Page 39 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

Persian and Turkish claims to Bahrain, 1870-1874 365

33
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British protection and*exemption from conscription,
and request that peremptory orders may be sent by
the Forte to tbo Governor-General to .forego
all future iuterfcreuce with Bahreinites or their
offspring. Tho answer to be returned is now
under consideration; and the India Office in their
last letter, of 3rd March, state :—
" That the Marquis .of Salisbury cannot admit
the right of the Sublime Ottoman Porte to cxcrcioc
any jurisdiction over, or in any way interfere with,
the inhabitants of Bahrein, a claim which Her
Majesty's Government, in whatever shape advanced,
have all along repudiated.”

It would appear, then, from the foregoing short
historical outline, that both Turkey and Persia,
have, on many occasions during the present century
claimed the right of sovereignty over the Island of
Bahrein ;
That, with regard to the Turkish claim, the
British Government, in 1839, 1848, and 1851,
refused to recognize such claim ;
t That, with regard to the Persian claim, the
British Government, in 1844, 1851, 1862, and
1369, also refused to recognize her claim ; and,
”TIiat, in 1861, an understanding was come to
between the Indian Government and the Foreign
and India Office, that Bahrein should be regarded
us independent, and as subject neither to Turkey
nor Persia which understanding still exists.
It is true that, in 1861, the Persian Government
was informed that the British Government would
not, in ordinary eases, take any hostile proceedings
in future against the Sheikh of Bahrein with­
out previously informing the Persian Government,
although it reserved to itself the right of taking
prompt action if necessary, without such reference,
and that this promise was appealed to by Persia, in
1871, in support of her assertion that the British
Government had acknowledged the Persian right of
sovereignty over the Island, but no such right has
ever been acknowledged, whilst Persia overlooks
the fact tlmt she, on her part promised, in 1861,
to take steps to suppress Piracy in tho Persian
Gulf, which she has never done.
The British Government has no designs on tho
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