"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٨‎٥‎٩] (١٧٨٢/١٠١٤)

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859
The part played by Shaikh 'Abdullah, who was generally—but, as his
subsequent doings proved, erroneously—supposed to have become effete
by reason of old age, was ignominious in the extreme ; he redressed no
injuries, but merely advised the people to keep out of the way of his sont-
and their followers. In 1886 he declared that he was about to remove to
Khor Hassan in Qatar ; and the prospect of his taking such a step,—one
for which they were unprepared and from which they augured trouble,
—elicited transient professions of obedience and regret from the
junior members of his family. That the Shaikh intended to make
Qatar a base for operations against his unruly progeny in Bahrain appeared
probable from a warning not to look to him for protection or redress
in future, which, in the presence of the British Agent, he addressed to a
Bushehri merchant for the general information of the foreign mercantile
community. In 1887 he took further steps towards the execution of his
threat by sending two of his wives, with their families and the furniture
and even the doors of their houses, to Khor Hassan ; by this proceeding
his sons and other relations were considerably intimidated and induced to
reform their conduct for a time.
betweei
British relations with Bahrain, 1830-1839.
One consequence of these differences in
the A1 Khalifah Insult to the
British
familv was an insult offered to the native Agent of the British Govern- Residency
ment in Bahrain, which almost brought about a rupture of relations
between Britain and the Bahrain Government. The sons of the Shaikh, 1834.
being aware ihat a sum of money on account of mercantile transactions
was due b/ the Agent to their father, claimed that it should be paid to
themselves instead ; and on this pretext, by dint of abuse and ill -treat
ment tluy succeeded in extorting some large amounts from the British
representative. The Agent, from whom the Shaikh appears to have
with hell his protection, then hid himself to escape from further
exactions ; but, having been obliged to appear for the official purpose of
visitiig a British ship in the harbour, he was again set upon and molested.
Reparation having been refused, a British naval force was despatched
to Bahrain to obtain it, by coercion if necessary. Under this compulsion
the Shaikh yielded to the demands which were now made upon him : viz.,
that one of his sons, or in default thereof the Shaikh himself, should
come off to the vessel of the Senior Naval Officer, bringing with him a
robe of honour for the Agent; and that the persons who had taken an
active part in the ill-usage of the latter should be flogged in presence of