"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٨‎٢‎٨] (١٧٨٢/٩٨٣)

828
Insult to the
British flag
at Dohab,
1894.
Attempted
invasion of
Bahrain from
Zubarah,
1895.
i
Question of
a Turkish
sanitary post
in Qatar,
1897.
Question of
the renewal
of treaty re
lations be
tween Great
Britain and
the Al T hani
About the same time it was observed by Her Majesty's Government,
in correspondence with the Government ot India, that, as the actual
authority of the Turks appeared to be confined to the town of Dohah,
there was no sufficient reason for allowing the pretensions of Turkey to
interfere with British liberty of action in Qatar or prevent the Govern
ment of India from making such treaties with the chiefs of Qatar as
might be considered advisable.
In the spring of 1894 a vessel owned by a British Indian subject was
boarded, on entering the port of Dohah, by a party of Turkish soldiers
who at first hauled down and took possession of her British flag ; on
being satisfied, however, that the vessel was British and had a British
certificate^ they restored the flag. The Political Resident from Biishehr
then visited Dohah in H.M.S. "Sphinx," but the local Turkish
officials, on the ground that the Resident's direct request was irregular,
refused to offer any explanation of the incident and referred him
to the superior Turkish authorities. The Government of India instructed
the Resident to take no further action in the matter inasmuch as the
mistake had been rectified as soon as discovered, while to press for ex
planations would only be to elicit an assertion of the Porte's jurisdiction
at Dohah, all occasion for which it was desired to avoid; but the Wali
of Basrah, having been informed of the occurrence by the British
representative there, denied the lowering of the flag and gave assurances
of the friendship of Turkey for Britain.
The history of an attempt to invade the Bahrain Islands, made by
Shaikh Jasim in 1895 with the countenance of the Turks, is given at
length in the history of the Bahrain principality. As there related, the
attempt was frustrated by the forcible action of British war vessels at
Zubarah, and provided Her Majesty's Government with an opportunity
of informing the Porte that they could not admit the part of the coast
on which Zubarah was situated to lie within the jurisdiction of the
Ottoman Empire.
In 1897 the Constantinople Board of Health proposed to establish a
sanitary post in Qatar; but the project was defeated by the opposition
of the British delegate, who explained that Her Majesty's Government
did not recognise the existence of Turkish jurisdiction over Hasa.
The admission of Shaikh Jasim in 1882 that the Agreement of 1868 was
still valid and his willingness in 1893 to renew that Agreement or to contract
engagements similar to those accepted by the Shaikhs of Trucial'Oman
have already been mentioned. In 1898, at a private interview with Lieute-
nant Robinson of H.M.S. - Sphinx, - Shaikh Ahmad, who then represented