"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٨‎٨‎٩] (١٧٨٢/١٠٤٤)

PplicatiW t..
,, ^ F*,
fc Tiirtisli ^
^ ^ tie •
" j
^ Persian
ceremonies ueen ?! ,
Mmt&Nioh
a,ld fc TutUi,
0 ' 'ke «itutioit
render tig
n, who
1 matters
fm
ministerf at
bould be undertak?
ttled by diplomat;:
!• hostilities igw
orce of Britisi«,
to any otter powe
litarv occupatioa, it
Qsideration of tk
ied the Resident at
ihrain, whetk k
an intimation tkl
rnment; butaftb
iuctlj warned tint
upon neightauk
and would even
eneral question to
)bseryed tliat tk
-jng preserved lj
md that Ba^ 11
rte nor to Persia ;
irincipality
the interests of
laded between«
This view was
51.
,p\
i V'? j
889
In the meantime the Persian and Turkish agents had apparently
vanished from Bahrain.
In May 1861 it became known to the Resident that Shaikh Conventicn
^ .irii i with iJritaia
Muhammad of Bahrain, without reference to himself, had commenced S jg n ed by the
a blockade of the Hasa coast and was harassing the pearl fishers of
Qatif and Dammam, at the latter of which places Muhammad-bin- 21st May
1.
'Abdullah, son of the late ex-chief of Bahrain, was still located.
Captain Jones immediately proceeded to Bahrain, where he arrived
on the 18th of May, with the full Gulf squadron; but he could not
prevail upon the Shaikh to discontinue the blockade of the Wahhabi
coast. The explanation of the Shaikh's obstinacy was, or at least was
believed to be, a promise by Persia to procure him the assistance of a
French vessel. Having exhausted all his arguments in vain, the Resident
placed the matter in the hands of Commodore Drought, who was imme
diately successful, without the firing of a single shot, in capturing two of
the finest war vessels of Bahrain, the "Tawilah and the ' Hamrah.
The Shaikh then made submission, and, after some negotiations
conducted through his brother 'Ali, consented to sign a Convention
proposed by Captain Jones. By this agreement, executed on the 21st
of May 1861, Shaikh Muhammad-bin-Khalifah acknowledged the
validity of the treaties and conventions concluded with the British Gov
ernment by his predecessors in office ; he promised to abstain, on condition
of being supported by the British Government against external aggres
sion, from <( the prosecution of war, piracy and slavery by sea ; he engaged
to submit cases of aggression on himself or his subjects by sea to the
British Resident in the Persian Gulf as arbitrator and to look to him
for redress, as also to make reparation for such maritime offences as
might in justice be charged against himself or his subjects; and he
undertook to recognise the jurisdiction of the British Agent and
Political Resident over British subjects of every kind in Bahrain, and to
permit the latter to reside and trade in his dominions, subject only to an
ad valorem duty of 5 per cent, in kind or in cash upon their goods, which
should not be more than once levied. Matters having been thus ar
ranged, the Resident restored the war vessel " Tawilah/ ' but retained the
" Hamrah.■" One result of the Convention was to assimilate the posi
tion of the Shaikh of Bahrain, who was not a party to the Perpetual
Treaty of Peace, to that of the Irucial Shaikhs.
The Government of Bombay approved the proceedings of Captain
Jones and referred the Convention, which they considered to be advantage
ous notwithstanding that it had been obtained by the Resident without
M
rut
.