"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٩‎١‎٦] (١٧٨٢/١٠٧١)

916
Warning to
the Porte
against at
tempting to
land troops
in Bahrain,
1888.
Insulting
correspond
ence of the
Turkish
authorities
with the
Shaikh of
Bahrain,
1888.
Demands of
the Turkish
authorities
for the sur
render of
revenue
defaulters,
1890-91.
of Qatar, and the result, in so far as Bahrain was concerned, was a protest
addressed by the Porte to the British Ambassador at Constantinople,
leadino- to renewed consideration by the British Government of the
political position of Bahrain. The instructions finally given to the British
Ambassador at Constantinople were to the effect that llei Majesty's
Government were unable to admit any claim by the Porte to jurisdiction
over the Shaikh of Bahrain, whom, as had been intimated before, they
regarded as an independent ruler, and with whom they were themselves
in treaty relations.
A few months later, in connection with a design upon Bahrain which
will be noticed further on under the head of Persian relations, the Grand
Vazir of Turkey was requested by the British Embassy to issue strict orders
to the Turkish officials in the Gulf to abstain from every kind of interference
in Bahrain, and was informed that a British man-of-war which had been
stationed there had orders to prevent any landing of Arabs, Persians, or
Turks. On this occasion the Grand Vazir replied that there was no inten
tion whatever of sending Turkish troops to the islands, and he even seemed
indisposed to urge the claim of the Porte to sovereignty; but it was
believed that the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs would have regarded
the matter in a different light, and in any case subsequent events showed
that the Turkish claim had not been abandoned.
In 1888 much annoyance was caused by the style of address employed
by the Turkish authorities in Hasa in their correspondence with the
Shaikh of Bahrain, to whom they always w r rote as to a subordinate
official. The direction upon the envelope frequently ran " To the Shaikh
of the Island of Awal/' The explanation of this absurdity was that a
Wali of Basrah, having discovered that the name "Bahrain" had in
olden times been applied to a part of the mainland also, ordered that the
former use of the term <c Bahrain " should be revived, and that the island
should be distinguished by its ancient appellation of " Awal": he
evidently thought that the case for Turkish sovereignty would in some
way be helped by the change.
In August 1890 a very insolent letter was addressed to the Shaikh of
Bahrain by the Qaim-Maqam of Qatif and one Saiyid Mustafa; in it
they demanded the surrender of Shaikh 'Abdur Rahim of Saihat who
had absconded, they said, to evade payment of revenue due to the Turkish
Government. Shaikh Tsa having informed the Qaim -Maqam 's agent that
Shaikh 'Abdur Rahim was not in Bahrain, an attempt was made by the
party fiom Qatif to seize two of 'Abdur Rahim's dependents ; but it was
frustrated by the servants of the Shaikh of Bahrain. As Shaikh 'Isa,