximity of the rivers connecting
Baghdad with the Gulf of Persia, and that their
numbers were daily increasing.
In tips despatch Sir Henry Elliot also stated that
the Persian Minister had sent his Secretary to
him in some, anxiety about a rumour which had
reached him from London, that the Turkish expe­
dition was about to be sent by Midhat Pasha for
the reduction of Bahrein, which island, the Persian
Secretary stated, had been acknowledged by the
British Government as a portion of the Persian
dominions ; and that, in proof of this assertion, he
had handed to Sir II. Elliot a copy of the note
which Lord Clarendon addressed to General Hadji
Mohsin Khan on the 20th April, I860 (already
alluded to in this Memorandum, p. 16).
Sir II. Elliot, however, observed that he saw in
that note nothing more than an acknowledgment
that the claim had previously been made; but that
ho was unwilling to discuss the point, as he believed
(here was no danger of any attempt being made to
interfere with the position of Bahrein as it then stood. ^
With rcgnrd to the murder of the messenger,
the Bahrein Chief ultimately addressed a letter
to Midhat Pasha expressing his regret at the occur-
rcnce; dcclaring his ignorance of the quality of the
messenger, ..who had no credentials; pointing out
the imprudence of .sending a man who had a blood
feud with the Bahrcins,.and expressing his surprise
that o servant of the Porte should have been the
bearer of a letter in which Porto was represented
as wishing to• annex, the territory of the Chief of
Bahrein '(sudh a' lcttcr, having been found on the
dead bpdy of the messenger).