Page 94 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

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! THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
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i Bahrain at sea and entrusted to the British Government the right to
supervise such activities. The Shaikh agreed to establish a ‘perpetual
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Treaty of peace and friendship with the British Government’, for the
purposes of ‘the advancement of trade and the security of all classes
1 of people navigating etc.’ (Art. 1). He then undertook to
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: abstain from all maritime aggressions of every description, from the pro­
secution of war, piracy and slavery by sea, so long as I receive the support
of the British Government in the maintenance of the security of my own
! possessions against similar aggressions directed against them by the Chiefs
: and tribes of this Gulf (Art. 2).
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The importance of this article is that it prohibited the Shaikh from
prosecuting even a non-piratical war. This prohibition was not con­
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tained in the Treaty of Peace of 1820. On the other hand, while this
article prohibited the carriage of slaves by sea, it made no reference
to the problem of slavery on land. This may mean that slavery on
land was considered by the contracting parties as an internal matter
which concerned the Shaikh alone.
In Article 3, the Shaikh agreed to make known all aggressions
against himself, territories, or subjects, to the British Resident in the
Arabian Gulf, ‘as the arbitrator in such cases’. He also promised that
‘no act of aggression or retaliation shall be committed at sea by
Bahreinis, or in the name of Bahrein’, by himself or any of his sub­
jects, on other tribes without the consent of the British Resident.
The British Resident, on the other hand, promised, on behalf of the
British Government, that

he will forthwith take the necessary steps for obtaining reparation of every
injury proved to have been inflicted, or in the course of infliction by sea
upon Bahrein or upon its dependencies in the Gulf.
It appears that the Shaikh was committed by this article so strongly
that it was doubtful whether he was allowed to exercise the right of
self-defence in face of aggression directed against his territory by
another country. For example, he was required to inform the British
Resident or the British Government of any aggression against his
country and to get the Resident's consent before taking any step on his
own initiative.
Moreover, Articles 2 and 3, discussed above, followed the same
pattern of the agreements of 1839 and 1853 made by Great Britain
with the rulers of the Trucial Coast, and, like these earlier agree­
ments, prohibited the commission of hostilities on the part of the
Arab rulers at sea only.1

1 It should be noted that Bahrain was not a party to the agreements of 1839
and 1853 concluded with the Trucial States. See Aitchison, p. 191.