'Memorandum on the separate claims of Turkey and Persia to sovereignty over the island of Bahrein.' [‎19r] (37/40)

33
IA
British protection and exemption from conscription,
and request that peremptory orders may be sent by
the Porte to the Governor-General to forego
all future interference with Bahreinites or their
offspring. The answer to be returned is now
under consideration ; and the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. in their
last letter, of 3rd March, state :—
" That the Marquis of Salisbury cannot admit
the right of the SnbtiTncTHfonTairTorte to exercise
any jurisdiction over, or in any way interfere with,
the inhabitants of Bahrein, a claim which Her
Majesty's Government, in whatever shape advanced,
have all along repudiated."
It would appear, then, from the foregoing short
historical outline, that both Turkey and Persia,
have, on many occasions during the present century
claimed the right of sovereignty over the Island of
Bahrein ;
That, with regard to the Turkish cldim, the
British Government, in 1839, 1848 ? and 1851,
refused to recognize such claim ;
That, with regard to the Persian claim, the
British Government, in 1844, 1851, 1862, and
1869, also refused to recognize her claim ;_and.
That, in 1861, an understanding was come to
between the Indian Government and the Foreign
and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , that Bahrein should be regarded
as independent, and as subject neither to Turkey
nor Persia which understanding still exists.
It is true that, in 1861, the Persian Government
was informed that the British Government would
not, in ordinary cases, take any hostile proceedings
in future against the Sheikh of Bahrein with
out previously informing the Persian Government,
although it reserved to itself the right of taking
prompt action if necessary, without such reference,
and that this promise was appealed to by Persia, in
1871, in support of her assertion that the British
Government had acknowledged the Persian right of
sovereignty over the Island, but no such right has
ever been acknowledged, whilst Persia overlooks
the fact that she, on her part promised, in 1861,
to take steps to suppress Piracy in the Persian
Gulf, which she has never done.
The British Government has no designs on the
[234] K